When it comes to certified water operators, the city of Athens Water/Wastewater Department must compete not only with surrounding municipalities, but also with industries to retain them.

Water/Wastewater Manager John Stockton said he went to the City Council in recent months for permission to increase the pay grade after losing six certified operators over the course of five months.

“If we paid $16 an hour they would leave for Monrovia or Decatur where they could make $22 an hour,” said Stockton. “Now, we’re paying $20.50 or $21. It’s still less, but they won’t commute 40 or 50 miles a day to make a dollar more.”

Stockton said because of the city’s lower pay grade, he was “running a training school for the past 18 years. Thirteen of those we trained in the last 10 years left within two years. One left six hours after he earned his certification.”

The manager said it not only makes good economic sense to pay higher wages, given the cost of training an operator through to certification, but it’s also of crucial to retain operators to avoid being fined by the Alabama Department of Environmental Management for inadequate staffing.

“We are required to have Grade 4 certified operators by ADEM,” said Stockton. “That is a federal mandate. Once they get certified in Alabama they can transfer that certification to any state.”

Stockton said the minimum requirement for an operator trainee is a high school diploma and two years of on-the-job training.

“They can substitute one year of the on-the-job with a year of formal coursework,” he said. “ADEM conducts training as well as private training schools. The University of California at Sacramento has a home study program that we’ve utilized for 20 years. Participants must purchase a manual and they provide online testing. That’s about a 6-month course with 60 hours of classroom instruction that they can substitute for a yard of experience.”

Stockton said trainees must work under a certified operator for about 14 months. He said trainees are getting paid an hourly wage, plus overtime for hours spent outside work attending school. That is in addition to $500 per student paid to U.C.-Sacramento.

“There’s quite a lot of time and expense involved in getting certified,” he said.

Beside competition from other municipalities, Stockton said he has to deal with operator shortages due to retirements.

“The average in Alabama is that 60 percent of certified operators are within five years of retirement. We’ve got some old people here,” he said.

Stockton said a certified operator must be onsite any time a plant is in operation.

“In low demand, we can operate 16 to 18 hours a day and shut down, but in high demand, such as summer, we’re working 22 to 24 hours a day,” said Stockton. “Because the council took emergency action three or four weeks ago we are now competitive with surrounding utilities. One operator came back, but we’re still down five. Our human resources director is not as confident that this will stop them from leaving, but I feel that people won’t leave if they are paid.”