It’s easy to pick on the City for poor policy decisions, but it’s only fair to point out that the City has its fair share of good policy decisions as well. Case in point (from the most recent Issues Update from the City Manager’s office):
In June the field crews for Public Works started working 10-hour days to help conserve fuel. In all, 96 staff members have made this change in working hours. Public Works has been monitoring fuel consumption this year and has compared this to the same period in 2007. Fuel consumption on the equipment used by Public Works has dropped from 13,538 gallons in 2007 to 12,351 gallons in 2008. This is a reduction of 1,187 gallons, or 8.77%. Using a wholesale gas price of about $3.50, this is a savings of about $4,155 in fuel costs.
In addition to City savings, our employees have also been saving by only driving to and from work, four days per week. Each week we estimate our employees did not have to drive about 1,100 miles. Using 20 miles per gallon and $3.80 per gallon for the price of gas and eight weeks of operation, the resulting savings to our employees is estimated at about $2,300 for this same period, or about $25 per employee. During this period we have not observed any reduction in productivity by staff in completing assignments.
Good for the city, and good for city employees. Good job!
The state is cutting back on a lot of services too. We went to Iowa yesterday and the highways over to Iowa are waist high in weeds. But the minute you cross over into Iowa the highways are neat. Maybe they should cut the weeds down, plough the areas and plant something that doesn’t grow high and never has to be mowed. The initial service would cost but never have to be repeated.