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PTC: Subtract 23, add 2Tue, 03/03/2009 - 5:04pm
By: John Munford
PTC wants ‘manager’ to handle contractors; vote expected on change to take-home vehicle benefit The Peachtree City Council is being asked to hire a full-time and a part-time employee for its public works department as part of the restructuring that resulted in 19 public works and four recreation landscaping and maintenance positions being eliminated two weeks ago. The full-time position would be a manager to oversee the landscaping and right-of-way maintenance contracts with private companies, according to a staff memo to council. That staffer would “essentially make sure that the work previously done by 19 employees will in fact be accomplished by the contractors,” the staff memo said. The goal is to insure contract compliance and quality control, the memo indicated. The part-time position is for an attendant at the recycling center who would open, close and assist residents at the facility two days a week. The vote is expected to take place at Thursday evening’s regular council meeting at City Hall, which starts at 7 p.m. Both proposed employees would be part of the city’s public works department. City officials previously have said they estimate saving $840,000 in next year’s budget by outsourcing the work. That estimate included the anticipated additional salary and benefits for the two suggested employees, staff said in the memo. Council is also being asked to approve changes in the city’s take-home vehicle program for police and fire employees. The changes are estimated to offset vehicle expenses by $25,800 for the police department and $2,860 for the fire department, officials said. The staff memo on the topic was not fully clear about how those savings were calculated, although officials have previously suggested charging officers for taking cars home. No such suggestion is listed in the pre-meeting memo, and the discrepancy could not be cleared up by press time Tuesday afternoon. The fire department has seven vehicles issued to command staff. Before the police department moved back into its newly-renovated facility, all officers were allowed to take home cars if they lived within 30 miles of the city because of the lack of adequate or secure parking at the temporary police headquarters. The current police take home vehicle program includes command staff, criminal investigations personnel and officers who live in the city, for a total of 26 take home vehicles, police said. For the fire and police department, take-home vehicles are touted as improving vehicle maintenance since employees can be held accountable as the only vehicle driver, city staffers have said. Take-home vehicles also improve response times for emergency situations, particularly when personnel must be called in to work while off duty, officials said. The memo cited several examples of off-duty police officers using their take-home vehicle to respond to calls while either just after ending their shift or while reporting for the beginning of their shift. Those calls included a fight in progress, a robbery in progress and a domestic dispute with a firearm involved. In all but one case, regular officers were tied up with other calls. City officials said the fire department take-home vehicles are also used so staff can respond directly to emergency scenes. Such employees include the fire marshal and assistant fire marshal who investigate fire scenes, senior duty officers and the training captain. The take-home vehicles also allow for quicker staffing of the city’s emergency operations center when it is activated. Both the police and fire department say their take-home vehicle program improves morale also. Fire employees issued take-home vehicles include two employees living inside the city, four living between five and 10 miles away and one employee who lives 24 miles away, officials said. When the full take-home vehicle program was in use, police employees issued take-home vehicles included 16 employees within the city, 24 employees between five and 10 miles away, 20 employees between 10 and 20 miles away and two employees more than 20 miles away (one living 20.1 miles away and the other being 25.9 miles away). login to post comments
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