By Kellen Olshefski
Correspondent
The City of Elkhorn Municipal Services and Utilities Committee opted in favor of recommending the full Council support a reorganization of department of public works staffing at its meeting Monday.
City of Elkhorn Public Works Operations Manager Matt Lindstrom said he has been discussing the topic for about two months with City Administrator Sam Tapson.
Under the new organization, the field operations manager position – currently vacant with a crewman appointed to complete those duties in the interim – would be eliminated and replaced with two “Lead Worker” positions: one for parks and one for streets. The new structure would also add an Engineering Technician position to assist with department programming and administrative work, such as studies and a defined street maintenance program.
The Lead Workers would then manage crewman in their respective areas, five for streets and two with and additional three seasonal employees for parks.
Lindstrom said the parks division would handle all aspects of parks, including mowing, ball diamond preparation and pool maintenance. Meanwhile, the streets division, according to Tapson, would focus more solely on public infrastructure.
Lindstrom said the new structure could allow the City to better handle some department operations, such as the tree and sidewalk programs as well as storm sewer inflow and infiltration mitigation. He also noted that as another tier of leadership, it would allow better options for staff development and growth.
While the wage structure remains under review at this time, Lindstrom said the proposed changes would work within the current 2019 budget because the department would not be adding anybody to replace the field operations supervisor, but rather promoting two crewman to those positions.
“So, actually, you’ll realize a budget surplus by doing this,” he said.
Tapson agreed, noting the City could achieve this transition essentially budget neutral as the funds saved by eliminating the field operations supervisor could likely cover most, if not all, of those of the two Lead Worker positions, as well as the Engineering Technician.
According to Tapson, this structure of the DPW previously existed up until 2012, something Alderman Ron Dunwiddie said worked well at the time.
Tapson said he believes the change could strengthen the department, allowing it to better handle management, planning and policies in the future. Additionally, he noted it would align recreation programming and facilities and facilities maintenance more closely than they are currently.
Tapson said the new structure would also allow for the Lead Workers to be in a more hands-on supervisory role in their respected divisions.
“I do think that structure could work better,” he said.
Tapson suggested beginning the transition either later this year or in early 2020, giving new Parks and Recreation Director Karl Sorvick time to get both acquainted and comfortable with the position during the coming busy season before he becomes more directly involved with the park maintenance side of DPW operations.
Committee members voted unanimously in favor of a motion to recommend the restructuring of the organization to the full Council.
