Table of Contents

Introduction

Section 1

Section 2

Section 3

Section 4

Section 5

Section 6

Section 7

Section 7c

Section 8

Appendix

Letter

Management Audit of the Airports Division

Airport Division Audit
12/11/99

6. Staffing

• The three Airport Operations Workers and one-half time Supervisor assigned to the Palo Alto Airport are sufficient to cover the hours of operation at that facility.

• The five Airport Operations Workers and one Supervisor assigned to Reid-Hillview exceed the level of staffing needed to provide staff coverage of all of the facility’s hours of operations by 1.7 positions. Department staff report that additional staffing is needed at Reid-Hillview for maintenance of County-owned hangars and the terminal building that are unique to that airport. Even allowing for the additional maintenance duties, the number of budgeted Airport Operations Workers at Reid-Hillview is in excess of need and could be reduced. Since one Airport Operations Worker position is now vacant, this reduction could take place without displacing any existing employees and the Department budget could be reduced by approximately $45,794 per year.

• Overtime cost reductions at the airports could be realized by converting Airport Operations Worker shifts from four-ten hour shifts to five-eight hour shifts per week. This would eliminate the need for overtime to cover vacation and sick leave for shifts now covered by only one worker. This change would result in estimated savings in overtime costs of approximately $8,064 per year.

Operations Staffing

At both Reid Hillview and Palo Alto Airport the Department maintains an operations staff responsible for general maintenance of the facility and for performing repairs as necessary. There are currently three full-time Airport Operations Workers at the Palo Alto Airport, and four filled full-time and one unfilled Airport Operations Workers at Reid-Hillview. The Department has a policy of maintaining a staff presence at both Reid-Hillview and Palo Alto Airports during normal operating hours, from morning to late in the evening, to respond to emergencies and to collect transient aircraft fees. Unlike the other airports, full-time Department staff is not present at South County Airport though the Supervisor from Palo Alto is on site at South County two days per week with an extra-help worker providing maintenance and landscaping services. In FY 1998-99, the extra help worker provided approximately 1,000 hours of service.

The Airport Operations Workers perform a variety of tasks at each airport, including maintenance of facilities and equipment, landscaping, janitorial duties, tracking of tenants and billing of transient aircraft, repair of equipment, and maintenance of runway facilities (such as runway marker lights, windsocks and signs). In addition, the Airport Operations Workers respond to emergencies on the airfield, including accidents and other situations.

Staffing Level

To determine the level of staffing needed at the airports for the Department to carry out its policy of having at least one staff person on duty during all hours of operation, an analysis was conducted of staff hours needed versus staff hours available for the Palo Alto and Reid-Hillview Airports. The results are as follows:

Palo Alto Airport

Annual staff-hours needed (16 hours/day x 365 days/year) 5,840

Divided by Average Productive Hours/Worker¹ 1,664

Equals full-time equivalents needed 3.5

Full-time equivalent staff positions budgeted 3.6

Excess (shortage) 0.1

Reid-Hillview Airport

Annual staff-hours needed (15 hours/day x 365 days/year) 5,475

Divided by Average Productive Hours/Worker 1,664

Equals full-time equivalents needed 3.3

Full-time equivalent staff positions budgeted 6.0

Excess (shortage) 2.7

¹ Based on 80% of a full-time worker’s 2,080 annual hours (2,080 * .8 = 1,664)

The analysis above shows that staffing is sufficient at Palo Alto and possibly exceeding need at Reid-Hillview. However, one budgeted Airport Maintenance Worker position is currently vacant so the actual excess should be reduced by one position from 2.7 to 1.7. Regarding the 1.7 excess positions, Department staff reports that additional staffing is needed at Reid-Hillview beyond covering all hours of operation for additional maintenance work due to the unique characteristics of County-owned hangars and the terminal building at that facility.

The current number of filled positions appears to be more than adequate. The fifth, unfilled Airport Operations Worker position is unneeded given the workload at Reid-Hillview. That position, budgeted at $45,794 in annual salaries and benefits, could be deleted from the Department’s budget and the Airports Division would still have sufficient staff for Reid-Hillview Airport.

Shifts

Currently the Airport Operations Workers work a schedule of four 10-hour shifts each week. Because the airports are staffed for 16 hours each day at Palo Alto, and 15 hours each day at Reid-Hillview, there is considerable overlap between the shifts each day since each Airport Operation Worker’s shift is 10 hours. As mentioned above, there are no full-time Airport Operations Workers at South County Airport, only a part-time supervisor shared with Palo Alto Airport.

The distribution of Airport Operations Worker staff at Palo Alto Airport is shown in Table 6.1. As can be seen, there are two hour shift overlaps every Sunday through Tuesday and four hour shift overlaps every Wednesday through Saturday. In addition, there are three workers on duty on Tuesday though there is no apparent increase in workload necessitating an additional worker on that day. The overlaps occur in part to accommodate two or more 10-hour shifts in 16 hour days.

As shown in Table 6.1, 13 of the workers’ 15 shifts are covered by a single worker. It is only on Tuesday that there is a back up for workers out on leave. Otherwise, if one worker is out for vacation or sick leave, the Airports Division policy is to replace that worker with another worker paid overtime. In FY 1998-99, the Division paid $13,695 in overtime to cover missed shifts at the Palo Alto Airport.

Table 6.1

Current Staffing Pattern with 10 hour-4 day Shifts

Palo Alto Airport

By converting the shifts for each Airport Operations Worker to five 8 hour shifts, the amount of unnecessary overlap between shifts would be reduced and more shifts would be covered by more than one employee, reducing the need for overtime when a worker is on paid leave. Table 6.2 shows the recommended staffing pattern after converting to five eight hour days.

Table 6.2

Recommended Staffing Patterns With 8 hour-5 day Shifts

Palo Alto Airport

As shown in Table 6.2, under a 8 hour-5 day shift, there would be more shifts with two workers on duty, reducing the need for replacement staff on overtime when a worker is on vacation or sick leave and there would be less overlap between shifts. Under this plan, the same number of hours of service would be provided but eight shifts would be staffed by two workers each so that when one of them was on vacation or sick leave, the other could provide coverage for them. Based on FY 1998-99 overtime expenditure patterns, this would result in a reduction of 132 overtime hours at an average cost of $32, for a savings of $4,224.

A similar exercise for Reid-Hillview Airport where FY 1998-99 overtime expenses were $14,918 would yield an estimated reduction in overtime of 120 hours per year and cost savings of $3,840.The total savings between the two airports would be approximately $8,064 out of the total of $28,619 in overtime costs were incurred in FY 1998-99 at Reid-Hillview and Palo Alto Airports.

Recommendations

It is recommended that the Board of Supervisors:

1. Delete one Airport Operations Worker position from the Roads & Airports Department budget;

2. Begin any necessary conferring with employee labor groups about converting the work schedules of the Airport Operations Workers from four ten-hour shifts to five eight-hour shifts per week.

Costs and Benefits

Eliminating the vacant Airport Operations Worker position at Reid-Hillview Airport would reduce the Department’s budgeted expenditures by approximately $45,794. Shifting the work schedules of the Airport Operations Workers to five eight-hour shifts each week at Palo Alto and Reid Hillview will save approximately $8,064 in annual overtime costs.

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Last updated on 3/26/02