Acting city manager urges charter edits to simplify appointments, discipline and public-works oversight

Acting City Manager Dominic Requio gave the commission an operational view of how the charter affects day-to-day government and outlined three near-term priorities he said would improve city operations: simplifying appointment and search processes, clarifying discipline and removal rules, and removing or relocating detailed Board of Public Works provisions.

Requio said the current appointment and search rules (C-26) can be onerous and suggested shrinking search-committee size and allowing more flexible appointment processes. "I would say simplifying the department head search process to remove some of the more onerous or prescriptive requirements and allow for more flexibility based on best practices" would help, he said.

On discipline, Requio recommended aligning discipline and removal procedures for selected officers with civil service law, and on financial reporting he asked that the annual financial report deadline be extended from two months after year-end to six months to allow books to close and produce more accurate reports for budget planning.

Requio also urged reconsidering Article 5 (Board of Public Works). He said many operational duties could be recast under a superintendent or department code to improve day-to-day management. Commissioners asked staff to map where the BPW's former powers were reassigned after it became defunct so the commission can decide what to retain or discard.

Commissioners followed with operational questions about search-committee composition, whether boards and commissions should screen applicants or staff should prescreen them, and the trade-offs of codifying procedures in the charter versus leaving them to the code or administrative practice. Requio recommended inclusive search processes with subject-matter experts and observed that overly prescriptive charter language can create scheduling barriers and candidate attrition.

Requio closed by listing his top priorities for the commission: C-26 (appointments), C-26.1 (discipline and removal), and Article 5 (Board of Public Works). He also volunteered to circulate his prepared remarks and work with the attorney's office to map transferred BPW duties for the commission's review.

The commission will consider Requio's suggestions alongside public comment and legal guidance as it drafts possible charter language for voter consideration.