6.4. SR 02-14-2005 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

Memo to Pat Klaers February 10, 2005 Page 2 3. Discuss with the City Council my thoughts that I have previously discussed with you relative to beginning to build an engineering department. My recommendation would be to build an engineering department from the bottom up; that is, by starting to hire technicians who are qualified to take over activities previously performed by Howard R. Green staff. Examples of these activities would include construction inspection on City- initiated projects such as the 2005 street reconstruction project, or the King Avenue parking lot, NPDES inspections and administration, annual map updating, record drawing preparation, construction of a computerized pavement management system, storm sewer map construction, and other miscellaneous items that have previously been completed by consultants. In fact, if more than one technician were to be added and one of them was proficient at AutoCAD we could greatly reduce the cost of preparing plans for City-initiated projects such as annual sealcoating, assessable overlay projects, or the 2007 reconstruction project. It would be my recommendation not to have City-hired staff work directly on developer projects, simply because all of the consultant costs on these types of projects are typically billed back to the developer. It seems to me it would defeat the purpose of starting to build an engineering staff if any or all of their time was consumed by working on developer activities, since the City has historically not been successful in charging back staff time but has passed through consultant's charges. Beyond these three major points I would like to discuss with the City Council, I will certainly be available to answer any questions or discuss any other engineering activities that you or the Council would like to explore. S:\Engineer\2005 Memos\02 1005 PK.doc