HomeMy WebLinkAboutgr00090_000047_pg165June 26, 1978 Page 3
Mr. McCarthy asked why the City couldn't use their own engineer. Councilmember
Ziebarth replied that the Engineer has an extremely busy schedule and that for
the past week had been working with the Maintenance Department preparing for the
festival, among other things.
Mr. McCarty asked who gets first chance at the engineer, the single property
owners or developers. Engineer Hubbard replied that he has an extremely busy
schedule since he is administrator of the public works department, and gives
direction on a day -to -day basis, as well as a week -to -week basis, is in charge
of preparing the budget and expenditures for that department, and in charge
of the storm sewer, water and maintenance duties, as well as the engineering
department. He added that he is responsible for written reports to the Council,
which have deadlines, works with the Task Force and spends time during the week
preparing for his meetings with them, conducts studies in the field, checks
surveys and plottings, as well as studying problems around town. Engineer
Hubbard added that many of the deadlines he has to meet were established some
time ago and cannot legally be broken, such as preparation for public hearings.
Mr. McCarty stated he was sure there were subordinates who could take some of
the work load off Engineer Hubbard so he could be freed up to work with the Task
Force. He added that the Council should honor their commitment to the Task Force
of having the engineer available to work with them, and that developers should be
told to wait.
Administrator Achen replied that Engineer Hubbard is not working only for developers
and that he was hired to accomplish all the things that the maintenance director
could not. He added that he was hired for his technical background, with the
intent of relieving the maintenance director of some of his many duties. Admini-
strator Achen added that Engineer Hubbard works an incredible amount of hours each
week, often on Saturdays and Sundays and is on call.
Mr. McCarty replied that the City Engineer should put the citizens first before
developers. Administrator Achen replied that the Engineer has spent 90% of his
time working on problems that are not development related, and that Mr. McCarty
is implying that Engineer Hubbard is working for the developers first, and that
they could check with any developer in the City to see what they have to say,
since the City sets very rigid standards for all developers to meet.
Councilmember Rowley added that Engineer Hubbard prepares technical reports for
the Council to advise them of each development, which is a necessity to the Council.
She added that there is a limit to the amount of time the Engineer can spend with
the Task Force. She also pointed out that the Council is prepared to hire an
Engineer that the Task Force will be able to work with.
Barb Haake stated that as a citizen, she was concerned with what she was seeing
happen between the citizens and Council, with the friction and disagreement. She
suggested that if another study is to be done, the Task Force could suggest different
firms and work with them to come up with solutions to the problems, or even hire
a couple civil engineers, on a temporary basis of a year or so and put them on the
City payroll.
Mayor Pickar stated that Mr. Notaro's problem would be discussed at the next agenda
session.