Title
Adoption of Resolution Approving Workforce Changes in the City Attorney’s Office and Amending the Management and Confidential Employees Association and the Executive Management Employees Salary Schedules Effective February 9, 2025. (Human Resources 10025060)
Body
To: Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Council
From: Jennifer Ott, City Manager
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
To uphold the City of Alameda’s (City) commitment to attracting and retaining top talent and maintaining competitive compensation, Human Resources regularly reviews position compensation and allocations. Following review of the attorney classifications, staff recommends updates to the Management & Confidential Employees Association (MCEA) Salary Schedule to increase the hours and compensation for attorneys within the City Attorney’s Office. Additionally, staff propose adjustments to the Executive Management Employees (EXME) Salary Schedule to align with changes to the Chief Assistant City Attorney’s salary. Finally, staff recommends eliminating attorney positions designated for “prosecution” to provide flexibility and better meet the evolving needs of the City Attorney’s Office.
BACKGROUND
To stay competitive and adapt to evolving job responsibilities, Human Resources conducts periodic reviews of job descriptions, salary schedules, and position allocations to ensure internal equity, market competitiveness, and alignment with City needs. A recent compensation and job description survey comparing the City’s attorney classifications with those in Berkeley, Hayward, Livermore, Fremont, and Pleasanton identified necessary adjustments to address misalignments with pay, responsibility, and experience requirements affecting our market competitiveness for these positions.
To address these misalignments, staff recommends a series of updates to the MCEA and EXME salary schedules. These include removing the distinction between prosecution and non-prosecution attorney positions to ensure equity and flexibility, increasing hours for all attorney classifications to 40 hours per week (2080 hours annually) with corresponding salary adjustments to reflect the additional hours and align with market standards, and reallocating the Chief Planning Counsel position to a second Chief Assistant City Attorney to enhance organizational structure and capacity. Finally, the updates set the foundation for aligning position descriptions with market comparators, ensuring consistency and competitiveness as these revisions are finalized in coordination with the Civil Service Board by April 2025.
DISCUSSION
The proposed changes aim to address misalignments in job descriptions and duties with salary schedules for attorney classifications within the City Attorney's office.
Proposed Changes to Attorney Classifications and Hours
One of the key changes proposed involves removing the prosecution designation for all attorney classifications under the MCEA Salary Schedule. This adjustment is recommended to better align with the City Attorney’s Office’s operational needs, as nearly all attorneys are assigned, at least in part, to the Prosecution Unit and currently work a 37.5-hour, five-day schedule, though additional hours are often required. The existing salary schedule creates two designations for each classification. For example, it includes both the Deputy City Attorney I (DCA-I) and the Deputy City Attorney I - Prosecution Unit (DCA-I-PU). The distinction between these classifications is based solely on work hours and salary, with both tied to the same job description. The DCA-I is assigned a 36-hour work week, while the DCA-I-PU is assigned a 37.5-hour work week, resulting in a higher annual salary due to the additional hours.
Currently, nearly all attorneys in the City Attorney's Office are designated under the Prosecution Unit and work 37.5-hour weeks, even though the majority of allocated positions are not formally designated as such. Additionally, at times, attorneys have handled both prosecution and civil matters, especially when prosecution was understaffed, further necessitating a unified approach to work schedules and compensation. Even attorneys designated solely for civil matters frequently work 37.5-hour weeks or more due to court hearings and client demands. The proposed changes will eliminate the discrepancy between attorneys designated to the Prosecution Unit and those without the designation. Additionally, by increasing the workweek for all classifications to 40 hours, the updated salary schedules will more accurately reflect the hours worked and ensure equitable compensation across the Office.
Staff recommends amending the MCEA Salary Schedule (Exhibit 1) to remove the "Prosecution Unit" designation and standardize the weekly hours for all attorney classifications to 40. This adjustment will apply to all attorney classifications, including Deputy City Attorney I, Deputy City Attorney II, Assistant City Attorney I, and Assistant City Attorney II as well as the EXME classification (Exhibit 2) of Chief Assistant City Attorney. Additionally, staff recommends discontinuing the Chief Planning Counsel classification and upgrading the position to allocate a second Chief Assistant City Attorney.
Proposed Salary Adjustment
Salary adjustments are proposed to ensure the City Attorney's Office remains competitive in attracting and retaining skilled legal professionals. These adjustments are based on a comparison with similar agencies, including Berkeley, Hayward, Livermore, Fremont, and Pleasanton, and align with industry standards to maintain regional competitiveness.
The adjustments also account for the increase in weekly hours, standardizing all attorney classifications at 40 hours per week. This change ensures fair compensation for the additional workload, as many attorneys already work 40 or more hours. Additionally, the updated salaries reflect revised job specifications that better represent the scope of responsibilities and experience required of the positions.
The revised job specifications will be presented for approval at the Civil Service Board meeting in April 2025, or sooner if a special meeting is called.
If adopted, the revised salaries effective February 9, 2025, will be as follows:
|
Wkly Hrs |
Classification FLSA Exempt |
Annual Salary |
|
|
|
Step 1 |
Step2 |
Step 3 |
Step 4 |
Step 5 |
|
40 |
Deputy City Attorney I |
$154,834 |
$162,576 |
$170,705 |
$179,240 |
$188,202 |
|
40 |
Deputy City Attorney II |
$170,317 |
$178,833 |
$187,775 |
$197,164 |
$207,022 |
|
40 |
Assistant City Attorney I |
$192,032 |
$201,634 |
$211,716 |
$222,302 |
$233,417 |
|
40 |
Assistant City Attorney II |
$212,891 |
$223,535 |
$234,712 |
$246,448 |
$258,770 |
|
40 |
Chief Assistant City Attorney |
$223,535 |
$234,712 |
$246,448 |
$258,770 |
$271,727 |
Additional Changes to the MCEA Salary Schedule
In addition to the previously outlined changes, the MCEA salary schedule has been updated to reflect organizational adjustments and align job titles with current responsibilities, as approved by the Civil Service Board. The Principal Financial Analyst has been retitled Budget Manager/ Purchasing Agent, and the Development Services Division Manager has been retitled the Economic Development Division Manager. Further, the Economic Development Manager position has been eliminated, as its duties were integrated into other roles, including the Economic Development Division Manager, during the reorganization of the Base Reuse & Economic Development Department. All of these changes have been approved by the Civil Service Board.
ALTERNATIVES
City Council may consider a number of alternatives, including:
• Approve the resolution as recommended. This action would align salaries to the median, enhancing future recruitment efforts and the City’s ability to attract and retain high quality candidates.
• Deny the resolution and direct staff to consider these changes in conjunction with labor bargaining for all classifications covered under MCEA and EXME.
FINANCIAL IMPACT
The proposed changes to the salary schedule are expected to result in an additional annual cost of approximately $285,000. For the five months remaining in fiscal year (FY) 2024-25 the increase is projected to be approximately $100,000 and the City Attorney’s Office has sufficient funds within its existing budget to absorb the increased salaries without requiring a budget adjustment. The majority of the affected positions are filled with lower classifications than are budgeted and the savings from the underfill of the budgeted position should provide sufficient funds in FY 2024-25 to cover the additional cost. Additionally, staffing costs in the City Attorney’s office are housed in a variety of Special Funds, in addition to the General Fund, depending upon the work assigned to each attorney. However, the ongoing annual increase of $285,000 will need to be incorporated into future budget cycles to ensure sustained funding.
MUNICIPAL CODE/POLICY DOCUMENT CROSS REFERENCE
This action is consistent with the City’s Strategic Plan, Project No. GOV7 (“Review and update employee classification specifications”).
ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW
This action does not constitute a “project” as defined in California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) Guidelines Section 15378 and therefore no further CEQA analysis is required.
CLIMATE IMPACT
There are no identifiable climate impacts or climate action opportunities associated with the subject of this report.
RECOMMENDATION
Adopt a resolution approving workforce change in the City Attorney’s Office and amending the MCEA and the EXME salary schedules effective February 9, 2025.
Respectfully submitted,
Jessica Romeo, Human Resources Director
Financial Impact section reviewed,
Margaret O’Brien, Finance Director
Exhibits:
1. Management & Confidential Employees Association Salary Schedule
2. Executive Management Employees Salary Schedule