Audit finds lots of blame in Salt Lake planning woes

"In the reorganization we started, we are on track and moving ahead to address all of the items that are in that audit," Becker said.

Citygate links turnover in the position of planning director—the city has gone through five in eight years and 11 in 20 years — as one reason for the department's current state of dysfunction.

"Extensive and continual turnover" throughout the planning department the past few years also has been a problem, according to the report. Long-term vacancies have forced employees to take on additional responsibilities, and customer service has suffered as a result, according to Citygate.

"The planners have had to do too much for too long without assurance that positions will be filled quickly," the report states.

Another problem has been elected officials and managers inserting themselves into areas of the planning process where they don't belong. Often, planners are receiving mixed messages from elected leaders, and in some cases being told to "work it out" or ignore city policy to make a project work, according to the report.

Those problems stem from "the roles and limits of authority" of stakeholders being unclear, according to Citygate.

"Elected officials feel forced to circumvent the planning and development permitting review process because they are unable to trust the existing process to make fair, consistent and timely decisions," the report states. "The ineffective process feeds on itself and then continues to degenerate into ever-increasing dysfunction."

Council vice chairman Carlton Christensen acknowledged that the council has been guilty of misunderstanding its role.

"We're going to have to evaluate our own interactions in that process," Christensen said. "I think that's OK. If we can't take some criticism and learn from it, that's pretty shortsighted on our part."

Citygate recommends that the city alter its approach to leadership and work as a team, with elected officials and planning personnel knowing what their roles are and what is expected of them.

Citygate, based in Folsom, Calif., interviewed more than 150 stakeholders, including the mayor, City Council members, city staff and planning division personnel, to complete the audit, which began in August 2007.

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