TO: CITY COUNCIL
FROM: ADAM PIRRIE, CITY MANAGER
DATE: SEPTEMBER 23, 2025
Reviewed by:
City Manager: AP
SUBJECT:
Title
PROPOSED STAFFING ADJUSTMENTS IN THE POLICE AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENTS (FUNDING SOURCE: GENERAL FUND)
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SUMMARY
To address staff workloads, improve the efficiency of service to the community, and to allow for more effective employee management and succession planning, staff proposes adjustments to staffing in the Police and Community Development Departments.
Staff proposes the addition of one new Police Captain position in the Police Department, to replace a Police Sergeant position that is proposed to be eliminated.
Staff also proposes the addition of two new positions in the Community Development Department - one Senior Planner position and one Building Inspector position. Additionally, staff proposes to reclassify the existing Principal Planner position in the Department to a City Planner position.
RECOMMENDATION
Recommended Action
Staff recommends the City Council:
A. Authorize one new Police Captain position and eliminate one Police Sergeant position in the Police Department;
B. Authorize one new Senior Planner position and one new Building Inspector position and authorize the reclassification of one Principal Planner position to a City Planner position in the Community Development Department; and
C. Appropriate $194,000 in building permit, building plan check, and development review fees to support the staffing adjustments proposed for the Community Development Department.
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ALTERNATIVES TO RECOMMENDATION
In addition to the recommendation, there are the following alternatives:
A. Do not authorize the recommended staffing adjustments.
B. Request additional information.
FINANCIAL REVIEW
The full-year cost of a new Police Captain position is approximately $387,000, approximately $68,000 more than the annual cost of the Police Sergeant position ($319,000) that is proposed to be eliminated. Since the new Police Captain position is likely to be filled on or after November 1, 2025, the prorated additional cost for 2025-26 will amount to approximately $46,000. When the City’s 2024-26 operating budget for the Police Department was developed, it included the costs for a Police Chief and Police Captain at the top of their respective salary ranges. The retirement of the former Chief and the resulting promotions of a new Police Chief and Police Captain will result in cost savings of approximately $69,000 in 2025-26, sufficient to cover the cost of the proposed adjustments to staffing in the Police Department this fiscal year. Beyond 2025-26, the additional annual cost resulting from the addition of the new Police Captain position and the elimination of a Police Sergeant position will be included during the development of future City budgets.
The full-year cost of a new Senior Planner position is approximately $159,000, and the full-year cost of a new Building Inspector position is approximately $125,000. The increased annual cost for the reclassification of a Principal Planner position to a City Planner position is approximately $7,000. In total, the additional full-year costs of the proposed staffing adjustments in the Community Development Department amount to approximately $291,000. Prorated to account for the filling of the new positions on or after November 1 and the reclassification of the existing position effective October 1 results in an additional cost of approximately $194,000 in 2025-26. After 2025-26, the additional annual costs of the proposed new positions and reclassification of the existing position will be included in the development of subsequent City budgets.
The cost of staffing in the Planning and Building Divisions is supported by building permit, building plan check and development review fees. Over the last several years, revenues from these fees have significantly exceeded budgetary amounts, an indication of the volume of development activity taking place in the City that necessitates the proposed adjustments to staffing levels in the Community Development Department. In the current year, revenues received as of the date of this report, amounting to approximately $641,000, represent approximately 34 percent of the budget for the full year, despite the fact that the first quarter of the fiscal year is not yet complete. Given recent revenue trends relating to building permit, building plan check and development review fees, staff believes that sufficient additional revenues will be received during the remainder of the fiscal year to support the proposed staffing adjustments in the Community Development Department. Accordingly, staff recommends the appropriation of $194,000 in building permit, building plan check and development review fees to fund these staffing adjustments in 2025-26.
The staff cost to prepare this report is estimated at $2,000 and is included in the operating budget of the Administrative Services Department.
ANALYSIS
Police Department
The current Claremont Police Department management structure includes one Chief, one Captain, five Lieutenants, and five Sergeants. Staffing the Department has been the most significant challenge in recent years and the Police Department, in partnership with the Human Resources Division, has been working hard to hire and train qualified candidates to provide high quality public safety services to the Claremont community. The Department has been successful in doing so, however the institutional knowledge and experience level of our sworn police staff is very limited. For example, among the Department’s Patrol Officers, the most senior Officer has four years of Patrol experience. At the Patrol Corporal level, the Department has one Corporal with twenty years of experience, with the next most senior Corporal working Patrol has nine years of experience. During a recent shift rotation, one Patrol shift had four newer officers with the most senior officer possessing only two years of service.
In the interest of developing future leaders in the organization, creating a viable succession plan and providing more effective supervision of a young workforce, staff believes that the Police Department command structure must be modified. Doing so will help minimize liability to the City by providing more guidance and training to our newer officers and provide greater accountability to policies and procedures by staff. Additionally, the addition of a new Captain position will allow for more effective succession planning as the management staff of the Police Department enters a period of transition, where the upcoming retirements of several Police Department management staff will require the City to identify, promote and train the Department’s future leaders. Ensuring that newly promoted management staff are well-rounded assets to the organization will help the Police Department maintain a culture of responsiveness and accountability to the community.
The proposed new Police Captain position would oversee the Support Services side of the Police Department (Dispatch, Records, and Jail). This would allow for additional Police Lieutenant oversight of our young Patrol staff and more equally distribute the workload among the supervisory staff and minimize liabilities associated with operating a law enforcement agency. The new Police Captain position would also provide more opportunities for staff to gain experience at the Police Lieutenant rank to prepare for advancement to the Police Captain and Police Chief roles in the future.
Community Development Department
The Planning Division in the Community Development Department is responsible for the processing of development applications from residential and commercial developers, the Claremont Colleges and residents of the City. The volume and complexity of the applications they are charged with reviewing has grown significantly, necessitating a reconsideration of both staffing levels in the Division, as well as its management structure. Planning is currently staffed by the following professional planning staff: one Principal Planner, one Senior Planner and two Assistant Planners. This level of staffing is insufficient to meet the needs of the community. The volume of development activity, as well as the complex nature of the residential development landscape, brought on by rapidly changing State housing laws necessitates the addition of professional staff in the Planning Division to allow the City to process development applications more efficiently. Staff proposes the addition of one new Senior Planner position to the Planning Division to support the efficient, timely processing of development applications.
Further, to more effectively manage the workload of staff in the Planning Division, staff proposes to reclassify the existing Principal Planner position to a City Planner position. The City Planner would serve as a Division Head, a management position responsible for the delegation and management of work performed by the professional planning staff. Since the reductions in staffing that took place during the Great Recession in 2008-09, the Planning Division has been the only Division in the Community Development Department without a Division Head. In addition to the improved management of work performed by the Division that should result from this change, the reclassification of the Principal Planner position to a City Planner position will align the management structure of the Planning Division with the other divisions in the Community Development Department.
The Building Division has also experienced a significant increase in the volume of work related to development in the City over the last serval years. The need for additional staff to perform building inspections is critical, given this increase in development activity. Staff proposes the addition of one new Building Inspector position to allow the Building Division to be more efficient in facilitating the safe, orderly construction of commercial, residential and College development projects in the City. The Building Division is currently staffed by the following professional building staff: one Building Official, one Senior Building Inspector and one Building Permit Technician. This staffing level is significantly reduced from that prior to the Great Recession, when the Building Division had a total of five professional staff qualified to perform building inspections and plan checks, and issue building permits. Again, the volume and complexity of work the Building Division is responsible for necessitate the addition of new staff to meet the needs of the community.
Over the last several years, the City has attempted to address the increase in workload in the Planning and Building Divisions using contract planning and building staff. This has proved to be generally unsuccessful, as the quality of staffing provided by private planning and building firms has not been of the high standard expected by the City. Further, the changing job market has seen significant turnover in contract staff, resulting in a lack of continuity and consistency in the processing of planning and building applications. While the contract model may make sense in certain development environments, it has not proved to be an effective way for the City of Claremont to manage the high volume of commercial, residential and College development projects in the community.
RELATIONSHIP TO CITY PLANNING DOCUMENTS
Staff has evaluated the agenda item in relationship to the City’s strategic and visioning documents and finds that it applies to the following City Planning Documents: Council Priorities, General Plan, and the 2024-26 Budget.
CEQA REVIEW
This item is not subject to environmental review under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA).
PUBLIC NOTICE PROCESS
The agenda and staff report for this item have been posted on the City website and distributed to interested parties. If you desire a copy, please contact the City Clerk’s Office.
Submitted by:
Adam Pirrie
City Manager