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AN ORDINANCE related to at the West Point Treatment Plant, requiring a report and plan from the executive addressing issues related to staffing concerns, including staff retention, and a mechanism to provide for anonymous staff reporting of operational concerns at the West Point Treatment Plant.
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STATEMENT OF FACTS:
1. In response to the February 9, 2017, system failure event at the West Point Treatment Plant, the council commissioned an independent assessment of circumstances leading to the event, and identification of appropriate responses.
2. As an element of the independent assessment, AECOM Technical Services, which was selected to perform the assessment, conducted extensive interviews with plant operations staff, and with plant and agency management. AECOM also conducted a hazardous operations workshop involving plant operations and management and agency management staff, intended to surface operational conditions that may have contributed to the February 9 event, and to conditions of concern at the plant generally. Both the staff interviews and the hazardous operations workshop were central to the identification of critical plant conditions and the development of recommendations, which will guide the agency, the council and the region in supporting the recovery from the February 9 event, and the avoidance of future such events. The council desires to institutionalize a mechanism to heighten awareness by decisionmakers of critical operational conditions that have the potential to result in system failures similar to the February 9 event.
3. Additionally, the AECOM report described the issue of staff retention at the West Point Treatment Plant. The report notes that "staff retention has been an ongoing issue...the plant is not in an easy location for commuting, and the cost of living in the surrounding area is high. WPTP has had a significant number of new hires compared to the South Plant and Brightwater Treatment Plant; ...there has been...

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