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02-07-1995 - Maintenance Department Service Levels/Cost Controls & Transition PlanCity of West Covina Memorandum TO: City M � ager and City Council AGENDA FROM: Patrick J. Glover ITEM NO. D-1 City Engineer/Public Works Director DATE F o h rl j a ry 7, 19g -q and *PRINTED ON RECYCLED PAPER Diane Ure, Personnel Director SUBJECT: MAINTENANCE DEPARTMENT SERVICE LEVEIS/COST CONTROLS AND TRANSITION PLAN. The Maintenance Department has conducted a review of the services it provides and the .corresponding costs of�these services. To insure that these services are rendered in the most cost effective manner, ;each area of operation was examined and compared to the estimated cost for having an equivalent level of service provided by private. contractors. The conclusion of this report recommends that approximately 25 % of the services now being provided by City work forces be transitioned to private contractors. The Maintenance Department with its seventy-five employees, provides a wide variety of City services.' The pn' ary focus of these services. is to maintain the City's infrastructure so that the citizens can enjoy a high quality of life in the community. Both the level of service and the costs of these services must be reviewed in order to insure that the citizens' tax dollars are being spent'l in the most cost effective manner possible. One way of reviewing jthe costs of providing services is to compare in house costs with those of the private sector. Contractors must price their services at a competitive level in the market place and therefore provide a true "free market" comparison with City costs. The difficulty in obtaining private sector costs is describing accurately the work and the service. level desired without writing complete specifications for each service area. Staff has attempted to quantify, how much work is to be done, and to specify a service level desired. The Maintenance Department contacted private contractors who provide services similar to those currently provided by City staff. These were informal contacts, and were intended to get a "feel" for the free market costs of providing maintenance services. In most cases the written and verbal responses by the private contractors were complete and had clearly stated cost and service levels:) The Department then compared the contractors' costs with our costs to determine area of operation that might be more cost effectively done by contractors. In each comparison, the State hourly prevailing wage was checked. The State prevailing wage is the compensation which must be paid, by law, for workers doing government contract work. This wage was 'checked as a gauge to compare our current hourly wage scale with that of the contractor. ;Prevailing wage comparisons do not reflect true cost savings or possible cost increases.. If the contractor is working faster or slower than our work force the prevailing wage comparison will provide an inaccurate comparison. lw Many issues warrant consideration. when evaluating the privatizing of City maintenance services. One key consideration is the flexibility of the current staff. Throughout the year, tasks are performed which fall well outside the normal work specifications, for example, removing a cat from a free, hanging banners on a day's notice, providing sand bags during inclement weather and desponding to Little League requests on short notice. This flexibility is limited with private contractors who only perform those tasks listed in the specifications, or charge high extra costs to provide services not listed in the specifications and . who charge even higher extra costs (to perform work on a priority basis. City Manager and City Council February 7, 1995 Page Two ANALYSIS (continued) Another area to consider is quality control. With City work crews, quality control is rarely a problem. A premium is put on doing the job correctly, even if it means spending additional time or material. Private contractors are driven by profits and will look to completing the job as quicklyas possible, with the minimum amounts of material. This requires the City to monitor the contractor to insure that the City is getting what it is paying for. This field inspection takes time and reduces the potential cost savings. . City staff also provide the intangible services such as giving directions to citizens, offering to help citizens who ask how to trim their trees or how to monitor their water use by reading the meter.. These intangibles take time, knowledge and patience and help create a good rapport with the community. The City's experience with contractors, from street sweeping to landscape maintenance, has demonstrated that communicating with citizens is not high on the contractor's priority list. Staff faces the challenge of managing the aforementioned issues, as privatization of maintenance services begins. These issues should be manageable by phasing the recommended transitions and retaining a. majority of the current City work force. The Maintenance Department was, broken down into twelve sections for review. All seventy- five employees were placed in one of these twelve sections. This placing of each person in a section does not reflect the way most positions are allocated in the budget, with only a fraction of the time going into a work section. The method used was an. attempt to simplify the study and reflects a fairly accurate estimate of the potential cost savings. 1. Parks Maintenance Currently, the City crews maintain seven City parks and the California parkette. The remaining four parks are maintained by a contractor, Aztecs Landscaping. The parks maintenance. crews provide a variety .of services from park mowing and irrigation repair to pesticide applications. A comparison of the costs to service the City maintained parks with those parks maintained by the contractor, shows that the contractor is substantially more cost effective on a price per -acre basis. Since the City currently has four parks maintained by private contractor, adding the remaining eight parks should not, create any major problems. Currently, twelve and a half City employees are doing park maintenance or related work, including management and supervision. The recommendation is to transition eight of these positions out of this section. This will still leave four and a half employees to provide management, contract administration and a small work crew for repairs, trouble shooting and pesticide spraying. The potential savings in this section is estimated at between $200,000 and $250,000. The service level implications of this transition. should be minimal. History has shown that the City maintained parks do look better than our contractor maintained_ park but with more field contract administration and tighter specifications, staff is confident that all parks can be maintained at an acceptable level. City Manager and City Council February 7, 1995 Page Three i 2. Tree Maintenance i The City currently maintains approximately 25,000 trees including the pruning, removal, and replanting of these trees. The recommended pruning cycle for the average of all City trees is approximately seven years. To maintain this cycle, 3,571 trees would need to be pruned each year. Currently, City crews are pruning about 1,600 trees annually. 3. Staff contacted al i large tree maintenance contractor who quoted prices which were substantially lower than current City costs. This price quote allows the City to look at two options. The first is to have a contactor trim only 1,600 trees per year to match our current work output. This will.maximize our cost savings but will continue to inadequately maintain the city's tree inventory. This option would save the City approximately$165,000 per year. The second option is to have the contractor prune 3,571 trees per'! year and maintain street trees on the recommended seven year cycle. This option will 'result in a savings of $20,000 annually. Staff recommends transitioning four positions out of the six currently in this section and having a private contractor provide pruning of approximately 2,500 trees annually. This recommendation will save approximately $100,000 annually depending on the bids received. The remaining City staff in this section will provide contract administration and an ability to trim, remove, and plant trees on an "as needed basis". As far as service level implications are concerned, the contractor will provide a much needed increase in the number of trees pruned, but the quality -of the pruning will decrease due to the fact that our tree', crews include employees who have outstanding formal training with one employee being a Certified Arborist. With tight specifications and quality field contract administration, the service level implications should be kept to a minimum. It should also be mentioned that our current tree crews provide a variety of services which are not directly related to street tree maintenance. These are things like hanging and repairing banners over: City streets, light bulb replacement at Little League fields, and set up for City events like concerts at the Civic Center. These items can still be performed by the remaining staff in this section with assistance from other sections. 1 The street maintenance section has sixteen employees who provide a variety of services such as: asphalt repair, curb and gutter repair, sidewalk repair, street striping and .pavement messages. Staff contacted several different private contractors who provide services similar to those listed. These contractors gave approximate prices to perform work currently done by City crews. The prices quoted by the contractor variedl from service to service. The cost of concrete work for curb, gutters, and sidewalks was approximately 17 % lower than the cost of City provided repairs. The cost for contract striping and pavement messages is (2%) higher than the cost for City crews to do the work. The cost comparison for asphalt repair was difficult because our crew operates on a constant repair operation for a variety of work such as pot holes, skin patch and overlay work. The State prevailing wage plus benefits for asphalt worker is� 40% higher, than that of our City workers with benefits. All work performed by the street maintenance section was listed in the State . Prevailing Wage Book with hourly rates higher than the City crews pay plus benefits. With this in mind, the recommendation for this section is to transition only three employees from, street maintenance. The three positions would be in the section which provides concrete repairs of curbs and gutters. The estimated cost savings from this transition is $80,000. J. .City Manager and City Council February 7, 1995 Page Four 4. Graffiti Removal The City staffed Graffiti Crew consists of one full time Maintenance Worker and two rotating Part Time Workers. Their duties are to remove graffiti on all public property. In addition to removing graffiti, the crew is also called upon to paint City owned buildings and structures. The crew also reports graffiti to be removed by the Boys and Girls Club of the. San Gabriel Valley on private property. On a daily route the graffiti crew removes graffiti from all park restrooms. , There are eleven parks that the crew must inspect and remove graffiti from on a daily basis. While inspecting and removing graffiti from the park restrooms,. the. crew must also inspect and remove graffiti from all other areas of the park facility. These include light poles, sidewalks, curbs, trees, bleachers, picnic tables, picnic shelters, drinking fountains, parking lots, play equipment, and trash enclosures. After inspecting and removing graffiti from the park facilities, the crew inspects and removes graffiti from the various Youth Centers located within some parks. The centers that have walls surrounding the perimeters of the facility, seem to be a prime target area for graffiti. The graffiti crew is equipped with a custom modified pick-up truck set up just for graffiti eradication. The crew has developed standard colors and spray equipment to paint -and power wash. This leaves the treated surface without a patched look. The crew will often times paint large areas in order to avoid a patched look that results from just painting over the graffiti itself. The Boys and Girls Club. of the San Gabriel Valley was contacted to obtain a price for performing the City graffiti work in addition to their private property work which is under a current contract with the City. Their price to maintain our zero tolerance policy on graffiti is $37,000. This quote does not include paint and other related materials which is estimated at $10,000. With paint and other materials included, the estimated costs savings for transitioning the City crew to the Boys and Girls Club is The service level implications will be minimal due to the Boys and Girls Club high level of experience. The problem of the patch work look can be kept to a minimum with good contract administration and tight specifications. This service is one that is recommended for transition to the private sector. 5. Electrical and Traffic Signal Maintenance The City work forces maintain seventy-eight signalized intersections within the City. This maintenance is performed by the City's electrical crew. In addition to signal maintenance this crew maintains all City owned buildings, pump stations, paseo lights and a multitude of other fixed equipment. The total electrical crew size is three, with two electricians and a leadworker. Both an electrical contractor and a signal maintenance contractor were contacted in order to obtain cost estimates for the City work. The costs quoted for these two work areas were both higher than . the cost for. City workers to perform the current work program. This is mainly due to the difference between the State Prevailing Wage plus benefits for an electrician which is 61 % -higher than current City pay plus benefits. With these. factors and the City's ability to respond quickly to signal outages, it is recommended that the. service remain with City crews. 6. " AutqLFAWILment Repair Shog The Equipment Maintenance Section is responsible for the servicing, maintenance and repairs of the City's vehicle and equipment fleet. This includes vehicles from Police, Fire, City Hall, Parks, Streets, Water and Sewer departments. Welding and fabrication is also included in this section which provides services to all City Departments. This section is also responsible for the maintenance and repairs to the fuel island facility; and City Manager and -City Council February 7, 1995. Page Five AutoffAMIlLm-ent Repair Shop (continued) oversees the proper storage and, disposal of hazardous materials brought into the City yard. The section is made up of three mechanics, a welder and a leadworker mechanic. I In order .to obtain comparison pricing for similar service levels, Staff contacted MIS/Ryder, a major truck repair firm. Their costs to provide all services currently provid 5d by Staff was 13 % higher than our current annual budget. The main reason for this higher price is State Prevailing Wage for truck mechanics, which is 39% higher than our pay scale for similar qualifications. With this in mind, combined with the fact that our response time for repairs is much faster, it a recommended that this service continue to be done by City work forces. With other sections being transitioned to contract, the amount of equipment that needs maintenance will decrease, and therefore the Staff size could be reduced by one, after these transitions have been completed. This reduction in staffing, combined with a reduction in repair parts will result in an approximate savings of $80,000. 7. Pool Maintenance The City currently maintains the Edgewood Pool and the Courtyard Fountain at City Hall with half of a full time position. This is a 50% reduction from the previous year, when one full time maintenance worker performed the task This reduction was a result of -A comparison with outside pool contractors who quoted maintenance on our facilities based on a 20-hour week. The hourly rate quoted was'equal to our current pay scale. Both contractors contacted felt they could maintain both facilities in 20 hours. As a result, the Department reduced staffingIevels to match the private sector. It is recommended that this service con with City work form. 8. Meter Readine,,� Currently the City employs one full am staff member to read water meters. In addition to reading meters, . this employee maintains fire hydrants, takes pressure tests, performs meter re -reads and fills in and assists other Water Department crews. The time required to perform duties other than meter reading is approximately 14 hours per week or 35 % of the employees workload. Edison Company, was contacted to inquire about providing the City with water meter reading services. The proposal received from Edison was for a 5-year contract to read 71100 meters. The proposal included a $30,000 to $38,000 one-time start-up I fee and a bi-monthly rate of'$.485 per meter which equates to $1,721.50 per month. The City's costs to provide the same service is approximately, $2,540 per month. Edison's price per month represents .a substantial (48%) savings, however, if a start-up fee of $35,000 is amortized over 5 years at 6% interest, the monthly savings is only $141.85 or 6%. This fact, combined with the benefits of having in-house flexibility results in a recommendation for keeping . the meter reading in-house with current Staff. 9. Water Services The Water Section is responsible for providing the City's 7,100 water customers with water of adequate quality, quantity and pressure. This section. also provides water billing and collection services as well as installation and maintenance of water lines, reservoirs, and all regulatory testing. The section is made up of 10 employees.. a City Manager and City Council February 7, 1995 Page Six Water Services (continued) Of all the work sections reviewed, this was the most difficult to evaluate. First, there is no prevailing wage listed for water or sewer service worker so a comparison with City compensation could not be made. Secondly, there is a wide range of services and the limited number of contractors which provide a similar type of service. Six Cities who were considering going to contract for Water Services were contacted. Of these Cities, only one, Huntington Park, transitioned to contract services. Huntington Park contracted with ECO Resources, Inc. of Newark, California. Staff contacted ECO Resources and discussed the City's water system and current. service levels. Without an on - site look at our operations, ECO Resources quoted a preliminary estimated savings of 10%, which is $100,000. ECO Resources looked at our customer base and our budget to arrive at the preliminary estimate. A more detailed look will be required before actual savings can be projected. With the savings being projected at.10% and based only on a quick review, the recommendation is to continue to operate the Water System with City work forces, but to take a closer look at our current staffing, to investigate potential in-house cost reductions to obtain similar savings for the upcoming Budget' Year. 10. Sewer Services Like the Water Services, this section was a difficult one to evaluate. With only four employees in this section, and a wide variety of services provided, finding a contractor who provides similar services was not easy. The City . currently provides the following services in the Sewer Section: Excavation for sewer mains and manhole installations, trench bracing, laying pipes, operating three Pump Stations, cleaning City storm drains and 231. miles of sewer lines along with maintaining nine storm drainage pumping stations for the freeway underpasses. The sewer crew also provides sewer services to the City of Covina and receives a reimbursement of $35,000. This $35,000 covers City costs and a 17 % Administration and overhead charge. With the new City policy for maintaining sewer lines from the main line to the curb line, the sewer crew will be doing additional repairs and investigations in the upcoming years - Staff contacted P.S.S.I., a large waste water maintenance contractor, who gave a "rough" estimate of $200,000 to perform a similar level of service to that being provided by City work crews. If the City of Covina services are added, this cost increases to approximately $235,000. This cost is approximately 15 % lower than our current fiscal year budget. The potential savings of $37,000 was not considered substantial, given the increased contract administration necessary to monitor the contractor and the additional premium charges that will be incurred responding to emergencies. Therefore, this service is not recommended for changing to contract by the private sector. 11. Contract Administration Currently there are two positions that are working with contractors. The first provides contractor administration for the six numbered maintenance districts along with the Parks Maintenance contracts for four City Parks in the South part of the City. The second position is the Senior Building Inspector which provides Contract Administration for City Projects, such as the new Fire Station Number 2, Snack Bar Modifications, Police Simulator Room, Police Sub -station at the Plaza and a number of smaller City Building Projects. l City Manager and City Council February 7, 1995 Page Seven Contract Administration (continued) Staff contacted four Consulting Firms who provide similar contract administration functions. All four of these firms quoted hourly prices which are substantially ' higher (50 % to 100 %) than the wages paid to the two City Contract Administration employees. This fact, combined with the In -House experience which will be needed to assist with the pending transitions to private sector contractors, is the reasoning in recommending that this function continue with City Staff. 12. General Administration i This section of the Department provides the Management and Administration for all the other sections previously described. The 14 positions consist of a Department Head, 5 Section Supervisors, 2 Administrative Analysts, 4 clerical staff, one Operations Technician and a Warehouse Operator. A large municipal engineering firm was contacted to discuss management and administration services for the Maintenance Department. The hourly rates quoted for Managers with qualification similar to those of current staff members was considerably higher than those paid by the City. Staffing levels throughout the Management structure of Organization were reviewed and the consultant felt that he could reduce the number of managers in order to produce cost savings. This prompted an in-house review of the management staff and resulted in a recommendation I that when the second highest management position in the Department becomes vacant, projected to be some time in 1995, that it not be filled. In addition, the Administrative Analyst position was not recommended. to be filled and -the Warehouse Operator position is recommended for transition. The estimated cost savings from these recommendations is $180,000. . Privatizing City services almost always has a negative effect on the morale of the organization. This is mainly due to the fear that comes about when a person's job security comes under attack. This fear reduces morale and starts the rumor mill. working on a destructive wave that envelops the organization. The best way to transition an organization to privatization is through managed downsizing. There are two key components to transitioning the Maintenance Department in the City. The first is through attrition. With the Department at seventy-five employees, the number of persons who leave the organization each year through retirement, moving to another City or just moving out of the area, is approximately four. The other component of managed downsizing is the retirement incentive. This is a cash or benefit enhancement offered to individual classes of employees in an effort to get them to retire from the City. The number of employees which would accept this type of incentive is based on the cash value of the program offered. Staff estimates that six current employees would choose to accept a modest retirement incentive program. The retirement incentive is a positive way to move employees out of the organization. Unfortunately, the skills that these departing employees take out of the. organization are often the skills that make their work. unit better suited for keeping in-house. The holes in the work force created by early retirement will not match the services which are the most cost affective ly' provided by private contractors. This will necessitate shifting within the organization, with many employees learning new skills, to create voids which will be filled by private contractors. This will result in a short term loss of productivity as these shifted employees learn their new assignments.. 91 City Manager. and City Council February.7, 1995 Page Eight Another method of transitioning a organization is to move employees into service areas where the City is more cost competitive than the contractors. During the past six months,. staff has performed an economic analysis for crack sealing City streets. The City has a long history of contracting out crack sealing to private firms who specialize in this area of street repair. Crack sealing is the process where hot rubberized asphalt is injected into roadway cracks in an effort to limit water intrusion. This practice prolongs the life of the street and is one of the most cost effective components of any street maintenance plan. A crack sealing machine was borrowed from a nearby City and crack sealing on fifty- City streets was - performed by City crews. The costs were. then analyzed and compared to. the bids received last year for similar work. The results show that the costs for crack sealing by City work forces were 20 % lower than the contractor even when adding equipment costs, management, administration and overhead. With Gas Tax money on the rise, due to Proposition 111, staff recommends that an in-house crack sealing operation be started. This operation would include the asphalt repair function to create a versatile work crew that could provide the City with an aggressive street repair. program along with the ability to respond to special needs in a timely manner. The crew would consist of the two existing asphalt crew members, two employees transitioned from another section and two part time limited -service employees. Also, the City should look into providing services to other surrounding Cities in an effort to generate revenue and maintain our in house employee base. The marketing of these services must be done carefully so that the work that needs to be done within West Covina is not .adversely affected. Alternatives for Achieving Vacancies Implementation of the initial phase of the proposed move to contract services willrequire the deletion of six positions. There are two choices available in achieving the desired, vacancies: 1)iayoff the employees in the positions where a vacancy is - desired, or 2) provide an incentive to encourage voluntary departure from the department. The second option is obviously much more positive not only for the Maintenance Department and its employees but also for a City-wide employee impression that the City Council and management do consider the negative impact on employees when taking steps to achieve the City's economic goals. Also, it is recognized that any program which offers extra compensation to employees must balance the humane approach with public perception. E&iy Retirement Incentive It is the opinion of staff that, due to the age and long tenure. of many Maintenance Department employees, they are a group who may have interest in an early retirement incentive. One such incentive program is available through the Public Employees Retirement System (PERS) and allows an agency, by resolution, to offer anywhere between one and four years additional service credit to employees eligible. to retire. Employees must be at least 50 years of age (the minimum for retirement), and have a minimum of 10 years of service under PERS. An example of how this would work isas follows: A 60 year old employee with 24 years of service retires under the option which, in this scenario, offers two years of service credit. They will be treated by PERS like a 60 year old employee with 26 years of service. Retirement benefits are calculated as if they had worked two additional years and their benefit is enhanced accordingly. The impact on.. the employer is that they are billed the actuarial difference between what the retirement the would have been if the employee retired at 60 with 24 years of service v. 60 with 26 years. r lie City Manager and City Council February 7, 1995 Page Nine There are currently 12, aemployees in the Maintenance Department who would qualify for the early retirement option I described. A two year service option would not result in excessive costs to the City and night, appeal to as many as six employees. Many employees in the department do value cash in hand over future benefits. For that reason, if a crash incentive equal to the cost of the Iearly retirement were also offered, there would be a better chance of achieving the number of departures desired. By example, if the City's cost for early retirement for an employee would be $10,000, the employee might prefer to have that $10,000 now, even though they do not receive service credit and their monthly retirement benefit is less. Cost Implications If all twelve employees I who are eligible took the incentive, either by early retirement or cash, the potential cost would be approximately $163,000 paid to either PERS or to the employees. Additional costs in payoff of accrued vacation and sick leave would also be incurred and would vary by employee. Using the more realistic estimate of six employees, the cost, if six employees exercised the option of service credit or equivalent cash would be approximately $92,000 1 This cost would be recovered by salary and benefit savings in about six months and all savings after that would be ongoing. Eady Departure Incentive Mano anizations tend to focus on their older workers first when downsizing. They are Y � g eY often thought to be the group most likely interested and financially able to leave the organization. In the Maintenance Department this is not necessarily the case as many employees tend to work until they are no longer able to do so. The younger workers in this department may be better positioned to move out of the organization and find other employment. An early 'departure" incentive for those employees not eligible for retirement by age and years of service would be an additional incentive. There are 34 employees in this category. The plan under consideration would offer between two and three and one-half months of salary depending upon 'years of service and would increase the probability of achieving the attrition rate desired. 1 Cost Implications We are estimating that potentially ten percent or three employees of the 34 may be interested in the early departure incentive. At an average salary of $2655 and 8 years of service, the cost would be approximately $20,000 if three elected the early departure option. The staff members of the Maintenance Department have been working on data collection for this report over the past] five months. During that time, six of the seventy-five currently budgeted full time positions have become vacant. The total number of recommended positions for transition is twenty. These six positions offer an excellent opportunity to begin the transition process. It is recommended that the transition of twenty funded positions be made in two phases. The first phase can be completed las early as July 1, 1995 . and the cost savings realized for the 1995/96 Fiscal Year budget. And outline of Phase I is as follows: 1. Prepare and obtain approval of specifications from City Council, obtain bids and award contracts for street tree maintenance, parks mowing and graffiti removal. 2. Reduce onsite parks workers at Galster and Cortez Parks to four hours s P� day in lieu of current eight ours per day. 0 City Manager and City Council February 7, 1995 Page Ten (continued) 3. Replace Maintenance Director position with new Maintenance Operations. Manager position and delete Superintendent of Maintenance Operations position. 4. Start new crack sealing program using unappropriated Gas Tax money. (Start up costs approximately $30,000). These four steps will transition a net eight positions out of the Department. Ten positions will be transitioned to contract services under steps one. through three and two will be added in step four. The net savings from Phase I will be approximately $300,000 based on the bids received. In order to free up positions to facilitate. this. transition, it is, recommended that the Retirement Incentive Program be implemented as soon as possible. This. will reduce the savings from the estimated $300,000 but will quickly be recovered because the $300,000 is an ongoing savings each year. Phase H of the transition is recommended for implementation during Fiscal Year 1995/96 with the completion targeted for July 1, 1996. An outline of Phase H is as follows: 1. Reduce the auto shop staff by one position. 2. - Prepare and obtain approval of specifications from City Council, obtain bids and award contracts for curb and gutter repair and parks. maintenance. 3. Transition Maintenance Analyst position to the Public Works Analyst with the funding for this Public Works Analyst coming from the Building and Engineering function of the department. 4. Eliminate Warehouse Operator position through transition. of employee to another work assignment. These four steps will transition ten positions out of the Department with an estimated cost savings of approximately $400,000 based on the bids received. With a total of twenty positions being recommended for transitioning, the following is a breakdown of how these positions are most likely to become vacated: 6 Current vacancies 6 Retirement Incentive Program 2 Move to Crack Sealing Crew -6 Through 1.5 years of attrition 20 Total The total savings projected from this transition -is estimated at approximately $700,000 annually. A summary chart of the proposed transition plan and savings is attached. I; uluIN I - Y s It is recommended that the City Council approve the proposed Maintenance Department transition plan and direct staff to bring back the following items for City Council approval: 1. Bid specifications for street maintenance, parks mowing and graffiti removal functions. 2. Bid specifications for the purchase of crack sealing equipment (approximately $30,000). t City Manager and City Council February 7, 1995 Page Eleven RECOMMENDATION (continued) i 3. Enabling resolutions between the City and PERS allowing participation in an early retirement incentive program for specified classifications of employees in the Maintenance Department. 4. early departure cash out program for employees not eligible for early retirement. 'ck J. ov Diane Ure City Enginbufflublic Works Director Personnel Director PJG:DU:lw Maindeptrev. SUMMARY OF MAINTENANCE DEPARTMENT PRIVATIZATION STUDY Park Maintenance 12.5 Yes 2 $ 75,000 6 $160,000 8 $235,000 Tree Maintenance 6 Yes 4 $100,000 - - 4 $100,000 Street Maintenance 16. Partial - - 3 $ 80,000 3 $ 80,000 Graffiti Removal 1 Yes. 1 $ 25,000 - = 1 $ 25,000 Electricians 3 No - - - - - - Equipment Maintenance 5 No - . - 1 $ 80,000 1 $ 80,000 Pool Maintenance .5 No - - - - - - Meter Reading 1 No Water System Maintenance 10 No* Sewer Maintenance 4 No Contract Administration 2 No General Administration 14 No 1 $100,00 2 $ 80,000 3 $180,000 Totals 75 8 $3009000 12 $4009000 20 $7009000 *Review operations for in-house cost savings to match contractors N