A divided Ceres City Council voted 3-2 last week to reinstate the position of deputy director of the Public Works Department costing the city $214,709 annually.
Human Resources Director Delilah Vasquez said the existing structure of Public Works Department “is insufficient to support this breadth of responsibility” and called for the reinstatement of the deputy director position eliminated in 2018 when the city experienced budget shortfalls.
“There are eight divisions and many of the departments are heavily regulated which creates an additional layer of complexity and oversight,” Vasquez told the council.
She also expressed concern about a lack of succession in the event of the loss of the director.
The request comes six months after Samir “Sam” Royal was appointed Public Works Director.
Vasquez noted that Royal leads the second largest city department and oversees 72 full-time staff members, and a $31 million operating budget. The department oversees streets, parks, sewer, water, facilities maintenance, Recreation and fleet services.
“It’s just a tremendous amount of work for one individual to be performing,” said Vasquez.
She said the new position is more of an executive role, requiring a Bachelor’s of Science degree instead of an associate degree and four years of increasing responsible supervisorial experience with a master’s degree being highly desirable. The previous position was more in line with a supervisorial role, she said.
Demands on Royal’s time have increased since he has been working with the Stanislaus Regional Water Authority (SRWA) which will be providing treated Tuolumne River water to Ceres homes this fall.
Councilwoman Rosalinda Vierra expressed concern about adding staff after the FY2023-24 budget was approved in June.
City Manager Doug Dunford said most of the salary will be funded out of the “very healthy” water and sewer enterprise funds and little from the General Fund. Broken down, 40 percent of salary and benefits ($85,884) will be paid from water funds, 40 percent from sewer funds and 20 percent, or $42,941, from the General Fund.
Vierra followed up by asking why the request for a new position wasn’t made when the budget was being crafted. Dunford replied that in the early stages of budgeting then City Manager Alex Terrazas told department heads to not plan on any staffing or funding increases.
Ceres resident John Warren accused the city of “sneaking in another employee” after the budget was approved prior to July 1.
Warren told the council: “The General Fund is going to suffer from this because regardless where the money comes from – from the very rich water department or sewage department and my water bill is over $200 a month. If any benefit is going to be realized it should be a reduction in the rates. The water department basically operates on a need basis, it shouldn’t have a great big excess of funds.”
Warren’s comments prompted Mayor Javier Lopez to turn to City Attorney Nubia Goldstein to ask, “Is this being sneaky or is this appropriate?” She answered that the council has the authority to add any position after the budget is formulated as a matter of a policy decision. “Whether it’s sneaky or along those lines I can (only) answer to whether it’s allowed and it is allowed,” said Goldstein.
Vice Mayor Bret Silveira motioned to approve the position and funding, seconded by Councilman Daniel Martinez and supported by Mayor Lopez. Voting no were councilmembers Vierra and James Casey.
