Engineering Technician Additional Position RequestCity of Dubuque
City Council Meeting
Consent Items # 06.
Copyrighted
July 17, 2023
ITEM TITLE: Engineering Technician Additional Position Request
SUMMARY: City Manager recommending City Council approval to add a non-exempt
(hourly), full-time (1.0 FTE) Engineering Technician position to save
money by reducing overtime and reducing the need to hire private
engineering consultants that bill out at much higher rates.
SUGGESTED Suggested Disposition: Receive and File; Approve
DISPOSITION:
ATTACHMENTS:
Description
MVM Memo
Staff Memo
Type
City Manager Memo
Staff Memo
THE C
DUj!BQTE
Masterpiece on the Mississippi
TO: The Honorable Mayor and City Council Members
FROM: Michael C. Van Milligen, City Manager
SUBJECT: Engineering Technician Additional Position Request
DATE: July 11, 2023
Dubuque
WAWca 914
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2007-2012.2013
2017*2019
City Engineer Gus Psihoyos is recommending City Council approval to add a non-
exempt (hourly), full-time (1.0 FTE) Engineering Technician position to save money by
reducing overtime and reducing the need to hire private engineering consultants that bill
out at much higher rates. The additional Engineering Tech will help meet the demands
of our department's growing project list.
Adding an Engineering Tech position would ensure the City's ability to locate utilities
within the prescribed 48-hour timetable, reduce the City's need to hire more costly
services from consulting engineers, and reduce the overtime hours worked by other
Engineering Techs.
I concur with the recommendation and respectfully request Mayor and City Council
approval.
Mic ael C. Van Milligen
MCVM:sv
Attachment
cc: Crenna Brumwell, City Attorney
Cori Burbach, Assistant City Manager
Gus Psihoyos, City Engineer
Dubuque
THE CITY OF
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2017*2019
TO: Michael C. Van Milligen, City Manager
FROM: Gus Psihoyos, City Engineer
DATE: June 30, 2023
RE: Engineering Technician Additional Position Request
INTRODUCTION
The purpose of this memo is to request permission to add a non-exempt (hourly), full-time
(1.0 FTE) Engineering Technician position to save money by reducing overtime and
reducing the need to hire private engineering consultants that bill out at much higher rates.
The additional Engineering Tech will help meet the demands of our department's growing
project list and help address the continually growing demand for locating buried City
utilities (storm sewer, sanitary sewer, water main, fiber optics, electrical, etc.) as part of
the Iowa One Call service.
BACKGROUND
There are eleven (11) Engineering Technicians/Engineering Assistant II staff members
within the Engineering Department. These Engineering Techs perform a variety of diverse
job duties as follows:
• Assist with the design, construction management, inspection, and materials testing
of all types of infrastructure projects including: roadway and public utility projects,
sidewalks, driveways, curbs, neighborhood subdivisions, industrial parks,
brownfield redevelopment sites, parks, fiber optic networks, traffic signals, city
buildings, detention basins, storm sewers, sanitary sewers, storm and sanitary
pump stations, flood levee systems, and parking structures to determine if they
meet applicable plans, specifications, or standards.
• Review technical documents and reports.
• Keep detailed records and photo document construction activities.
• Create design drawings (CADD) and create as -built record drawings for completed
projects.
• Use the city's GIS system to create all types of maps.
• Inspection of projects to ensure construction work complies with the contract
drawings and specifications.
• Prepare specifications, calculate material quantity estimates, and construction cost
estimates for projects.
• Collaborate with project team and contractor personnel to resolve design or
construction issues.
0 Assist with office and field surveying activities.
• Assist property records researching and mapping activities.
• Fly the department drone for photo documentation of projects, create 3-
dimensional ground topography maps, and as -built records.
• Utilize GIS to research and update infrastructure records.
• Perform construction materials laboratory and field tests of aggregates, asphalt
paving materials, Portland cement concrete, soils and other related materials.
• Respond to inquiries from the public, developers, engineers, surveyors, other City
departments and outside agencies.
• Issue work in right of way and stormwater related permits.
• Research and prepare revocable and irrevocable licenses, city standard polices,
and ordinance updates.
• Assist with review and coordination of temporary traffic control plans and road
closures.
• Play a key role coordinating emergency infrastructure repair work.
• Respond to internal and external customer questions and service requests.
• Help coordinating outreach to the public during construction projects.
Finally, Engineering Techs support the 24-hour/365 day per year Iowa One Call program,
assisting with locating existing, city -owned underground utilities.
DISCUSSION
Iowa One Call is a free underground locate service for anyone planning to excavate on
private or public property. Locating the infrastructure prior to excavation promotes public
safety and prevents damage to buried utilities. Through the service, when a request for
locates is submitted in advance of excavation, public and private utility companies are
given 48 hours to mark out the location of their buried utility infrastructure. The
Engineering Department is responsible for marking out the location of (locate) all City
infrastructure: fiber optic lines, sanitary sewer, storm sewer, traffic signal/street light
power lines, and water main. If the City does not appropriately locate its buried
infrastructure within 48 hours, and an excavation subsequently damages a utility, the City
wouldn't be able to seek damages from the party causing the damage. The City would
have to make the repairs at its own cost.
Starting in 2010, the Engineering Department employed a single full-time Utility Locator
position (GE-28) to performs locates for the entire City. The position was supported by
Engineering Technicians (GE-31) in the Engineering Department who would help cover
after-hours, on -call locates and fill in when the Utility Locator takes time off. For nearly a
decade, that model was sufficient. Advances In technology (i.e., use of a mobile device
to access records) increased efficiency, offsetting the growing number of locate requests.
In 2020, a part time I&I Inspector (GE-28) was needed to assist the Utility Locator as the
demand for locates exceeded the capabilities of a single locator. The Utility Locator was
logging an unsustainable 20 or more hours of overtime through the summer months when
locate requests peak. The number of locate requests continued to grow.
In 2022, the Engineering Department requested approval to add a second full time Utility
Locator position to meet the demand for locates at that time and allow the part-time I&I
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Inspector to return to his important job duties related to the preventing sanitary sewer
overflows. The City Council approved the Improvement Package request, and the City
hired a second full-time utility locator in early FY23. The number of locate requests has
continued to grow.
The average weekly number of locate requests during the 2023 calendar year
construction season (since late April) is 326, 153% greater than the three-year average
of 213. There was one week with 454 locate requests, 213% greater than the three-year
average. If the current trend continues for the remainder of the construction season, we
will see approximately 12,872 total tickets for calendar year 2023, a 22% increase over
the 2022 construction season. One of the reasons for the increase is related to the a
private utility's effort to extend fiber optic communications to homes in Dubuque. ImOn
began this effort in calendar year 2022. According to their Chief Growth Officer, they have
completed roughly 29% of the work and expect to be completely done in November of
2024. And while ImOn might finish up their effort in late 2024 such that the demand for
locate requests might lessen, according to ImOn it is common for a second provider to
begin a similar effort shortly thereafter. In order to locate the utilities within the 48-hour
window as required, the part-time I&I Inspector has once again been asked to assist with
locates. But in addition, Engineering Techs are also being pulled away from other
important duties to help respond to locate requests.
From using computer aided design (CAD) software to help prepare construction plan
drawings to observing construction of utility improvements to ensure compliance with
contract documents, Engineering Techs are crucial for the department's ability to
implement capital improvement program projects. If Engineering Techs are unavailable
to provide CAD support or construction observation, Engineering Department Civil
Engineers turn to outside assistance, to engineering consulting firms which increase
overall project costs significantly.
In addition to projects that Engineering staff are working on for other departments, there are
165 budgeted Engineering Department projects totaling more than $75 million. Work is
progressing on more than 85 of those. Due to limited Engineering Tech availability, design
and construction administration work is currently outsourced to private consultants on 57
projects, with consultants performing the preponderance of the work on 17 of those.
Consulting firms typically charge 2.5 to 3.5 times the hourly rate of Engineering Department
staff. One specific example of the savings that can be directly attributed to Engineering
Department Engineering Techs is related to the Wilbricht Lane Detention Basin Project.
Based on the limited availability of Engineering Techs, the City entered into a contract for a
local consultant to provide an estimated $82,750.00 in construction services. Subsequently,
an Engineering Tech was freed up to work on the project. With construction complete, the
engineering costs are less than half of what was anticipated. The roughly $44,000 in savings
would fund an Engineering Tech position for half the year.
Due to the limited availability of Engineering Techs, engineering consultants were hired
for the first time in 2022 to provide construction observation on private subdivisions,
developments that will turn over ownership of the roadway, sewer, lighting, and water
3
systems to the City — again, at a much higher cost. In this case, those costs are borne by
developers who make payment to the City as inspection fees.
Finally, it is necessary for Engineering Techs to work overtime. When they are assigned
to oversee the construction of project improvements, they need to be present when
contractors work from 7 am until 6 pm, Monday through Friday, even working on
Saturdays. But under current staffing levels, excessive overtime is periodically asked of
staff members, especially during the construction season — between April and November.
Working excessive overtime week after week is not sustainable and isn't conducive to
peak employee performance or job satisfaction.
Adding an Engineering Tech position would ensure the City's ability to locate utilities
within the prescribed 48-hour timetable, reduce the City's need to hire more costly
services from consulting engineers, and reduce the overtime hours worked by other
Engineering Techs.
The new Engineering Tech would be utilized heavily in the summer months for utility
locating duties over the next few years. But when locate requests can be handled by the
two Utility Locators (i.e., in the winter or on unique days where locate requests dip), the
additional Engineering Tech will perform their other Engineering Tech duties as assigned.
Currently, there is a need for staff who can perform CAD drafting and help with plan
preparation. During the winter months this Engineering Tech would perform those tasks,
reducing the need to hire consulting engineers to develop projects. During summer
months, when not needed for locates, they would help inspect construction projects, spell
other Engineering Techs to reduce their overtime hours.
RECOMMENDATION
I recommend adding a non-exempt (hourly), regular, full-time (1.0 FTE) Engineering
Technician position in the Engineering Department to ensure the City's ability to locate
utilities within the prescribed 48-hour timetable, reduce the City's need to hire more costly
services from consulting engineers, and reduce the overtime hours worked by other
Engineering Techs.
BUDGET
The total cost of this requested position is $84,859.60 per year or $40.64/hour including
wages & benefits. It is anticipated that the position will be funded 10% to sanitary sewer
overhead, 10% to stormwater utility overhead, 10% to general fund overhead
(traffic/fiber), and 10% water utility overhead for a total of 40% of their time associated
with performing locates. The other 60% of their time will be re -charged to projects.
When equivalent project work is outsourced to a private engineering consultant the city
is charged between $95/hour and $132/hour ($113/hr. average). For every hour of work
performed by an Engineering Tech, it results in approximately 64% in savings.
ACTION TO BE TAKEN
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I request authorization to add a non-exempt (hourly), regular, full-time (1.0 FTE)
Engineering Technician position. This position will increase the City's ability to design and
inspect many more of the City private and public projects, reduce our dependency on
hiring consultants for many of its routine projects, and help to address the continually
growing demand for locating buried City utilities (storm sewer, sanitary sewer, water main,
fiber optics, electrical, etc.) as part of the Iowa One Call service.
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