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<br />PUBLIC WORKS ORGANIZATIONAL ASSESSMENT 17 <br />requires an Operator to respond in person to mark City assets. Despite these strategies, the growing workload <br />demands are straining the Department. Target service levels continue to be met, but in a manner that is unlikely to <br />be sustainable. Two areas in which the strain is evident are in recent strategies to limit PTO usage (see <br />Recommendation 2) and the manner in which tasks are staffed and performed. Specifically, there is a perception of <br />excessive pressure to complete tasks more quickly while staffing tasks with fewer Operators than may be <br />recommended for safe operation. <br /> <br />The current complement of Operators has a single Lead Operator overseeing eight Operators. Although this role is <br />not officially a supervisory position, it does have some supervisory characteristics. Normal recommendations would <br />be for no position to oversee more than five to eight people. Usually, a front-line supervisor, for example, a Lead <br />Operator, is more of a Team Lead-type role with a smaller span of control of four to six individuals and is not <br />monitoring teams on multiple worksites. <br /> <br />Given the demonstrated need, Raftelis recommends that the Department hire additional Operators. Additional <br />Operators, in turn, suggest the need for an additional Lead Operator. Specifically, Raftelis recommends in the short <br />term that the Department hires one Operator and one Lead Operator. The project team believes that in the longer <br />term (as soon as the following year), a second new Operator is likely warranted. However, the Department is <br />currently recruiting to fill an open Operator position, a vacancy created due to retirement. Filling this vacant position <br />and those of the two new recommended positions would represent a significant undertaking for the Department in <br />the short term. Assuming these positions are filled this year, the Department may assess in the next year or two <br />whether creating and filling the second new position for Operator is warranted. <br /> <br />The hiring of additional Operators and a Lead Operator will also require investment in tools and equipment for these <br />individuals. One or more trucks may be required for the new staff members. Additionally, the Department’s <br />workspace is nearly at capacity now, with little space to park additional vehicles indoors. If the community continues <br />to grow as it has in the recent past, it is likely that additional building and/or garage space will be needed in the <br />coming years. <br /> <br />As noted earlier in the report, the Department has identified appropriate service level targets and is meeting those <br />targets. However, the effort required to meet them has been growing for years. Additional staff resources will allow <br />the Department to meet those targets more effectively today in a manner that is safe and sustainable for the workforce <br />and prepare the Department for a future where workload demands continue to grow. <br /> <br />Recommendation 5: Designate up to six Operators as Utility Specialists and limit on-call <br />rotations to the Utility Specialists <br /> <br />Currently, Public Works Operators are not differentiated by the types of work that they do. There are not “water <br />operators” or “sewer operators” or “streets operators”. Each week, however, one Operator is designated to be on <br />call. This on-call Operator is responsible for checking and resolving any alarms within the water and sewer systems, <br />particularly after-hours and weekends. The on-call Operator is also responsible for performing daily rounds on the <br />utility systems. The on-call responsibility rotates weekly amongst all Operators. With a complement of eight <br />Operators and a Lead Operator (currently seven Operators due to the vacancy), each Operator is on call once <br />approximately every two months. <br /> <br />Some Operators expressed a lack of comfort with working on the utility system, noting that they rarely work with it <br />outside of their call weeks. The Department has the advantage of being, in relative terms, a simple utility system with <br />few mechanical components and operations that do not require constant monitoring. Yet, it is still complex enough <br />that infrequent exposure fails to produce the familiarity that one would expect in Operators. The issue expressed by