Today members of the New Orleans City Council meet and discuss how the city will run the New Orleans Sewerage and Water Board, with the new state law granting them the broader oversight taking effect Saturday.
The Public Works committee will hear a presentation from the Public Utility Modernization Process Subgroup -- PUMPS -- which was formed to come up with a plan on how that city will exercise its greater control over S&WB.
New Orleans City Council president J.P. Morrell says just about everything is on the table -- including the number of jobs at the Sewerage & Water board, and who's doing them, and what they're getting paid.
"If we have enough people, for example, working the machines that clean out catch basins," said Morrell. "What is the level of compensation for those people? Do we have too many people in upper management/C-Suite, not enough people doing things like working the pumps? It's going to look at everything."
Morrell says they'll even consider whether or not there needs to be an executive director, a position that currently gets paid more than $475,000 a year.
"That is a very large chunk of money that is paid by ratepayers for a position that might be unnecessary," said Morrell. "If we're going to treat this department, the Sewerage and Water Board, as an actual department, you don't need a superintendent to report to an executive director, you need a superintendent to report to a deputy mayor."
And Morrell says public accountability is another area where they want to mandate greater transparency: "What are their reporting requirements to the council, to the mayor, to the EOC, but also the public, as far as when emergencies occur?"
Budgeting and long term capital plans are another area the council wants to get a hold on.
