The Human Resources and Information Technology Committee met 08/28/2024. One of the items they took up was the Wastewater Treatment Plant Table of Organization change proposal submitted by Utilities Director Chris Stempa.
He submitted a 5-page memo in which he outlined a proposal to take the current operator groups of Wastewater Operators, Solids Operators, and Relief Operators and reorganize them into one unified operator group titled Wastewater Operators. Under this new plan, all 10 operators would perform the duties that had been previously been split among three groups. This new operator group would be graded as a pay grade 7 in the City’s compensation plan. Although this change would not result in existing employees receiving an immediate increase in their pay, it would allow the city to advertise open positions with a higher salary range and would allow employees to advance further up the pay scale as they achieve seniority.
The memo also included plans for changes to shift schedules. This was separate from the Table of Organization changes the committee was approving and could still be changed in the future in response to staff feedback and any practical issues that came up once it was implemented.
I’ve prepared a transcript of the discussion for download:
Director Stempa explained that the wastewater treatment plant, similar to a lot of other businesses, was experiencing pressures filling positions and retaining employees. Not as many people were going to school to do this type of work because there were other more appealing occupations. Exit interviews as well as conversations with candidates who had interviewed but then declined to take positions at the plant revealed a number of different issues that were causing people to not be interested in working at the wastewater treatment plant or remaining at the plant.
- The short turnaround associated with the cadence of a rotating shift schedule amongst the four member WWPO group
- The lack of exposure with day shift staff and management including the inability for involvement in projects.
- For Relief Operators, he unpredictability associated with filling in for wastewater Plant Operators or Solids Operators.
- Limited schedule flexibility for time off or doctors appointments, in particular for wastewater Plant Operators
In response to these concerns, they wanted to create a unified job class and operators group which they hoped would alleviate some of those issues.
This change to the table of operation would also include a pay grade change for the positions. The current pay range for the operator positions was not competitive. In fact, Director Stempa was aware that some people don’t even look at Appleton’s wastewater treatment plant position advertisements because the pay was so low. As a result, they have not been able to attract anybody with the experience and education that, historically, the city took for granted for the positions.
Director Stemp likened the situation to a game of Jenga, “[Y]ou start hiring a lot of “okays” and settling, at some point you’re going to pull enough pieces out and you’re going to have something fail. Somebody’s going to get hurt, and I don’t want that on my hands.”
The increase in pay scale would not result in a uniform pay raise across all of the existing staff, but it would raise the ceiling for how much they could make and would allow the city to advertise open positions at a higher range which would hopefully draw more attention to it.
Although not part of the Table of Organization change, they would also be updating the shift schedules for the workers. They would continue to work on that and tweak it, and they hoped that those changes would also alleviate some of the issues they had been experiencing.
The shift changes would result in a total of approximately $22,000 more being paid out in salaries over the year, which in 2024 would be paid through vacant salary dollars and then in 2025 would be included in the budget. There was, however, the possibility that there would also be cost savings due to less overtime being worked, being able to retain skilled employees, and not having to retrain employees; however, the potential cost savings was more difficult to estimate than the known $22,000 cost associated with the shift changes.
There was also the reality that as the city brought in new employees under the higher wages now allowed by the change to pay grade 7, existing employees who have been on staff for a long time at a lower rate of pay will need to have their pay increased so that they don’t resign.
The committee voted unanimously to recommend the table of organization changes for approval.
View full meeting details and video here: https://cityofappleton.legistar.com/MeetingDetail.aspx?ID=1220738&GUID=4E800D31-77A1-4D4D-85C7-3BD3F1F6516A
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