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Several questions were asked by City Council at the October 19, 2009 Work Session <br /> when this issue was last discussed. The questions and answers to these questions are <br /> answered below: <br /> How many hours of overtime has our crew been working? <br /> The average overtime worked in the last five years has been just over 1,300 hours per <br /> year. Of the 1,300 hours 720 hours is accounted for in weekend utility checks and <br /> standby(on call duty). <br /> Staff needs to quantify approximately 1600 hours of additional work that would be <br /> completed <br /> comp l i the eight full time Maintenance position was filled. (It was requested to <br /> f <br /> focus on winter projects and operations) <br /> The winter season has become the biggest question as to what the crews do or what other <br /> work would be completed if we filled the eighth position. The winter season, from <br /> November 15 to March 15 consists of 80 working days or 640 hour per person. During <br /> this time we average 30-35 snow events. Following each event, we typically are <br /> completing cleanup and equipment repairs for the next day or two. The crew is also split <br /> for 2-3 weeks in early December to provide for a night crew to flood our rinks. Once the <br /> rinks are established, a crew of 2-3 people cleans and floods the rinks daily. Our winter <br /> operations are heavily dependent on larger crew sizes. For the most part, each task needs <br /> a minimum of three people to complete them. Regular winter work such as snow <br /> removal, daily utility system checks and locates, equipment maintenance, water main <br /> breaks, water meter reading, lift station repairs, winter pot hole patching, and specialized <br /> training accounts for approximately 3,640 hours and when adding vacation hours of 462 <br /> hours, we actually spent 4,102 hours this last year on core winter services. However, <br /> additional items such as tree trimming, preventative maintenance on lift stations, and <br /> televising sewers could have been done during the winter season. <br /> The following question accounts for most of the additional 1600 hours staff was asked to <br /> quantify. <br /> What are the preventative maintenance items we are unable to complete? <br /> Regular sanitary sewer cleaning is one of the areas that we are still struggling to keep up <br /> with. Sewer cleaning involves a 2-3 person crew to complete. The vehicles needed (the <br /> Jetter and Vactor) require a Commercial License to drive, thus full time staff is needed to <br /> drive and operate them. The League of Minnesota Cities (LMC) recommends that all <br /> sewer lines be cleaned every three years. Slightly more than half of our sewer lines are <br /> clay pipes es which allow roots to intrude through the joints. Root cutting must be <br /> completed before the cleaning process. This also adds to the time and staff resources <br /> needed to complete our regular sewer cleaning operations. The annual sewer cleaning <br /> project takes approximately 6-8 weeks to complete. Operating one sewer crew for <br /> cleaning and televising in 2009, along with the project area having many root problems, <br /> our crew was only able to clean 30,000 feet. The area which was focused on in 2009 had <br /> to be cleaned twice, once with a root cutter, and once with the regular cleaning nozzle. <br /> Sewer televising is best completed shortly after cleaning. The past two summers the <br /> same crew that cleans the sewers has televised them. This has allowed for only one of <br /> 3 <br />