HomeMy WebLinkAbout24 New Utility Employee
To:
Honorable Mayor and City Council
Charlene Stevens, City Administrator
From:
Adam Moshier, Management Assistant
Date:
7/21/2017
RE:
Add Full Time Employee to Utility Department
Introduction
The Utility Department takes pride in the services they offer to their customers. With the growth
of the City and infrastructure currently happening and looking towards the future, there will be
an abundance of additional duties and services that the Utility Department will have to
undertake. The addition of a full time employee will provide the Utility Department the ability to
keep up with the extra duties. The position will be funded by the Utility Enterprise Funds with
wages not affecting the General Fund. The position will be split up 1/3 water ($20,267), 1/3
sewer ($20,267) and 1/3 street lights ($20,267) for a total of $60,801.
Background
The addition of an employee to the Utility Department is needed due to the increase in
Foreman duties, growth in the community, Well 12, additional snow removal needs, additional
treatment facilities, water meter and radio replacement project and additional streetlight
maintenance.
In years past, the Foreman could accomplish tasks in the field but due to meetings, organizing
projects (i.e. meter replacement, lead testing, DNR reporting, root foaming, contracting sewer
cleaning, water/sewer rate study project and all the pre-construction meetings for the various
projects) the Foreman is no longer completing tasks in the field and the division is falling
behind on maintenance activities.
With the growth of the community, there are additional water and sewer lines as well as
streetlight duties that these additional neighborhoods will have. There are currently 167 miles
of water main compared to 147 in 2013 which is an increase of 13 percent. Fire hydrants,
valves, work orders and meter readings are other maintenance activities that have been
increasing due to the ongoing development. There will also be the addition of Well 12 which
will require additional labor hours to run as well as yearly maintenance on and around the
building.
Growth in the community also means additional miles of sidewalk and trails being added that
will need to be maintained throughout the winter. The Utility Department is responsible for
plowing the sidewalks and trails. The additional employee would be responsible to help clear
these additional sidewalks and trails throughout the community and assist with cul-de-sac
plowing.
The addition of the temporary treatment facilities at well sites 10 and 3 will require more labor
hours to maintain and control these facilities. Each facility will need a walk through each day to
review pressure readings and monitor the system. Each vessel will need to have the pressure
recorded. Staff estimates a minimum of one hour per day will be spent at each site. Staff will
also have to coordinate and supervise the media change out once every year for a few hours.
Looking ahead to the future, more treatment facilities may need to be added to the wells or one
main water treatment facility may be added. This will require a lot of expertise and experience
to run a water treatment facility. Staff would like to have someone hired in the department
before the permanent facilities are constructed in the near future. Someone with knowledge in
the industry would be highly recommended and would help ease the impact on the
department.
In 2017 and 2018 staff will again be assisting and coordinating the water meter and radio
replacement project. The City will also be phasing out the old radios over the next few years
which will take additional labor hours to install.
In the past 3 years, there have been an average of 525 work orders per year for streetlight
maintenance alone. Our streetlight system continues to age and maintenance is becoming
more prevalent. Streetlight tasks are becoming more of a two person job. The weight of the
poles require at least two people to help install them. When fixing lights, it is efficient to have
one person in the bucket and one person down on the ground assisting with repair or helping
provide a safe work zone. Problems are diagnosed faster and repairs are done much quicker.
This additional employee would assist in those areas.
The Utility Department currently has 8 employees. Below is a breakdown of the employees in
the Utility Department over the past 32 years. Staff has been at or below 8 employees in the
department since 2000. With the increased maintenance needed throughout the City, staff is
recommending the additional employee is needed to keep up with the demand.
Number of Employees in Utility Department
1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2017
Utility/Streetlight 5 5 5 8 8 7 8
With the increased developments in the City of Cottage Grove, maintenance tasks continue to
increase. Without the additional employee, maintenance activities get neglected which result in
emergency repairs or failures. These failures or repairs cost a significant amount of money
compared to maintaining infrastructure over the life. With the addition of a full time employee to
the Utility Department, staff can continue to maintain the city infrastructure without hesitation
and perform those duties cost effectively.
The additional employee’s hours will be broken down as follows with 2080 hours in a year.
520 hours-Well 10 and 3 inspection
464 hours-Hydrant flushing, hydrant repair, well house maintenance, grounds maintenance,
building maintenance on well houses, locates
400 hours-Streetlight repairs, painting of poles, replacing lenses and cover plates
400 hours-Sanitary line flushing, sanitary manhole repairs and inspections
200 hours-Snowplowing
96 hours-Holidays