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Planning & Development - Storm Water & Infrastructure

Hamilton County Planning & Development - Storm & Water Supply Business Plan

I. Department Overview

Public Works strives to perform departmental duties in a timely, professional and courteous manner. Our main charge is the efficient implementation of the Board of County Commissioners' Storm Water and Flood Regulations to promote responsible development; maintenance of the unincorporated County's fire hydrant and storm sewer inventory; and respond to public inquiries regarding storm water and domestic water supply.

The Public Works' Table of Organization consists of 33.66 budgeted F.T.E.'s located at the Hamilton County Administration Building and at our Maintenance facility at 10486 Burlington Road.

The core functions of the Department have been segregated and listed under the main divisions of the department.

Maintenance:

1. The repair or replacement of damaged or inoperable fire hydrants (approximately 1,500 in 2005 and 1,400 in 2006) and the installation of new, capital improvement hydrants.
2. Maintenance and repair of the County owned storm sewers outside of the County roadway right-of-way, and assist townships with the maintenance and repair of their storm sewer systems as requested.
3. Maintenance and repair of water lines, sanitary and storm sewers located within county owned complexes.
4. Snow removal at (14) Hamilton County-owned properties.
5. Lawn maintenance at the County-owned facilities located near Civic Center Drive and I-275; mowing and weed eating at: Blanchetta & Royal Glen Drives (approx. 1,250 ft.), Edger Dr. & North Bend Rd. Detention basin, Glenroy Ave. (open lot), and Burlington site; weed eating at: Jessup Rd. to Blue Rock Rd. (approx. 1,940 ft.); Banning Rd. north side of creek (approx. 275 ft.); Banning Rd. to Colerain Ave. south side of creek (approx. 1,875 ft.); Galbraith Road North of Flume; Records Center (open lot); and River City Correctional Facility (along fence and all rough areas).
6. Maintenance has a program for salvaged/scrap fire hydrant material. This program started in 2004 and has averaged a savings of $134,800 per year.

Storm Systems:

1. Preparing and overseeing capital improvement projects involving large storm sewer installation or replacement.
2. The review and inspection of storm drainage systems for subdivisions and commercial development.
3. The review and approval of storm drainage systems involving single commercial buildings.
4. Review and approval of building permit applications for compliance with the County's Flood Damage Prevention Regulations.
5. Consult with and advise private property owners on various methods of correcting private storm drainage problems.
6. Flood Plain Management
7. Creation and maintenance of the CAGIS storm sewers, detention basins, and flood plain layers.

Water Lines:

1. The extension of water mains as petitioned to the County Commissioners following the provisions of ORC 6103, which includes the following: engineering, plan preparation, legislative documentation, contract awarding and compliance inspections.
2. Negotiation/Monitoring for water service contracts with 11 separate suppliers, with City of Cincinnati as the major potable water supplier to the unincorporated Hamilton County.
3. Continued monitoring of long-range capital improvement plans by all suppliers.

Miscellaneous:

1. We assist other County Departments as requested by the Board of County Commissioners or other elected officials.
2. We have created an interface for the Township Fire Chiefs and Firefighters to monitor all fire hydrants that are “Out of Service” in real time. This provides critical information to the Firefighters before they respond to a fire.
   We have also provided searchable access to our entire “Fire Hydrant Out of Service Database” for the Fire Chiefs to create reports on the fire hydrants in their Township. Searches can be made by Township, Street Name, and Problem.

II. Performance Measures

The following goals have been set by this department with the corresponding "effective/outcomes." The management team continually monitors the results, modify resource allocations and modifying goals as necessary. In 2006 our initial response for both storm development and building permit has been shortened to three (3) days.

III. Organizational Staffing Levels

The filled F.T.E.'s for the department and each division is shown below in a table.

The department has attempted over the past two (2) decades to fill vacant positions only as required by work load demands. Although the department has added new areas of responsibility, and the fire hydrant and storm sewer maintenance inventory has increased and grown older, the department's F.T.E.'s has decreased.

The key issue within the department is providing sufficient staff to meet the department's charge. With the adoption of new rules and regulations to enforce the mandated NPDES requirements, sufficient staff for review, inspection and maintenance of the County's storm water system is critical. The hiring of our seasonal summer help is also critical for maintenance of flood protection channels within property owned or maintained by the County.

IV. Financial Plan

V. Critical Issues Facing Department in 2007 & Beyond

As mentioned in Section III, sufficient funding for personnel is critical. Additionally, the recently mandated NPDES requirements will have a major impact on both development within the County and the County's responsibility for enforcement of those regulations. The need to address the financial viability of the UAI account is also needed. A proposed water rate differential adjustment must be given serious consideration if the impact to the general fund is to be avoided. Amendment to the County/City Water Contract has been drafted. Passage of this amendment is critical to avoid any impact to the General Fund.

VI. Key Initiatives For 2007

2007 will require additional storm regulations to bring the County into compliance with the mandated Phase II NPDES (National Pollutant Discharge Elimination) requirements. We have also revised the County's existing storm regulations as needed to provide additional protection to home owners.

This department continues to provide all of its IT Support "in-house" including programing and hardware support, with no F.T.E. dedicated to IT. In doing so, we have re-designed our Website using CSS, ASP, SQL, and XHTML Web Technology as per the requirement of the Commissioners. In addition, we added a Windows 2003 Server and two (2) Windows XP Workstations at our Maintenance facility for disaster recovery with an outline of procedure.

Attached Documents