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related departments. To accomplish this change financially, the Director of Utilities position will be
<br />unbudgeted. Mr. Harris is currently on Step 8 of his current range and will move to Step 1 of the ACM range.
<br />Mr. Vine's pay range under a DCM will simply shift around his current pay. Both employees will receive
<br />pay adjustments commensurate with those being done under item #3 of this Budget Message, other than Mr.
<br />Harris who will indeed see an additional pay increase from Step 8 of his current range to Step 1 of the ACM
<br />range. The Step Plan for these and all other positions are included as part of the Proposed FY23/24 Budget
<br />packet, Exhibit E. As the City Manager, it is one of my many duties to recognize and promote opportunities
<br />for greater efficiency for our municipal operations and service to our community, particularly when those
<br />opportunities exist from within. Given the available in-house skill and talent we have in Mr. Harris, it makes
<br />total sense to promote his abilities forward and upwards to perform even greater service to our community.
<br />The second new position is a Public Information Officer (PIO). The City of Paris has grown to a point that
<br />keeping the public informed is not only vital to our operations, but now a full-time job. Whether it is open
<br />record requests, social media interactions, reworking and updating the city website, preparing press releases
<br />and interacting with the media, or educating the public to the services we provide, there is much that we can
<br />improve upon to better interact with our citizens. During emergency situations, the City Management team
<br />will greatly benefit by having a PIO on hand who can focus the appropriate amount of time needed to
<br />preparing messaging to the community, giving management the opportunity to stay focused on addressing
<br />the situation. Another strong need is to begin accessing and using the Public, Educational and Governmental
<br />(PEG) funding. For years, the City has been accumulating PEG funding pursuant to Texas Utility Code
<br />66.009. Citizens pay this additional fee as part of their cable bills and the franchised cable provider forwards
<br />it to the City. This funding however has very specific and narrow uses, all circling around having a PEG
<br />television channel for public information. The PEG funding cannot be used to fund a position, but a PIO is
<br />best suited to spend down these funds via equipment needs to perform their duties and maintain this PEG
<br />channel with content under the law. Whether we start a PIO or not, we need to seriously explore ways of
<br />spending down the PEG funding. Attempts to cease this funding have so far failed, however, we have not
<br />had sufficient time to attack this issue with the franchise provider. A task of the PIO will be to help us cease
<br />this funding should that be found appropriate, but given the amount that has accumulated, they will have
<br />many years of funding available to access for work to be done. Having a PEG channel as well as a vibrant
<br />social media presence will allow a PIO to help tell our story. We foresee interviews of council members and
<br />staff about hot topics, processes, new initiatives, project updates, etc. There is so much we see a PIO doing
<br />to help our community stay informed. This new position will report directly to the reclassified Deputy City
<br />Manager position.
<br />The third new position is the creation of an Assistant Finance Director. The purpose of this position is two-
<br />fold. First, there is a need to try and prepare a succession plan for the Finance Director position. Second and
<br />most importantly, there is an ever growing need to add capacity to this bustling department. The world of
<br />finance (audits, accounting, bonds, investments, etc.) is becoming ever so more complex with new regulations
<br />and rules that we must follow and remain compliant within. The Finance Department consists of payroll,
<br />accounts receivable, accounts payable, budgeting, utility billing, fixed assets, general ledger, and warehouse.
<br />However, there is also grant administration, auditing, reporting, investing, and much more that takes up
<br />tremendous amounts of time and must be done correctly. The Finance Department is also responsible for the
<br />PEDC finances. Gene Anderson, Finance Director, has done exemplary work for the City of Paris for many
<br />decades, however, he and I are in agreement that we have long surpassed the point of needing to add
<br />additional help, particularly on the management end of the spectrum. We have examined outsourcing some
<br />of these tasks, but given the hourly rates for this high level work as well as the lack of immediate availability
<br />as we would have with our own employee, let alone succession planning and management designation during
<br />times of leave, having an AFD appears more advantageous to the City than outsourcing certain tasks. It will
<br />also allow us to further separate out financial responsibilities and duties, which is a subject of greater
<br />accountability and trust that auditors and citizens wish to see when it comes to local government. An
<br />additional task that I would like to see added to the department is that of centralized procurement. We
<br />currently task every department with navigating the challenges of procurement, however it would be
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