5.5. ERMUSR 04-14-2009 - Laserfiche WebLink

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However, by staff account the number would have been about half that of the Electric or Water Superintendents. These management positions are not required to carry an on-call phone/pager or remain in town 24/7 and salaried (waiting to engage). Many times these managers are called when they are out of town or unavailable to respond. Therefore there is some redundancy with the General Manager and the Superintendents. This redundancy is even more critical because the Utilities are in a state of transition with the restructuring implemented this month. For this reason, the new position of Supervisor of Technical Services should be considered for inclusion in the take-home vehicle pool. The estimated cost of $6,000 associated with these vehicles being driven home are broken down in the attached spreadsheet. This makes up 0.0002% of the Utilities' 2009 budget that runs in excess of $26,900,000. The interpretation of relevant IRS documentation by staff had been that the benefit these employees receive by driving a company vehicle home is not a taxable benefit as long as the use is required to facilitate company work like emergency response. In other words, the benefit is non-taxable as long as the vehicle is being driven home for the purpose of being available for use in the event of an emergency. If the employee were to be using the vehicle for personal use as well, this portion of use would be taxable. Staff is currently working to get confirmation on this interpretation through the League of Minnesota Cities. An update of the status of this research process will be provided at the Commission meeting. The value to the company for this cost cannot be determined by the frequency of call outs. In fact, the frequency of call outs is a somewhat irrelevant number. Ideally, the company would have zero call outs. In the utility industry, employees are trained for emergency preparedness and paid to be on-call. While it would be preferred that these employees would never have to be deployed, there are a number of reasons that an employee may be called out, including car accidents, equipment failures, water main breaks, storms, etc... By having the company vehicle at home, these employees are able to respond directly to the scene, assess the situation, secure the scene to protect the public, and deploy additional resources as needed. The goal is to protect the public and restore utilities as quickly as possible. To illustrate this point, consider the following. Shaving life saving minutes off the response time by responding directly to the scene of an accident may make all the difference in the world in a situation similar to a recent auto accident in Elk River. In this recent accident, a vehicle ran into a 3-phase electrical distribution pole. The 3-phase feeder had fallen on top of the vehicle. Responding directly to the scene may give the added time to secure the area and prevent a fatality. Or consider an ice storm resulting in multiple overhead lines down. By having the Electric Superintendent, Director of Operations, and potentially the Superintendent of Technical Services respond directly to multiple locations, restoration to the power may be expedited through simultaneous assessment and resource coordination, all while protecting the public. There would be switching orders to write, Utility labor resources to coordinate, not to mention coordination with government agencies and other utilities affected. The value to the Utilities in the $6,000 is found in the intangibles, the Utilities' added ability to better service their customers through emergency preparedness and quick response time.