Public Works Director Makes Case for Maintaining Staff Levels

After listening to an impassioned speech from Municipal Services Director Dan Gombac, the Municipal Services Committee agreed Monday to recommend the city of Darien maintain its current number of positions.

At last week’s budget meeting, the Administrative/Finance Committee of the Whole discussed since Municipal Services has gotten by with a smaller staff for the past eight months. The department has functioned with one fewer employee since the city’s mechanic retired in June. A general Public Works employee has filled in for the mechanic on an interim basis. 

City Council voted two weeks ago to rather than sending vehicle repairs to Downers Grove’s service shop. 

The Public Works employee who is now working as the mechanic previously provided some assistance to the city mechanic while primarily working on other projects throughout Darien. He has not been formally promoted to the position. The city is in the midst of a search process to fill the vacancy.

“Since the general utility worker has advanced into the position of interim mechanic, the mechanic has been pulled in two different directions, depending on the necessity of the project and the timing,” Gombac said. 

Treasurer Michael Coren said that since the city decided to hold on to an employee for completing major vehicle repairs, perhaps it could instead send out smaller vehicle maintenance, such as oil changes, to Darien businesses. 

Coren also said that while he believes certain city projects are critical, including dealing with water main breaks and snowplowing, others could be postponed without harm if the staff is strapped for time.

“If putting up banners is delayed a day or two, that’s something I can tolerate,” he said. Coren suggested a trial run with the reduced staff.

Ward 5 Alderman Joe Marchese said initially he was torn because he thinks the staff is dedicated enough that they would get the work done regardless how hard they had to work. However, he questioned how much morale might suffer.

Gombac gave a detailed rundown of what is affected when the department works minus an employee. 

Emergency storm cleanup, brush pickup and issues with busted concrete are just a few problems that consume significant amounts of staff time, he said. Many of the matters pose a public safety hazard if they aren’t dealt with promptly, he said.

The full staff, with additional help from outside contractors, spent two days cleaning up after one of the severe storms that blew through Darien this summer, Gombac said. If the rain had been more severe, cleanup could have taken another one to two days, he said. 

“When things flood, people want service immediately,” he said.

Based on the number of hours Public Works projects consume during a given year, the city should be employing 13.76 workers, he said. Twelve full-time and one part-time employee who works half the week currently work in Municipal Services.

“You’ve convinced me,” Ward 7 Alderman Halil Avci said. 

“My feeling is, what you’ve just said … if you feel this strongly that you need it, I would support it,” Marchese said. He said ideally he, too, would like to try to continue working with fewer employees on a trial basis, but he didn’t want to risk ending up in a situation that mandated a fully staffed department. 

The full City Council will discuss the issue again at Tuesday’s budget meeting, scheduled for 6:30 p.m. in . The draft 2013 budget already includes the salaries for maintaining the current number of Public Works positions.