6.5. ERMU SR 02-24-2009Elk River -;=
Municipal Utilities
.13069 Orono Parkway • P.O. Box 430
Elk River, MN 55330-0430
February 18, 2009
To: Elk River Municipal Utilities Commission
Jerry Takle
John Dietz
Jerry Gumphrey
From: Troy Adams
Subject: Proposed Staff Restructuring
Phone: 763.441.2020
Fax: 763.441.8099
In January, the Utility Commission proposed for consideration a change in the organizational
structure of the Utilities. The root of the proposed restructuring would be to not hire a
replacement for the recently voided General Manager position. Instead, the existing staff would
be utilized to meet the company needs through promoting from within, restructuring job duties,
and reallocating responsibilities. One major difference would be that the Water Department
would report to the City Public Works Department; however, the Water Department employees
would remain employees of the Utility. The Utility Commission directed staff to work together
and prepare possible solutions, identify limitations of the proposed restructuring, and provide
recommendations for Commission consideration. The Commission is faced with a decision
between two primary options. First would be to hire a General Manager and continue with the
current organizational structure. Second would be to depend on the department managers to
absorb most of the General Manager workload, promote leadership from within, and reallocate
job duties.
There are many reasons why the first option of hiring a General Manager should be heavily
considered. The General Manager provides administrative, technical, and operational guidance
through short and long term planning. The General Manager works closely with the City to
promote growth and insure adequate infrastructure for future development. The General
Manager is accountable to provide safe and reliable utilities at a competitive and fair price. But
the most important role of a General Manager is that of leadership. Every organization will take
on the personality of its leader. It is critical that an organization have a leader like a General
Manager with a high level of integrity because this leader becomes the face of the company to
the public. This leader holds the responsibility to unify the company under the policy guidance
of the commission. Without a leader supervising all divisions or entities of a company (in other
words, unity command), the company will not be able to operate at the highest level of
efficiency.
Memo
Proposed Staff Restructuring
Page 2
That said, the second option can work and be successful but with some limitations. In addition
to the previously noted limitations, time and workload would also be limitations on management.
Because of the contraction in the number of employees through the loss of the General Manager
position plus the recently voided and unfilled lineperson position, the workload of many
employees would increase. This is especially true for the management positions. It becomes
imperative that this limitation be closely monitored to insure issues are still being identified and
addressed before jeopardizing safety and reliability. This limitation in management resources
due to the "full plate" scenario would also affect management's ability to unify and promote a
professional work environment for the employees. To address this identified limitation with
option number two, staff proposes for the Commission to review and consider a possible
solution, albeit still limited to option number one. The proposed solution would involve
promoting talent from within and restructuring the Utility organizational structure to utilize
existing untapped employee talent. For continued verbal discussion, please refer to the attached
organization chart outlining the proposed staff restructuring.
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