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~ EN HILLS MEMORANDUM DATE: December 15, 2008 TO: Mayor and City Council FROM: Ron Moorse, City Administrator Greg Hoag, Public Works Director SUBJECT: Public Works Staffing Back2round At the time of Jim Perron's retirement from the Public Works Superintendent position, the City had eight Public Works maintenance workers and the Superintendent. Since that time, the City has been operating with seven maintenance workers and an acting superintendent. The reduced staffing level has caused difficulties in scheduling crews for daily maintenance projects. This became a greater problem recently when the crew was split to create an evening shift for skating rink flooding. The reduced staff also creates an on-going concern regarding the ability to handle multiple emergency situations, such as a water main break at the same time as a significant snow fall. While these multiple events are difficult with a full complement of staff, they are even more difficult with a reduced staff. A recent water main break was repaired just in time to enable the crew to be available for snow and ice control activities. We were also fortunate that a recent sewer line repair project did not coincide with a significant snowfall. In addition, regardless of other emergency situations, the current reduced staffing level could result in a lower service level in terms of maintenance of trails and ice rinks in the aftermath of a significant snowfall. As a way to measure whether the City's Public Works staffing level is adequate, inadequate, or excessive, the City's staffing level was compared to the staffing level in similar cities in the metro area. To provide a means of comparison, the staffing levels were compared in relation to the area of each city in square miles, and in relation to each city's population; both of which are indirect measures of the amount of infrastructure in the cities. The attached graphs show the comparative relationships for the group of 13 cities. The graphs show that the Arden Hills staffing level is below the average in relation to both population and area.