Wasilla employees express concern to city council

December 8, 2006

By MARY AMES

Frontiersman

WASILLA - Wasilla public works employees recently talked about their concerns with the city council, and received a less-than-satisfactory response, likely prompting one employee to quit.

At the Nov. 2 employee meeting with the city council, Monica Miller - a laborer at the wastewater treatment plant - said the city puts money into training, but gives employees no incentive to stick around once training is complete.

The job descriptions for a laborer, a water technician 1 and water technician 2 are very similar, Miller said. Each position has to run the pump truck and the steam truck and be on call on the weekends, she said. And, although they are supposed to be under close supervision, they often work alone, Miller said.

&#8220My main concern is, once you have a work base to attain level 1, there is no incentive to stay with the city,” Miller said. &#8220I don't want to stay working for $12 an hour when I can get paid more.”

Miller suggested the city reward an employee who earns higher certifications with a raise in pay.

Other public works employees, including Sandy Connelly, Jana Griffin, Lynn Gronlund and John Becker expressed concern over pay scales, supervisory status and city services.

&#8220What if they refused to go out for an emergency?” Connelly said. &#8220What about an emergency sewer call on holidays? They get no overtime, and they should.”

Gronlund asked for a change in employee-council meeting times and structure. Meetings should be during regular work hours, so employees don't have to deal with baby-sitting issues or take personal time to attend, Gronlund said.

&#8220We need an employee advocate so we're not in the hot seat in front of everyone,”

Gronlund said.

&#8220No conclusions or results come from these meetings. Most answers are taken from city code … nothing changes.”

Lynn Follett, an employee in properties, told the council the city is paying for

excellence.

&#8220When you have people doing journeyman-level work, they should get paid accordingly,” Follett said. &#8220From what I see, your laborers are doing journeyman-level work. On call, they come out and work unsupervised.”

Excellence comes at a cost, Follett said, and the city shouldn't expect to get it for free.

In response to concerns about supervision, council member Ron Cox said supervision can be implied.

&#8220They don't have to be right there,” Cox said.

Council member Steve Menard said it wouldn't be a good idea to have employee meetings during a work day.

&#8220If we had it during the work day, this meeting would be eight hours long, with people avoiding work,” Menard said. &#8220We all know that.”

Later, Menard said he would like it to be a code requirement for the city council and city employees to meet twice a year.

&#8220If I'm going to be here, I'm going to do something for you,” Menard said.

Mayor Dianne M. Keller said that, considering the schedules of police department, Multi-Use Sports Complex and library employees, no meeting time would be good for 100 percent of city employees.

As far as moving up to another position, the mayor said it was like a grocery bagger who aspired to be a checker, but couldn't get that job until a position opened up.

&#8220It's not fair to the taxpayers to move people up to the next level if no position is open,” Keller said. &#8220We don't expect them to stay here forever and wait.”

Someone would either have to retire or die for a position to open in some cases at the city, Keller said.

But working in Wasilla offers more opportunities than in some places, she said.

&#8220I've been in Bush Alaska, where there's three paid positions,” Keller said.

&#8220And not only do you wait for someone to die, but if you're not the right family member, you never get the job.”

Menard said, as a city, we &#8220are exploiting our laborers, because we are in a position to.”

The world is not fair, he said, and there are budget constraints.

&#8220Do you understand?” Menard said. &#8220I can't make it any more simpler than that.”

Miller apparently got the message.

She gave notice within the last two weeks, according to Marilyn Frankel, human resources director for Wasilla.

The position opened Nov. 27. Applications can be downloaded at www.cityofwasilla.

com/mayor/jobapps.asp.

Contact Mary Ames at

352-2284 or mary.ames@

frontiersman.com.