4.5. SR 01-24-2000?ity of
River
M£MORANDLIM
Item #4.5.
TO:
FROM:
DATE:
SUBJECT:
Mayor & City Council
Pat Klaers, City Ad~_:~or
January 24, 2000
Custodial Position
On January 10, 2000, the City Council reviewed the need for additional help to
clean our municipal buildings so that our building maintenance employee, Sue
Herrboldt, can concentrate more on building maintenance activities. I don't
know the exact figures, but the city has a substantial investment into its
municipal facilities and has a lot of building square footage to clean and
maintain. The 2000 budget includes funds for an additional half time position
for custodian duties. The staff request at the January 10 meeting was for a full
time position. While it seemed the council had no doubt that additional hours
are needed to clean and maintain all of the city facilities, there were a lot of
questions regarding how much help is needed and the status of the cleaning
contract for the Police Station. Consequently, this request to advertise for
additional help was continued to a future council meeting.
Chris Zerwas, of Zerwas Cleaning, has had the contract for cleaning the Police
Station for 10+ years. Unfortunately, neither Tom nor Chris are available to
attend this City Council meeting for this discussion. Both Chris and Tom have
indicated that they are satisfied with the current working arrangement, but
also understand that the City Council may want to change. Our building
maintenance employee, Sue Herrboldt, will be in attendance at this meeting in
order to answer City Council questions regarding janitorial services and
building maintenance work.
The city is happy with its existing working relationship with Zerwas Cleaning
and I believe we are getting a good buy under the contract versus having a
one-half to three-quarter time employee perform this work. The contract is
$950 per month (plus tax). An employee with benefits would cost the city more
than this price. This contract cost has not changed since we moved into our
new facility in 1993. Additionally, when Chris is not available for work, while
13065 Orono Parkway · P.O. Box 490 · Elk River, MN 55330 · TDD & Phone: (612) 441-7420 · Fax: (612) 441-7425
on vacation or taking care of family needs, she is responsible for making
arrangements and paying for replacement workers. In response to an inquiry
regarding changing the working relationship with Chris, she has indicated no
desire to expand her work contract or to become a city employee, and is
satisfied with her current contract.
I understand the goal that if the city is going to establish a building
maintenance department, then it is appropriate to have all the workers be city
employees and not contracted employees. However, we have an existing
relationship with a contracted worker that is going well for all parties. If
possible I would like to keep the existing relationship in place and, taking into
consideration Councilmember Thompson's comments about refining some of
the work duties that Sue currently undertakes, ask the City Council to simply
authorize the advertisement and hiring of a one-half time employee. If the city
cannot attract a good applicant by advertising for a half-time position, then I
will be back before the City Council to discuss a full time employee and
possibly changing our relationship with Zerwas Cleaning. On the other hand,
if we do find a good half-time employee, we will closely evaluate our workload
over the next six months and discuss with the council during the 2001 budget
process any necessary addition in hours.
Recommendation
It is recommended that the city authorize the advertisement for a half-time
custodial position with a starting range between $10.50-$11.50 per hour.