CITY COUNCIL AGENDA ITEM
ACTION REQUESTED:
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Authorize the City Manager to increase the 2026 personnel headcount to hire three additional full-time staff members in the Transportation, Engineering and Development Business Group
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DEPARTMENT: Transportation, Engineering and Development
SUBMITTED BY: Jennifer Louden, Director
BOARD/COMMISSION REVIEW:
N/A
BACKGROUND:
The Transportation, Engineering and Development (TED) Business Group’s principal purpose is to enhance the city’s character and quality of life by providing excellent service in building and maintaining the community. TED provides a wide variety of services to achieve this purpose. Key functions performed by TED staff include, but are not limited to:
• Coordinating and facilitating the development process from conception to completion.
• Processing development, building, and engineering permits.
• Performing building and site inspections and enforcing health, welfare, safety, and property maintenance codes.
• Managing capital improvements within the city.
• Maintaining city roadways, sidewalks, bikeways, and public parking lots through the Maintenance Improvement Program (MIP).
• Maintaining and operating the city’s traffic signal system.
• Addressing residential concerns related to traffic.
• Coordinating with partners to manage and maintain the Naperville Riverwalk and manage and facilitate the Riverwalk donation program.
• Conducting long-range planning studies and special projects.
• Supporting the Building Review Board, Historic Preservation Commission, Planning and Zoning Commission, Riverwalk Commission and Transportation Advisory Board.
The current headcount is 69.80 full-time equivalent positions (FTEs).
DISCUSSION:
TED staffing was significantly reduced across all technical areas during the 2008-2010 recession and has not recovered. The current staffing level is 27% less than the 2008 headcount of 96.11 FTEs. Since that time TED has remained committed to providing high quality services. However, over the past six years the workload has outpaced staff capacity, and it has become increasingly difficult to effectively perform key functions at an acceptable quality.
TED customers have grown increasingly frustrated, specifically related to building permit and development services, and staff has become concerned with the quality of work they can perform based on workload.
The addition of three full-time positions are recommended to begin addressing the deficiencies: one Code Official, one Building Inspector and one Engineering Manager.
Code Official
All permit plans are reviewed for conformance with national, state and local building, energy, mechanical and accessibility codes. The current volume of reviews warrants four full-time reviewers. These duties are currently being completed by two Code Officials. The Chief Building Official also spends approximately 30-40% of their time on plan reviews. TED utilizes a third-party plan review consultant to assist with the balance of reviews. This requires staff time to administer and is not as efficient or cost-effective as an in-house reviewer.
Adding one additional Code Official will increase resources for the current review volume. With this new staff member, the department could reduce the reliance on the third-party consultant, except if needed for coverage during extended staff leaves or vacancies or should review volumes grow at an unexpected rate.
Building Inspector
The Inspection Team consists of 6.6 inspectors and one supervisor. The current ratio of inspectors to inspections is significantly higher than prior to the recession. This ratio has resulted in inspections being delayed and therefore not meeting customer service expectations.
To address this, the supervisor now carries a very high inspection workload, limiting their ability to perform other important administrative and customer service related duties. In addition, the team as a whole is challenged to accomplish their other duties, including plan review for specific technical elements, such as plumbing and electrical.
Adding one additional Building Inspector will provide resources to address the current inspection volume, improving both plan review and inspection customer service, and allowing the supervisor to somewhat return to administrative and customer service responsibilities.
Engineering Manager
The Engineering Team provides several key services to the community including conducting the City’s annual maintenance programs for streets, sidewalks, bikeways and public parking lots, managing large and diverse capital improvement projects, addressing resident traffic concerns and performing technical reviews of permit and development plans. The team currently has one Engineering Manager who provides oversight and guidance for all technical responsibilities and directly supervises seven Civil Engineers and one Lead Engineering Inspector who supervises five Engineering Inspectors.
Adding an additional Engineering Manager would allow the technical and supervisory duties to be divided so that each Manager could provide better support for their team members. Team members will in turn be able to focus their work efforts more efficiently, resulting in improvements in the performance of permit and plan reviews and management of capital projects.
FISCAL IMPACT:
The estimated annual cost for the three additional full-time staff members is $500,000, which includes salary and benefits. The proposed 2027 budget will include these full-time positions. Recruitment of the positions will take several months; therefore, only two months of salary and benefits costs are anticipated to be spent in 2026. The approximate cost is $85,000, which can be accommodated within the existing 2026 budget due to underspend from vacancies in other positions.