Kathryn Fogle, 4th Ward alderman, cast the only dissenting vote on a Common Council resolution Wednesday approving a professional services agreement that has already prompted a union grievance.
With 2nd Ward Alderman Marcus Wyche absent, the council approved paying Ground Penetrating Radar Systems, LLC up to $20,000 to detect water leaks.
“The City has identified the need to locate potential water leaks within the system in order to reduce water loss, improve system efficiency, and prevent further infrastructure deterioration,” the resolution states. “These services constitute professional and technical services which are not subject to competitive bidding requirements pursuant to the City’s procurement policy.”
Fogle had protested the resolution during the council’s work session prior to the meeting and appeared frustrated as the resolution was read and approved.
“We have a machine that detects leaks,” Fogle said of a leak noise correlator that can find leaks without digging. “The union is not going to be happy with this. We don’t settle our grievances, so are we just going to pay again?”
During the work session, Fogle called out to Simon Chambers, vice president of city Local 855 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), asking whether the union would grieve the opportunity for city workers to do the work.
“It’s another grievance,” Chambers said. “I’ve already filed it.”
In an interview, Chambers said, “Our contract states in Article 19 Section 13 that ‘the employer agrees not to contract or subcontract out any work, duties, or tasks, performed by employees covered by this agreement.’ They can’t contract out the jobs we already do. And that’s what they just hired people to do. (A leak noise correlator) is what we use all the time to track down a water leak. There’s water leaks all the time. It’s an old water system. They’re trying to say that doesn’t explain the amount of water they’re losing. We have guys at the water department who have correlating devices, sonar devices and magnetic devices to hear water leaks underground. The city is paying up to $20,000 to do that work now.”
Responding after the meeting to the question of how many city union grievances are pending, Corporation Counsel David Blackley said, “I couldn’t tell you.”
Mike Marino, CEO of Nussbaumer & Clarke, Inc., the engineering contractor for the city, said 1.6 billion gallons of city water is unaccounted for, according to a report. The amount makes up 75% of the water produced, with only 25% of water earning revenue.
“There’s a lot of unmetered water in the city — at the outdated swimming pool and sprinklers in the parks,” Chambers said.
The leak detection service was listed on a council meeting agenda distributed April 1. Asked whether there had been an opportunity to talk with the AFSCME local leadership ahead of the vote, Mayor John Lombardi III said there was a meeting between Clayton Dimmick, director of highways, parks and water distribution, and union leaders on the matter.
“From what I understand they were working on it,” he said.
Lombardi said he didn’t attend that meeting and was led to believe there were no objections. Asked who was designated to report the results to him, Lombardi said it was Dimmick.
“I may not have been fully informed,” Lombardi said, adding that he speaks to Dimmick nearly every day and, perhaps in this case, “It may have slipped his mind. … Maybe I was wrong in not asking the question.”{p class=”p1”}Chambers said, “There was no meeting that took place with AFSCME employees on this issue.”
Following the meeting, Fogle said the vote was difficult because the city water department is short-staffed.
“But why not pay overtime? Or sell the machine?” she said.
Kevin Kirchberger, alderman at large, said two employees in the Highways, Parks and Water Distribution Department are retiring this month and the city is still seeking applicants to cover pending vacancies. Kirchberger said he is no longer chair of the council’s Highways & Parks and Water Distribution Committee.
First Ward Alderman John Craig, who seconded 3rd Ward Alderman Rowland O’Malley’s sponsorship of the resolution, said he supported the measure because, “We have got so many leaks and not enough workers. We may have the equipment to do it. . . . We’re losing millions of gallons of water to leaks. We can use personnel to fix them. It’s a support to water distribution.”
Shaking his head, 5th Ward Alderman Jon Wiley said he only learned on Wednesday that the city has leak detection equipment.
“Now we’re going to pay a company to use the same equipment we have,” he said. “Why aren’t we trying to get the workforce to do the work? Even if they find the leaks, we’ve got to fix them without enough staff.”
Wiley said he voted in favor of the outside vendor because of urgency.
“It is something we need to do sooner than later,” he said. “We can’t afford not to tackle the leaks.”