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Manager's report: personnel moves, desal pump failure and a monitoring lapse flagged; staff launch job-shadowing pilot
Summary
The Water Resources manager reported personnel changes, a failed desalination pump requiring further work, a monitoring violation for an un-analyzed oil-and-grease sample, and a new job-shadowing program to improve cross-team familiarity and morale.
City water management staff briefed the commission July 17 on personnel changes, a recent desalination pump failure and a monitoring violation at a treatment plant.
Acting in the presentation, staff said as of the prior Monday Mr. Hagmark is the acting public works director and Dakota Corey will begin as acting Water Resources Manager on the following Monday; Dana Hoffenberger will act as water supply and service manager while the city recruits for the water supply and services superintendent position. The manager noted continuing recruitment pressure in distribution and operations and said human-resources work and labor negotiations are in progress to stabilize compensation cycles.
On desalination operations, staff reported a new pump installed by a barge failed after nine days of operation. "We have 1 pump offshore. So we are running, but we will need the barge to return to pull the new pump and determine the failure," the manager said. Staff characterized the plant as operational on reduced capacity while the cause is investigated.
Staff also reported a monitoring violation: an oil-and-grease analysis (an infrequent six-day sample) was collected but not analyzed due to lab turnover and short staffing. Staff said all other samples for the month were in compliance and that oil-and-grease exceedances have not been an ongoing operational concern, but the missed analysis is recorded as a monitoring violation.
To boost cross-team understanding and morale, staff described a pilot job-shadowing program that will have cohorts of employees spend a half day with another work group once a quarter; staff said nearly 40 employees are participating in the pilot. The manager said the city also closed the fiscal year with revenues generally on target and that the recent rate increase will begin appearing on bills in August.
There was no public comment on the manager’s report and no formal action by the commission on these informational items.
