At their Sept. 10 meeting, the Board of Supervisors approved the creation of an Ad Hoc Committee to encourage and to aid continuous improvement of the Transportation and Land Management Agency’s Planning Department. The Committee met on Sept. 26 and a month later the whole Board supported their recommendation for additional staff.

At the Board’s Oct.29 meeting, without discussion, the Supervisors unanimously approved funds to hire 12 more staff for the Planning Department.

Six are considered planning positions and the other half are land-use technicians. The planning staff will include assistant, associate and senior level positions.

The planners will be involved in new projects, including long-range projects. The land-use technicians are primarily responsible for the daily customer service, such as walk-ins, calls, and emails.

In his request to the Board, County Executive Officer Jeff Van Wagenen stressed the growth of the Department’s workload over the past five years while its staffing has declined significantly in the past five years.

In 2020, there were 718 new cases. This grew in 2021 and peaked at 1,165 in 2022. In 2023, it declined by 186 cases to 979. Through August, already 738 new cases have been opened. If it continues at this pace, the 2024 total will exceed 1,100 again.

Besides the volume of work increases, the complexity of land-use decisions is increasing due to a significant number of state law changes in the areas of land use and housing, and other factors.

As workload has grown, the Planning staff has been reduced nearly 40%, from 65 planners to 40 today. This decision will restore about half the staff decline.

The Ad Hoc Committee was to help address other concerns over the Planning Department’s efforts. This included more than simply hiring additional staff.

Four separate areas were identified and two of these, recruitment and retention, involve the Department’s staff.

To improve recruitment, the Department is attending national organizations conferences, such as American Planning Association as well as state chapters. A vigorous internship program is also being developed to bring in staff lower levels who can develop on the job.

The overall competitive job market, exacerbated by the special skills required in Planning, has limited the Department’s ability to keep vacant positions filled. Last month the County approved salary adjustments for most positions. As a result, along with the labor organizations cost-of-living annual adjustments, Riverside County planning staff salaries are in the top 25% of the region.

These changes have had a noticeable difference. After a four-day APA conference, the Planning Department reported it had received more than 100 applications ranging from internship level up to senior level experience.

The Department has also initiated programs to recognize and reward good work.

When the Ad Hoc Committee was established, Supervisors Kevin Jeffries (1^(st) District) and Yxstian Gutierrez (5th District) explained its purpose.

Insufficient staff and greater than normal turnout was affecting productivity and consequently, new development in the County. “This has contributed to service delays and reduced the department’s overall effectiveness. The heavy load of planning casework adds to the challenges of keeping staff, pointing to the need to stabilize our workforce to achieve and maintain manageable caseloads,” Jeffries and wrote in the request.