The first step has been taken to privatize the water treatment plant due to the inability to recruit and retain operators.
“It’s clearly not limited to Jamestown,” Town Administrator Ed Mello said. “It’s clearly an industry-wide challenge particularly for small water operators such as ourselves.”
Mello presented the proposal May 20 to the town council. The councilors agreed to hire an industry expert to draft an advertisement with the intent to solicit a private enterprise to manage and maintain the plant.
The distribution system, however, would remain municipally owned and operated. The department of public works would continue to oversee the meters, water mains, hydrants, reservoirs and pumps.
The plant is designed to operate with three workers: a superintendent, assistant superintendent and operator. Mike Gray, director of public works, has failed to staff a three-person crew since a resignation in March 2023. Due to the difficulty with that search, Mello asked the council to hire Veolia North America to provide temporary staffing in the interim to relieve the short-staffed operation. The request was approved in August 2023 for about $100,000.
The six-month contract ended Feb. 29 without Gray and Mello identifying a candidate to fill the post. Given a two-month extension with Veolia, their unsuccessful search continued through March and April. The plant is again short-staffed with Gray picking up the slack.
“He’s spending a great deal of his time focused on the operation of that plant way beyond what I think is realistic,” Mello said.
“We need staff,” Gray added. “We are at a critical point here.”
According to Mello, because the responsibility of the plant is squarely on the municipality, and not a Veolia employee, the company was hesitant to agree to another extension.
“There is an inherent risk by providing just staff to a plant in which they don’t have ultimate control,” he said. “It’s a little bit of a challenge for a company to extend themselves like that. Although they were willing to help for that eight-month period, they cannot extend that any further.”
Mello, moreover, said hiring Veolia only was intended to be an “emergency stop-gap measure” because they were optimistic about filling that position.
“I wouldn’t say we wasted time, but we did spend a great deal of very valuable time when we had that contract in place,” he said. “That did not work out to everybody’s desire. … We need to find another solution. We were hopeful there was another solution but even the union has come to realize this seems to be the only viable, long-term sustainable solution that we can explore.”
Nick Robertson, of Carr Lane, urged Mello and Gray to continue searching for a municipal hire.
“You all know that I’m opposed to the privatization of this water plant and with good reason,” the former councilman said. “All that means to me is a higher cost as a taxpayer and water consumer. That’s all it means to me.”
Gray then summed up the difficulties with continuing a search that has so far been futile.
“You have been lucky to have municipal people who have stayed here for 25, 30 years,” he said. “I don’t know if the next generation is planning to do that. My fear is that if we get a younger person in, they see what is in front of them. … You can go anywhere in this country with that license. When you’re just an operator and fully get your license, but now you’ve got to wait for that promotion, there are other facilities that will gobble you up in a second. That’s what is happening right now.”
Mary Meagher, vice president of the council, said she was “very nervous” about what privatization would mean for the current employees, especially Mark Robertson.
“He has busted his butt for us,” she said. “He has just done such great work for this community that I want to make sure that he is treated appropriately.”
“I recognize your concerns,” Mello said. “We share those concerns. We expressed that very clearly to union representation.”
Councilman Erik Brine’s motion, which was passed unanimously, included drafting the advertisement while also continuing to recruit internally for a municipal hire.