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Local Government Personnel Assistance

Program Contact:

Barry Cress
Department of Local Affairs
1313 Sherman Street, Room 521
Denver, Colorado 80203
303.866.2352
barry.cress@state.co.us

Personnel Management

Local governments face a variety of issues in the realm of personnel management and can often benefit from the advice of professional personnel administrators and attorneys who routinely practice in the field. Additionally, the challenge that elected officials face of paying competitive salaries to retain good staff during times of tight budgets is an issue that should be considered at budget time. Various sources of good information are available through the internet to provide guidance to local officials.

Council – Manager Form of Municipal Government

The Colorado Revised Statutes (§31-4-201 et. seq. CRS) provide statutory municipalities with the option of organizing under the council-manager form of government. The council-manager system is the most widely used system in the United States. ICMA, the International City/County Management Association , provides numerous publications and guidelines on this topic. A basic overview can be found in their handout: Council-Manager Form of Government: Frequently Asked Questions pdf file . Additionally, the Colorado City/County Managers Association, and the Colorado Municipal League can provide guidance specific to Colorado as well.

ICMA Website

Personnel Classification

A personnel classification system can help employers more effectively administer a personnel system. The Department of Local Affairs provides a handout on the development of a personnel classification system. This handout can be downloaded from:

Personnel Management for Local Governments pdf file

Performance Evaluation

A fundamental task in the employer-employee relationship is the task of evaluating performance. Sample evaluation forms can be downloaded from the following links:

Town of Castle Rock - Employee word document

Town of Castle Rock - Management word document

Glendale Evaluation - Employee word document

City of Glendale - Management word document

City of Ouray - Employee word document City of Ouray - Management

City of Ouray - Management word document

Town of Pagosa Springs word document

City of Rocky Ford word document

Other Websites with Information for Colorado Local Governments

Both the Colorado Municipal League (CML) and the Colorado Special District Association (SDA) produce publications for their members on the details of personnel administration in Colorado. Additionally, Colorado Counties Incorporated (CCI) has resources available on employment issues related to county governments. The website for CCI is at www.ccionline.org. In addition, County Technical Services, Inc. (CTSI.org) provides counties with alternative risk management and other services to support effective personnel management.

CML Publications

The CML Publications Catalogue can be found on the website www.cml.org and it lists various publications specific to Colorado municipal employment. These publications include:

• Ethics: an introduction for municipal elected officials

• How to Hire a Local Government Administrator

• Winning with Youth: Involving youth in municipal government

• Approaches to Personnel Management in Colorado Cities and Towns

SDA Publications

The monthly SDA Newsletter regularly features articles related to personnel matters. These newsletters are indexed and can be downloaded from their website at www.sdaco.org – additionally, the newsletter is regularly mailed to the Association’s membership. These publications include:

• SDA Newsletter

• SDA Board Member Manual

• SDA Model Personnel Policies

• SDA Laws Notebook

Websites with Free Information

Mountain States Employers Council: http://www.msec.org/

Alexander Hamilton Institute, Inc.: http://www.legalworkplace.com/

National Conference on Public Employee Retirement Systems: http://www.ncpers.org/

The Performance Institute: http://www.performanceweb.org/