BOW OKs Central Services Protocol
June 4, 2022 at 12:57 a.m.
BOW OKs Central Services Protocol
By David [email protected]
To clear up the gray areas, Public Works Superintendent Dustin Dillon presented to the Board of Public Works and Safety on Friday a “Central Services Updated Protocol,” which the Board approved.
“It’s kind of on behalf of all the city departments in general,” Dillon said.
One of the suggestions from financial consultants Baker Tilly for the city was to have a central services protocol on who will take care of what, he said.
“So we formed a formal protocol of each department, what we were helping out with in order to streamline efficiency across the city as far as production, financial responsibility and just overall direction. It kind of cleared up the gray area - which department was mowing here, which department was taking care of this and it kind of allowed us not to trip over each other,” Dillon explained.
As an example, he said the street department would be mowing right-of-ways and then look up and wastewater would be mowing lift stations right next to them. Dillon said they could streamline things like that and become a little more efficient, as well as more fiscally responsible.
“We went through this with all the department heads. (Police) Chief (Scott) Whitaker grabbed a lot of information on some of this stuff, so this was kind of a collaboration of all of the department heads on what they were going to do and just spelled out so it’s all nice and clear now,” he said.
They went through the month of May with the protocols in place and Dillon said they did not see any “hiccups” thus far. If any hiccups, or anything needs to be changed, he said an amendment to the protocols will be brought before the Board of Works.
Warsaw Mayor Joe Thallemer told Dillon he did a “marvelous” job with the protocols.
“As an example, the street department is now mowing fire stations and cemetery is now mowing police grounds. It just makes it so that not every department has to have their own mowing crew, if you will. Just an example,” Thallemer said. “Baker Tilly, as Dustin alluded to, when we did our operational organizational review, this was something that was listed as a mid-priority. We’ve been working hard to get through these priorities. We’ve made tremendous progress with the realignment of the Building and Plan, with the IT Governance, there’s been another one, and, of course, this Central Services.”
He said the “purpose here is to publicly acknowledge that as policy, and then I instructed human resources to adjust job descriptions if necessary, to either add or take out any of these duties that have been more aligned in this protocol.”
The Board approved the formal adoption of the protocols.
Under the protocol, mowing details include:
• Street Department mows and maintains all current rights-of-way, wastewater weekly lift station areas, mows and maintains fire station no. 3, mows code enforcement issues as they arise.
• Cemetery mows and maintains cemetery grounds and all police department grounds.
• Aviation mows and maintains all aviation grounds.
• Parks Department mows and maintains all parks-related grounds.
For the downtown streetscape:
• Parks Department maintains all planters, tree trimming and electrical issues within the planter boxes.
• Street Department maintains all landscape pavers, hanging of banners, flags, hanging of wreaths, tree removal and paint striping in parking lots/roadways.
• Cemetery wraps trees with lighting in the fall and planting of trees.
• Decorative trash cans are purchased through Public Works, emptied and maintained by Parks Department and repairs are supplemented from the Planning Department budget.
For electrician services throughout the city:
• Wastewater has two electricians on staff and the Parks Department has one. The wastewater electricians’ primary focus is electrical issues related to lift stations or wastewater treatment plant to keep things up and running. The Parks electrician primarily is responsible for parks-related electrical components.
Wastewater and Parks electricians will go through training courses for traffic signal maintenance to back-up/assist the Street Department’s signal technicians. They also will be available upon request to assist with decorative street lighting maintenance.
They “will be available to assist other city departments with electrical issues that may arise,” the protocols state. Departments should contact Wastewater or Parks with needs prior to contracting services outside of the city.
On trail maintenance:
• Street Department mows and maintains CR 300N walking trail to Madison School and the Market Street trail. The Parks Department mows and maintains Beyer Farm Trail. The Street and Parks departments assist when needed in help with Zimmer Road trail to the City County Athletic Complex.
• Bike Lanes are paid for originally out of the Planning Department budget. Their maintenance, including paint striping, thermoplastic and other variations, will be maintained by the Street Department.
Snow removal:
• The Street Department is responsible for snow removal on all city streets and alleys and hauls snow piles from downtown, as well as residential neighborhoods.
• The Parks Department is responsible for snow removal on all municipal lots and downtown sidewalks (walks where merchants pay maintenance dues only, not all downtown sidewalks), parks facilities and residential driveway assistance program.
• Cemetery is responsible for snow removal on cemetery grounds, and Wastewater is responsible for snow removal on wastewater grounds. Aviation is responsible for snow removal on aviation grounds.
• Fire department plows snow into piles at all fire departments, but Street Department will haul away snow piles.
• Police department plows their own lot; when needed, Street Department assists with moving of snow piles.
Concrete maintenance:
• Street department has a concrete crew that can assist with maintenance or reasonably-sized projects in other departments. Departments should contact the Street Department prior to hiring an outside contractor.
• Crews in other departments that do smaller concrete jobs from time to time are welcome to contact the Street Department to help grow their experience by cross training when desire. During season, Street Department pours concrete one to two times a weekly and can assist in training a fresh employee.
Asphalt maintenance:
• Street Department has an asphalt crew, with pavers, milling machines and equipment necessary to do most jobs. Other departments should contact the Street Department prior to hiring a contractor if they have asphalt work needing to be done.
Employee trainings:
• Departments should share information on any employee trainings that may be beneficial to other departments.
Mechanic services:
• Street Department garage maintains all of its vehicles, equipment, tools, etc., as well as those of the wastewater, fire, cemetery, aviation and building and planning, and can assist parks and police.
• Parks and Police Departments each have a single mechanic maintaining service, brakes, lights and other minor issues.
• If any department has a maintenance issue outside of warranty, contact the Street Department shop supervisor prior to contracting out any mechanic service.
To clear up the gray areas, Public Works Superintendent Dustin Dillon presented to the Board of Public Works and Safety on Friday a “Central Services Updated Protocol,” which the Board approved.
“It’s kind of on behalf of all the city departments in general,” Dillon said.
One of the suggestions from financial consultants Baker Tilly for the city was to have a central services protocol on who will take care of what, he said.
“So we formed a formal protocol of each department, what we were helping out with in order to streamline efficiency across the city as far as production, financial responsibility and just overall direction. It kind of cleared up the gray area - which department was mowing here, which department was taking care of this and it kind of allowed us not to trip over each other,” Dillon explained.
As an example, he said the street department would be mowing right-of-ways and then look up and wastewater would be mowing lift stations right next to them. Dillon said they could streamline things like that and become a little more efficient, as well as more fiscally responsible.
“We went through this with all the department heads. (Police) Chief (Scott) Whitaker grabbed a lot of information on some of this stuff, so this was kind of a collaboration of all of the department heads on what they were going to do and just spelled out so it’s all nice and clear now,” he said.
They went through the month of May with the protocols in place and Dillon said they did not see any “hiccups” thus far. If any hiccups, or anything needs to be changed, he said an amendment to the protocols will be brought before the Board of Works.
Warsaw Mayor Joe Thallemer told Dillon he did a “marvelous” job with the protocols.
“As an example, the street department is now mowing fire stations and cemetery is now mowing police grounds. It just makes it so that not every department has to have their own mowing crew, if you will. Just an example,” Thallemer said. “Baker Tilly, as Dustin alluded to, when we did our operational organizational review, this was something that was listed as a mid-priority. We’ve been working hard to get through these priorities. We’ve made tremendous progress with the realignment of the Building and Plan, with the IT Governance, there’s been another one, and, of course, this Central Services.”
He said the “purpose here is to publicly acknowledge that as policy, and then I instructed human resources to adjust job descriptions if necessary, to either add or take out any of these duties that have been more aligned in this protocol.”
The Board approved the formal adoption of the protocols.
Under the protocol, mowing details include:
• Street Department mows and maintains all current rights-of-way, wastewater weekly lift station areas, mows and maintains fire station no. 3, mows code enforcement issues as they arise.
• Cemetery mows and maintains cemetery grounds and all police department grounds.
• Aviation mows and maintains all aviation grounds.
• Parks Department mows and maintains all parks-related grounds.
For the downtown streetscape:
• Parks Department maintains all planters, tree trimming and electrical issues within the planter boxes.
• Street Department maintains all landscape pavers, hanging of banners, flags, hanging of wreaths, tree removal and paint striping in parking lots/roadways.
• Cemetery wraps trees with lighting in the fall and planting of trees.
• Decorative trash cans are purchased through Public Works, emptied and maintained by Parks Department and repairs are supplemented from the Planning Department budget.
For electrician services throughout the city:
• Wastewater has two electricians on staff and the Parks Department has one. The wastewater electricians’ primary focus is electrical issues related to lift stations or wastewater treatment plant to keep things up and running. The Parks electrician primarily is responsible for parks-related electrical components.
Wastewater and Parks electricians will go through training courses for traffic signal maintenance to back-up/assist the Street Department’s signal technicians. They also will be available upon request to assist with decorative street lighting maintenance.
They “will be available to assist other city departments with electrical issues that may arise,” the protocols state. Departments should contact Wastewater or Parks with needs prior to contracting services outside of the city.
On trail maintenance:
• Street Department mows and maintains CR 300N walking trail to Madison School and the Market Street trail. The Parks Department mows and maintains Beyer Farm Trail. The Street and Parks departments assist when needed in help with Zimmer Road trail to the City County Athletic Complex.
• Bike Lanes are paid for originally out of the Planning Department budget. Their maintenance, including paint striping, thermoplastic and other variations, will be maintained by the Street Department.
Snow removal:
• The Street Department is responsible for snow removal on all city streets and alleys and hauls snow piles from downtown, as well as residential neighborhoods.
• The Parks Department is responsible for snow removal on all municipal lots and downtown sidewalks (walks where merchants pay maintenance dues only, not all downtown sidewalks), parks facilities and residential driveway assistance program.
• Cemetery is responsible for snow removal on cemetery grounds, and Wastewater is responsible for snow removal on wastewater grounds. Aviation is responsible for snow removal on aviation grounds.
• Fire department plows snow into piles at all fire departments, but Street Department will haul away snow piles.
• Police department plows their own lot; when needed, Street Department assists with moving of snow piles.
Concrete maintenance:
• Street department has a concrete crew that can assist with maintenance or reasonably-sized projects in other departments. Departments should contact the Street Department prior to hiring an outside contractor.
• Crews in other departments that do smaller concrete jobs from time to time are welcome to contact the Street Department to help grow their experience by cross training when desire. During season, Street Department pours concrete one to two times a weekly and can assist in training a fresh employee.
Asphalt maintenance:
• Street Department has an asphalt crew, with pavers, milling machines and equipment necessary to do most jobs. Other departments should contact the Street Department prior to hiring a contractor if they have asphalt work needing to be done.
Employee trainings:
• Departments should share information on any employee trainings that may be beneficial to other departments.
Mechanic services:
• Street Department garage maintains all of its vehicles, equipment, tools, etc., as well as those of the wastewater, fire, cemetery, aviation and building and planning, and can assist parks and police.
• Parks and Police Departments each have a single mechanic maintaining service, brakes, lights and other minor issues.
• If any department has a maintenance issue outside of warranty, contact the Street Department shop supervisor prior to contracting out any mechanic service.
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