Long Beach Harbor Engineering Department Restructuring Discussed

LONG BEACH — At a Long Beach Harbor Commission meeting, Bruce Stephan of PMA Consultants, a private consulting firm hired by the city, presented five options for restructuring the Long Beach Harbor Engineering Department for greater efficiency. Options 1, 2 and 3 are based on of the original structure, with no major reorganization of the department required. The first option, which was the least disruptive, would retain the original structure — but for the railroad engineering department, Stephan suggested that the department could be merged with program management. In Option 2, all designs would be done under one design group. Option 3 would use that same group, with the addition of single program managers taking responsibility for individual programs from concept to close, Stephan said. Options 4 and 5 are based around project-centralized program delivery. Functional groups would be arranged by employee skill sets, and workers would be chosen based on project needs, Stephan explained. Option 5 is essentially the same as Option 4, with two differences: Projects would be classified as revenue-gaining and non-revenue-gaining. “One of the main differences in the alternative designs provided is that they do not offer separate program management and construction management,” said acting executive director Al Moro. “The...