Posted on 03/01/2022 9:02:55 AM PST by devane617
ALBANY, Ga. (WALB) - In 2021, Dougherty County Public Works had a 76% turnover rate, an issue they say stems from COVID-19.
The Public Works Director Chuck Mathis said the reason they lost employees was due to the pandemic, but another reason was pay. He’s hoping a pay study will help them increase employees’ salaries.
Mathis said right now, they have 57 positions and out of those, they need to fill 19.
“It’s tough to fill the services people expect when you don’t have staff,” said Mathis.
Some of those services are road maintenance, fleet maintenance, storm drainage, cleaning up after storm damage, and spraying for mosquitoes.
The positions they’re looking to fill are truck drivers, heavy equipment operators, and other labor positions.
“I’ve got seven trucks and only have one truck driver, so God forbid that we have an emergency and need our trucks to move tress,” said Mathis.
Mathis said he’s losing some employees three to six months of being on the job. Typically, they leave because of pay, but Mathis said something they don’t think about is the county benefits.
No, the problem is that fast food jobs pay more than entry level jobs basically everywhere. Every County in Arizona is having a hard time hiring and keeping people. It’s another consequence of bad Washington policies.
Tress - a long lock of a woman's hair.
Yeah I can see where that would be a disaster.
God forbid you cut the vacant positions, lower some taxes and hire the private sector to do some of the work.
I grew up there. Today, parts are a mix of a war zone, Detroit, and another place I won’t mention.
I know the area well enough to always be thinking “What could you do to bootstrap [the economy of] South Georgia?” every time I drive by on I-75. Have not come up with an answer yet.
75% of Albany are of the African American Race, 20% are white.
Since the "work now - pension later" model is dead, these municipalities can't afford to offer potential candidates top dollar up front.
Outsourcing to the private sector often fails because solicitations for bid go unanswered due to the same financial restrictions.
No mention of their vax policy, I see....
God forbid you cut the vacant positions, lower some taxes and hire the private sector to do some of the work.
You raise a valid point but the counter-argument is that the government is horrible at bidding and granting contracts and many laws are in place making the problem more severe.
Case in point from personal experience within the last few years. A city agency needed to move some earth (on a flat piece of land) for a small project to relocate some portable structures and fix drainage. Mid-level manager talked to the community college who has an excavation class and they were excited about the opportunity for their class to do it (for free) if the city rented or provided the machines. Rental costs and expected fuel were going to be under 10k.
City attorney nixed it and said the job had to be bid out for a contract by law.
It took months to complete and ended up costing about 125k.
Government (at all levels) is by its very nature inefficient. The service departments in most municipalities are probably cheaper than using contractors for day to day tasks.
No, I'm not going to either place ever again.
Not altogether surprising with small town politics in play. However, I'm betting with responsible, motivated (courageous?) community leaders the project could have been legally completed using community college forces.
No, the problem is that fast food jobs pay more than entry level jobs basically everywhere.
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One of the jobs they had posted was an EMT, and it only paid $16 / hour. Good luck finding anyone doing that level of stressful work at that salary.
My great great grandfather, Nelson Tift, founded Albany (and Tifton, GA). I have so many great memories of Albany growing up as my mom was born and raised there and all her side of the family had been in Albany for some time. I even lived there for a bit in the 1980s. All my cousins have fled and it’s sad to see how terrible the city is now.
As a retired PW director and lifelong anti-bureaucrat, you really don’t know what you’re talking about. I’m not saying this department in question doesn’t have some bloat, as some always do, but not to the extent you might think. During my last 2 years as the Boomers were retiring out, we went through a half a dozen new hires in our Road department, and a couple in both the water and sewer department. I and my managers credited that to the younger generation really not wanting to do manual labor.
Use of the private sector requires a competitive bidding process and there are not many companies that have equipment to fill and patch potholes, apply crack fill sealant, or the whole host of minor everyday problems that arise in the average day of a municipal PW works department.
I now operate a private General Contractor business that specializes in utility and road construction. Most contractors will charge 2-3 times the amount to go out to clean out a pothole, chip off the broken asphalt, and then place the new asphalt in the hole. And if nobody is watching them, they will skip a step or 2 to maximize their profit.
At one agency, we explored privatizing our water and sewer plant and distribution systems. We visited several other agencies that had done it, and each said the y regretted it. Those contracts all had a specific clause that required the city to make any and all repairs identified by the contractor at a negotiated price and failure to do so would invalidate their operational certificates with the State oversight agencies. This clause drove up the cost of service and was the primary cause of increasing their annual utility rates.
‘Movin’ on up?’
“No, the problem is that fast food jobs pay more than entry level jobs basically everywhere.”
Adn the problem with entry level jobs is they aren’t supposed to be a career, they are supposed to be a stepping stone to better jobs.
A 30 year-old still working the same job as a 16 year-old is a waste of a life. Unless we are talking a mentally disabled person, that’s different. Bless them, they are often the best workers at their level of ability.
What’s your point? An entry level position is a stepping stone. My point is people don’t want them anymore. It is short sighted, I’m just telling you what is going on.
I’m not doubting your knowledge, training and experience.
However, are you answering the question.
You operate a private General Contractor business that specializes in utility and road construction. Why not come up with a contract or business model that doesn’t charge 2-3 times what they pay the PW employee? And when you factor in pay, health insurance, pension, any other benefits, tools, fuel costs, are the PW employees that much cheaper.
As for skipping a step or 2, that is all about integrity and folks doing the job correctly, whether they work for the municipality or a private company.
Sounds to me like a nice little business could be carved out catering to a municipality in just that way. Maybe not.
But, I will say this....US Dept of Labor has been conducting research/studies on labor and employment trends. Since 2014ish, the trend of available, qualified and those willing to take these jobs has been steadily declining. And that includes cops, fire services, EMTs, military service, and I’ll include truckers, tradesman and those wanting a job with their local city/county.
Your right on all those points. The problem is buying all of the equipment to be able to respond to each task. As a contractor I want to make a profit so finding the right equipment and costing that out, plus trained labor is where it gets tricky. It’s not cost effective to do one pothole, but if the contract was to do 100 then it could be. You may get one contract, but other agencies in your area would continue to perform this work themselves so your stuck with underutilized specialty equipment to pay for.
Additionally, most of the equipment used in PW departments are generally purchased through co-operative agreements between states and local agencies that provides discounts that aren’t available to private parties.
It’s been a difficult transition because I used to have it at my fingertips, and now it cost me serious money even just to rent.
During my career, I specialized in going into an agency and identifying the fat, revamping the operations to gain efficiencies, right sizing the equipment, and motivating the staff to perform and then taking the reins off of them. All of this had to come in within the budget we set as a team.
My number 1 rule is that my phone should never ring with a customer or elected official complaint. I really enjoyed it when the public would show up to public meetings and praise my guys.
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