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Park City details prolonged vacancies within municipal ranks


The Park Record.

Park City recently detailed the efforts to fill a range of vacant municipal posts in 2018 and 2019 as officials described the challenges City Hall has encountered in its hiring amid a hot economy.

The analysis, attached to a broader report about recruiting, lists eight City Hall staff positions that turned over between the summer of 2018 and the summer of 2019. It shows when a position was vacated, when it was filled and the days there was nobody in the position. It offers brief notes about each position as well.

The most prominent is the city engineer post, which was vacant for longer than a year. It opened on Oct. 12, 2018. The position was not filled until Nov. 18, a span of 402 days, according to the analysis. The notes outline that a professional recruiter was tapped to assist and two recruitments were conducted before a hiring was made.



City Hall relied on an outside engineering firm to assist with the workload in the time the city engineer’s office was vacant. The city engineer is a crucial municipal post with a wide range of duties in growth and development matters. The city engineer has broad influence on road and utility designs, as examples.

“Additional challenges are seen in most City departments ranging from entry level to professional positions with no unforeseeable relief in the future as the unemployment levels remain low,” Park City recruitment analysis

The other posts, listed in order of the number of vacant days, are:



• tennis director, which became available on Nov. 10, 2018, and remains vacant more than a year later. The notes indicate there have been “offers to multiple candidates that declined offer due to salary restrictions.”

• parking and fleet director, which became available on July 22, 2018, and was filled on Jan. 29, a 191-day stretch. The notes highlight that the “responsibilities and requirements for position amended.”

• deputy chief building official, which was vacant for 171 days between April 19 and Oct. 7. There were “4+ rounds of interviews to find qualified candidate,” according to the notes.

• water distribution manager, which was vacant for 157 days starting on Nov. 3, 2018. The requirements for the post were amended, the notes said.

• business license inspector, which has been vacant since July 5, a stretch of more than 139 days. The notes say City Hall has been “unable to find qualified candidates.”

• transit manager, which was vacant from May 31 until Sept. 29, a 121-day stretch. The notes say two recruitments were needed to fill the post.

• assistant transit manager, which was vacant for 73 days starting on May 31. The notes say “2+ rounds of interviews in order to find qualified candidate.”

“Additional challenges are seen in most City departments ranging from entry level to professional positions with no unforeseeable relief in the future as the unemployment levels remain low,” the analysis says.

The broader report, drafted by Brooke Watters, who is the human-resources director at City Hall, was forwarded to Mayor Andy Beerman and the Park City Council as officials hired a consultant to evaluate compensation and position classification within the municipal ranks.

The report highlighted the challenges of City Hall recruiting, such as competitive wages offered by nearby jurisdictions, the cost of living in Park City and the scarcity of affordable housing.


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