Tempers flared and emotions ran high as the Oxford Village Council last week voted 3-2 to privatize the operation of its new water treatment plant and eliminate an eight-year, full-time employee in the process.
‘I want to register my complete disagreement with taking this and making it a non-local (operation),? said village resident and former councilman Steve Allen. ‘You turn anything over to a private company and you’ve lost a percentage of your control. Employees are much easier to terminate than signed contracts.?
Village President Chris Bishop, along with councilmen Mike Hamilton and Tony Albensi, voted to approve a one-year, $50,400 contract with the Ohio-based Artesian of Pioneer (AOP) to begin operating and managing the new $2.5 million water plant it recently built on S. Glaspie St. by June 1.
‘I, as a council member, have full confidence in AOP to complete these duties in this new water plant,? Hamilton said. ‘I think this is a good fiscal decision for the village taxpayers.?
However, not everyone felt it was a good decision given it put Plant Operator Ryan Marshall, who lives in the township, out of a job.
‘Your local control has served you well,? said Cindy Marshall, Ryan’s mother and a village resident for more than 35 years. ‘You should not be looking outside of this community . . . I think it behooves us to keep our people that live in this community.?
She noted that during the power outage that resulted from the April 25 storm, her son spent the night at the plant to make sure it kept running and everything was all right.
‘He would spend every night if he had to,? said Cindy Marshall, who’s voice cracked as she struggled to hold back her tears and maintain her composure.
A plant employee since July 2001, Marshall was going to cost the village $59,351 in wages and benefits for the 2009-10 fiscal year prior to council’s decision to privatize.
Water Plant Superintendent Jim Smith, the facility’s other full-time employee, is set to retire Aug. 1. He’s worked there since May 1979 and during the 2008-09 fiscal year, he cost the village $83,612 in wages and benefits.
The village decided to add to the savings it was already planning on realizing with Smith’s retirement by contracting with a private firm and eliminating Marshall’s position as well.
Councilman Tom Benner indicated he was in favor of keeping Marshall on, while Councilwoman Teri Stiles said she wasn’t ready to make a decision because she didn’t feel she had all the necessary information about the various options.
Artesian had presented other options including a $95,000 per year proposal in which its scope of work was increased and the company hired Marshall as a full-time employee designated to the village.
Another option was to keep Marshall as a full-time village employee and hire Artesian as a technical supervisor to assist him at a cost of $35,000 annually.
Following the decision to go with the $50,400 option and get rid of Marshall, Benner told the yes-voters, ‘I’m disappointed in you guys,? while Stiles walked out the meeting for a few minutes.
Hamilton reminded people the new plant will only require about 10 hours per week of on-site work, which Artesian will provide.
‘They designed and built this water plant to become almost fully automated,? he said.
It was also noted that neither of the township’s water treatment plants are staffed by full-time personnel. Their facilities are managed by Oakland County.
Despite these facts, some audience members, including Marshall himself, argued there’s a definite need to have someone on-site on a full-time basis.
Marshall noted the plant recently experienced a malfunction that adversely affected the village water’s softness. Because the main control panel indicated everything was fine, he had to manually fix the problem. ‘That’s not something a computer can do,? he said.
Bishop argued that local control wasn’t executed in a responsible manner and ‘hasn’t served us well? because it was the ‘whole reason? a new water plant had to be built.
‘We allowed our plant to disintegrate to a point that full replacement of the plant was what was required in order to fix our problems,? he said. ‘That plant was on the verge of failure.?
Bishop noted that Artesian and various other contractors who bid on the project indicated the old plant could have failed halfway through construction of the new one.
‘That’s how close we were to utter failure of that water plant,? he said.
‘I don’t know how you can put that on me. I really don’t,? said Marshall, noting he’s only worked for the village for eight years.
Allen said the water plant employees shouldn’t be blamed for that because they were ‘fully aware? of the plant’s condition and tried to get things fixed.
He said past councils were presented ‘almost annually? with requests to make updates at the plant, but they ‘for whatever reason, turned it down.?
‘Local control not serving us well falls back into the laps of previous councils, my council that I served on included,? Allen said.
Former village Clerk Rose Bejma agreed.
‘Previous councils have known the water plant was deteriorating and nothing was done,? she said.
What really upset some audience members was a May 22 e-mail from Artesian President Ed Kidston. In this communication, he wrote that Marshall ‘without proper training or oversight is not capable of operating this plant and maintaining it at the level required.?
‘He has every license that he can possibly get for the State of Michigan,? noted Allen. ‘It was paid for by our taxpayer dime and he has worked for us for the last eight years. And now, all of the sudden, he can’t run the water plant? C’mon.?
Kidston’s comment about his ‘uneasiness of having employees, who may be losing employment under not so happy terms, having access to the village’s water supply unattended? also raised some ire.
‘That really honks me off,? Allen said. ‘These guys have worked for our community for years . . . For someone to come in, who’s bidding on a contract, and make an asinine statement like that is ridiculous.?
‘I hate to see any employee be trashed,? said village resident Bob Scott. ‘I’ll stand behind this young man as much as I can.?
Following council’s decision to privatize the plant’s operations, officials voted 5-0 to give Smith $18,122 in severance pay, which included nine weeks wages (June 1 through Aug. 1) plus 320 hours of his unused sick, vacation and personal leave time.
Marshall was given an $8,953 severance package, which included nine weeks of pay plus 240 hours of unused time off.