Department: Economic Equity and Opportunity
Department Head/Elected Official: Diana A Ramirez, Executive Director
Regular or Supplemental RCA: Supplemental RCA
Type of Request: Discussion Item
Project ID (if applicable):
Vendor/Entity Legal Name (if applicable):
MWDBE Contracted Goal (if applicable): N/A
MWDBE Current Participation (if applicable):
Justification for 0% MWDBE Participation Goal: N/A - Goal not applicable to request
Request Summary (Agenda Caption):
title
Request by the Department of Economic Equity and Opportunity for discussion and possible action on DEEO's FY 2023 budget and expected additional workload.
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Background and Discussion:
During the final Commissioners Court meeting of 2022, DEEO was directed to bring back an item on January 10, 2023, to discuss DEEO's workload and budget.
DEEO History
DEEO was originally proposed as a department with five divisions and 50 FTE by TIP Strategies, the consulting firm hired by Commissioners Court to help move the department from conception to operation. However, the department was funded at 44 FTE and reorganized to four divisions to focus existing resources on critical areas of work; the 6 FTE that remained unfunded were to expand work in community engagement, economic development, and planning. In addition, when wage rate monitors were transferred to DEEO, vehicles for use in site inspections were not transferred to DEEO.
While creating DEEO was first proposed in January 2019, the first Executive Director wasn't onboard until January 2021, and the final five positions of the 44 total department FTE were not authorized until December 2021. Since then, DEEO has lost two Assistant Directors (Vendor Diversity and Worker and Community Protection) and has had difficulty filling positions - often because our pay is not competitive.
Date
Description
FTE
1/29/19
Commissioners Court authorizes BMD to study the creation of a new Department of Economic Opportunity and Equity and report back in 30 d...
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