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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMN-SJC-2017-02-08 SJC MEETING February 8, 2017 SJC Members Staff Cynthia Brock, Chair Steve Thayer Supervisor Bill Goodman Dan Ramer Mary Ann Sumner Mike Thorne Donna Fleming (arrived 12:45) Scott Gibson Supervisor Jason Leifer (1:05-1:48) CJ Kilgore Dave Warden Mike Raftis Rich DePaolo Jose Lozano Guest Absent Tee-Ann Hunter Cynthia called the meeting to order at 12:34 p.m. Rich MOVED to accept the January 11th minutes. Seconded by MaryAnn. All were in favor. Approved Unanimously 6-0. Financial Report – Steve Thayer -. 2016 is not yet final – there is still a month of activity before closing 2016. The changes that have occurred since the January meeting are in bold. Revenues – collections have exceeded budget. Debt service invoices have been collected by all three owners. There are additional receivables to book – including septage service and interest. Expenses – we have a surplus of almost $200,000.00 - there are some expenses still to be posted. We should be better than budget but will use a little bit of the fund balance. Activity through January 2017 - Revenues – Quarterly payments from the City and the Town of Ithaca have been received. Expenses – nothing surprising. Insurance usually comes up front – the majority has been paid. Bill asked when the state retirement payment is made. Steve replied that the actual due date is February but we realize a 1% discount and pay it in December. Capital Projects – $16,500.00 in expenses 419J Bar Screen and Dewatering – engineering activity 420J Enhanced Primary Treatment – engineering activity Operations and Engineering Report – Dan Ramer 1. Retirements – Dan introduced CJ Kilgore to take over as Interim Chief during the transition. SJC Resolution for Appointment of Interim Chief & Assistant Chief Operators at the Ithaca Area Wastewater Treatment Facility WHEREAS, Daniel Ramer, Chief Operator of the Ithaca Area Wastewater Treatment Facility (IAWWTF) is retiring effective February 16, 2017, and WHEREAS, the Assistant Chief Operator position is also vacant, and WHEREAS, the process of advertising, interviewing and appointing permanent personnel to these two positions will more likely than not require a minimum of four months, and WHEREAS, the IAWWTF is required by New York State Department of Environmental Conservation and United States Environmental Protection Agency regulations to have at all times a Chief Operator with a Grade 4A license certificate in charge of wastewater treatment plant operations and as signatory for the monthly discharge monitoring report, and WHEREAS, in order to maintain regulatory compliance in the short term an interim Chief Operator will need to be appointed from the three Operators already employed at the facility possessing a 4-A certificate, and WHEREAS, recognizing that the duties of Chief Operator are substantial and the present circumstances short of ideal, an interim Assistant Chief Operator will also be needed to provide support and ensure operations, and a successful transition, and WHEREAS, all three of the 4A certified Operators currently on staff have expressed their desire and commitment to support and enable the best possible transition of leadership, and WHEREAS, the Chair of the Special Joint Committee (SJC), the City of Ithaca Superintendent and Assistant Superintendent of Public Works have met with the three 4A certified Operators and have come to a consensus, and recommend to the SJC that CJ Kilgore be appointed interim Chief Operator, and Ed Smith be appointed interim Assistant Chief Operator, and WHEREAS, both the Chief and Assistant Chief Operator are existing and funded titles under the IAWWTF 2017 budget now, therefore be it RESOLVED, that the Special Joint Committee authorizes the interim appointments of CJ Kilgore to Chief Operator and Ed Smith to Assistant Chief Operator. Bill Moved to accept the Resolution for Appointment of Interim Chief & Assistant Chief Operators at the Ithaca Area Wastewater Treatment Facility. Seconded by Dave – Approved (6-0). 2. PW Tech – work continues on the screw presses. They are making some progress and are exploring polymer options. Dan will forward the written report regarding the state of the press to Erik and CJ when he receives it. 3. Department of Energy Better Buildings Better Plants Program – we have participated for the past three years - the purpose is to analyze energy intensity. They will keep us in the loop – the new chief will have to decide whether or not to remain in the program. 4. NYSERDA NY Prize – Dan has heard nothing. There is a grant for the asset management program that the City and the Town have applied for but Dan has not heard back from that grant either. 5. Johnson Controls – Dan is working on getting the reports regarding the performance contract posted to the wastewater treatment plant page - located within the Department of Public Works of the City website. 6. Notice of Violation from DEC – regarding our 2,000 gallon underground diesel fuel storage tank. It is our emergency generator tank. We received a notice of violation in January. We are required to have two operators - both a level A underground storage tank operator and a level B underground storage tank operator. Dan has not yet heard from his inquiry to the DEC but thinks that Brian Carman of Streets and Facilities can serve as the level A. One of our operators will have to fill the level B by successfully completing the online certification. Electronic Data Reporting - Scott and CJ met with Dan and will meet again tomorrow – they have until January 28th to register. Dan offered to be available to help out with this in the future. 7. Energy Production Statistics – submitted by Dan. There are still some temperature problems with the digester. Lower temperatures contribute to a decrease in biogas production - between ten and twenty percent of biogas production is lost for every 5 degree decrease in temperature. Cynthia is working with the Clerk’s Office to get the minutes posted to the website. Organizational Restructuring - Mike spoke of the package that Dan submitted to Human Resources in December. The HR department determined that the Chief Operator position does not meet the criteria to be part of the managerial unit. The current proposal includes an organizational structure with levels of management - Chief, Assistant Chief, Senior Operators (which would eliminate the slash titles that presently exist), Operators and Trainees. The title of Senior Operator would encompass areas of specialization or qualifying skills. Presently, the chief operator is in the executive unit and the assistant chief is in the administrative unit. The senior operator positions have to be created – they will be supervisory. CJ Kilgore has offered to be the Interim Chief. Ed Smith has offered to be the Interim Assistant Chief. Mike would like to advertise both positions as soon as possible. The salary range associated with the Chief’s position is currently $60,000.00 – $69,000.00 - this might dissuade candidates at this time. The executive unit negotiations have been stalled for six years but once the contract is settled the salary range will be $62,000.00 - $75,000.00. Mike mentioned that during a discussion with Wade approximately a year ago – he offered that it might be easier to revise the agreement giving the SJC more control over salaries. One paragraph of the SJC agreement clearly states that all of the positions at the plant are under the control of the City. Mike thinks that this paragraph might be able to be modified which would give the SJC the ability to supplement the chief’s salary. Mike offered the chief could become an employee of the SJC or of the Town of Ithaca. He added that there are issues with all options. He thinks the cleanest way would be to have the SJC supplement the salary. The SJC needs to create a search committee for a new Chief Operator – Mike added that the same could be done for the Assistant Chief Operator. Cynthia asked about flexibility in the budget to supplement the City income to provide a more marketable salary. Dan said that monies are available in the salary line due to the open operator positon remaining unfilled at this time. A new hire normally comes in as a trainee which starts at a lower rate. Steve offered that the contingency account is available. He thinks that the funding piece will be the easiest part – he added that a market rate for the position has to be determined. To make salary comparisons Dan suggested looking at NYWEA, NYCOM or WEF. There is a wide range of treatment plant technology – looking nationally adds even more complexity. Cynthia asked which staff person would be doing the analysis. Scott thought the Bolton Point plant would be the most analogous at $80,000.00 to $85,000.00. Dave asked how the supplemental payment would work. Mike said that supplemental payments have been done by the City in the past but he wants to make sure this is the direction the SJC wants to go before he moves forward. Rich brought up that the supplemental portion may not be applicable to NYS retirement. Rich added that he hopes that this is not viewed as a back door way to get the City to pay for the additional subsidy. MaryAnn said that the plant employees are funded through the plant revenue and added that we should be sure not to approve anything that can be perceived as side-stepping the process. Cynthia wants to be sure to do this correctly – to set it up for the future. She said that restructuring should have been done long ago – more oversight should have been given to the SJC. The chief operator could be an independent manager accountable to the SJC similar to that which is done at Bolton Point. This would allow the structure to exist but give more oversight to the SJC. Dan said that this was the original premise of the discussion four years ago but it was not the way we chose to go at the time - other options need to be explored. CJ added that the operators should understand the proposed changes if they are affected by them. Dan said that dis-association with Civil Service is not a simple process and he reminded the members that the positon(s) will be provisional – and the successful candidate(s) will have to take a civil service exam. MaryAnn suggested that we advertise using the maximum “City” salary possible. She is very concerned that the salary may not draw an acceptable pool of candidates as it is not high enough. She added that we have to be prepared to provide the supplemental salary if necessary and we have approximately six weeks to develop a system to offer it and decide the amount. Mike plans to send out the advertisement nationally on Monday 2/13/17 and advertise with the current salary range with NYWEA and WEF. He will put a one month frame time on it to see what happens. Steve supports going with the range and added that the supplemental income portion cannot be included in the advertisement at this time. He suggested working on the restructuring in the meantime. Cynthia voiced concern of advertising within this range. She said that the re-arrangement of the structure and/or the re-writing of the agreement will not happen in the immediate future or within the next six months. Dan added that he thought the SJC agreement could be amended to create a supplemental income path. MaryAnn MOVED that we advertise at the current range approved by the Executive Unit with a month from now as a deadline for applications. Seconded by Dave. One opposed. Motion Approved. Bill asked if an additional stipend could be advertised. Cynthia asked if the Chief Operator position could be advertised without the salary range. Cynthia apologized for the fact that the members have been fully aware of this struggle for four years and have not made any progress to remedy the situation. Cynthia asked for volunteers for the hiring committee: HR representative, Cynthia, Donna, Scott, Erik, Bill and Mike Thorne. Cynthia will ask Tee-Ann if she is available. A list of standard questions will be approved by the Human Resource department. MaryAnn suggested that the oversite committee find a path to the supplemental salary. Bill said that both the hiring committee and the oversight committee could talk about this. Agreement Review Working Group – Cynthia brought up that the agreement calls for an annual or semi-annual report of services provided by various City departments to account for the overhead percentage charged to the SJC. The next meeting is scheduled for January 28th to look at the Bolton Point/Town of Ithaca relationship and structure with Judy Drake at Bolton Point. Susan Brock will be in attendance for guidance. Watershed Monitoring Partnership – TMDL - Jose The DEC and EPA are at the point of identifying interested parties. Jose thinks we should be part of the working group. MaryAnn MOVED that the SJC support Jose providing the DEC a letter of intent for the plant as an interested party to become part of the TMDL stakeholder’s working group. Seconded by Rich. All in favor. Approved Unanimously. Cynthia asked what would be the appropriate way to explore supplemental income from the SJC. Mike and Steve will meet with Schelley and will provide feedback. Cynthia thanked Dan for his service and wished him well in his retirement. Dave moved to adjourn. Seconded by Cynthia. All were in favor. Meeting was adjourned @ 2:08 p.m. The Next Meeting is March 8th, 2017, 12:30 pm.