(a) Each council-appointed officer shall be immediately responsible to the council, and the head of each other department shall be immediately responsible to the city manager, for the effective administration of his or her department and all activities assigned thereto. In the case of vacancy in office or during the absence of any department head, the city manager may designate an interim acting head or the city manager may, with the approval of the council, perform personally the functions of any department head under the city manager's control. All department heads shall have the following responsibilities:
(1) To participate as a member of the city manager's management team and to review and help develop overall approaches to city problems and priorities;
(2) To provide guidance and long-term planning for his or her own department;
(3) To formulate and recommend policies and procedures governing the operation of the department, and to administer such policies and procedures when approved and conduct such activities for the city;
(4) To work with department management personnel in interpreting policies of the city council and city manager, establishing department priorities, monitoring department performance, identifying action which will improve the department's level of performance and coordinating the department's activities with other city departments;
(5) To formulate for city manager approval plans and programs pertaining to the department's functions and to implement such approved plans and programs;
(6) To proceed as directed by law on all matters requiring official action by the department;
(7) To keep informed as to the latest practices in their particular fields and inaugurate with the approval of the city manager and council, as appropriate, such new practices as appear to be of benefit to the municipal service and to the public.
(b) All department heads and council-appointed officers shall advise and assist all other departments heads and council-appointed officers on matters within their respective provinces and will coordinate their activities and cooperate with each other on matters of mutual concern.
(c) Any department head or council-appointed officer may delegate to members of the department coming under his or her direction such duties and responsibilities as he or she deems advisable, together with proportionate authority for their fulfillment, but in no case may a department head delegate overall responsibility or any accountability.
(d) Each department and council-appointed officer head shall be responsible for the preservation of all records under his or her jurisdiction and shall provide a system of filing and indexing the same. No records, reports, correspondence, or other data relative to the business of any department shall be destroyed or removed permanently, except in accordance with a records retention program approved pursuant to state law.
(Ord. 4274 § 1 (part), 1995)