Reading does not have a public works director 18 months into the Moran administration

Aug. 2—Mayor Eddie Moran has been in office for more than 18 months and is still missing a key member of his administration: a public works director.

When Moran took office he promised to surround himself with the best and brightest minds to help him lead the city, but it has been challenging to find someone to run the department that takes care of streets and parks.

The administration has claimed the low salary range for the position and residency requirement discouraged qualified people from taking the job.

Council obliged the administration and raised the salary of the public works director to $80,000 to $110,000. It was $70,000 to $100,000.

The state's Third Class City Code requires a city engineer to be a certified public engineer.

Reading is a third-class city, but has a home-rule charter, so it gets to decide on its own requirements for a public works director. The city's charter requires that the public works director be a certified public engineer.

Allentown, a third-class city with a home rule charter, does not require its public works director to be a certified public engineer, and the director's salary there is $127,000.

Bethlehem follows the third-class city code, so its public works director is a certified engineer. The director's salary is $113,872 in 2021.

Reading's population is estimated at 88,000 in the latest census data.

The populations of Allentown and Bethlehem are estimated at 121,000 and 75,000, respectively.

City Council agreed to put a charter amendment on the ballot that would remove the residency requirement for department directors. The measure passed, and the residency requirement no longer applies.

Council introduced a charter amendment on Monday for the fall ballot to remove the requirement that the public works director is a certified public engineer.

There was no discussion about the amendment by council or the administration, only that it would be discussed at the committee of the whole meeting coming up on Monday.

Still, the city is without a full-time public works director

Moran seems to have given up on searching for one. The job posting has been pulled from the city's website.

A familiar face

The department has not been leaderless during the search.

Charles Jones, who served as public works director in three previous administrations, was tapped by Moran to be the department's interim director.

Moran asked City Council to approve Jones as interim director in July 2020, and members did by a 7-0 vote.

Jones' compensation is based on a $65,000-a-year salary, and he is expected to work 24 hours a week. He receives no benefits.

The first task listed in the job description is to lead the city's search for a new public works director.

Jones was unable to find a full-time director in the first six months of his contract, and council was asked on Jan. 25 to extend it for another six months. Council unanimously approved the extension.

The contract extension would have expired on July 1, but the Moran administration is not worried.

"Despite the contract having lapsed at the end of June, there has been no disruption in services," read an e-mailed statement from the administration that came from city Communications Manager Christian Crespo. "We are also working with members of City Council to address the need for the director to have a professional engineering license. Legislation was recently introduced, and we will be meeting shortly. We will also follow up with the director when he returns from vacation next week."

The Reading Eagle asked several follow up questions but has received no response.

Council President Jeffrey S. Waltman Sr. said on the surface, someone might be concerned about the lack of a full-time public works director, but said the staff in the department has really stepped up.

"We had Charlie here and Stan (Rugis capital project manager) assisting," he said. "I feel in some respects, we have a little more focus in public works."

Waltman admitted it is important to have a director in place to oversee the department.

"I think it's important to eventually get that position filled," he said.

Questions linger

Moran has tiptoed along the line of violating the city's charter and administrative code by hiring Jones as acting public works director.

Only qualified city employees can be named acting department directors unless council approves a temporary director by resolution, which council did.

However, if Jones is only serving in a consulting capacity, then it raises the question if Moran is in violation of the charter because he has not hired a public works director.

There's also a question about how long an acting department director can serve in an acting capacity.

The charter states acting directors may not serve more than 180 days. It can be extended for an additional 90 days if council approves.

The city's charter board ruled in 2019 that former Mayor Wally Scott and Managing Director Glenn Steckman violated the charter when they allowed an acting administrative services director to serve more than 180 days without seeking a 90-day extension from council.

Moran did seek an extension from council for Jones to serve as interim director past 180 days, but it was for an additional 180 days, not 90 days as the city's administrative code and charter states.

Jones has served a full year as acting public works director.

The city's charter board does not weigh in on potential charter violations unless asked to issue an advisory opinion or investigate an alleged violation.

The pension question

Another question with which city officials are grappling: Can Jones, who is a retired city employee, be a subcontractor for the city and still collect his city pension?

Reading's pension board discussed the topic on at least two occasions. The first time was at its January 2020 meeting.

Board members asked if a retired city employee could serve the city as a consultant on a temporary basis and if that employee's pension should be suspended, according to meeting minutes.

It was reported, there was no intention of long-term employment, no benefits and the position is strictly on a part-time basis, according to the minutes.

Lester Kissinger made the motion to allow Jones to keep his pension while performing consultant services. The motion was seconded by Moran.

The board agreed to review the matter in six months but did not discuss the issue in depth until May 2021.

The board noted Jones was performing services as a contractor to the city with "similar if not the same job duties as he was when he was an active city employee," according to the meeting minutes.

While Jones has not been a full-time public works director, Stan Rugis, the city's deputy public works director and capital project manager, has been helping run the department.

Capital projects manager

Rugis was hired in March 2020 as Reading's capital projects manager. He was the public works director for Northampton County. Rugis, who is not a certified public engineer, was later named the city's deputy public works director.

His hiring was a key component of the city's Act 47 exit plan from financial distress.

Meredith Brett, a senior managing consultant with PFM, took the city to task at the end of 2019 for not doing enough capital projects.

"As of August 2019," she told council at the time, "the city only spent $1 million of the projected $6.8 million it expected to spend (on capital projects). Not a great picture."

The city planned 83 projects in 2019. Two were completed — a pole barn and cameras in City Hall. Ten others were in progress, and 71 hadn't been started.

View from Act 47

Gordon Mann, director of PFM Inc., the Philadelphia firm tasked with overseeing the city's finances, still sees the capital project manager as a vital position for the city as it prepares to exit Act 47.

"Even more so now than before," Mann said. "We still considered the capital project manager to be very critical. We still believe it needs to be a separate position. We definitely envisioned it being a separate position."

Mann said it is fine that the position is under public works, but it's not necessarily a public works position.

The position has to coordinate among departments to make sure projects stay on track and are completed.

Mann took Scott's administration to task for having people fill multiple positions. The consultant still feels the same way.

"We definitely view this as a separate position," Mann said. "It's OK that it's in public works, but it's not to alleviate a public works position."

One reason the capital project manager position is so important is because the city should use some of its allotted federal American Rescue Plan monies for capital projects.

Another reason is that when the city moves out of Act 47 next year, it will lose the ability to leverage a commuter tax. That tax revenue went into the city's capital projects. The city has to decide what it does with the resident earned income tax revenue that ends up in the capital budget.

"For those two bigger-picture reasons," Mann said. "We view the capital project manager position as being, arguably, busier than they ever will be before."