2014-06-24_PWETC_Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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Mr. Schwartz provided an overview of the Public Works Department, which had originally been put together by staff for the benefit of new commissioners, but deferred due to other agenda scheduling conflicts. Mr. Schwartz advised that the information was also periodically updated as part of the "Roseville University" workshops held for interested citizens over the last few years, with each City department presenting information to better inform residents about their community and local government operations. Mr. Schwartz referenced the atlas pages in hard copy form that had previously been provided to PWETC members, and encouraged them to ask questions of or provide input to staff at any time. Mr. Schwartz reviewed the City of Roseville's 13.8 square miles and population of 33,600, 2014 Public Works Department budget of$19,500,000 and 32 FTE staff, and its current organizational chart. Mr. Schwartz briefly reviewed each division and their specific responsibilities: Public Works Administration, Engineering, Street Maintenance, Utilities, Building and Vehicle Maintenance, Solid Waste, and Asset Management. As part of the Street Maintenance Division, Mr. Schwartz included a discussion of the PMP and street lifecycle applications; 40 city-owned parking lots; and public owned pathways; in-house preparation by grading and prep work before paving to reduce costs; and snow plowing and the City's current policy on street plowing (available at www.cityofroseville.com/snow). Mr. Schwartz also provided an update on the City's automatic meter reading (AMR) and replacement of commercial and difficult-to-read meter replacements begun in 2010 and expectations of meter replacement to be finished in 2016, with 4,000 installed to-date, with the Finance Department then able to read all meters city-wide from four data collectors placed throughout the City. Mr. Schwartz advised that this also allowed more useful data for the City and its customers in leak detection, promoting efficiency and conservation, decreasing costs of meter reading and billing times, reliability and better management of staff resources. Mr. Schwartz advised that 1/3 or more of the City's entire sanitary sewer system was cleaned annually with a high pressure jet, and in some cases, root cutting; with 50,000 plus feet of sewer main televised annually to remain proactive in finding problems and high priority segments. Mr. Schwartz advised that staff had made significant progress in addressing problem areas, especially when 80% of the City's pipes were clay tile, and with lining technologies, PVC products could be used inside those areas where the clay the was failing, with over six miles accomplished in 2014, seven miles in 2013, and five miles in years prior to that. Mr. Schwartz noted that grant dollars available from State bonding through the Metropolitan Council helped the City be able to do more than it could accomplish on its own financially. Mr. Schwartz reviewed the City's sanitary sewer back-up cleaning assistance policy established by the City Council several years ago in an effort to protect the Page 14 of 18