Agenda - Council - 02/25/2014 - Laserfiche WebLink

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• Can the position remain unfilled temporarily or permanently? Please explain. No. As of today, the utility department consists of a staff of three. During the summer the work load is supplemented with two seasonal workers. Though this helps relieve some of the work load on simpler tasks, utility maintenance workers must be licensed through the State of Minnesota to operate our water system. The utility department is responsible for daily checks on four pump houses to record chemical feed levels and fill out daily reports for the Minnesota Department of Health. They also collect samples for lead and copper, bacteria, volatile organics, radon, and numerous other substances all mandated by the State Health Department. The following is just a quick list of some of the other responsibilities of the utility department: Maintenance of 4 pump houses, 3 water towers, 7 lift stations, 2 emergency generators, 8 city wells, approximately 1200 hydrants, quarterly water meter readings, Gopher State One Call locate response (1300 locate requests in 2013 estimated), water main flushing (full crew, plus seasonal workers, 6 weeks annually), inspect all new residential water and sewer hook ups, clean 1/3 of our sanitary sewer system annually, Emergency response to sanitary sewer problems, clean storm sewer pipes and structures as requested by the PW superintendent, etc.... • Can the position be filled internally? With proper training yes. We have a seasonal worker filling in at the time that would be a good fit for the position. • What is the impact (i.e., to residents, business owners, employees, and/or operations) if the position is not filled? Possibility of State required reporting turned in late, slow response to locate requests, slower response to sewer and water inspections on new constructions, water meter reading and repairs delayed, maintenance intervals on infrastructure prolonged or missed, stress on existing employees because they can't get everything done in a timely matter. • Can the service provided be reduced, eliminated, or contracted out? No. Many aspects of the job are directly connected to public health and wellbeing. There are companies that do utility locates, but we consider this an essential function to keep in house. When we do locates in house, we are continually refreshing our memory on where our utilities are buried. This gives us a better chance of finding them quickly in an emergency situation • What is the budgetary impact if the position is not filled (e.g., additional overtime/compensatory time off costs) Over time and comp time would be the first to increase internally. As an example this fall we had to bring in a utility worker on Saturdays to catch up on locate requests because there was not enough time to complete them during the work week because all utility personnel were busy with water main flushing. Also delays in sewer and water