TO:
Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Council
THROUGH:
Talyn Mirzakhanian, City Manager
FROM:
Lisa Jenkins, Human Resources Director
SUBJECT:Title
Consideration of a Resolution Approving an Exception to the 180-Day Wait Period for a California Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS) Retired Annuitant Under Government Code Sections 7522.56 and 21224 to fill a Critical Need for Conducting Building Inspections in the Community Development Department (No Budget Impact) (Human Resources Director Jenkins) (Estimated Time: 15 Min.)
ADOPT RESOLUTION NO. 26-0097
Body
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RECOMMENDATION:
Staff recommends that the City Council adopt Resolution No. 26-0097.
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
There are no fiscal implications associated with the recommended action.
BACKGROUND:
CalPERS enforces the statutes and regulations applicable to the hiring of retirees from the CalPERS system (retired annuitant). The attached resolution and appointment document is necessary to ensure that the temporary appointment of retired annuitant Douglass Atkisson complies with the Public Employees’ Retirement Law and CalPERS’ regulations.
DISCUSSION:
The City of Manhattan Beach has established a policy and practice of conducting next-day building inspections for the residential and business construction community to ensure housing and business development will not be hampered by administrative delay. Maintaining this expectation is critical to the City’s economic success by ensuring that residential and commercial construction can move forward promptly.
Due to recent vacancies in the building division of the Community Development Department, inspections have been scheduled that exceed the work that regular staff can perform. The City is currently recruiting to hire building inspectors following recent retirements and resignations, and has identified a retiree who is qualified and available to assist with the City’s critical need to address the daily backlog of inspections during the time the City recruits and fills permanent staff positions. Accordingly, Mr. Atkisson will be assigned to perform inspections at construction sites on an as-needed basis.
Mr. Atkisson is uniquely qualified to perform this work based upon his prior experience working as a Senior Building Inspector for the City of Manhattan Beach. While Government Code section 7522.56 typically requires a 180-day waiting period following retirement before a retired annuitant can work for a CalPERS agency, Government Code 7522.56 provides an exception when a governing body adopts a resolution in open session certifying the nature of the employment and that the appointment is necessary to fill a critically needed position before 180 days have passed. This appointment is temporary and will last only so long as the public’s demand for building inspections exceeds what existing staff can perform. The City is currently recruiting for permanent building inspectors. The City expects to have sufficient permanent staff in place by the end of the current calendar year. Accordingly, the critical need for Mr. Atkisson’s appointment will end no later than December 31, 2026, and his appointment will end at the same time.
Staff is recommending that the Council adopt the attached Resolution.
PUBLIC OUTREACH:
After analysis, staff determined that public outreach was not required for this issue.
LEGAL REVIEW:
Special counsel for the City has approved the resolution as to form.
ATTACHMENTS:
1. Resolution No. 26-0097
2. Appointment Document