5.2. SR 06-14-2004 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

O~ani~ationa/ Structure June 14, 2004 Page 4 would be hired to lead and manage the engineering function. At that time, the public works director would then become a "true" director, which would manage, lead, and supervise the Street (including building maintenance and equipment maintenance), Wastewater Treatment Plant, and Engineering operations. A key issue for the public works director will coordination and communication with the community development department. On April 12, the City Council discussed an "in between" step from our current operation and the establishment of a full Engineering Department and the hiring of a public works director. In this regard, it is clear that the city needs more engineering time at City Hall and it is also clear that we do not want to pay more for this service. Attached is a May 10, 2004 letter to me from Terry Maurer regarding full-time city engineering representation. This is a win-win proposal. The city gets substantially more of Terry Maurer's time and does not have to pay any additional fees for this time. Howard R. Green wins by retaining us as a client. This step allows us time to better analyze the workload, expenses, and revenues associated with an Engineering Department. The only adjustment for the ciD· with this proposal is that we will go from an hourly rate for Terry Maurer's services to a retainer contract. A key point to remember is that we can always cancel this contract and go back to our old system (or move forward with the hiring of our own Engineering Department).This contract will cost us no more than what we are currently paying under the hourly rate system. The cost will be $8,000 per month. This is less than what a full-time city engineer would cost when you add in benefits and other expenses. With this change, we will get Terry at City Hall full-me and all but a few of his hours will be for general city activities. Time that Terry spends on development projects will still be charged directly to those projects and that revenue will go to HRG. The plan is to keep those hours to a minimum and to have other HRG employees do more of this developer related work. It is important to note that we are planning for some city work that has been done by HRG employees other than Terry Maurer, to be done by Terry Maurer in the furore. In effect, Terry would do some work that is below his level of expertise and this will save us money by way of reducing the expenses that we pay to HRG for the "non-Terry Maurer" services. Examples of this type of work include: sealcoating, overlays, pavement management program, drainage work, smaller projects (such as Naples), and work on the central business district parking lot/utility building demolition project. In this regard, we not only will receive more of Terry's time for the same cost, but we will be paying lower monthly total bills to HRG for general city services. The benefits of this proposal are significant. We get almost twice the hours for the same price and we get lower bills from HRG for work that - in the past - was done by employees at HRG other than Terry Maurer. The retainer cost is less than what a public works director or a city engineer would cost us. A key component of this proposal is that it can be stopped at any time with a 90 day notice and we can go back our previous relationship or we can move forward with setting up our own Engineering Department. I anticipate that this proposal would be in effect for about two years; however, it could be longer if we want. During this period, we can have Terry Maurer help us set up and establish an Engineering Department. We also could consider hiring engineering technicians and clerical support and have Terry run this department under the retainer contract. S:\ Council ~ Pat\ 20( )4~ ( )rganizatk )nal0614( )4. doc