PURPOSE

The purpose of this report is to request City Council adoption of a resolution revising and re-titling the specifications for the classifications of Electrical Equipment Superintendent CTC No. 0296 and Electrical Test Superintendent CTC No. 0307 to Manager Electrical Equipment CTC No. 0538 and Manager Communications Systems CTC No. 0537, as shown in the attachments.

BACKGROUND

Burbank Water and Power (BWP) has been undergoing departmental reorganization over the past several years to be able to better address the changes in the utility industry and to be on the cutting edge of these changes.  Based on these continuing changes in the industry and to be consistent with the market, the department has recognized the need to revise and re-tile these specifications to portray them as management positions and to reorganize certain electrical field work, mainly electric testing and pad mount transformer installation, to increase crew efficiency and better organizational effectiveness.  The revisions and re-titlings of these specifications reflect the existing market conditions and reflect the current needs of the department.

Currently, electric station operations and maintenance divides between the Electrical Equipment Section and the Electrical Test Section, both under separate managers.  The Electrical Equipment Section has five electrician crews.  Each crew is supervised by an Electrical Supervisor, who reports to the Electrical Equipment Superintendent.  The Electrical Test Section has Test Technicians and Senior Test Technicians who are supervised by a Test Technician Supervisor.  A second Test Technician Supervisor oversees the Communications Shop, which handles the City�s radios and telephones.  Both Test Technician Supervisors report to the Electrical Test Superintendent.

The Electrical Equipment Section installs customer transformer stations rated above 100kVA, as well as performing major station construction work.  The Electrical Distribution Section performs the associated cable work, such as pulling underground cable from a nearby location to the customer transformer station, as well as installing customer transformer stations rated 100kVA or less.  In recent years, all new customer transformer stations are pad mounted.  The older, more labor-intensive banked stations will be gradually phased out as commercial properties turn over.

BWP is proposing to combine the Electrical Equipment Section and the Electrical Test Section, with the exception of the Communications Shop, under one manager � Electrical Equipment Superintendent.  Primarily, this entails revising and re-titling the Electrical Equipment Superintendent specification to include oversight of electrical testing activities and to clarify it�s managerial position within the organization.  The Electrical Test Superintendent will continue to oversee the Communications Shop.  This entails revising and re-titling the Electrical Test Superintendent specification to reflect a narrower set of duties and to clarify it�s managerial position within the organization.

BWP is also proposing to combine the installation and operations and maintenance of all pad mount customers stations under the Electrical Distribution Section, not just those rated 100kVA or less.  This change will provide more consistency within sections.  This will not require revising the Electrical Distribution Superintendent specification.

ANALYSIS & CONCLUSION

Combining the Electrical Equipment Section and the Electrical Test Section will enable electricians and test technicians to work in more efficient crew combinations.  Combining the installation and operations and maintenance of all pad mount customer stations under the Electrical Distribution Section will also increase crew efficiency.  In both cases, the same work can be performed by fewer people with no duplication of effort.  The revisions and re-titlings of these specifications will more accurately describe the actual duties and requirements of the positions and will conform to equivalent positions within the same and other divisions within BWP and the market industry.  These revisions will also assist the department when it needs to recruit in these highly specialized fields.

Both of these classifications will continue to be Civil Service positions and included in the City�s Conflict of Interest Code but will not be subject to the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).  Both of these classifications will continue to be represented by the Burbank Management Association (BMA).  The Civil Service Board approved these revisions and re-titlings at their regular meeting on February 2, 2005.

FISCAL IMPACT

There will be no fiscal impact from the revisions and re-titling of the specification for the classification of Electrical Equipment Superintendent to Manager Electrical Equipment because the current salary range for the position will be maintained.

The salary range for the Manager Communications Systems was established by comparing the salary and duties of this position in Burbank�s survey cities and comparable agencies in the utility industry and by comparing the salary and duties of this position with other positions within this division of BWP.  The salary range for this position will be set at $6,722 - $8,167.  This will result in a salary savings for the department of $3,648 per year from the previous position of Electrical Test Superintendent.

RECOMMENDATION

Staff recommends that the City Council adopt the proposed resolution revising and re-titling the specifications for the classifications of Electrical Equipment Superintendent CTC No. 0296 and Electrical Test Superintendent CTC No. 0307 to Manager Electrical Equipment CTC No. 0538 and Manager Communications Systems CTC No. 0537.

Respectfully submitted,

Judie Sarquiz

Management Services Director