Tonight (June 16) the Peachtree City Council will consider eliminating two high-ranking positions in the leisure services division as part of a sweeping reorganization of city staff proposed by City Manager Jim Pennington.
The proposal is to eliminate the positions held by Director of Leisure Services, Randy Gaddo and Recreation Facilities Manager Scott Christopher.
The items were added to the city council agenda Wednesday afternoon as news began leaking out of the proposal.
Also among the recommended changes:
• The Peachtree City Library would fall under the Administrative Services Division at City Hall; currently it is part of the Leisure Services Division;
• The parks crew and the building and maintenance personnel at the Kedron Fieldhouse and the city amphitheater, currently part of Leisure Services, will report to the city’s Public Services Division (public works);
• The recreation, special events and amphitheater functions will be combined with planning and zoning under a new Community Services Division that will replace the existing Community Development Division. It is not immediately known who will had up the new Community Services Division;
• The engineering department, currently in the Community Development Division, will be moved to the Public Services Division;
• The positions of housing code official and parks monitor will be combined with the two existing code enforcement officers operating as part of the police department; and
• The position of community development director, currently held by David Rast, will be reclassified as the planning and zoning administrator; this position includes the duties of the city planner;
The item was added to the City Council agenda for tonight’s meeting late Wednesday afternoon after City Manager Pennington met the day before with the departments and employees involved as well as presidents of the various athletic associations who work hand-in-hand with the recreation department.
Council’s decision on the matter is needed to occur in time for the city’s budget workshops that start Monday at 6:30 p.m. at City Hall, officials said.
“The changes have to be incorporated at that time to have meaningful conversations about the 2012 budget,” Vrana said.
Vrana also noted that the city in 2009 authorized a reduction in workforce in 2009, but not before the decision was put off for a month.
“The public debate and the month-long wait made it even more difficult for the employees who ultimately lost their jobs,” Vrana said.
Pennington, in a press release, said the reorganization will help bring the city closer to a goal to “streamline our operation and function as a high-performance organization.”
Pennington noted that in his first three months on the job, he has observed a “discontinuity among the city’s divisions.”
