According to Chris Mayhew in the Alexandria Recorder a proposal by the mayor to elevate a public works position into a supervisory role was met with skepticism by two of the three members of council’s public works committee during an Aug. 4 meeting.
Mayor Bill Rachford said the proposed idea is still in the discussion phase, and he intends to continue talks about a foreman position. Rachford said he and public works director Sam Trapp came up with the idea for a foreman as a way to improve the department’s operations.
The new position wouldn’t mean hiring anyone new, Rachford said.
“You’re just giving somebody a little more responsibility,” said Trapp during the public works committee meeting.
Trapp said with the administrative duties he has going on, he’s sometimes in a meeting with the mayor and others or in the office filing reports and not at a job site.
“I’m just saying I can’t be there every minute of every day,” he said.
Council member Dave Hart, public works committee chairman, said the committee had been offered the opportunity to help write the job description for a foremen position. There was no discussion of the job description.
Adding a foreman position likely also means a salary increase, said council member Stacey Graus during the public works committee meeting.
Graus said if a supervisor puts forth a weekly set of priorities of what’s supposed to be done, then the employees should be able to carry everything out.
“I’m having trouble with the idea of having a foreman for three people,” Graus said.
Trapp said he didn’t disagree, and that public works employees are able to carry out tasks on their own.
Trapp said it’s not like the entire crew of three workers are always on the same job at the same time, and a foreman will have control of a job site.
“Well, the foreman controls all aspects of the job – not just one person,” he said.
Council member Barbara Weber said the idea of a foreman is kind of a duplication of responsibilities.
“I don’t really see the necessity,” Weber said.
Trapp said the department is now using daily time cards and tracking how much time each person spends on each job.
“Now we’re accounting for every minute of the day because some people feel like we’re not here every minute of every day,” Trapp said. “That’s just how I feel.”
Weber said the city has other reasons to track time including making sure the public works department runs as efficiently as possible and to see who is doing what kind of work.
“There’s more of a reason for it than we’re just basically poking over their shoulder,” she said.
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