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City To Create Interim Managers
Oakdale Flag

With the September retirement of former Oakdale Public Services Director Thom Clark, and the subsequent appointment of Jeff Gravel as the interim director, the city’s Public Services Department needs additional management to oversee the day-to-day operations of the department, according to Oakdale City Manager Bryan Whitemyer. As a result, Whitemyer has called for the city to create two Interim Public Services Manager positions.

Whitemyer said the city would fill the interim position with existing staff, giving them the opportunity to gain broader experience in managing a department.

“We are not adding any positions,” Whitemyer said. “This gives persons in other roles the opportunity to stretch themselves and get tried out.”

It is anticipated that this arrangement will last three to six months. Once the city hires its new full time public services director, staff would then assess the department and determine if any additional changes are needed to the Public Services Department organizational structure.

Whitemyer proposed the salary for the position(s) to range from $6,093 to $7,095 per month. He said the final salary would be determined using the current salary of the persons selected for the position so that there was no decrease to the individual taking on additional responsibilities.

Whitemyer added that since the positions will be filled with existing staff, the majority of those salaries have been included in the 2016-17 adopted budget. He said any difference between the existing salaries and the interim public services manager salary increase would come from the savings from the vacant public works superintendent position. He does not anticipate any additional cost to the budget.

The move also serves as career development for the selected city employee and gave examples that the selected persons would write proposals or make presentations to the council.

According to the proposal, one position would manage the day-to-day operations of the public works division, and the other will be responsible for oversight of community development functions.