It appears the Oxford Village Council is preparing to privatize the operation of its brand new $2.5 million water treatment plant on S. Glaspie St. in an effort to save its 1,389 water customers some money now and in the future.
‘It saves this village a considerable amount of money in fringe benefits and long-term employment obligations and allows us to operate our plant without any additional price increases to our customers,? said village President Chris Bishop.
Last week, council voted 4-0 to enter into contract negotiations with the Ohio-based Artesian of Pioneer to operate the new plant, which the company built, for $50,400 per year.
When the contract’s terms are ready, the document must be brought back to council by the June meeting for final approval.
‘We operate plants in three states,? said Artesian President Edward Kidston. ‘From our standpoint, you’re basically contracting with us to put out quality water every day.?
Currently, the water plant is staffed by two full-time employees, Jim Smith and Ryan Marshall, who operate the plant seven days a week.
Smith, who’s worked for the village as water plant superintendent since May 1979, is planning to retire Aug. 1, so the village is already preparing to realize an annual savings of $83,612 based on what he cost the municipality in wages and benefits for the 2008-09 fiscal year.
Right now, the village’s 2009-10 budget includes $59,351 for Marshall’s wages, which includes overtime, and benefits such medical and retirement. He’s worked for the village since July 2001.
Given the new water plant’s state-of-the-art technology, Kidston argued there’s no need for full-time staffing.
‘Right now, the plant basically will operate itself,? he said. ‘There’s still things that need to be done . . . A lot of those things we will do over the phone line back at our office, but there are certain things that you have to be at the plant for. We’re estimating, right now, 10 hours a week is what we need (to have) someone on site to operate that plant.?
Resident Rose Bejma, the former village clerk, asked what will happen to Marshall.’There will no longer be that position available, so there will no longer be that employee,? Bishop said.
Councilman Tom Benner asked Kidston if perhaps his company could hire Marshall on at least a part-time basis due to his familiarity with the village plant and the fact he’s a local resident.
‘I hate to see anybody lose their job,? he said.
Kidston indicated he was open to the idea if that’s something council would like to see happen.
The idea of having an unmanned water plant didn’t sit well with some.
Resident Steve Allen, a former councilman, expressed his concern that ‘if there’s not someone there to oversee the operation (of the plant), we could potentially see a degradation of the quality of the water.?
‘I realize the new computer system and everything that goes into running those plants is so much better than it used to be, but how many times have you transferred a file with your computer and walked away, being assured that file was being transferred, and you come back four hours later and it didn’t,? he said.
‘Most of the water plants in northern Oakland County are not manned,? Bishop noted.
Allen also stated his opposition to the idea of privatization.
‘If you privatize a portion of your operation, you are giving away part of the control,? he said ‘Unless it’s your employee who’s operating it, you don’t have 100 percent of the control.?
‘It’s a lot easier to terminate an employee than it is to terminate a contract,? Allen added.
In response, Kidston said the contract would require Artesian to make sure the water quality of the village meets a certain criteria.
Should something ever happen to decrease that quality, Kidston assured council his company would spend as much time as was needed to rectify the problem and keep the quality consistently high.
Councilwoman Teri Stiles asked if Artesian would have someone available at all times to come to the plant in the event of an emergency.
Kidston assured Stiles his company would have someone on site well within the four hours as stated in the draft contract.
‘We will be here much quicker than that 90 percent of the time,? he said.
Kidston told council the new plant has ‘lots of bells and whistles that will go off if anything out of the ordinary happens.?
‘Once something out of the ordinary happens, we will react very quickly to ensure that your water supply stays intact,? he said.