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Consultant temp replacement for building official
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A consultant will fill the vacancy created by the resignation of Lathrop’s chief building official until a replacement can be recruited.
On Monday the Lathrop City Council voted to approve a $130,000 task order for an outstanding contract that the City of Lathrop has with 4Leaf Inc. – the Pleasanton-based engineering firm regarded as one of the industry’s leaders in engineering and consulting services – to help fill council-approved positions when necessary.
According to the staff report, the council approved a Master Agreement for professional services with 4Leaf back in September of 2015 to help complete the necessary work within the city’s building division until those positions could be permanently filled. In July of 2016 the council extended the Master Agreement through June of 2019 and since then a variety of task orders have been approved for certain building department positons.
The $130,000 figure is a cap on services not to exceed that amount for the work that is completed on behalf of the city, and the recruitment process for the new position is expected to take roughly six months to complete.
Currently the only active positions listed on the City of Lathrop’s website are for a recreation specialist – which notes that the city is always hiring those positions – as well as an administrative assistant and legal secretary. The report doesn’t state whether the city would utilize an open posting to try and fill the head building department position or utilize a recruiter.
The city’s previous chief building officer resigned previously on Nov. 25.
Currently the City of Lathrop has overlap in various department head positions after a number of employees left – continuing in the city’s tradition of operating lean after the housing crisis forced a number of layoffs and mandatory work furloughs. City Manager Steve Salvatore is also listed, according to the city’s website, as heading the code enforcement and public works divisions while Finance Director Cari James is also in charge of the city’s animal services and administrative divisions.
The positon that will be temporarily filled oversees the day-to-day functions of the building department, and according to the city’s staff report, a consultant is needed because of the sheer number of commercial and residential building projects that are currently underway and upcoming.

To contact reporter Jason Campbell email jcampbell@mantecabulletin.com or call 209.249.3544.