Jackson's water treatment plants needs some hired help and needs it fast. The EPA slammed Jackson for failing to staff the water treatment plants with qualified employees. The lack of employees placed the neglect of the water treatment system under the EPA's microscope. Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba told WLBT last week it is hard to hire the much-needed personnel:
On finding quality workers, the mayor says they must be Class A operators and they are difficult to find.
Mayor Lumumba said, “the City of Jackson’s water treatment facility is the only one of its kind in the state of Mississippi. We have the largest water treatment facility in the state. It requires Class A operators which you can’t get from any other city because they don’t need the same type, they don’t need the same level of expertise there. And so that becomes a challenge in how we find people to help support our water treatment facility.”
Once again, the Mayor was not exactly telling the truth. JJ submitted a public records request to the Mississippi Department of Health and found there are no less than 62 Class A operators in Mississippi.* There are 17 in Hinds County although some work for other agencies.
There are a list of open positions at the two water treatment plants on the city website. Check out the salaries and how long the openings have been posted.
The Instrument Technician position has been open since 2018. The absence of such a key position was one of the main reasons so much neglect and disrepair took place at the water treatment plants.
However, Jackson only pays $13.639 an hour for that crucial job. The hourly rate of pay translates into $547 per week and $2,200 per month. The employee could make more money working at Costco. Remember, the job went open for over three years.
There are two openings for Water Plant Operator I. They have been posted for over two years. Such personnel must possess a Class D water works certificate or obtain one within 18 months of hire. The pay is only $12.71 per hour - a grand total of $508 per week and $2,035 per month.
Next up are two open positions for Water Plant Operations Supervisor. This is the position that requires the coveted Class A water works certificate. The experience requirement might trip up some candidates as they must have five years of experience at a water treatment plant that includes two years in a supervisory position.
Unfortunately, the pay is only.... drum roll...... $17.46 per hour. The gross hourly pay translates into $700 per week. Carry it forward to 52 weeks and Jackson is paying in the neighborhood of $37,000 per year. The EPA said Jackson only had two Class A operators per shift when four should be on duty.
The EPA wasn't playing around when it told Jackson to hire more qualified people to run its water treatment plants. The salaries posted may indeed be the market rates for those jobs. However, allowing those jobs to go vacant for so long placed Jackson in the position it is today. Jackson needs to do whatever it takes to fully staff the water treatment plants. If that means pay more money, then pay it. If it means recruiting out of state, recruit away. If that means cutting funds for zoos and summer concerts, then cut.
Adapting, overcoming, and improvising seem to escape this crew.
Kingfish note: Here is a piece of unsolicited advice for the Mayor. Get rid of the residency requirement. The ordinance allows you to do so. Jackson is going to have a hard time hiring operators who would have to stick their kids in a "D" school system or send their kids to "F" high schools. You allow Dr. Omari to live in Ridgeland. Why don't you give the workers we actually need the same freedom instead of your friends.
* List of Class A operators
16 comments:
So, trying to find qualified workers inside the City of Jackson is hard? You don't say.
Baby Chowke has been known to water down the truth.
Incompetence on steroids-
More vital local reporting about one of the most important issues facing Jackson.
Accountability IS transparency. Other media has completely ignored that fact and obfuscated because their naked water carrying and purposeful misdirection has exposed their voices as those of the fraudulent and compromised.
Kingfish provides deep digging and needed context for the full community since every Jacksonian needs and uses water.
Jackson has a Mayor who to this day would not have revealed the existence of this emergency order of the Federal government if it wasn't for Jackson Jambalaya.
KF you’re now doing the work for him. That’s what he’s used too. Screwing up, lying about and someone else cleaning up his mess.
Yeah you're not going to get quality candidates with that pay scale. Problem with gov't pay scales.
turn a knob here and turn a knob there.
Restaurants can't get anybody to come to work. Why would somebody go work in a sewer?
This means there's not a single thing about the city's water system crisis the mayor hasn't lied about.
4:46 - this is the WATER treatment plant being discussed here, not the SEWER treatment plant. They are two separate and distinct things. Just like the Stokes "boo boo water" has nothing to do with what is being provided through the pipes to drink - he was referring to the commodes that could not flush due to lack of water.
Try to stay on message here. It is bad enough with the facts and the subject matter. Don't need to try to 'muddle the water' - the drinking water, that is.
Target pays $15 per hour. So does Costco, Whole Foods and Amazon (soon to be in Canton). Walmart is $13 for the delivery guys.
Hobby Lobby starts at $15.70.
And Chok pays water techs only 12-13 per hour?
Nuff said.
Chok's wife is smarter than him. He should hire her to advise him.
For the most part, the City's pay scale hasn't kept pace with inflation over the last 30 years. The salary range for most of its "low-level" employees is nearly the same as it was in the mid-1990s. Only the Mayor, his executives, and his department heads have the luxury of getting periodic pay adjustments and other *perks* (like Dr. Ridgeland Omari). The whole salary book should be overhauled and wages adjusted to be more competitive across the board, with key positions requiring additional skills and certifications adjusted to reflect the critical nature of their role.
If the election was tomorrow he would still get 70% of the vote. No sympathy from me on this. The federal government will step in with millions eventually and fix everything and in five years they will have to do it again.
Water, sewer, fire, police and streets should be a priority for every city government. When a person is re-elected with 70% of the vote and is a total failure in all of the departments mentioned tells me all I need to know about the people in the city of Jackson.
Even if the pay was considerably better, no one smart enough to do the job would work for the City of Jackson.
@7:47am - Kinda hard to find the extra money for salary increases when you’re too busy running off your tax base.
Isn’t one of these operators the current public works director?
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