Belmont council keeps planning technician in proposed budget, defers decision on community development hire

Staff presented a side‑by‑side comparison of hiring a full‑time planning technician versus contracting the work to a firm during the council’s budget discussion.

The staff presentation said a contracted technician would cost about "$91 an hour" and — given current consultant availability — equate to roughly 13.7 hours per week, while a full‑time staff person would cost about "$65,000" including benefits. Staff told the council it had asked two outside firms for proposals and that one (Centralina) said it could not reliably provide even one day per week of staffing; the packet therefore emphasized the in‑house and the InFocus contractor comparisons.

Council members questioned whether the city needed an additional permanent position, and several said the in‑house option provided more consistent customer service and hours than the contractor alternative. One council member raised a late request by Councilmember Alex to consider a separate community development/office manager role to support economic development; staff said an economic‑development consultant is already budgeted next year and recommended waiting for the consultant’s review before creating a new permanent post.

After discussion the council signaled consensus to include the planning technician in the proposed budget and asked staff to prepare an alternate ordinance and return with additional information — including more detail on the community development request — at the June 3 meeting. No formal roll‑call vote was recorded in the transcript on the planning technician; staff will prepare the balanced‑budget ordinance options for the council to consider.

The packet cited the planning technician job description, the consultant proposals, and a detailed comparison table (page 7) for council review; staff flagged that contractor availability and the cost‑to‑hours tradeoffs were the primary drivers behind recommending the in‑house hire.

Next steps: staff will provide the alternate budget ordinance and supplemental information on the community development position on June 3; the council may approve a budget then or later amend the adopted budget by ordinance if it chooses to add positions.