RES 84151 - Laserfiche WebLink

SR 84: 144 Page 16 2. Hire a City Employee to Conduct the Update The major' differences in hiring a City employee rather than Mr. Lee would be the employe'l's lack of experience working in Pleasanton, increased start up time and the limited usefullness of that employee to the Cit~:, after the General Plan is complete. It would take at ].east. three months 'to advertise, interview and hire a new employee and an additional month or more for him/her to become familiar with the issues. Once the General Plan is complete, an employee who specializes in General Plans would have to receive additional on-the-job training before he/she could be of full benefit to the City, The advantage of a permanent employee would be the long- term assistance he/she could provide Planning staff who are currently understaffed and who could provide improved service to the public in current and advanced planning with an additional employee. Contract with an Outside Consult. ing Firm The City originally contracted with a planning con- sulting firm to rewrite the General Plan in 1972 but the con- sultant's contract was prematurely terminated and City staff com- pleted the job. There are several capable firms in the Bay Area who could perform a General Plan update but they may be more expensive, require more staff time and probab]y would not al]_ocate a full-time planner to work j.n P].easanton. Firms generally charge in excess of $50 per hour for their servi. ces which includes many overhead costs which the City need not incur. A firm which has not worked in Pl. easar~ton recently would also require extensive briefing from staff before being able to start the process. In addition, firms usually perform their work at an office 1. ocation outside of the contracting' city requiri~g additional staff ti. me to answer questions from the public in [=he consu]tant's absence. The process of developing-an RFP, reviewing p~oposals, interviewing consulting teams and signing a contract could take at least three months. The advantages of: h.irj_,;.'-.] an outside firm include the range of expertise available from the team mem~3ers and the di. versity of their experience in working in other c:ities.