Minutes - Council Work Session - 07/23/2024

Home

Street Supervisor Turner said that this Lead Mechanic would still be under his direction and he would be working on vehicles and equipment as well as doing all of the paperwork associated with the repairs. Councilmember Musgrove asked how many mechanics they currently have. Street Supervisor Turner said they currently have three. Councilmember Musgrove shared that she would like to know if the workflow changes that this reclassification would make would affect the outcome of the work. Councilmember Specht asked if they have a rule in place that a department needs to have a certain number of employees before they add a lead or manager. City Administrator Hagen said they do not really have a rule for this. He added that a few years ago this request came forward at the Staff level and they had the conversation about having such a small department needing a lead or manager. Councilmember Musgrove stated that she sees that the mechanics department is already very small, and they are having to work quickly to turn jobs around and she is concerned with making someone a lead and that possibly taking them away from the hands-on work resulting in a negative outcome in the service. Street Supervisor Turner shared that the mechanic will still be monitored, and they would continue to turn out consistent work. He added that he does not think a reclassification to a lead would affect their current work. City Engineer/Public Works Director Westby shared that the importance of a lead goes back to the leadership training that they had which discussed making decisions at the lowest level possible. He noted that if there were a Lead Mechanic,then Street Supervisor Turner would not have to take phone calls and make the decisions without knowing all of the facts and being in the actual shop. He added that they are also requesting a new full-time Utility Maintenance Worker who would be primarily handling the new duties associated with the water treatment plant that will be up and running next summer. He noted that this individual would also be responsible for all of the water sampling. Councilmember Woestehoff asked if the yearly salary will be around $80,000 for this position. City Engineer/Public Works Director Westby said yes. Mayor Kuzma asked if there are any redundancies with this role. Utilities Supervisor Nelson explained that the individual who would be in this role would be required to have Class B Water Operator's License. He noted that there are only two Staff members, himself and his lead, who have these Class B licenses so in the event that someone was out on vacation or sick, there would be others who would be able to run the water treatment plant. City Council Work Session/July 23, 2024 Page 3 of 12