Mission Statement

The Office of the City Administrator provides strategic leadership that supports the Mayor, City Council and City-wide Departments; the Office motivates and challenges the organization to deliver efficient and effective services toward equitable outcomes in the community.

Learn more about who we are and what we do here.

SERVICE IMPACTS &

EQUITY CONSIDERATIONS

Enhancements

Trustworthy & Responsible Government

1. Adds $100,000 in funding to support ongoing forward progress on the website through the end of the fiscal year and take advantage of the significant momentum and improvements that have been made over the past 18 months without interrupting or stalling that progress. Funding will improve delivery of digital services on the City’s website (oaklandca.gov), enhance the availability of services and information online, ensure searchability and accessibility of content, and support the ongoing development of a modern, accessible, user-centric, and mobile-responsive website that can be easily updated with content in multiple languages.
   • Equity Consideration: Ongoing website improvements that work towards the goal of all Oaklanders can interact with the City and find reliable & current information and services on the first try, regardless of device or language. Ongoing support will help remove barriers to accessing City government by providing City services online through an accessible, multi-lingual, easy to understand website that is available to people whenever they need to access it.
2. Adds 1.0 FTE Equal Opportunity Specialist to increase the division’s capacity to meet reporting requirements, improve compliance with state and federal mandates, provide additional training, and help shift operations towards a proactive model of engagement.
   • Equity Consideration: Adding another Equal Opportunity Specialist position would help the division reach full staffing and enable staff to get in front of the work and engage more proactively, decreasing the wait time to receive information.
3. Adds $90,000 of one-time funds for a professional services agreement for an as-needed Hearing Officer, to hear appeals of enforcement actions pertaining to any and all building, housing, fire, property, zoning codes, special business permits and public nuisance cases.
   • Equity Consideration: Hearing Officers perform an essential service to the City by serving as an independent and administrative adjudicator over all enforcement hearings pertaining to any and all building, housing, fire, property, zoning codes, special business permits and public nuisance cases in a public forum. Execution of the as-needed Hearing Officer contract ensures Oakland residents, business and property owners are guaranteed an impartial, independent enforcement appeals process in a timelier manner that could save time and money for residents.
4. Adds 1.0 FTE Human Services Manager (Accountability Officer) in accordance with the Children’s Initiative Act of 2018 (Measure AA) language to oversee the programs funded by the measure, and 1.0 FTE Administrative Analyst for administrative support.
   • Equity Consideration: Effective oversight of early childcare and preschool programs, fund college readiness programs, and tuition assistance will advance efforts to lessen racial inequities in access to higher education.
5. Adds 1.0 FTE Project Manager II to serve as the Citywide Ombudsperson who will support customer service enhancements and process improvements across all City departments that issue permits.
   • Equity Consideration: The Ombudsperson position will advance the City’s racial equity objectives by having a point of contact the public can turn to to address issues that may arise with a specific project, and to proactively assess the department’s forms, procedures, and services to make them more accessible and transparent.
6. Adds $40,000 for outreach and education efforts on Redistricting.
   • Equity Consideration: The City of Oakland is an ethnically and culturally diverse City, which underscores the need for culturally relevant and multi-lingual public outreach and communications throughout the City. This funding will support more proactive, meaningful, and inclusive engagement with communities in high priority neighborhoods that have historically been excluded from public outreach efforts, lacking resources to go out of their way to seek engagement opportunities.
7. Adds one-time funding for Two (2) Fuse Fellows to support for Climate/Sustainability program.
   • Equity Consideration: This is a council amendment approved at budget adoption and an equity statement was not developed for this item.
8. Adds $100,000 of one-time funds for portable air filtration units (Climate Equity Fund).
   • Equity Consideration: This is a council amendment approved at budget adoption and an equity statement was not developed for this item.
9. Adds $100,000 of one-time funds for workflow assessment research in the Homelessness Program.
   • Equity Consideration: This is a council amendment approved at budget adoption and an equity statement was not developed for this item.
10. Adds $100,000 of one-time funds to expand the feasibility study to create a Department of Children, Youth and Families within the City of Oakland.
    • Equity Consideration: This is a council amendment approved at budget adoption and an equity statement was not developed for this item.

Other Impacts & Changes

1. Use of salary savings to unfreeze 1.0 FTE City Administrator Analyst position for Inclusive Community Engagement in response to a request from the Citywide Inclusive Community Engagement working group to facilitate and standardize the City’s equitable and inclusive community engagement practices across departments.
   • Equity Consideration: The Inclusive Community Engagement Officer will collaborate with departments to adopt a consistent engagement strategy that not only informs residents about resources and services, but also establishes accessible channels of communication/participation specifically designed to include and elevate the voices of residents who historically have been excluded from government processes and decision making.
2. Allocates salary savings, as well as freezing 2.0 vacant Neighborhood Services Coordinator positions for 6 months.
3. Deletes 1.0 FTE Public Information Officer II (PIO II) and adds 1.0 FTE Public Information Officer III (PIO III). The PIO III classification is more appropriate for a role focused on managing communications related to complex, high-profile, interdepartmental issues and initiatives, and providing strategic consultation to PIOs and staff in City departments.
   • Equity Consideration: Upgrading the PIO II to a PIO III position is consistent with the Communications & Media Division’s broader capacity-building effort to establish Citywide engagement strategy and standards designed to increase equitable access to information, programs and services.
4. Deletes temporary part-time positions for permanent full-time positions in the OAK311 Call Center to address the ongoing challenge to attract and retain long-term staff to assist OAK311 in managing the volume of complaints received.
   • Equity Consideration: Converting the temporary part-time positions to permanent full-time positions will help OaK311 to stabilize operations and provide more consistent intake support and management of resident complaints and reports to the Call Center. Adding 2.0 FTE Public Service Representatives will increase the capacity of OAK311 to intake, track and follow-up on the large volume of service requests received. This in turn will benefit the City departments that respond to service requests, as well as residents who submit the requests or complaints to the City.
5. Allocates $20,000 from salary savings to Neighborhood Services Division’s (NSD) O&M to support outreach, promotion, supplies and other miscellaneous services related to National Night Out (NNO).
   • Equity Consideration: The proposed increase to NSD’s O&M for NNO will help the division to conduct more targeted outreach and engage directly with underserved neighborhoods in Oakland to ensure these neighborhoods have the resources and support needed to organize NNO block parties and encourage resident participation.
6. Transfers the ADA Programs Division from the Department of Transportation to the City Administrator’s Office on the recommendation of the Mayor’s Commission on Person with Disabilities (MPCD) to become more autonomous within the City organization hierarchy, to be effective at coordinating physical and programmatic access compliance in all City programs, activities, and services citywide per State and Federal requirements.
   • Equity Consideration: Improved coordination will help to address the lack of ADA accessibility to City programs and services for communities of color who live in areas with poorer infrastructure and may have limited access to information and services.
7. Transfers the Sustainability Unit from Oakland Public Works to the City Administrators Office to become a more independent office to be effective at collaboration with staff across all City Departments and with community leaders and experts on equitable climate change mitigation and adaptation.
   • Equity Consideration: Advances the City’s racial equity goals through improved coordination to focus the City’s sustainability efforts towards equitable distribution of resources to people who are predominantly from neighborhoods that are majority Black, Indigenous and people of color.
8. Allocates $10,000 of salary savings to the Employment Investigations and Civil Rights Compliance’s (EICRC’s) O&M budget to be used for vendor support with the federally mandated utilization study, education at the Cal Perla annual conference, and contract investigator fees.
   • Equity Consideration: EICRC is responsible for preparing comprehensive investigative reports documenting investigations, including fact-finding, applying facts to policies, drawing conclusions as to whether policies have been violated, and ensuring alignment with federal and state laws and City policies and procedures. The requested increase in O&M will support the division’s ongoing training and operational needs to prepare and submit mandated EEO statistical reports; conduct discrimination and sexual harassment prevention training programs and monitor hiring practices for equal employment opportunity compliance. This work proactively reduces discrimination against protected groups and supports those who have been discriminated against, often the least advantaged.

SIGNIFICANT BUDGETARY CHANGES

FINANCIAL INFORMATION

POSITION INFORMATION