For City Council Meeting June 23, 2026
TO: Honorable Mayor and City Council
APPROVAL: Eric Vail, City Attorney
FROM: Yazdan Emrani, P.E., Director of Public Works
Title
Request City Council to: (1) Introduce for First Reading Ordinance No. 1714 to Amend Multiple Sections of the Municipal Code to provide the Public Works Director with the same Authority as the City Engineer; and (2) Provide Any Other Direction as Determined Appropriate.
(ACTION)
Recommendation
Staff recommends that the City Council:
1) Introduce Ordinance, “AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF RIALTO AMENDING MISCELLANEOUS SECTIONS IN THE RIALTO MUNICIPAL CODE TO PROVIDE THE PUBLIC WORKS DIRECTOR WITH THE SAME AUTHORITY AS THE CITY ENGINEER,” by title only and waive further reading; and
2) Provide any other direction as determined appropriate.
Body
BACKGROUND:
In order to facilitate conducting City business, providing the Public Works Director with the same authority as the City Engineer will increase the City’s flexibility in completing City projects.
ANALYSIS/DISCUSSION:
The municipal code includes a significant number of provisions across most titles that provide the City Engineer with certain authority. A few examples include, under Chapter 2.48, Purchasing, the City Engineer handles certain aspects of public project procurement, under Chapter 5.44, Cable Systems Regulations, the City Engineer has approval authority over system construction, and under Chapter 10.41, Interstate Trucks, the City Engineer has authority over the designation of truck routes.
The municipal code rests much authority and responsibility on the City Engineer. Some of this work can be managed as effectively by the Public Works Director. In some cases, the authority can be shared with the Public Works Director only if the director is a registered Professional Engineer in California, and that language has been added in all the relevant provisions.
The amendment to the code will provide the City with additional flexibility in completing projects and issuing permits.
The proposed amendments include:
• 96 sections are amended across 10 Titles (Titles 2, 3, 5, 9, 10, 11, 12, 15, 17, and 18).
• The vast majority of changes add "or public works director" alongside "city engineer," with a condition that the Director holds a California Professional Engineer license.
• Nine new sections are created (§§ 10.41.024, 11.04.014, 11.05.014, 11.12.020, 11.22.024, 12.08.014, 12.16.014, 12.60.034) - these are blanket provisions granting the Public Works Director chapter-wide co-equal authority with the city engineer rather than amending each individual section within those chapters.
• A handful of sections have slightly different changes (e.g., § 18.47.080 changes "city engineering division" to "public works department"; § 18.75.140 appoints the public works director as co-equal floodplain administrator).
A clean version of the proposed ordinance is included as Attachment 1.
The redline version of the proposed ordinance showing the specific edits to the municipal code is included as Attachment 2.
A chart summary of all the changes identifying the title, chapter, and sections is included as Attachment 3.
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT:
The requested City Council action is not a “Project” as defined by the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). Pursuant to Section 15378(a), a “Project” means the whole of an action, which has a potential for resulting in either a direct physical change in the environment, or a reasonably foreseeable indirect physical change in the environment. According to Section 15378(b), a Project does not include: (5) Organizational or administrative activities of governments that will not result in direct or indirect physical changes in the environment.
GENERAL PLAN CONSISTENCY:
The City of Rialto General Plan establishes various guiding principles, goals and objectives through which the City looks to improve the community and protect the quality of life for our residents. This action is consistent with Guiding Principle 3 in the General Plan:
Our City government will lead by example, and will operate in an open, transparent, and responsive manner that meets the needs of the citizens and is a good place to do business.
LEGAL REVIEW:
The City Attorney’s Office has reviewed the Ordinance and approved it as to form.
FINANCIAL IMPACT:
Operating Budget Impact:
The proposed action will not affect the Operating Budget.
Capital Improvement Budget Impact:
The proposed action will not affect the Capital Improvement Budget.
Licensing:
A business license application and payment of a business license tax are not required for this action.
ATTACHMENTS:
1. Proposed Ordinance
2. Redline version of proposed Ordinance
3. Chart listing all proposed amendments by title and chapter