Title
Request to Address Funding and Staffing Needs Resulting from Termination of Florida Department of Corrections (FDOC) Contract and the use of the Greenspace and Community Develop Funds (B)
This item requests the City Commission approve the addition of twenty nine (29) FTE positions to replace the loss of labor crews due to the termination of the FDOC Contract, approve the re-allocation of $723,933 from unappropriated Greenspace and Community Development Funds and $250,000 in Solid Waste Funds to be used to offset costs for personnel services, and approve the surplus of six (6) identified tot lots.
Explanation
The Public Works Department (PWD) had two contracts with the Florida Department of Corrections (FDOC) that provided the City of Gainesville with labor crews. The Public Works, Operations Division and the Solid Waste Division, held these contracts. Three areas in PWD utilized these crews: an Operations crew that concentrated on mowing; a Litter crew, which ensured litter removal from City streets and neighborhoods; and a Resource Recovery crew, which dealt with disposition of City departmental inventory. Each crew included an FDOC supervisor that provided oversight of the labor crews.
PWD: Operations
In the Operations Division, the labor crew completed a variety of tasks including picking up litter in City rights of way and at City owned properties. They managed vegetation and litter along the City’s storm water canals. Other duties include cleaning and clearing City-owned lots, cleaning off the kiosks in downtown and midtown, filling in potholes and areas that wash out, and transporting materials for PWD. In order to continue these functions, PWD - Operations Division will need one (1.0) FTE for a Labor Crew Leader and four (4.0) FTEs for Maintenance Worker Is.
PWD: Solid Waste
The litter removal from City streets and neighborhoods was previously being performed by a supervisor and a labor crew of five (5) individuals who picked up litter from a list of streets that had been identified as consistently having significant amounts of litter on the right-of-way. The work is performed daily with about a five (5) week rotation. Solid Waste will need one (1.0) FTE for a Labor Crew Leader I and four (4.0) FTEs for Maintenance Worker Is to address this loss.
PWD: Resource Recovery Center
In Public Works, much of the work at the Resource Recovery Center (RRC) was previously being performed by a FDOC supervisor and a labor crew of five (5). The RRC processes a tremendous amount of equipment and materials no longer needed by various city departments and optimizes the disposition of this inventory through a hierarchy of reuse, resale, recycling or salvage. The work involves a never-ending process of receiving, dismantling, sorting, classifying, organizing, storing, retrieving and preparing surplus materials of all kinds for reuse, resale on GovDeals.com or recycling. This is an essential aspect of the City's internal Zero Waste efforts. This program reduces disposal costs, diverts waste and generated $80,000 of revenue in FY18. In order to address this loss, the RRC will need to add a one (1.0) FTE for a Program Assistant and two (2.0) FTE’s for Storekeeper to replace the lost laborers.
Parks, Recreation and Cultural Affairs (PRCA)
PRCA piggy-backed four labor crews off of the Solid Waste Division's contract. The Park Operations Division had three (3) labor crews, one that included an FDOC supervised crew and the other two crews were supervised by existing City staff. These three crews addressed but were not limited to landscape and active park trail maintenance, mowing, trash and recycling removal, playground maintenance, sign and park infrastructure cleaning, special event set up and break down for PRCA programming, and downtown work and cleanup.
PRCA: Nature Operations
The Nature Operations Division had one contracted labor crew that included a FDOC supervisor. This crew assisted in, but was not limited to, trash and litter removal of over three thousand (3,000) acres of passive parks, site cleanups from dumping and illegal camping, trail maintenance, pressure washing boardwalks, etc. Nature Operations would need to add one (1.0) FTE for a Labor Crew Leader I and four (4.0) FTEs for Maintenance Worker Is.
In addition to the Nature Park operational upkeep, Nature Operations has added more than nine hundred (900) acres of conservation land to the City's inventory of nature parks since 2008, bringing the total number of nature parks to twenty eight (28), and total amount of acreage to more than three thousand (3,000). Staffing and funding to care for these additional acres has never been addressed. To continue the necessary service of Natural Resource Management, contractual services funding would need to be allocated to address this need.
PRCA: Park Operations
In the Parks Division, landscape, ground, park and trail maintenance at City-wide active parks was previously being performed by two (2) City Supervisors and one (1) FDOC Supervisor and a crew of fifteen (15) laborers who maintained park wide trash and recycling runs, picked up loose litter in parks, serviced rail trail pathways, maintained playgrounds, cleaned park furniture and assisted with special event set up and breakdowns. The work is crucial to the cleanliness and safety of city parks. Without this crew the intervals of service will be dramatically reduced or in some cases not occur at all. Park Operations would need to add one (1.0) FTE for a Labor Crew Leader I and ten (10.0) FTE’s for Maintenance Worker Is.
Between Public Works and Parks, Recreation and Cultural Affairs Departments, a total of twenty-nine (29) positions are needed: four (4) Labor Crew Leader I positions, twenty-two (22) Maintenance Worker I positions, one (1) Program Assistant position and two (2) Storekeeper II positions in order to replace the labor crews that were provided through the FDOC contracts.
Fiscal Note
A total of twenty-nine (29.0) FTEs are being requested: Four (4.0) FTE Labor Crew Leader Is; twenty-two (22.0) FTE Maintenance Worker Is; one (1.0) FTE Program Assistant; and two (2.0) FTE Storekeeper IIs. This represents an annual increment request totaling $837,481, which includes salary, benefits, equipment, uniform and supply expenses. This amount is higher than previously estimated because it assumes maintenance of current service level needs as opposed to contract labor.
$70,000 is also being requested to come from the remaining Greenspace and Community Development Funds for the Natural Resources Management contractual services.
In order to address the initial incremental needs, staff proposes utilizing two resources that for the remainder of FY 19: 1) the Greenspace and Community Development Fund be used to address the deficit. Currently the Greenspace and Community Development fund has a balance of $723,933. 2) There is also one-time funding available in Solid Waste that can also go to the funding needs for the remainder of FY19. These funds are the result of liquidated damages collected from the City’s Solid Waste hauler. These funds are approximately $250,000. These funds would be limited to use for funding the Solid Waste Maintenance Crews. Long-term funding in the Solid Waste Fund is currently not sustainable for this activity.
For Fiscal Year 20/21 the funds needed for the incremental costs for staffing would come from remaining Greenspace funds and Solid Waste Funds, and also from projected revenues from sale of six (6) tot lots that were maintained as part of the FDOC labor crew’s responsibilities. Historically the tot lots have not been used or are underutilized; they are identified in Attachment E. Total appraised property value is approximately $110,000; sale of the tot lots would provide one-time revenue. The City Commission may consider using these tot lots for housing at a later date. Should the Commission elect to use these properties for housing, the City Manager may return to the Commission at a later date to identify alternative funding needed to meet the funding needs identified in this agenda item, to ensure inclusion of adequate funding in the FY 20/21 adopted budget.
Recommendation
The City Commission: 1) approve the increment request for the necessary twenty nine (29) FTE’s to continue service levels due to loss of labor crews in the amount of $837,481; 2) approve the re-allocation of $723,933 from unappropriated Greenspace and Community Development Funds to be used to offset costs for personnel services, contractual services and other operational expenses as outlined this fiscal year, and 3) approve the use of $250,000 from the City’s Solid Waste Fund, and 4) approve the surplus of the identified tot lots.