Request for Assistant Housing and Community Director Position Copyrighted
November 18, 2019
City of Dubuque Consent Items # 15.
ITEM TITLE: RequestforAssistant Housing and Community
Development Director
SUMMARY: City Manager recommending the addition of a Full-Time
Assistant Housing and Community Development Director
to be implemented in the current fiscal year.
SUGGESTED DISPOSITION: Suggested Disposition: Receiveand File;Approve
ATTACHMENTS:
Description Type
Assistant Housing & Comm Dev Dir Addition Request- City Manager Memo
MVM Memo
Staff Memo Staff Memo
Dubuque
THE CITY OF �
AIFAnerisa Ciry
DUB E ' � II �'
Masterpiece on tlte Mississippi zoi�.zoi9
TO: The Honorable Mayor and City Council Members
FROM: Michael C. Van Milligen, City Manager
SUBJECT: Assistant Housing & Community Development Director Position Addition
Request
DATE: November 13, 2019
Housing & Community Development Director Alexis Steger is requesting the addition of
a Full-Time Assistant Housing & Community Development Director to be implemented
in the current fiscal year.
I concur with the recommendation and respectfully request Mayor and City Council
approval.
��JV'vr�"\ �Gtn�r //���{/L�t�
Mic ael C. Van Milligen �� �
MCVM:sv
Attachment
cc: Crenna Brumwell, City Attorney
Teri Goodmann, Assistant City Manager
Cori Burbach, Assistant City Manager
Alexis Steger, Housing & Community Development Director
Dubuque City of Dubuque
THE CTTY OF � � Housing& Community
uiueeneacih � Development
DUB E ���� ��� 350y W. 6�` Stree� Suite 312
EOPPORNNIT'IG i/u�1U UPi� IA SZOO1
Masterpiece on the Mississippi zov.zoi9 office (563) 589-4230
TO: Michael C. Van Milligen, City Manager
FROM: Alexis M. Steger, Housing & Community Development Director
DATE: November 12, 2019
RE: Assistant Housing & Community Development Director Position Addition Request
BACKGROUND
The Housing & Community Development Director oversees three divisions and two large grants with
a $9,557,000 operating budget and $13,839,000 capital budget each year. Additionally, the
department has 5 Boards & Commissions and three major partners in the CHANGE program
requiring extensive oversight. The Housing & Community Development Department also partners
with direct financial assistance to 12-15 agencies a year to provide services that the City is unable to
provide, all requiring oversight/reporting to meet Federal Requirements. Through the Community
Development Block Grant, the Housing Department is also responsible for overseeing programs run
under the Recreation Division, Public Work Department, Engineering Department and the Economic
Development Department.
Funding received for the programming in the Housing & Community Development Department comes
from highly regulated Federal and State Programs. These programs require several levels of
management, and extensive knowledge in specific Federal Regulations for each program.
Additionally, the local ordinances require the Housing & Community Development Department have
knowledge regarding the International Property Maintenance Code and all other building codes
adopted by the City.
In one year, the Director receives/sends approximately 73,660 relevant emails, or 391 emails every
day in the office that need to be reviewed. Assuming an average of one minute per email
review/response, 6.5 hours of every day are spent on email correspondence.
Meetings with city staff, community members and partners also requires a significant amount of time,
and in the past year the Director averaged 4 hours of ineetings a day. This does not include the
obligations to attend the City Council meetings as well as the meetings of the lowa Housing Trust
Fund Commission, the Housing Commission, the Housing Code Board of Appeals, the Resident
Advisory Board and the Community Advisory Commission, all held under the management of the
Housing & Community Development Director.
Tending to emails and daily meetings requires 10.5 hours per day from the Director. Additional
functions of the director position that are essential to ensure compliance with federal regulations,
state regulations and ordinances, as well as ensuring the economic well-being of the community are
unable to be completed because the capacity to complete these activities is not currently available.
3ervice People Ivtegrily Respovsibility Ivvova[iov Tearnwo�k
DISCUSSION
The addition of an Assistant Housing & Community Development Director is essential to maintain
service that follows all required regulations and ensures the City can continue to receive essential
funding from Federal and State agencies. The Assistant Housing & Community Development Director
position would assist with the oversight of three divisions and two grants, as well as meeting with and
strengthening partner relationships to make divisions more efficient and effective. Partnership work
will include furthering the goals of the community, such as poverty prevention and self-sufficiency,
accessible and affordable childcare, and workforce development.
Another focus of the position would be working through resident complaints and concerns to allow
division managers to complete quality control and quality assurance inspections/reviews. This
position will be a dedicated hearing officer for all programs that fall under Section 8, as well as the
designated Building Code Official. The position would manage the Housing & Community
Development Department equity and affirmatively further fair housing teams, including equity in
retention, recruitment, contracts, policy, community engagement, and data to track equity outcomes.
Additionally, the position will be in charge of weekly equity training with staff, and conduct community
engagement around daily housing work to further inclusiveness throughout the community.
BUDGETIMPACT
Recruitment and hiring of an Assistant Housing & Community Development Director position will take
at least three months, so the following budget reflects a tentative start date of February 10�h, 2020.
Approximately $50,500 is required to support the new position in FY 2020. The housing code
enforcement activity has savings of$7,265 from the purchase of a new vehicle. There is additional
savings of$43,239 from continued inspector vacancies. This savings accounts for decreased
revenues from the vacancies as well. Therefore, the required budget for FY 2020 to support a new
Assistant Housing & Community Development Director is available in 10061700, in the amount of
$50,504.
The full budget requirement for this position in FY 2021 is $110,500. This would be split between
three funds; General Fund (50°k), Section 8 Admin (25°k), CDBG Admin (25°k). Section 8 funding
would be dependent on increasing leased vouchers to 10,378 voucher months in fiscal year 2020 and
10,591 in FY 2021 . This increases administrative fees received by the city by $16,000, assuming
HUD continues to fund 79.56°k of fees eligible. Additionally, the Family Unification Program (FUP)
vouchers that will be applied for in December 2019 would increase the administrative fees by another
$18,860.
Should the FUP grant not be received, additional General Funds would be required in FY 2021 to
accommodate this request in FY 2021 .
REQUESTED ACTION
I respectfully request the addition of a Full-Time Assistant Housing & Community Development
Director, to be implemented in the current fiscal year.
Cc: Jenny Larson, Budget and Finance Director
Shelley Stickfort, Human Resources Director
Cori Burbach, Assistant City Manager
Teri Goodman, Assistant City Manager
Secvice People Integ�ity Respovsibility Ivvovafiov Teamwock