MOUNT VERNON – Vacancies in Mount Vernon’s Water and Wastewater Utilities have led Utilities Director Tom Marshall to propose creating new supervisory positions without adding staff so the city can attract applicants.
Marshall told the Mount Vernon City Council at its Monday night meeting that Brian McKeever, the department’s pre-treatment coordinator, found a better job.
“He’s also worn several other hats. Brian wore the hat [of] our lab manager; Brian is our only certified lab technician in the water system. It's a pretty complicated process,” Marshall said.
He said that the department is working on getting more people certified to have redundancy. But McKeever also will be missed since he did so much work on the city’s distribution system.
“If there was a problem in the middle of the night of a water main break, it probably went to Brian,” Marshall said. “Brian would dispatch crews; Brian was at the scene. He sampled the water and even determined the area of a boiler advisory if that was necessary and took care of all that.”
He told the council he got together with the city’s human resources director, the safety services director, his assistant director and several staff members to figure out how they would fill vacancies. The proposal to the council would be to distribute the work over a few different areas without raising the department’s headcount.
Another vacancy at the wastewater plant was created by the departure of chief operator Jason Belcher. And a utility office administrator position has been vacant for a long time but is a significant need, Marshall said.
The headcount is 34. Within that headcount, the utility crew chief supervises eight people. But that job is too big, he said. What they want to change is to split utilities into distribution and collection since that position is spread too thin, especially as they switch from a reactive work approach to a work order-based system.
With the split, distribution and collection, each would have a supervisor and three techs to form two four-person crews.
Also included in the proposal is elevating the chief operator position to a supervisory role to attract applicants.
The chief operator’s position has been advertised for a month but has received no response. By creating the supervisory role for a person with that certification – and adding a bit more money, Marshall said – they hoped to attract qualified applicants.
The utility office administrator position was a task McKeever had been handling during the vacancy.
Safety Services Director Rick Dzik said the additional cost to the city would be $8,486.
The City Council plans to discuss this reorganization again at a special committee meeting called for 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 1.
Newark Road rezoning approved
The Mount Vernon City Council voted 4-1 to approve rezoning 12.5 acres of land along Newark Road from Neighborhood Commercial to Planned Neighborhood Development (PND).
This was the last section of a 102.6-acre tract owned by RJM Land Development. A PND called Liberty Crossing is planned for the site. The vote was only for the rezoning and not a specific development.
With only five council members present, the City Council could not overturn the Municipal Planning Commission’s recommendation to approve the rezoning, Councilmember Mike Hillier said. Councilmember Janis Seavolt was absent, and Josh Kirby’s First Ward seat was vacant after his resignation.
Workforce recognition funded
The City Council voted 4-1, with Hillier against, to allocate $2,000 for workforce development to recognize city employees for their work.
The city’s fire and police departments have their recognition programs, but none of the other city departments do.
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Water plant maintenance technicians check the control system at the water treatment plant. The Utilities Department plans to fill vacant positions without increasing its headcount.