CLEARLAKE, Calif. – At the Clearlake City Council's Thursday night meeting, city Finance Director Chris Becnel provided a cost analysis related to the benefits – or lack thereof – of considering the addition of a Public Works employee.
Ultimately, the council decided it would not be in the best interest of the city to hire an additional employee for the department.
“So, what I'm seeing, is it's not feasible at this time to add another person,” Councilwoman Joyce Overton said, concluding that a single hire would not be beneficial based on Becnel's report.
The analysis looked at the benefits of adding the worker as well as spending the equivalent amount of money on contracted road services. It also identified potential budget reductions to offset costs.
Based on the city's goals, Becnel's report analyzed costs in hiring a Maintenance Worker II, which he estimated at $45,000, annually.
“We thought about a Maintenance Worker I, but when you're dealing with roads, you want someone more experienced,” he said.
According to Becnel's report, it would take no less than two additional employees to obtain proper staffing levels for even a road patching crew.
“A road crew assigned to fill potholes (six), trim trees (seven) or grade dirt roads (nine) requires a total of six-to-nine workers to work effectively. Currently, the Public Works Department has a total of four workers to assign to a crew,” Becnel stated in his report.
Two of those four workers, he said, would also have to be reassigned from the parks division to road maintenance as flaggers.
In comparison to contracting equivalent costs, Becnel said because a contract for road services would require the payment of prevailing wage, tangible benefits of a $45,000 contract would be minimal.
“The biggest problem you run into when you go out into a contract operation is that is because it is a 'public work,' which is going to exceed $5,000, you're subject to prevailing wage, which means you are paying a whole lot more than you would be paying your own employees. The other thing is that you are basically paying for the use of the contractors' equipment,” he said, adding the city would also be paying for the contractor's overhead.
Becnel's analysis identified several potential sources to offset budget costs.
The most obvious source, he said, is through the police department's recruitment fund, which is $48,000.
He said the dedication was made to address understaffing of sworn officers and retention. The department is currently at full authorized staff and recruiting expenses have varied but average around $10,000 annually.
Becnel identified the building maintenance supplies account as another potential source to offset costs.
The budget amount is $20,000, but typically averages $6,000 to $9,000. He said the higher budgeted amount is because the heating and air systems in city hall are old, which could result in an unexpected expense in replacing them.
Additionally, Becnel's report cited recent unanticipated expenses.
“Prior to the drafting of this report, but after the direction from the council, potential additional demands on the city budget have manifested themselves. These potential costs will far exceed the cost of one road maintenance worker,” Becnel stated.
An expense for short-term additional funding for animal services was identified as a result of the contract termination between the city and Society for the Prevention of Animal Cruelty of Clear Lake, as was potential startup costs and ongoing operating costs for animal control facilities.
Becnel said other additional expenses have arisen in relation to updating the city general plan and community development services.
The unanticipated additional costs are expected to be discussed at the council next regular meeting on Sept. 11.
The discussion on the ad hoc committees begins in the video above at 24:17.
Email reporter Denise Rockenstein at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .
Clearlake City Council discusses adding Public Works staffer
- Denise Rockenstein
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