Development services reorganized

Carson City development services will undergo a shuffling of seats Monday as the department puts in place a reorganization that officials say may save time and money.

Under the direction of Andrew Burnham, the business of planning, building, engineering, streets, transportation and public works will be altered slightly to allow the city to be more efficient.

"I think it will be a positive change for us," said City Engineer Larry Werner. "We're trying to get the whole organization to be more efficient with the community."

The changes will allow city crews to handle different types of projects and share equipment. For instance, if the city sends out a crew to do street work, that same crew could also be used to identify sewer or water lines for a different project, said City Manager Linda Ritter.

"There could be some cost savings," she said.

Many of the ideas to shuffle duties and divisions came from employees during the past few months, Ritter said. The department has been assessing functions for several months.

The assessment found the department had gaps in service, overlaps in staffing, newly mandated programs and opportunities to improve efficiencies, Burnham said in a staff memo.

Carson residents as a whole might not see a big difference at first, but contractors and those who work with the city on capital improvement projects should see a change, Werner said.

Part of the changes will place Werner in charge of development engineering, transportation, capital projects and fleet management.

Transportation Manager John Flansberg will be moved into the deputy city engineer position, in charge of the capital projects division.

The capital projects group will focus on projects to be designed and constructed, such as expansion of Roop Street, water and sewer replacements and projects and utility relocations for the Carson freeway project.

The change will allow Werner to focus on development review, city standards, infrastructure planning, storm water and process improvements, Burnham said.

"It will give me time to look more at broad-brush policies at the city," Werner said.

Public Works will be headed by Tom Hoffert, the city operations manager. He will oversee sewer, water, streets and landfill, electrical/street signal operations and the environmental section.

"I have a lot of good thoughts that pull all of these operations together," Hoffert said. The utilities division will now be able to "see a job from start to finish under one operation. We're at that stage in our evolution to where we need to take the next steps and create a larger, unifying team."

Numbers for utility billing and reporting will remain the same, and staff will continue to evaluate the program, Hoffert said.

Contact Jill Lufrano at 881-1217 or jkeller@nevadaappeal.com.