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Regular City Council Meeting Monday,August 26,2013 Page 11 Recognizing that the Communications Manager position would be receiving fund- ing support from the Housing & Redevelopment Authority (HRA), Councilmem- ber Etten questioned if there would be a net gain realized for that position and completion of objectives while sharing duties among HRA and Administrative needs; and also meeting the goal of breaking down silos and absorbing some of the extra work from other departments. Mr. Trudgeon advised that the current structure allowed for 1.5 FTE and the new structure would provide for 2.0 FTE, with the expectation that a higher level em- ployee could more fluidly cross departments and make strategic sense of how to accomplish the goals, and directly report that process to the City Manager and Department Heads. While he didn't expect the position to be at the same level as Department Heads, Mr. Trudgeon advised that he did envision them being in- volved in the same discussions; anticipating that the barriers could be broken down and provide a better and more consistent end product. At the request of Councilmember Etten, Mr. Trudgeon clarified that the intent was that the overall branding would be similar to the level and quality of today's HRA marketing efforts. Mr. Trudgeon advised that the HRA was interested in being part of versus separate from a unified city-wide branding; suggesting that the joint efforts will prove beneficial to all parties within the City organization. Specific to the City Clerk position taking on best value contract efforts, Coun- cilmember Wilimus questioned how that position could address ongoing functions in that incredibly time-consuming role. Councilmember Trudgeon advised that the position had performed that function with the recent recycling contract; and clarified that the intent was only for ad- ministrative and City Council contracts, not city-wide, which would prove few and far between. However, if needed, Mr. Trudgeon advised that the function could be evaluated and revisited if indicated to be problematic. Specific to the.Communications Manager and Specialist areas, Councilmember Laliberte recognized some apprehension by some departments to truly turn over this function; and expressed her hope that a good hire will inspire confidence and free up employees in those departments to perform other work, with one go-to person servicing the entire City. Councilmember Laliberte expressed her appreci- ation in Mr. Trudgeon's attempts to make that happen. Councilmember McGehee concurred with that comment; and recognized the con- siderable effort and funding made by the HRA for their branding, opining that it was now very well established. From her personal perspective, Councilmember McGehee suggested that their brand or a portion of it could be carried over, since it seemed to be a good brand with effectiveness; opining that she could think of no department in the City that wouldn't fit with that HRA brand. Regarding the