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Home My Public Portal About11-12-2013 joint report PW Personnel_201311071009053406Town Council Town of Watertown Joint Meeting of the Committee on Public Works and the Committee on Personnel and Town Organization Meeting: October 16, 2013 Report: November 12, 2013 The two committees met Wednesday October 16th at 6:00 pm in the Council Chambers to continue to discuss the recommendations in the Staffing and Organizational Assessment of the Public Works Department of the Town of Watertown, MA, August 2013. (see http://www.watertown-ma.gov/DocumentCenterlView/13388 ) Present were: Susan Falkoff, PTO Chair; Cecilia Lenk, PW Chair and PTO Vice -chair; Stephen Corbett, PTO Secretary and PW Vice -chair; and Vincent Piccirilli, PW Secretary. See below for list of other attendees. Councilor Lenk chaired the meeting, which covered the recommendations 1 to 8 in the section "Operations" (report pages 43 through 57). Item #1 Continue the focus on vehicle and equipment replacement and establish a Vehicle Replacement Fund. Watertown currently has vehicle replacements in the 5 -year Capital Improvement Program, and currently has a Capital Projects Stabilization Fund which is used to fund the CIP, along with tax revenues and loan orders, as appropriate. The Joint Committee unanimously agreed with the recommendation in principle but suggests keeping with the existing CIP process. Items #2 Transfer responsibility for fuel dispensing system from Property and Buildings to Central Motors Division, and Central Motors should produce routine reports on fuel consumption, efficiency, and utilization. Mr. Mee stated the fuel system is efficiently run by the admin department, including running reports, and the Buildings Division assists with checking tank levels. He noted that there is a computerized chip in each vehicle and the driver needs to enter a PIN number, plus there are cameras at the pump for supervision. The Joint Committee unanimously agreed that no action should be taken in this item. There were three separate elements to discuss on item #3: a. Reduce the Central Motors Division by one employee. In discussing the data with Mr. Mee, it was clear that there was no apparent justification to reduce the division from 4 to 3 employees. The Joint Committee unanimously agreed that the vacant supervisor position should be advertized and filled. b. Develop a method to track labor hours to analyze productivity. There is an obvious need for a computerized fleet management system to track labor and parts for repair and maintenance of each vehicle. The Joint Committee unanimously agreed to recommend to the full Town Council that the DPW should develop a proposal and cost for implementing such a system. c. Consolidating all maintenance and repair services in a single organization. From the discussion, it appears that there could be increases in efficiency and improvement in the level of service if the separate fleet maintenance tasks in the DPW, Fire Department, Police Department, and School Department were merged into one. The Joint Committee unanimously agreed to recommend to the full Town Council that Administration should develop a proposal for this, to be brought back to the Town Council for further review. Page 1 of 2 Joint Meeting of Committees on Public Works and Personnel & Town Organization, Report#1 —November 12, 2013 Item #4 Establish a baseline inventory level vehicle parts, conduct a semi-annual parts inventory, and restrict access to the parts room to no more than two employees. Mr. Mee discussed the current operation of the parts room, with parts kept in separate locked areas, the four mechanics having keys, and a camera covering the door. He stated that there has not been an issue with missing parts, and that inventory is done occasionally as needed. The Joint Committee unanimously agreed as follows: a. The existing security arrangement appears to be satisfactory. b. A physical inventory should be conducted annually and reported to the Auditor, but in order for this to work, a computerized fleet maintenance system, as discussed previously, needs to be in place. Item #5 Immediately fill the two vacant positions in the Highway Division. Mr. Mee stated that interviews are completed, and two candidates were recommended to the Town Manager. Item #6 Embark on a system of routine professional and technical training for supervisors. Mr. Mee stated that this is currently being done. Councilor Falkoff requested that this be presented at budget time in the backup data for the department. Item #7 Critically evaluate the continued deployment of the two employees on Truck 60 to determine the efficacy of dedicating these resources to emergencies and service calls. Mr. Mee stated that the analysis done by the consultant was not complete, and missed all the daily work logs that this crew performs. The Joint Committee unanimously agreed that it did not have enough information to evaluate this recommendation, and asked Mr. Mee to prepare a detailed report on this issue, for discussion by the Joint Committee at a future date. Item #8 Transfer the Water Supervisor position to the Highway Division in order to contribute toward the creation of a three -person crew that should be cross -trained in sidewalk inspection and repair, and urban forestry. Mr. Mee stated that this recommendation makes no sense from an operational standpoint as it would reduce supervisory capacity in the water department and make the DPW non- compliant with DEP regulations. He also said that it would cost about an additional $100K to implement because the cost would be transferred to the operating budget from the enterprise budget. The Joint Committee unanimously agreed as follows: a. That this recommendation not be implemented. b. That the issue of an inspectional services position needs to be discussed further as a critical need. The next meeting is scheduled for October 30 at 10:30 am to continue the discussion. The meeting adjourned at 7:10 PM. Report submitted by: Vincent Piccirilli List of other attendees: Gerald Mee, DPW Superintendent Mary Haley, DPW Clerk Steven Magoon, Director of Community Development and Planning Anni Clark — Trees for Watertown Nancy Hammett - Stormwater Advisory Committee Page 2 of 2 Town Council Town of Watertown Joint Meeting of the Committee on Public Works and the Committee on Personnel and Town Organization Meeting: October 30, 2013 Report: November 12, 2013 The two committees met Wednesday October 30`h at 10:30 am in the Council Office to continue to discuss the recommendations in the Staffing and Organizational Assessment of the Public Works Department of the Town of Watertown, MA, August 2013. (see http://www.watertown-ma.qov/DocumentCenterNiew/13388 ) Present were: Susan Falkoff, PTO Chair; Stephen Corbett, PTO Secretary and PW Vice -chair; and Vincent Piccirilli, PW Secretary. Cecilia Lenk, PW Chair and PTO Vice -chair was unable to attend. See below for list of other attendees. Councilor Falkoff chaired the meeting, which covered the recommendations 9 to 16 in the section "Operations" (report pages 57 through 68). Item #9 Re-evaluate current contracts with grounds maintenance contractors in view of the newly -hired Parks Supervisor. Mr. Mee discussed what work is contracted out, what work is done in-house, and the need to have the flexibility to contract out some work during busy seasons, or perform some work in- house during slow seasons, in order to operate the department in the most cost-effective manner. The Joint Committee unanimously agreed with this recommendation as follows: a. Contracts are being looked at annually Mr. Mee at bid and renewal times. b. That it is appropriate to use contract services during busy seasons to supplant work being done in-house to keep labor costs down. c. Continue trash pickup in parks by the contractor, and after events by the DPW as needed. d. The Joint Committee supports the DPW's environmentally responsible Best Management Practices for turf maintenance. Item #10 The new Town Engineer should be tasked with providing public input sessions on all major capital projects; and item #11 Enhance the Town's CIP document to include more information regarding project description, justification, location, and impacts on operations. In discussing these two related items, Joint Committee unanimously agreed that: a. This has already been requested by the Town Council as detailed in Attachment A to the FY2014 Budget Priority Guidelines, and needs to be fully implemented. b. The Joint Committee supports the recommendation for more public involvement on projects. Item #12 Significantly enhance cemetery information on the DPW website; and item #13 Each DPW division should enhance its website to provide more meaningful inforration. In discussing these two related items, Joint Committee unanimously agreed that the new DPW website provides much of this information already, but that the department should strive to provide more information online. Item #14 The Department should routinely monitor overtime expenses and the causes for overtime. Mr. Mee discussed what his department is currently doing to monitor overtime, and noted that the report shows the DPW within acceptable limits for overtime utilization, despite having so many vacant positions. The Joint Committee unanimously agreed that this monitoring was currently being done in a satisfactory manner. Page 1 of 2 Joint Meeting of Committees on Public Works and Personnel & Town Organization, Report#2 —November 12, 2013 There were two separate elements to discuss on item #15: a. Recommendation the Town to consider consolidating facilities maintenance and activities with the Schools. The Joint Committee noted that this was a previous policy directive from the Town Council, and unanimously agreed to recommend to the full Town Council that the Council make a formal request to the School Committee to begin discussion on this. b. Recotnmend that the signage function be transferred from Property & Buildings to the Highway Division. Mr. Mee stated that sign work occupies only about half the time for this worker and the current arrangement allow him to also perform repair work on the buildings. The Joint Committee unanimously agreed that no action should be taken in this item. The Joint Committee noted that the new street signs with the Town of Watertown seal are very nice and provide identification of when you cross into Watertown. There were two separate elements to discuss on item #16: a. The Department should take steps to minimize the incidence of sick leave by establishing a policy that attendance is both expected and required. b. The Department should strictly enforce Article 8, Section 5 of the Teamster Collective Bargaining Agreement which states that "the Superintendent or his designee may require the presentation of a doctor's certificate or report in connection with any claim for sick leave," Mr. Mee said that there is not really a problem and he and his supervisors currently monitor and enforce sick leave time, but he does not require a note each time because he knows who is sick and who is not. Regarding his own use of sick time, Mr. Mee noted that he is on call 24/7 and often comes to work during days he has taken off as sick or vacation, because some crisis arises. At this point, Mr. Mee left the meeting, to allow the Joint Committee to continue the discussion. The following recommendations were made unanimously by Joint Committee: a. The Town Council should recommend that it supports a policy that "attendance is both expected and required" for all employees. b. The Town Council should recommend that it supports the language of the Article 8, Section 5 of the Teamster Collective Bargaining Agreement. The next meeting is scheduled for November 19 at 4:00 pm to continue the discussion. The meeting adjourned at 12:10 PM. Report submitted by: Vincent Piccirilli List of other attendees: Gerald Mee, DPW Superintendent Mary Haley, DPW Clerk Steven Magoon, Director of Community Development and Planning Nancy Hammett; Stormwater Advisory Committee Page 2 of 2