The Williams City Council approved the recruitment of a new utilities chief to help with the lead responsibilities of the wastewater treatment plant and water system after determining the city was stretching their staff too thin.
Public Works Director Colt Esenwein said the city has had only one Grade III certified wastewater treatment plant operator since 2021, which requires him to be on call 24/7 because none of the other staff can act in his capacity if he is absent. The water division also has a qualified supervisor that is also on call around the clock.
“That means they can never go anywhere,” Esenwein said.
The limited staff has also left little time for troubleshooting issues, especially when the wastewater treatment plant has had ongoing difficulty complying with state discharge requirements.
Esenwein said the Williams plant has been exceeding regulatory limits for biological oxygen demand (too much organic matter present) which is set by the state at 15mg per liter.
“We’re currently averaging as high as 70mg/L,” Esenwein said.
Esenwein said Public Works has been currently working to address the problem through staff augmentation and training through the city’s contracted engineer, PACE Engineering.
Esenwein’s proposal to the City Council was to combine the wastewater treatment plant and water system divisions into a single Utilities Division, and recruit a Utilities Chief Plant Operator, which will be a dual certified position to legally operate both.
“The creation and addition of this position to Public Works will provide necessary back-up that the city’s operators need to start taking a proactive approach towards solving the existing issues the city faces, but also proactively identify future maintenance and operating needs,” he said.
Esenwein also asked for an additional maintenance worker to give the city the ability to start addressing program needs that get them in state compliance.
The Utilities Chief Plant Operator position ($146,887-$165-921), which will be a dual certified position to operate both the Wastewater Treatment Plant and the Water System, and the maintenance worker position (88,896-$98,890), will leave a hole in the city’s budget of about $150,000, which will have to be covered by reserves.
“I don’t think we have an option here,” said Williams Councilwoman Maria Leyva.
Leyva said she recently toured the city’s public utilities and was impressed with the work that is being done, but noted the “human factor” of Grade III operator Damien Garcia not being able to take needed and earned time away from the city.
“The way the city is running with the low staff that we have is tremendous, but it’s also very unfair to Mr. Garcia to have him the only one that is certified and not be able to take time off,” Levya said. “Not to mention the fact that we are not compliant.”
Williams Treasurer John Troughton Jr., during public comment, said he was concerned the city did not have the money to add the positions, especially after the raises given last year to all city personnel, and thought the city should allow PACE engineering to deal with the compliance issue while Public Works waits to see if any of their current wastewater operators could advance in their certifications so single individuals are not “tied to the place.”
Troughton said he talked to people after the half cent sales tax increase failed in the Nov. 8 election and believes it was the 7% pay hike that probably killed the measure with voters.
“We have to stay within our means,” Troughton said. “If we keep doing this, we are going to have a problem in the future.”
Councilman Roberto Mendoza said he also preferred that opportunities first be given to workers to move up in certifications.
However, the City Council unanimously agreed that the city could not wait for their current staff to advance and that waiting would jeopardize their ability to retain certified employees if the staffing shortage wasn’t fixed.
Esenwein said contracting a Grade III operator through PACE would cost about $300.000 a year, which would be passed on to the ratepayers of water and sewer.
“It’s not easy to hire for these positions,” he said. “There are fewer qualified staff than there are positions right now.” ■