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Regular Council Meeting May 23, 2022 Page 6 A Motion to approve this item was made by Council Member Pankaj and seconded by Council Member Pilgrim. Motion carried, 7 ayes — 0 nays. 23. Discuss and act on ORDINANCE NO. 2022-033: AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PARIS, TEXAS, AMENDING CHAPTER 12, "UTILITIES," ARTICLE 12.04, "SOLID WASTE," OF THE CODE OF ORDINANCES OF THE CITY OF PARIS, TEXAS; MAKING SECTION 12.04.006, "PLACEMENT OF CONTAINERS, BAGS AND BUNDLES FOR RESIDENTIAL COLLECTION," TO ALLOW FOR ONE DAY PER WEEK RESIDENTIAL SOLID WASTE COLLECTION; MAKING OTHER FINDINGS AND PROVISIONS RELATED TO THE SUBJECT; PROVIDING A REPEALER CLAUSE, A SEVERABILITY CLAUSE, A SAVINGS CLAUSE, AND A PENALTY CLAUSE; AND DECLARING AN EFFECTIVE DATE. City Manager Grayson Path explained that the City continued to face increasing challenges recruiting and retaining adequate staff levels for the Solid Waste Department and because of the challenges, it became necessary to reassign staff daily from the Parks, Streets, CIP, Water, Sewer and Traffic Control Departments to staff the trash trucks. Mr. Path further explained in doing this, it was creating workflow issues with mowing of parks and right-of-ways, road maintenance, cleaning drainage ditches, installing new water and sewer lines, repairing water and sewer leaks, and completing other preventative maintenance on water and sewer lines. He said this was leading to employee frustration and in some cases employee turnover, and frustrated citizens when their non -solid wastes needs were not met on a timely basis. Mr. Path said fifty-nine people were hired last year in the Public Works Department and fifty-six had already moved on. He said the City recently conducted a job fair and three people were hired, but one had already quit. He also said the department was 28% down of the full-time staffing. Mr. Path explained the City had increased pay but the City could not keep people. He reviewed the number of staff per truck, the routes and the number of trucks that needed to be staffed in order to get the trash picked up twice a week. Mr. Path said it was important to note that the last time the City made any adjustment to the solid waste rates was twelve years ago. Next, Mr. Path reviewed the option with City Council, as follows: 1. Continue to operate as we have been for the past 12 months, substituting staff from other departments within Public Works to fill vacant positions in Solid Waste to facilitate the twice per week collection schedule. 2. Amend the collection schedule to one time per week to require less staff and allow other departments to complete their individual departmental duties. 3. Privatize the service. 4. Pursue mechanical arm equipment for the trash service, thus reducing the number of employees needed on a daily basis per route.