PUBLIC WORKS: Basic Building Block

[OPRA Reporter]

LABOR & MANPOWER ACCOUNTABILITY.

The form below is a sample as used by Warren Township, New Jersey, to document all work performed by its Public Works Department. The form is available at the City Clerk's window in the main municipal building for members of the public who might happen to report an item needing PW attention in person. Otherwise, the forms are filled out in response to phone callers.

(Some leftover copies from 2008 of the Public Works exemplar Work Order form were saved so the back side could be used for writing messages not triggering Work Orders by the PW Department secretary. Little is carelessly discarded in a cost-conscious town.)



Monthly "accountability reporting" occurs, as page-upon-page of spreadsheets documenting tasks and hours according to category are compiled at end of month. The supervisory staff also uses the forms to document all work expected to be accomplished during the day as the crews get orders in the morning. For items which crop up in the course of a day and result in oral orders being issued, the supervisors do a daily de-briefing to the PW Secretary who enters the information in the "Extra Project" category directly on the computer itself.

If the Secretary is on the computer at the time members of the public place calls -- to report potholes, request that a stretch of city-owned roadway be put on a queu for repaving, report special icy patches of roadway needing immediate attention by salt and gravel trucks, identify storm drains backing up, or note fallen trees or dead branches on Green Acres areas owned by the town which pose a risk to power lines etc. -- then she often inputs the data onto the form directly and generates a printout (2 Work Orders per standard sheet of paper to save costs).

The department uses the monthly reports to justify its necessary manpower levels to the Township Committee, which routinely receives and reviews the summarizing cover sheet and the attached detailed spreadsheets. Turnaround times are measured for fulfilling Work Order requests, and each month begins with a carryover of any WO's which are "still pending" from the prioer month. The summary notes the number of Opened WO's, Closed (completed) WO's, and Pending at the end of the month.

In addition to the OPRA filed for several sample monthly reports, the OPRA to Warren requested some up-to-date information about other areas of operation and payroll data which would "sample" a summer month vs. a winter month for information about what, if any, OverTime charges for labor occurred. The information about "task categories" used by another New Jersey town, as well as the operation of a system providing labor hours accountability-through-documentation, will be turned over to City of Ventnor Commission for study.

ASSET MANAGEMENT PRACTICES.

Inquiry was made about how Warren Township handles inventory. All assets valued at more than $1,000 fall under the purview of the Asset Management System and are specially tagged as such. Their location for storage when not in use is documented, and a photographic "tour" provides a little more information below relating to facilities for storing and housing equipment. Per the "cost reduction policies" of the town, any asset which might no longer be useful or needs replacement is subjected to a three-pronged review, which is also part of the monthly reporting to Township Committee. The prongs require review for

• FIX -- what would be the cost and added longevity
• DISCARD - what would be the cost of replacement + cost to "junk" an item
• AUCTION - what is the estimated value at auction and available as an offset if replacement is planned.

The PW facility is located at the end of a Lane, which runs astride and behind the three-building municipal complex fronting Mountain Boulevard, a major arterial feeding to the downtown commercial shops area. It is behind security fencing and gates which have automated features, but are kept open during normal working hours on weekdays and on special weekends designated for household-items dumping. There are surveillance cameras to prevent impermissible access or abuse of dumping guidelines.

A wooden sign immediately beyond the gated driveway reads:

" Warren Township welcomes you to the best Public Works Department in the country."



The front doorway of the building leads to office space (2 stories) on the left while the right side of the building has the vehicle maintenance bays. The decking at the side of the building is used for lunch breaks in hospitable weather, as the kitchenette facilities inside the building are spartan. There is a half-wall on the right side of the hallway which runs the length of the building and permits a view of the bays themselves from the interior. To the left of the office/maintence building -- not visible in the photograph above -- there is another driveway and on its left is a long building with bays used to store equipment and supplies. There are bay doors which are closed and locked in off-hours.



A photo taken from a different angle of the side of the building shows the number of repair bays.



The PWD maintains fuel tanks for the town's vehicles. Some of the snowplows are visible immediately beyond the pumps.


http://i234.photobucket.com/albums/e...blicWorks1.jpg

There is protected storage for salt / sand used during the winter, on the PW premises. At the very rear of the property and not shown in photographs is the dump area, available on designated Saturdays for discarding household goods which might not be carted by the private haulers serving homes in the township, or which might carry higher spot-pricing for carting.

Vital statistics relevant to the town:
Population: 17,000 with majority fulltime year-round.
Area: 19.3 square miles
Municipally owned roads: approximately 120 linear miles on hilly wooded terrain
Occasional emergency response needs: County roads if ultra-hazardous and Somerset County is slow to respond with road crews in salt/sanding trucks or plows; a stretch of 7.3 miles of busy Interstate-78 which runs through the township and is a major corridor from PA to New York City.
Water service: Elizabethtown Water which was later-acquired by American Water (a/k/a New Jersey American Water in this state) bills customers according to meter flows and digital meter replacements were rolled out years ago. As a regulated utility in non-governmental ownership, the water company must go before the rate commission to request increases. It is always challenged by a New Jersey State consumer advocacy unit, operating through the Attorney General's office.
Sewer service: Warren Township Sewerage Authority is a municipal agency.
Public Works Department size: 21 employees. 19 are full-time; 2 are part-time.
Responsibilities (mentioned but list might not be exhaustive):

• Mowing and maintaining 11 playing fields with fields designated M1 through M5 located on 25 acres adjacent to the municipal complex and the other fields at 3 other locations in other areas of town;
• Grounds and buildings of municipal complex
• Grounds and structure of the Pavilion, a city property for picnics and food-related gatherings of town non-profit organizations and Rec Sports teams.
• Road maintenance with salting/sanding predominating in winter and paving in spring;
• Storm sewers and drains;
• Vehicle maintenance;
• Three nature trails in preserves of woodlands known as the Dealaman Trail, the Hoffheimer Trail and through the Glenhurst Tract, with attention to overgrowth and walkway planking;
• The municipality is also responsible for trees in wooded areas which it required developers to deed back to the town as Green Acres in return for grants of permission to put in roads and homes. There appear to be hundreds, if not over a thousand, of these acreages throughout the town. The PWD's primary attention is required for those acreages adjacent to roads and impinging on power lines. Most development since the 1980's has required underground lines, but the older roads and major arterials have overhead transmission lines.

The municipality owns a large complex off Warrenville Road which has a public swimming pool, a Senior Citizen and general Social Center, a golfing "pro" shop, and an 18-hole golf course. The golf course, while owned by the town, is maintained by Somerset County Parks and Recreation and not Warren's PWD.

Maintenance of the six schools campuses (4 elementary, 1 middle, 1 high school) and the additional playing fields which are part of those campuses is the responsibility of the Board of Education, and its budget.

The reporting system for departmental accountability has been in place since Warren Twp's population was a fraction of its current size.

The percentage of taxes devoted to municipal operations is about 1/10th the amount spent on schools and public education in the township.

[TruthSeeker]

Look at that -----Their public works operates with only 21 employees compared to our 42 employees!!!!!!!! Isn't Margate only about 20 employees as well???

My guess is that it proves what happens when you have 21 WORKING employees being in a supervised work environment!!!!!!!!!!!

Maybe commissioner Wientrob should take a drive and see what a REAL Commissioner does and learn how to give authoritive supervision to his department head and employees!!! We not looking for miricles just some common sense on his behalf!!

Enough is Enough- Deal with public works or move on

[Stop Whining]

Originally Posted by TruthSeeker

[b][color="Red"][size="5"]Look at that -----Their public works operates with only 21 employees compared to our 42 employees!!!!!!!! Isn't Margate only about 20 employees as well???

Margate doesn't have a boardwalk that needs repairs.

[TruthSeeker]

At a rate of 20ft per day with 5 workers and 3 years they should consider themselves LUCKY!!!!! They operate with 1/2 the personal and their town looks clean & great. It comes down to PROPER SUPERVISION & EMPLOYEES!!!!!!

[PaulaD]

Originally Posted by TruthSeeker

Maybe commissioner Wientrob should take a drive and see what a REAL Commissioner does and learn how to give authoritive supervision to his department head and employees!!! We not looking for miricles just some common sense on his behalf!!

Enough is Enough- Deal with public works or move on

In fairness to Commissioner Weintrob, it should be pointed out that in the Committee form of government like Warren has, the 5 elected officials exercise a generalized oversight as a group of all the town's departments. He would not find one lone elected official with the special assignation to just one department. All of them through majority vote issue goals, directives and general operational protocol or the like. The people on payroll as department heads meet the goals and monthly reports can be reviewed by the whole Committee.

In contrast, the Commission form of government assigns each Commissioner a department which becomes almost his/her "sole charge" and that Commissioner has to play a greater operational role in the department's daily affairs. That fact alone might make a civic-minded person think twice about running for office at all.

[Death and Taxes]

Here is an idea. why not Scratch out the name of that other town, put Ventnor on it, and use it if you see something that needs to be fixed?

Fill out that form, people!!! Give it to city hall or public works (both? MAYBE!) and make things shape up.

ADMIN NOTE:

Thanks for the laugh. The person known as "RAE" doesn't work in Ventnor.

A set of 6 months' worth of reports generated by that other town was provided as an e-mail attachment to Commission several months ago. At the last Commission meeting, a folder with a print out of one month's complete reports -- summary of manpower apportionment, details of entry logs for Work Orders showing the organization of both routine work and citizen-initiated needs reports, payroll information -- was brought to hand over to the Commission. No one came to the "bar" that divides the official part of Chambers from the Peanut Gallery to take it. The binder was given to someone on an appropriate advisory committee after the meeting. The way the reports organized major categories of work, common to all Public Works departments, caught his attention. Commissioner Weintrob stated that there are city website changes in planning which might allow for citizens to input complaints or areas of concern, and Public Works would someday get related information from that. It was pointed out that the other town's "system" relies only upon organized minds under a duty to file monthly public reports using Excel -- same Excel as might be on every computer used by a city worker if they have Microsoft Office.

There are other items of software out there that are specially suited to the standard practices of Public Works Departments.

eWorkOrders is one, CityWorks is another, and this links to another http://www.pubworks.com/

Some is even made available as "free" software downloads.

http://www.publicworks.com/Downloads/

Ventnor used to have monthly reports filed by Public Works to the Commission. That was apparently a long time ago.