6.2.C. SR 03-02-2009 - Laserfiche WebLink

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~/ City of Elk --.-~ River REQUEST FOR ACTION To Item Number Ci Council 6.2.C. Agenda Section Meeting Date Prepared by Administration March 2, 2009 Lori ohnson, Ci Admuustrator Item Description Reviewed by Request for Water Superintendent to Report to Public Works Director Reviewed by Action Requested Consider a request from the Elk River Municipal Utilities (ERMU) Commission to have the ERMU Water Superintendent report to the City's Public Works Director. Background/Discussion At the February 24 ERMU Commission meeting, the Commission approved a new organizational structure for ERMU affective April 1. A copy of the organizational chart is attached. This change also affects the City in that ERMU is requesting that the water superintendent report to the City's public works director. Similar to the human resources agreement on this agenda, the City must agree to taking on this function. If the Council agrees to provide the requested services, a formal agreement will be brought back to the Council and ERMU Commission for approval. ERMU's request is a logical one as water and sewer services go hand in hand; they are typically installed together and development of the two systems must be coordinated. It is very unusual to have water and sewer systems operated by two separate entities; in most cities water and sewer departments operate together under the public works department of the city. The arrangement requested by ERMU has been working informally for water improvement projects for some time already, and I expect that it would work well for both the City and ERMU in the future, thus I support accepting the request to provide public works department services to ERMU. Currently, the water superintendent works with the public works director on water improvement projects, but the water superintendent reports to the ERMU interim general manager. If the change is approved, the water superintendent would continue to work with the public works director on improvement projects plus all water system operation and maintenance issues and the public works director would supervise and provide work direction to the water superintendent. The water superintendent and all water department employees would remain employees of ERMU and the ERMU Commission would continue to set rates, develop and approve the water fund budget, and set policies for the water department. Finally, as you know, Councilmember Gumphrey serves on the ERMU Commission. He and ERMU Commissioner Dietz, who will also be at the Council meeting, will be able to answer any questions the Council may have about the Commission's request. Because more than one Commission member will be present at the Council meeting, a special meeting of the ERMU Commission was called fox Monday so S:\Council\Lori\2009\Water Department Reporting.doc