HomeMy WebLinkAboutCC 4 REQUEST POSITION 02-20-901
CONSENTCALENDAR NO. 4
2-20-90
A�J Inter - Com
DATE: FEBRUARY 12, 1990te
TO: WILLIAM A. HUSTON, CITY MANAGER
FROM: RONALD A. NAULT, DIRECTOR OF FINANCE
SUBJECT: MID -YEAR REQUEST FOR NEW POSITION - WATER METER
READING/CUSTOMER SERVICE SUPERVISOR
RECOMMENDATION:
A new position be approved in the Water Enterprise to be at the
same level as a Maintenance Supervisor but to be titled Customer
Service Supervisor. A Supplemental appropriation from the
unappropriated reserves of the Water Enterprise be approved in the
amount of $40,500 to fund this position for the balance of the
current fiscal year.
DISCUSSION:
Since the acquisition of the Tustin Water Works in 1980 the City
has been reorganizing and assimilating the water enterprise into
the City wide organizational and administrative structure. Through
the help of attrition, we have been able to take advantage of
economies of scale and reduced the overall amount of direct labor
charged to the water system.
In the area of service billing, we reduced the number of full time
positions by three, and maintained the same work load relative to
the number of accounts, etc.
One of the most difficult problems we incurred was the inability
to advance schedule meter reading. There was only one full time
Meter Reader assigned to the service billing function with two
maintenance workers assigned temporarily during the meter reading
cycle. The problem with this procedure was that the assignment of
temporary meter readers was based on the field maintenance work
load. Meter reading sometimes stretched out an additional week to
ten days. This created unequal consumption periods, erratic turn
off schedules, and a tremendous amount of stress during the two and
one half week billing period. Two clerks were trying to deal with
seven thousand regular bills, and two hundred turn offs each month.
Eighteen months ago, an additional Meter Reader was assigned full
time and both Meter Readers were transferred from the Water Field
Services Division to the Service Billing Division. This gave us
the ability to spread the billing period equally over sixty days.
The service billing function is now both field and office related.
We've been supervising field operations with in -office personnel,
and found this to be terribly inefficient. The span of control is
just too large to manage from a stationary base.
Customer service is an important consideration when evaluating the
request for a field supervisor. During each billing cycle we have
many calls from our customers regarding their consumption, which
they most often feel is too high. We presently will send out a
meter reader for a re -read and in many cases we will test the meter
while the customer observes. In almost all incidents of this
nature, we have the Meter Reader call in and relate the test
results to the office staff who then must make a decision to reduce
the bill or let it stand. It would be much more efficient and in
keeping with our customer service philosophy if these decisions
could be made in the field in the presence of the customer.
Almost daily, decisions must be made regarding the replacement or
repair of meters, turn on's and turn off s, cleaning of meter
boxes, etc. The ability to make decisions in the field at the
location of the problem by experienced supervisional personnel will
enhance service delivery and increase the efficiency of the water
seryace billing function.
R6r4.d A. Nault `-
Director of Finance
RAN: 1s
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