Will it save money or not is a contention over Ottawa City Hall contracting with an Indianapolis firm for water and sewer line locating services. Commissioner James Less says it won’t. He says the best employees to mark where the lines are before any digging project already work for the city. Many of them were in the audience at Tuesday night’s City Council meeting when the contract got a 3-2 vote of approval.
Commissioner Wayne Eichelkraut says City Hall is running the risk of lingering bad feelings. He recounted a work experience where most outsourced jobs came back to a company he worked for but that didn’t dispel the friction between the employees and owners.
The other commissioners and the mayor voted for the contract. Mayor Dan Aussem says just because U.S. Infrastructure Company is based in Indianapolis doesn’t mean it has no employees who live around here. And he says USIC guarantees its work with coverage of up to $7,500 if it makes a mistake and someone hits a water or sewer line that wasn’t marked.
The American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees Local 2819 immediately filed a grievance. Local President Bob Anderson says the city didn’t fairly consider hiring an extra employee.
In the early stages of a union grievance, the city is asked to review what it has done and correct actions the union says were missteps. If the City Council upholds what has been done, the union may take its complaint to court or arbitration.
Many of the people in the audience at Tuesday night’s City Council meeting are city employees following the USIC contract vote.
AFSCME Local 2819 President Bob Anderson explains the union’s position on the USIC contract.