San Angelo's Various Shhhh's!

San Angelo's already explosive growth may accelerate under a new Chamber marketing campaign included in the September 3rd City Council packet.  The City of San Angelo's website added two bid opportunities recently that reflect this growth.

The first juxtaposes our water resources vs. skyrocketing demand for water in the region.  The City requested bids for water treatment chemicals intent on having suppliers prove their product's capabilities.  This bid was cancelled due to low water levels in the Concho River.   It takes 3.5 million gallons to frack a well and 10,000 wells are expected to be drilled in our area over a decade or more.  Shhhhh!

The next item is curious in that the city seeks bids for temporary employee services for kitchen aides, office assistants and maintenance workers.  Bidders are to supply the city with a contracted labor rate per hour.

The City had 32 full-time vacancies and 29 part-time positions unfilled in July.  That month 20 employees voluntarily left city employment, with 16 leaving for higher paying jobs.  Human Resource representatives told Council turnover was the highest in five years.

The City stated in its temp bid:

Quantity - The exact requirements of all positions to be purchased under this bid cannot be determined at this time.

The City is not liable for Social Security contribution.  Additionally, the vendor is solely responsible for Unemployment Compensation.  

The vendor shall waive any “Temp to Hire” conversion fees charged in the event a temporary employee is selected by the City into fulltime trough the hiring process. 

The bid document also specified the type of pre-employment screening required and stipulated the vendor would provide a temp within 24 hours of a purchase order request.  The vendor is liable for any work provided without a P.O.   It will be interesting to see the hourly rates temp agencies charge the city.

It would behoove this council, concerned about city workers making a living wage, to inquire how much the agency will pay the actual worker.  It will also be informative to compare the city's pay scale for the three positions to vendor bids.

The City has major issues attracting and keeping employees.  That goes from the top, where an exodus occurred after Harold's reign ended, to the bottom, where the city seeks temps to fill holes and/or bypass providing benefits.  Shhhh!

Benefit savings can be seen in the health insurance budget for the coming year.  The only thing that could explain such a huge drop is the city is covering far fewer employees.  Is this a side effect of using temporary workers or the unstated aim?

This reminds me of the Chamber telling public officials that new companies for our area were told to bring their employees with them.  The Chamber did not want their higher pay rates impacting local companies.  Shhhh!

San Angelo leads.  The question is for whom?