The Placerville City Council on Oct. 28 approved restructuring at the Hangtown Creek Water Reclamation Facility, eliminating a vacant lab director position and creating two full-time positions: a laboratory technician I/II and a maintenance mechanic.

Staff said the city relinquished its environmental laboratory accreditation earlier this year and now sends compliance samples to a private certified lab, which reduced the scope of required in-house managerial lab duties. Nevertheless, facility staff still must perform process-control testing, instrument calibration, state reporting and coordinate with the private lab; operators had been absorbing that work in addition to operations and maintenance duties.

Public Works and plant staff also told the council that many mechanical components at the plant date from early 2000s upgrades and are approaching the end of their useful life. The city's long-tenured senior maintenance mechanic holds institutional knowledge that will be needed in succession planning; staff said backfilling and knowledge transfer are priorities.

Finance and operations staff estimated the net annual cost of the two new positions at $82,961. The council approved the staffing changes and affirmed a new salary schedule, with the cost to be reflected in the wastewater cost-of-service study and the FY 2026-27 operating budget.

Provenance: Staff presentation begins at 45:59 and the formal motion and roll call vote conclude the item at 49:59.