Changes in administrative duties may be in the offing for 2017 in Salisbury Township.

It is not certain if the changes would be entirely accomplished by transferring employees or if new part-time or full-time employees would need to be hired.

Salisbury Township Manager Randy Soriano disclosed the proposed shuffling of duties to the township board of commissioners during a wide-ranging discussion at the Oct. 13 workshop following the regular meeting.

Discussion of township department realignment is expected to be part of 2017 budget deliberations

Township administration department heads have presented their budget proposals to Soriano. Township commissioners have received a first-look at the proposed 2017 township budget, which is expected to be discussed at upcoming township meetings. Commissioners next meet 7 p.m. Oct. 27 in the municipal building, 2900 S. Pike Ave.

Formal adoption of the 2017 budget by commissioners will take place in December. If necessary, meetings other than the regular commissioners’ meetings could be held for budget deliberations.

Concerning the 2017 budget, Soriano stated it continues “maintaining financial stability overall, delivering the essential services that our residents have been accustomed to in a more effective and efficient way, with the concept of retaining our current tax rate.”

In his presentation, Soriano said in a statement, “We have determined that our present organizational structure could be changed by reallocation of staff to enhance customer service and flow of permits for the planning, zoning, code enforcement and the newly-created MS4 coordinator program.”

•To achieve this, Soriano is proposing for the township to:

•Create a Code Enforcement-MS4 Department with an existing employee to oversee its functions;

•Assign an administrative assistant by relocating an employee from front office staff. This person would coordinate the code enforcement-MS4 office and deal directly with residents and businesses;

•Add an additional part-time employee to assist in MS4 inspections and code issues, and

•Separate planning-zoning as a stand-alone department with the director of planning and zoning having an administrative assistant who now shares duties with code enforcement.

Commissioner Joann Ackerman asked about the timing of the proposed changes.

“The person calling will get a designated person,” Soriano said.

Township Assistant Zoning Officer, Code Enforcement Officer and MS4 Coordinator Sandy Nicolo said, “People will come and have a question and if I’m out of the office on the road, they’re not going to get their question answered.

“The person dedicated is going to have to answer the questions.”

Asked Commissioner President James A. Brown of Nicolo, “You’ve seen an increase in MS4 questions?”

Answered Nicolo, “It’s not just the MS4. It’s code enforcement.”

“I don’t think you need a full-time person for code enforcement and MS4,” Commissioner Debra Brinton said.

“I think you have to have the right person,” Brinton said.

Soriano said he has met with township administrative staff. “They want to be engaged. They want additional duties,” Soriano said.

“We need to have the right personnel in place,” Brinton emphasized.

“We’re doing this without adding staff. We’re doing this with a reallocation of duties. They are going to have to know the codes,” Soriano said.

“I wouldn’t expect a secretary to understand zoning,” Director of Planning and Zoning Cynthia Sopka said.

Brinton again asked whether additional staff would be hired for planning and zoning.

“We’re not hiring anyone additional,” Assistant Manager-Director of Finance Cathy Bonaskiewich said.

“Planning and zoning functions could be separated so it’s a smoother operation,” Bonaskiewich said.

“If a visitor comes in, we want one person to handle that. Duties will shift,” Bonaskiewich said.

In addition, Soriano recommended strengthening internal controls in the finance department based on township Auditor Todd Bushta stating in a letter to the township manager duties and functions need to be separated to “achieve a higher degree of safeguarding our assets.”

To achieve this, Soriano said additional staff would be assigned to the finance department by transferring an administrative assistant to the front office. The purpose would be to “further segregate duties to comply with the auditor management letter.”

Soriano also discussed the role of the township assistant manager-director of finance. Soriano is urging the director of finance be made a stand-alone position, which, he said, existed “under the prior organizational chart.”

Furthermore, Soriano urged the hiring of a full-time human services director. This person would do annual personnel reviews and make recommendations to township management for “improvement of the organization’s policies, procedures and practices on personnel matters.”

Soriano said, “With changing laws and changing roles and the size of the township, not having a dedicated human resources person is lacking.”

Concerning front-lobby service at the municipal building, Soriano said “all of the staff answers phones and each independently is required to handle all phone calls.

“With the relocation of the two administration assistants, the front staff would act as a receptionist and retain other existing duties such as park applications and EMS subscriptions.” Soriano said the permanent part-time position would be retained and the hiring of another permanent part-time position would be considered.

Soriano also addressed the recreation-playground supervisor position, which he said should be changed to a recreation director position. He said the position of playground supervisor “will be upgraded to reflect the current duties of the position, which have grown considerably since the township effort to redevelop our park system.”

The township recreation director is Genny Baillie.

A new job description would be developed for recreation director “with salary commensurate with additional duties” for “the successful implementation of park development projects and enforcement of rules and regulations.”

Soriano also is suggesting a maintenance park department be created under the supervision of the public works department.

Another topic addressed by Soriano was upgrading the technology of township departments to have “the necessary hardware and software.”

As part of this, GPS tracking for township fleet management is being proposed.

Soriano said “the viability of purchasing body cameras for police officers and emergency responders” should be assessed.