Efficiency study draws fire

Facing the possibility of job cuts recommended by an efficiency study, union leaders and officials at Spokane City Hall say the study contains incorrect or insufficient information, and as a result, its recommendations could actually harm efficiency.

“The majority of their recommendations were based on inaccurate assumptions,” said Scott Egger, director of Spokane’s street department.

The $260,000 report released last week recommends job cuts of between 65 and 100 workers in the city’s streets, utilities, fleet services and other non-uniformed departments. It was prepared by Matrix Consulting Group of Palo Alto, Calif.

The reaction within City Hall underscores the political and operational issues that will confront Mayor Dennis Hession and City Council members as they attempt to implement the recommendations.

One top official said layoffs are not being contemplated, but that changes would likely occur over time.

Joe Cavanaugh, president of Local 270, which represents the city’s non-uniformed workers, said the consultants talked with only two officials in his union, and none of the conversations involved operational issues, just employee relations matters.

Yet the consultant is recommending elimination of 11 street-maintenance operators, seven workers on a paving crew, 10 sewer-cleaning crew members, six sewer maintenance inspectors, five operators at the city’s wastewater plant, as many as seven garbage or recycling collectors and other cuts.

“There’s total misunderstanding,” Cavanaugh said after receiving a copy of the study.

“We’re all for efficient government,” he said, but “I think some of this is more of a meat cleaver than a scalpel.”

As an example, the consultant reported that street-sweeping employees are logging only 2.3 miles a day when they ought to do 22 miles.

But the consultant failed to account for local conditions, Egger said. In the spring, crews must sweep up heavier residues of leftover road grit and decomposed leaves that accumulate for months. His figures showed that crews sweep 14.4 miles per crew per day but are slowed because the sweepers need regular cleaning because of heavy spring residue.

The Matrix report is silent on the issue of snow removal and winter de-icing, which are typically performed by workers from throughout the street department, a practice done in other cities with cold climates, Egger said.

Dave Mandyke, acting director of public works and utilities, met with Egger and Cavanaugh last week and assured them that any cuts would be carefully considered by the mayor based on accurate information.

“We are going to do this thoughtfully,” Mandyke said. “Nobody wants to lay people off.”

He said any reductions would likely occur through reassignments or attrition as employees resign or retire.

Officials said the Matrix report doesn’t account for practices that are most appropriate for an urban area like Spokane.

The consultants, for example, recommended that the city replace a paving repair crew with a less expensive “chip seal” operation, in which oil is sprayed on cracked pavement and then covered with gravel. The gravel bonds to the oil to create a new surface, but in the process, it leaves loose chips that can cause vehicle damage when picked up and thrown by tires.

Egger said other cities have abandoned chip sealing, and Spokane County has faced claims for damaged windshields in the past. He described it as a rural road maintenance method not suitable for the higher traffic conditions of a city.

The Matrix report pointed out that city sewers are cleaned an average of once every 1.4 years. The report said that money could be saved by lengthening the interval to two years. Currently, Spokane’s cleaning program results in four sewer backups for every 100 miles of sewer, but other cities have 20 backups per mile, said Dale Arnold, wastewater director.

Cavanaugh said the report is telling Spokane residents that sewers “run too well.”

“Most people like no backups,” he said.

In some cases, the report calls for adding staff, including a recommendation to hire two additional heavy-equipment mechanics and an automotive mechanic.

Mandyke said that had previously been considered and, “we don’t believe we need two more mechanics out there.”

Also, the consultant recommended contracting out the job of installing police equipment on newly purchased patrol cars.

Mandyke said he and his managers believe that fleet service mechanics have the special skills to do a better job of equipping police cars, and that other agencies have sent their cars to Spokane for outfitting.

But the consultant also found that light-duty vehicles operated by many departments have below-average mileage, suggesting that the city could get by with fewer cars and pickups.