Testimony by Allen Shiner
Water/Wastewater Treatment Plant Operator
Thursday, April 5, 2007
Ohio Civil Service Employees Association/
AFSCME Local 11
ODNR Budget Testimony

Good Morning Chairman Core and Members of the House Agriculture and Development Committee:
My name is Allen Shiner.  I am an ODNR Parks Treatment Operator at Pymatuning State Park with thirteen years of service.  I also serve on the Executive Board of the Ohio Civil Service Employees Association (OCSEA), AFSCME Ashtabula Chapter, past vice president of the Chapter and a union steward.  OCSEA represents over 1000 employees in ODNR.

Thank you for allowing me to testify this morning. I want to thank the chairman for his involvement in the recent Natural Resources Summit and Briefing hosted by the Natural Resources Stakeholders Group of which OCSEA is a part. Your commitment to the preservation of natural resources and support of our award-winning state parks system is appreciated.

While we’re pleased that the Division of Parks budget was not cut, and we recognize that funding the Central Support line item will help free up funds elsewhere, the Parks Division budget still has a long way to go in restoring park operations, services and staff.

Specifically, with respect to maintenance and staffing of the Parks’ water treatment operations, we’re still sitting on something of a powder keg, with a critically low shortage of certified operators and decades old infrastructure in need of repair and upgrade.

The Division of Parks and Recreation is one of the largest water treatment state operators in Ohio, managing approximately fifty-three (53) permitted wastewater plants and approximately sixty-nine (69) licensed public drinking water systems. We currently operate all of these plants with just twenty-one (21) licensed plant operators.  In some cases, part-time operators are operating five wastewater treatment plants. We are forced to use a wide range of staffing configurations to make it work, which leaves our current operators overworked and stressed out.

Because of the difficulty of juggling this number of plants, recruitment of new operators has been extremely difficult. In addition, we will not be able to maintain these low staffing levels under the new, pending EPA regulations that require an increase in certified operators.

Although we still do not have exact numbers yet, we expect that we will need anywhere from 15-17 full-time and part-time positions to continue to operate the plants under the new regulations and maintain the aging water/wastewater infrastructure in our state parks.

Almost half of our plants will require a Plant Class rating change. That will require that these plants staff a higher-level operator with higher pay. This need for more licensed staff at the plants is critical in order to become compliant with the EPA.

In the interests of preparing for the new regulations and in providing safe drinking water and the safe handling of wastewater, OCSEA and ODNR recently sat down to address these staffing needs. The parties have tentatively agreed to develop an apprenticeship program for Operators-In-Training and have identified funding from the OCSEA Union Education Trust Fund to pay for it. Candidates would undergo a 25- week training session aimed at advancing them to Class 1 Operators. However, without appropriate funding from the Legislature to fund new positions, our training and this program will have been for naught and the Department would stand to lose even more skilled workers.  For these reasons, OCSEA supports an increase in funding for these critical operator positions. 

Moreover, due to significant cuts in overall staffing at the parks from 820 to 453 FTP over the last 20 years, many of our parks have lost the skills to help maintain our parks and repair our equipment.  Due to the continual loss of skilled maintenance combined with an aging infrastructure and equipment statewide ($300 million in deferred maintenance), we have needs in the following areas as well:  skilled carpentry, plumbing, electrical and automotive/small equipment repair.

We support any effort by the Legislature to enhance the amount available for core programming within the Division of Parks and Recreation including any additional funds for wastewater treatment operators. In addition, we support the proposal to fully fund Central Support as a separate line item thereby freeing up division resources to address other critical needs in our parks.
Thank you.  I’d be happy to answer any questions you might have.