|
|
The law says the public works commissioner can adjust the legal grading times if there is cause to do so.
For the past year, when temperatures in the area reached highs of 98 degrees, city public works employees were allowed to start work at 6 a.m. to avoid working in the hottest hours of the day. But one alderman said that had to stop.
Walter Arnette said the city will be in violation of the grading ordinance if workers are allowed to adjust their hours due to extreme heat.
What brought the issue to the forefront was a citizen complaint that grading at the Millstone Apartment project on Flier Drive was beginning before 7 a.m. in violation of the grading ordinance.
At the July 21 board meeting, Arnette made a motion that public works employees work the same hours as city hall staffers.
"They should work the same hours that city hall is open," Arnette said.
The motion received a second, but Alderman Carol Johnson said the vote should be postponed until the workers are notified and the matter discussed with their business agent.
"I won't vote on this tonight," Johnson said. "Why aren't there any public works workers here? We have a contract with the workers and we've agreed to the extreme heat hours."
Arnette countered saying the memorandum of understanding between the city and members of Operating Engineers Local No. 2 is worthless and cannot be enforced.
"It's not a contract," Arnette said.
Johnson disagreed. "The city conferred with them and agreed to it and we have abided by it," she said. "That makes it a contract."
Mayor Herb Adams postponed the discussion until the Aug. 4 meeting, where Arnette renewed his request to have the public works employee start work at 7 a.m.
Steve Woodruff, sewer department supervisor, and employee C.J. Love were in the audience at the second meeting. Woodruff said his department was concerned when they learned that aldermen were talking about changing hours without discussing the change with the men.
"We had a problem when we heard about this after the fact," he said.
Woodruff also said the early hours are a safety matter and the men only started early in days of extreme heat like recent days of 98 degrees.
"We try to keep the men out of heat," he said. "Why can't you amend your ordinance?"
The extreme heat hours had only gone into effect six or seven times in July, due to an unusually cool summer, Woodruff pointed out.
Love said the extreme weather hours were approved in the agreement which the aldermen had voted on.
Arnette said the agreement is not enforceable and he had not read it until very recently.
"You mean you voted on this, Walter, and you didn't read it?' Love asked. "What else are we doing to find out that you don't like? What's coming at us next?"
Adams said that even though the issue needs more discussion, as an immediate measure the workers would have to start work at the time spelled out in the ordinance.
"I made arrangements to meet with Pat Lynch, Local 2 business agent. We will sit down with them, but in the meantime the ordinance has to stand," Adams said. "The ordinance is superior to all other agreements."
Arnette and Alderman Mike Pigg, who met with the Millstone contractor, said they had notified the contractor not to start grading equipment at the site before 7 a.m. and he had agreed.
The two aldermen also said they believe they had solved a problem of runoff water from the project inundating yards and basements in Cedars Subdivision at the same meeting.
Pigg had brought the matter to the board of aldermen several times in the past.
During the visit, officials discovered a ditch on the backside of the construction site that led to the backyard of a Cedars Subdivision home.
"The owner agreed to take care of that ditch and that should solve the problem," Arnette said. "He (the owner) said he would do whatever he needed to do."
