Alexandria City Manager Jim Parajon will be able to order around all City employees under his purview, not just department heads, if City Council approves one of his latest requests at their meeting on Tuesday (March 11).
At that meeting, Parajon is asking Council to amend and approve an ordinance to “increase interdepartmental enforcement flexibility,” as it’s described in a staff memo.
“The proposed procedural amendment allows the City Manager to delegate enforcement of the Code more generally, enabling more flexibility, efficiency and improved response times,” staff said in the memo.
City code currently states that if a department head responsible for an area of enforcement determines that a civil violation has occurred, they can issue a citation to the offending city resident.
“Allowing an interdepartmental response in appropriate circumstances will create efficiencies and improve responsiveness,” city staff said. “At some point in the future in an upcoming package of zoning text amendments, staff will propose amending the Zoning Ordinance to ensure a similar arrangement.”
The change to the code allows the city manager, as well as department heads, to delegate administration or enforcement authority to a subordinate.
According to the city:
Currently, the City Code states that only the department or office head that the Code section is organized around may delegate to subordinate employees the issuance of a notice of violation. However, some Code sections would benefit from interdepartmental cooperation for enforcement, rather than relying on only one department or office to issue notices of violation. The Code would therefore be updated to state that in addition to a department or office head being able to delegate who may issue a notice of violation, the City Manager may also make such delegation.
Parajon’s delegating authority is currently limited. He can hire and order his department heads around, but only they have the authority to issue orders to subordinates.
According to the city:
This structure poses limitations in circumstances where enforcement is required for more than one section of the Code and/or when enforcement staff encounter violations of the Code related to their own subject matter areas for which they do not have the authority to address.
Additionally, in the past, City Council members have expressed support for broader enforcement coordination amongst relevant departments.
