Iowa City departments looking to restructure duties for added efficiency

IOWA CITY - Several job duties are being eyed for a reshuffling in a handful of Iowa City departments.

It's a move officials say will not only increase department efficiency and create a new division head position, but also result in a cost savings for the city.

'We haven't negotiated contracts yet, but we know it's going to be a fairly significant cost savings,” Parks and Recreation Director Mike Moran said.

If approved, the restructuring would include merging the city's landfill and solid waste operations into one division, which will move from the Public Works realm to the supervision of the Transportation Services Department. One Parks and Recreation Department employee would move over to the Transportation Services Department and continue maintenance duties including snow and trash removal in the Central Business District. Transportation Services already handles manyother maintenance duties surrounding the downtown.

City staff impacted would still work in their respective locations, but report to a different supervisor.

Geoff Fruin, assistant to the city manager, said the restructuring also will split the landfill and wastewater operations into two supervisory positions, rather than one.

'We're at a point now where one supervisor is warranted over both operations, we'll take the opportunity to split the one supervisory position into two,” he said.

No full time positions will be cut as a result of the restructuring, but there is a possibility some seasonal temporary jobs might be eliminated, Fruin added.

Chris O'Brien, director of Transportation Services, said much of the reshuffling is mostly just shifting around job duties between a few different departments.

'It just seemed like a natural transition for us,” O'Brien said.

The Iowa City Council is slated to vote on changes to the Central Business District at its Feb. 23 meeting.

The hope is such changes will increase efficiencies in multiple departments.

Public Works Director Ron Knoche said the reasoning behind the proposal is that some city departments like Transportation Services aren't as backed up with large-scale projects like Public Works - which is inundated with big projects wastewater treatment plant updates and the Gateway Project - and are better equipped to take on additional recycling and landfill initiatives.

'We're just in a situation where the duties in public works continues to grow and big projects are still out there,” Knoche said. 'Basically we're working at full capacity right now and to take on and move some of those initiatives forward would just take a little bit longer. It's a matter of balancing. Balancing the workload among the directors.”

Ultimately, Fruin said it's unlikely the general public will notice the changes.

'It's not something where the public will expect any changes in service levels, we think we can actually provide enhanced services through the restructuring,” he said.

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