With the retirement of City Manager Shaun D. Carey the new City Manager Stephen W. Driscoll, proposed organizational changes in the Management Services Department. The changes in the city’s Executive Resolution No. 3241 (Agenda Item 9.6) and Employee Complement (Agenda Item 9.7) were approved by the Council at their October 13, 2014 meeting.

Under the Sparks City Charter (NRS Chapter 470), Section 1.080 Appointive positions.  “2. Except as otherwise provided in this Chapter, the City Manager shall appoint heads of each department.”

The City of Sparks Council utilizes pay resolutions to define salaries and benefits for unrepresented employees not covered by Collective Bargaining Agreements under NRS 288. These Resolutions identify the members to be recognized by a particular work group and are approved by the Council as to the details and financial implications.

The City of Sparks has traditionally promoted from within for its executive positions starting with the City Manager working down through the executive management team and then further downward in the city’s middle management / professional services ranks.

Additionally, executive management employees are appointed by the City Manager, per the City Charter, and the employees are offered an Employment Agreement defining the terms, conditions, salaries, and benefits of the position being offered. As the contract for an executive employee’s annual financial costs exceed $50,000 per year, the City Council is required to approve such contracts.

The City Manager has offered the position of Administrative Services Director to Christine Syverson pending the approval of an Employment Agreement by the City Council.

The City Manager, in his current and past position with the City, was instrumental in hiring Mrs. Syverson to the position of Human Resources Manager in June, 2003. In the eleven years since her hire date, the City Manager has had the opportunity to work directly with Mrs. Syverson in various operational functions and job requirements the position of Administrative Services Director requires.

The City Manager has had the responsibility to evaluate the performance of Christine Syverson in her various responsibilities as Human Resources Manager, Employee and Customer Relations Manager, Chief Labor Negotiator, ADA Coordinator, and employee counselor.  All of the job duties witnessed by the City Manager over the last 11 years prepare Mrs. Syverson to be an effective and efficient executive manager overseeing the function of an Administrative Services Director.

The City Manager is proposing under the Executive Resolution to offer Christine a 9% (rounded up to the nearest $1,000) promotion from her position of Employee and Customer Relations Manager where she was at the top of the range. After the original promotion, Mrs. Syverson could progress annually through the salary band increasing under the city’s normal merit process, if her annual Employment Agreement were renewed by the City Manager.  Under the merit process, it may take Mrs. Syverson roughly four years to reach the maximum pay grade for the Administrative Services Director position.

The monies to pay for this position are an under fill from the discontinued Assistant City Manager (ACM) position in the city’s FY2014-15 Annual Operating Budget. The elimination of the ACM was approved by the Council on October 13, 2014 (Agenda Item 9.7).

1. The City Council may choose to approve the Employment Agreement for Christine Syverson, Administrative Services Director, as presented by staff.

2. The City Council may choose not to approve the Employment Agreement for Christine Syverson, Administrative Services Director, as presented by staff.

3. The City Council may choose not to approve the Employment Agreement for Christine Syverson, Administrative Services Director, as presented by staff and provide other direction to the City Manager.

1. “I move to approve the Employment Agreement for Christine Syverson, Administrative Services Director, as presented by staff.”