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Elk River <br />Municipal U <br />13069 Orono Parkway • P.O. Box 430 <br />Elk River, MN 55330-0430 <br />UTILITIES COMMISSION MEETING <br />Phone: 763.441.2020 <br />Pax: 763.441.8099 <br />TO: FROM: <br />Elk River Municipal Utilities Commission Troy Adams, P.E. - Director of Operations <br />John Dietz, Chair <br />Daryl Thompson, Vice Chair <br />AI Nadeau, Trustee <br />MEETING DATE: AGENDA ITEM NUMBER: <br />June l4, 201 ] 5 2 <br />SUBJECT: <br />Pro osed Utilities Organizational Restructuring <br />BACKGROUND: <br />In April 2009 the Utilities underwent organizational restructuring. At that time, the supervisory <br />and advisory responsibilities for the Water Superintendent were contracted to the City of Elk <br />River for a rate of $1000 per month. This contract assigned those responsibilities to the Public <br />Works Director. In early 2010, the Public Works Director resigned from his position at Elk <br />River. The City Council decided not to fill the Public Works Director position at that time. The <br />City then stopped invoicing the Utilities and the contracted supervision and advisory <br />responsibilities were then unassigned. A current Utilities organizational chart is attached for <br />Commission review. <br />DISCUSSION: <br />Although the Water Superintendent is completely capable of running the day to day operations of <br />the water department, it is not typical or advisable to have any position with unassigned reporting <br />accountability. It is possible to have the Water Superintendent directly report to the <br />Commission. The problem that may arise with this is the Commission cun•ently meets once a <br />month. If the Water Superintendent needed direction from the Commission other than once a <br />month, the Commission would need to call a special meeting or the issue would need to wait <br />until the Commission could address it at a regular meeting when a quorum is present. There are <br />often administrative, legislative, or personnel issues that need to be addressed immediately and <br />fall outside of the normal day to day operational decisions that the Water Superintendent faces. <br />In practice, the Water Superintendent is currently being assisted in this capacity by the Utilities' <br />Director of Operations. <br />The reasons for the supervisory and advisory responsibility for the Water Superintendent being <br />contracted to the City are no longer issues. And because there is no Public Works Director and <br />no scheduled time to fill that position, it would be prudent for the Commission to address this <br />issue and not leave these responsibilities in limbo. Staff recommends bringing these <br />s <br />