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COUNTY OF SAN MATEO
Inter-Departmental Correspondence
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County Counsel
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DATE:
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June 6, 2006
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BOARD MEETING DATE:
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June 20, 2006
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SPECIAL NOTICE/HEARING:
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None
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VOTE REQUIRED:
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Majority
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TO:
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Honorable Board of Supervisors
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FROM:
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County Counsel
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SUBJECT:
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Introduction of Ordinance Amending the Salary Ordinance for the Reorganization of the County Counsel’s Office, and Waiver of Reading of Ordinance in its Entirety
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RECOMMENDATION:
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Introduce an ordinance amending the salary ordinance to add the position of Assistant County Counsel, add one additional paralegal position, and add one additional Legal Office Assistant position, and waive reading of the ordinance in its entirety.
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VISION ALIGNMENT:
The proposed action meets the commitment to responsive, effective and collaborative government, and the goal that government decisions will be made on careful consideration of future impact, rather than temporary relief or immediate gain, by increasing the efficiency of the provision of legal services to County government at all levels.
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BACKGROUND:
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On March 28, 2006, Board President Hill appointed a subcommittee consisting of Supervisors Church and Tissier to discuss with me a proposal to reorganize the management structure of the County Counsel’s office and to add additional positions to the office. The proposed reorganization, which the subcommittee supports would result in the addition of three positions as follows:
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Addition of one Assistant County Counsel position. Chris Motley, one of the current chief deputies, plans to retire within the next four months. The new management structure would add one Assistant County Counsel to serve as the next-in-line to the County Counsel position. The Assistant County Counsel would have the responsibility to manage the two existing Chief Deputy County Counsel positions. The new Assistant position and the two Chief Deputy positions would be filled by promotion from the existing staff.
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One additional paralegal position. The office last added a paralegal position in 2001. Since adding the position, the amount of work has increased and would benefit from the services of an additional paralegal. Besides providing additional litigation support, an additional paralegal position would allow the transfer of certain functions now requiring an attorney’s time, including Housing Authority unlawful detainers, revenue services collections and bail forfeitures.
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$
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One Legal Office Assistant position. The office has not had a regular receptionist position since relocation from the 3rd to the 6th floor in October 2000. Receptionist, mail and general support duties have been assumed by other support staff on a rotating basis. This creates inefficiencies in the work of the office, often increasing the attorney-to-secretary ratio to either 4:1 or 5:1. Adding the new position would help to eliminate these inefficiencies.
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DISCUSSION:
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The matter is being brought to the Board at this time to facilitate the transition to the new management structure by allowing the Assistant County Counsel position to be filled, and the two Chief Deputy positions to be filled from within the office, for a period of about a month before Ms. Motley’s planned departure date of August 20th. I respectfully request that the Board adopt the ordinance adding the position of Assistant County Counsel, one paralegal position, and one legal office assistant position to the salary ordinance.
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FISCAL IMPACT:
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All of the proposed positions are included in this year’s recommended budget. The additional cost of adding the three positions is $364,896. Approximately half of these costs would be covered by the General Fund and half through additional fees and charges generated by the new attorney position.
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