POINT ARENA CITY COUNCIL
AGENDA ITEM SUMMARY
Report Regarding Sewer Back-Up on Port Street – September 6, 2024 Receive and file report.
On Friday, September 6, 2024 at 7:20 pm, Mayor Burkey contacted Interim City Manager Ducey regarding messages left on her dedicated home phoneline regarding a sewer problem on Port Street. Mayor Burkey nor Ducey could contact Wastewater staff via the City Wastewater emergency cellphone line and Ducey tried to contact Wastewater staff via text and voice through personal cellphones, also to no avail. Finally, at 8:00 pm Wastewater Maintenance Worker Patrick Hillscan called Ducey and said the City cellphone just downloaded numerous texts and voicemail messages left earlier in the day regarding the sewer problem. During the previous week, City Pier staff were experiencing the same delay problems with texts and voice messaging, but on a different cellphone carrier. This indicated that the communication disruption was probably due to WiFi connectivity, not cellphone carrier problems.
Hillscan immediately responded to the properties involved and addressed the problem very quickly. He also reported to the properties on Saturday morning, September 7, 2024 to determine any wastewater leakage still occurring on the properties affected and found he had successfully addressed the problem. On Monday, Ducey investigated the response delay and determined it was due to the City’s WiFi provider experiencing unexpected interruptions during that time. Cellphone service disruption is a common problem throughout the Mendocino coast and because this happened on a Friday, City Hall was closed and messages on the dedicated phone lines were not received in a timely manner.
Wastewater staff and Ducey met to revamp the City’s Wastewater emergency contact procedures, including:
1. Changing the emergency Wastewater cellphone message to include additional contact instructions if staff does not respond within 30 minutes, including two additional emergency phone numbers.
2. City Hall staff will check telephone landline messages twice per day when City Hall is closed to ensure City emergencies of any kind are quickly addressed.
AGENDA ITEM: VIII C
MEETING DATE: 09/24/2024
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RECOMMENDED ACTION
ANALYSIS
3. An IT professional is reviewing the City’s cellphone and WiFi services to determine whether we have an optimum configuration for superior connectivity. The City will also evaluate the cost and service range for satellite WiFi and cellular services.
Because of the City’s current financial challenges, staff hours were reduced to 25 hours per week in December 2023 for all City staff. This means that maintenance operations throughout the City, including Wastewater have been greatly reduced. After the Wastewater emergency, Ducey authorized additional hours for Wastewater staff so that all sewer lines could be jetted, which would prevent Wastewater back-up from happening in the future.
Staff will provide an overview and detailed budget analysis in December regarding the City’s current fiscal condition. It is hoped staff hours can be increased at that time and regular City maintenance services will resume.
There will be a small increase in labor costs for a 2-3 week period.
None.
Peggy Ducey, Interim City Manager
FISCAL IMPACT
CITY MANAGER SIGNATURE
ATTACHMENTS