The staffing level at the Sumpter Township Department of Works will remain at the current level…for now.
Department of Public Works Director John Danci provided a preliminary report regarding staffing during the July 11 meeting of the members of the board of trustees. Danci explained that using the data available, staff members were able to compile a study of costs and the number of hours employees in the department have spent on various projects.
He explained that this was a preliminary report and he was sharing it in an effort to ensure the board members were kept informed as the study continued.
“It has mostly been the parks and cemetery,” he told the board, “and the spreadsheet summarizes the cost and the amount of time we've been spending trying to maintain the parks.” Danci stressed that the findings were estimates and that the totals were “kind of an averaging” of staff time. The report indicated that the parks and cemetery were taking two-thirds of one employee's time.
The estimate was based on the DPW maintaining the parks with mowing and minor projects, Danci said. “There are always things that come up,” Danci explained. He said the report was an effort to begin to build a plan to see if it is “really worth hiring a fifth employee or having somebody dedicated full time to the parks.” Danci added that currently, the four DPW employees were handling the workload including the routine maintenance. He said he hoped to complete a report with a study of the exact hours and cost of labor.
Trustee Matt Oddy asked if putting the maintenance of the fairgrounds into the DPW would increase the workload and require the hiring of another full-time employee in that department. He suggested looking at the entire project of maintenance would be more helpful in making a staffing decision.
“I think looking at the total project would bring some more light of what we need,” he said.
Danci agreed noting that while in the summer months a single employee might be spending hours cutting grass, the same number of hours might be spent in snow removal or plowing during the winter.
“At the end of the season, we'll have more accurate data,” he told the board members, noting that he would bring the report, when complete, back to the board for consideration.
