Will a simple change in the work schedule improve the city’s public works employees’ efficiency?
Indianola Aldermen Gary Fratesi and Sam Brock seem to think that it will.
They believe a change will result in employees spending more actual time on work. Fratesi said based on the current schedule, “Going back and forth is all we’re accomplishing.”
At Monday night’s meeting of the Indianola Board of Aldermen Fratesi presented a proposed schedule change that would cause the workers to start their day at 8 a.m., finish at 5 p.m., and take two 15-minute breaks at their worksite instead of the now 30-minute break away from the site.
However, his proposal was tabled by unanimous vote until later after Alderman Marvin Elder took issue with his recommendations.
Elder first wanted to know if Fratesi’s concerns had been brought before Public Works Director Jimmy Strong before bringing it to the board and Fratesi affirmed that it had.
Fratesi’s document outlined the workers’ current summer schedule as arriving at the work barn by 6 a.m., but he estimated that they do not arrive to the worksite until an hour and 20 minutes later. He further contends that they then leave the worksite around 9:30 a.m. headed back to the barn for a 30-minute break and don’t arrive back at the site until around 11 a.m. and at 11:30 they again return to the barn in preparation for an hour-long break at noon. This equates to only about 2.5 hours of work in a 6-hour span.
The second half of the day plays out to similar results according to his illustration, with the workers not returning to the jobsite until approximately 1:30 p.m. and leaving again at 2:30 to go back to the barn for a 3 p.m. quitting time. “I am not saying that this is every day, but more days than not,” he wrote. Fratesi continued, “We are losing 2.5 to 4 work hours every day.”
Brock agreed with Fratesi that the hours needed to be changed adding that when you work outdoors it is hard to avoid the heat in the summer. Alderman Ruben Woods said he didn’t think the start time made a difference as long as they went to work when they arrived, but added that it is cooler working in the mornings.
The document further upholds that the reason the streets are full of potholes, the sewers and drains are backed up and there are leaks all over the city is because it takes so long to finish each job and that is because of the number of hours actually worked each day.
Fratesi explained, that it was not totally the employee’s fault, but the system that is in place and that the public works barn is not in a central location. “Our men is not the problem, our schedule is the problem,” said Fratesi.
Elder raised concern about the workers having to carry their lunch with them to their worksite and where they would relieve themselves while out on work details. Alderman Darrell Simpson reminded him that workers in all types of vocations carry their lunch with them daily and Fratesi reminded him that the city owns buildings all over town and if needed, portable facilities could be set up.
Fratesi maintained that it was about efficiency and man-hours lost. “Our job is to manage the money,” Fratesi added. Simpson concurred and added that it was about being fiscally responsible to the citizens. Strong called Fratesi’s recommendation “a slap in the face.”
Elder made a sustained soliloquy in an attempt to validate his position and surmised, “Before we make a move and dip into their kool-aid, lets see can they make theirs sweeter and fix it themselves.”
Attorney Gary Austin then addressed Elder, “Alderman Elder if that’s what you wish to do, you need to make a motion, you don’t have to make a lengthy speech, just make your motion.”
Elder then added, “I thank you for that, but as an elected official, I wanted to make that speech, and I make that motion that we table it and put it back in the hands of Mr. Strong and Mr. Spurlock and let them work with his staff and come back with a resolution.”
Fratesi said he tried to get the item on the agenda over a month ago but Mayor Steve Rosenthal told him that he wanted to go talk to Strong and allow him to come up with something and at a subsequent meeting, he said Rosenthal told him Strong was still working on it and he has been waiting on them to come up with something. “So, I have not blindsided anyone,” Fratesi maintained.
On the submitted sheet, Fratesi also wrote that Strong had stated at a prior board meeting that the workers are not paid enough to do what they are asked to do.
“That is wrong in so many ways,” he said. “They knew what the job paid when they were hired.”
The paper goes on to state that when a department head tells you that you are not making enough that destroys morale and contributes to why the workers are so slow. Fratesi maintains that if the city paid according to performance rather than just giving everyone a pay increase at budget time, the workers would make more and accomplish more.
“I checked and a man or woman working for the city making $9.50 per hour costs the city $14.50 with retirement, insurance and perks,” Fratesi wrote. Mentioning the failing infrastructure, Fratesi said he hopes the new board’s concern for the city will work toward making the way the public works department operates, more efficient.
Strong said he would have something to present by the next meeting.
