When a water line started leaking on East Chamisa Street Aug. 22, the city of Espanola sent utility service workers Derek Romero, Juanito Sandoval and water operator Michael Martinez. While the three repaired the leak with minimal effort, the three stated they were the only field employees working in the Utility Water Department that day.
The workers said utility service workers Leonard Gonzales foreman Steven Trujillo were taking classes at a back flow water school for the week, leaving three full-time field employees for the entire city.
Michael Martinez said the department used to have a crew of 10 to 12. Romero said if a job proved too large for them, they would pull employees from the Streets Department to come help.
Interim city manager Joe Duran said he respects how hard water department employees work, but disagrees with the number of workers available to the Utility Water Department. While Duran confirmed Gonzales and Trujillo were unavailable for the week, he said if the workers needed more help with the leak, there was a number of back-ups upon which they could rely.
Utility service workers Phillip Martinez, Joanna Sandoval, Water Operator Ramon Marquez, and Meter Reader Daniel Gallegos would have all stepped in if assistance was needed, Duran said. If more city employees were requested, employees from Utility Wastewater would be pulled first, and streets after that.
Duran said every department in the city would like more employees on staff, but it just isn’t possible with the city’s financial constraints. He maintained that he’s comfortable with the current number of field workers and if they felt like they needed more employees in their crew, they should have brought up the issue while the city was drafting the budget.
“You could always use more (employees) and keep on working, but right now you got to do it within budget,” said Duran.
That’s not to say the Utility Water Department is firing on all cylinders. Just like almost every other department in the city, Utility Water is facing an attrition problem. Currently, the department has four vacancies, including utility director and water operations supervisor.
Duran said, the supervisor position remains unfilled because the city was not able to find any suitable candidates despite advertising the position publicly. Additionally, utility service worker Valentin Hernandez-Valera is resigning and must be replaced.
When the city does manage to hire workers, it’s an entirely different challenge to hold on to them. Duran said he tries to cultivate the skills of all the utility water employees and advance them through experience levels, which range from 2 to 4. The Utility Water Department doesn’t employ a worker above Level 2, and much of that is due to the better pay and benefits that wealthier cities like Santa Fe and Los Alamos can offer. This leads to attrition and constant turnover with the city having to start from square one with new workers each time.
“(Espanola is a) training area for everybody else,” Duran said.