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<br />PUBLIC WORKS ORGANIZATIONAL ASSESSMENT 29 <br />utility locate requests, in which a desktop determination is now made as to whether the proposed activity actually <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 that the <br />Department hire one Operator and one Lead Operator in 2025. The Department is currently recruiting to fill an open <br />Operator position; a vacancy created due to retirement. Filling this vacant position and those of the two new <br />recommended positions would represent a significant undertaking for the Department in the short term. Assuming <br />these positions are filled this year, the Department should assess in the next year or two whether creating and filling <br />an additional staff position is warranted. Discretion should be given to the Director to identify the specific role to be <br />filled based on future needs. The most likely roles for an additional staff member are likely to be an Operator or a <br />supervisor-type role. <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 />FUTURE STAFFING PLAN <br />As noted earlier in the report, the weighted average of residents per Public Works FTE among the peers is <br />approximately 905 residents/FTE. Between 2019 and 2023, the City added 2,409 residents according to the 2023 <br />ACFR, or 602 new residents each year on average. If that same rate of population growth continues through 2026, <br />the City will have a population of 15,320 people in 2026, an increase of approximately 4,215 since 2019. Since 2019, <br />the City has only added 1.0 FTE in the Department (the Assistant Director). This recommendation suggests hiring <br />two operators this year and potentially one operator in 2026, a total increase of 4.0 FTEs in the Department since <br />2019. If one were to hire the staffing necessary to serve 4,215 residents using the weighted average staffing rate of the <br />local peers, one would hire 4.7 FTEs. <br /> <br />City staff prepared growth projections based on the Metropolitan Council’s Imagine 2050 projection for total <br />population and households. Based on those projections, City staff created growth scenarios ranging from 75 housing <br />units per year to 200 housing units per year. These estimates themselves may be conservative, considering that there <br />were permits issued for 973 units in the years 2020 through 2023 (an average of 243 units/year). The staff memo <br />noted that the national persons per household (pph) is 2.5, though in Lake Elmo there is an average of 2.78 pph, and <br />future population projections are dependent upon what the future pph will be for new development. In other words, <br />population projections ranged from approximately 187 to 556 new residents per year. At the higher end of growth, <br />one should expect to add one new FTE to Public Works every two years, so long as service level needs require it. It