OOOPS...I have been told on numerous occasions that
that the city was NOT paying to lock and unlock gates at other parks..however they forgot to tell me they were paying overtime to lock and unlock the restrooms at the parks. So now my questions is how many parks need their restrooms locked and unlocked and why doesn't this same person have enough time to lock and unlock the gates of the cemetery?
New regulation has city looking at splash pad costs
State requires in-person tests of chlorination system, resulting in overtime expenses.
By Jessica Heffner, Staff Writer 2:25 AM Sunday, June 12, 2011
MIDDLETOWN — New state regulations are costing the city almost $500 a week in overtime to keep the Douglass Park splash pad open this summer.
New state regulations that began April 1 require splash pads with recirculating water systems — like the one at Douglass Park — to be licensed and provide a system that chlorinates the water.
The system must be tested in person every six hours, regardless if it has an automated shutoff, according to the law.
The new regulation stems from a 2005 incident in New York that left nearly 4,000 people sickened with diarrhea and vomiting from an outbreak of cryptosporidium, a parasitic illness spread through contaminated spray park water.
Since 2008 — when the Douglass Park splash pad was built for $213,475 using a grant from the AK Steel Foundation — the city has relied upon its automated system to test and maintain chemical levels in the water.
Public Works Superintendent Ron Phelps said the system was designed to reduce costs by reusing equipment previously installed for a pool, which the splash pad replaced. The water automatically shuts off if the chlorine levels ever go off-kilter, Phelps said.
But now that same system is costing the city $477.12 in overtime each week because employees must be scheduled to test the water twice a day on weekends to meet the six-hour monitoring requirements, Phelps said. The pad is open from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily.
The added cost stems mostly from the Public Works employees’ union contract that pays a minimum of two hours overtime for scheduled work beyond the regular work week, Phelps said.
Cost vs. requirements
Health Commissioner Jackie Phillips, whose office is charged by the state with enforcing the regulation and licensing the splash pad, said she knows the city is “not really happy with us” for requiring testing, but that it is meant to protect the public’s health.
Since the city’s water treatment plant requires an employee to be there 24/7, Phillips said the Department of Public Works could work the testing into that person’s schedule, eliminating the need for overtime.
“I think right now they are whining a bit but I think if they tried hard they could get around the overtime,” she said. “And nowhere in the regulation does it say the person doing the testing has to be a union contract person.”
Public Works Director Dave Duritsch conceded his department does have someone at the treatment plant at all hours. However, he said whether that person can find the time to do the testing within the state regulation’s timetable has not been determined.
“Their priority is the water treatment process — they may not be able to get away in that window of time to do the splash pad testing,” he said.
Also of note, before the new law an employee was already being paid to come in twice on Saturdays and Sundays to unlock and re-lock the restrooms at Douglass Park.
However, due to budget concerns Duritsch said he was considering placing portable toilets at the park to eliminate this need. The splash pad requirements have changed that plan— at least temporarily.
Cost options
For the remainder of the summer, the city will either continue to pay overtime or consider shuffling employee schedules to include some weekends in their work week. Either way, Duritsch said, he needs someone to test the water at the splash pad seven days a week.
“It’s a domino effect because every change has a chance of (impacting) something else,” he said.
Duritsch said the city is also investigating installing a completely new splash pad system such as the one used at Smith Park. That system pumps in water straight from the city water line, which drains into the nearby pond. Because the city doesn’t pay for the water, there’s no direct cost for its operation, he said.
There are no estimates yet for what a new system would cost. Phelps said preliminary surveys of the area indicate a larger water main and sewer line would likely need to be installed to ensure there is enough water pressure and adequate drainage.
“This (new regulation) came up fairly quickly so we didn’t have time before opening the splash pad to look at changing the system over,” he said.
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