Employee:
City wastewater plant needs change

By Kevin Killough
Staff writer

GALLUP — It’s really hit the fan over at the city’s wastewater treatment plant.

Wastewater Treatment Technician Arsenio Chavez became so fed up what he said is a consistent pattern of neglecting the needs of the employees, he marched down to City Hall and aired his grievances before the mayor and council during a meeting.

As he explains, the wages are low, the city is not providing needed training, and there are also some safety issues at the plant. And he said that the city just doesn’t seem interested in addressing the problems.

“Here we are busting our ass, and we can’t get anything out of them,” he said.

Executive Director of Gallup Joint Utilities Lance Allgood said that he’s aware of the problems, and the city is trying to resolve the issues. But there’s only so much the city can do under the current budget. The city has invested $11 million in upgrades to improve the processing of the waste, and the plant has continued to be more expensive to operate as the price of gas and electricity continue to go up.

“There’s escalating operational cost over the years,” Allgood said.

And he adds that the claim that the city is ignoring the needs of the employees is false. He said the city is trying to hire new staff and provide training. He adds that it’s good the employees would try to bring attention to the problems at the plant.

“We certainly understand the frustration out there, and we appreciate that the employees care enough to try and affect change,” he said.

But according to Chavez, the city isn’t investing anything in its wastewater treatment employees. He has been at the plant for eight years now, which makes him the senior technician on staff. He makes $23,000 a year.

“I’m basically running the plant. Not basically. I am,” he said.

Beyond the low salaries, Chavez said the city won’t provide them with any training. Wastewater technicians have four levels. Chavez is a Level 3. There are currently no Level 4 technicians on staff. To move up in level, the technicians have to pass a test. Chavez claims that the only way they can do that is to read technical textbooks on their own. The city isn’t providing them with any of the training they need to pass the test. This prevents them from getting promotions and having the knowledge to be effective at their jobs.

“I’ve never seen any training out here,” he said.

The lack of training, he explains, ends up ultimately costing the city more. He tells of how a trainee of his operated a $1 million burner despite being told not to because of a problem with the cooling system. This led to problems that caused smoke to billow out of the machine and eventually caused a chain in the machine to break.

“At $8 an hour, you just can’t get any quality help,” he said.

Chavez said that the lack of training could lead to a serious accident. He tells of one former employee that left a chlorine gas tube attached improperly. Fortunately, Chavez said he saw green gas leaking from the loose connection and tightened it before the caustic gas filled the building. He said the people he works with now are pretty top-notch trainees, but often that is not the case.

“Some of these guys shouldn’t be operating a wastewater plant. They should be in prison,” he said.

Allgood doesn’t deny the personnel problems at the plant. Right now, the “skeleton crew” is all the city can afford.

“There’s no argument that the personnel out there is just what we need to run the plant,” he said.

But Allgood insists that the city is providing more training than what Chavez claims. Just recently, Water and

Wastewater Superintendent Ernie Thompson increased the training budget for the plant. They’ve also been providing plant-specific training, which is important in the business, as every plant has its own nuances.

“Every plant is its own animal,” he said.

Hiring new people, he adds, is very difficult. The nation as a whole suffers from a lack of blue collar workers, especially in the wastewater treatment industry. And the new casinos, which have their own independent treatment plants, are hiring at much higher salaries than the city can offer. The city, he said, offers a very generous 70/30 split on the medical insurance, and a retirement plan that pays 80 percent of the salary after 25 years. But, he agrees, the salaries aren’t very competitive.

“Certainly wages are limited,” he said.
For now, the city plans to just keep trying to address the problems with what resources it has.

“We know there have been some issues out there, and we’re trying to address them,” he said.