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Public Works director outlines water, wastewater and parks projects in annual report
Summary
The newly appointed public works director presented an annual report covering eight divisions, capital projects (water-line replacements, dam work, pool replastering), staffing gaps in facilities and water, AMI meter upgrades, and progress toward Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) compliance and other environmental milestones.
Jennifer, the city's new public works director, presented the Public Works annual report at the Nov. 3 work session, summarizing accomplishments, staffing and capital projects across eight divisions including aquatics, water, wastewater, parks, fleet and facilities.
On aquatics, Jennifer said the city has five pools and that programming and staffing have rebounded: "we have officially returned to pre COVID lesson levels," she said, and staff are expanding use of party rooms for land-fitness and other classes as they bring more activity to those spaces.
Jennifer outlined several capital and maintenance projects: replastering the leisure pool (lazy river) and replacing the play fountain with a new feature, covering and repairing Clay Street Reservoir, the fish-pillow installation at Mercer Dam, a Douglas Street water-line replacement, and upgrades at the treatment plant including filter-media work and changes to plant chemicals intended to increase flow capacity by 20 to 30 percent.
She said the city owns its wastewater treatment plant but contracts operations to Jacobs Engineering, which staffs the facility with five full-time employees. Jennifer reported the recent UV disinfection installation has produced a measurable reduction in energy usage across the facility.
On metering, Jake (assistant director) described the AMI radio-read upgrade: "we've got roughly 6,400 connections and I think we probably have about 1,700 left to swap over," he said, noting that much of the vendor upgrade was done on the vendor's dime.
Staff also described stormwater and collection work to meet the state's Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) requirements: crews inspected and cleaned roughly 50 percent of city catch basins and replaced about 40 basins to raise the city's inspection and maintenance to the level required by the state. Jennifer said the city has received positive consultant reports submitted to DEQ on its compliance work.
Staff identified personnel gaps in facilities and water-division leadership and said hiring for a combined water treatment/distribution manager is challenging because the role requires specific certifications; additional interviews are underway for a facilities foreman. Projects next year include design for James Howe Reservoir, Ash Street water-line replacement, Godse Road improvements and continued work on the new public works building and related yard reconfigurations.
Councilors asked follow-up questions about staffing counts, timelines for equipment deliveries and project sequencing; no formal actions or votes were taken during the work session.
