Bethel lists 36 of 121 city jobs vacant, including 14 of 19 hauled water and sewer jobs

Bethel's Human Resources department lists 36 of the city's 121 budgeted jobs as vacant, according to a position table dated Oct. 8.

Hauled Services, which delivers water and hauls sewage, shows 14 of 19 positions vacant. Dispatch has three of six empty. Other gaps appear in police (five of 19), utility maintenance and water (four of eight), vehicles and equipment (three of seven) and fire (one of 11).

The May, June and July tables each listed 39 vacancies among 122.25 budgeted positions. Dispatch rose from one vacancy in each of those months to three by Oct. 8. The police department's September report lists three of six dispatcher posts and 13 of 17 peace officer posts filled, with the school resource officer position still empty. In August, Alaska News reported that Bethel police were looking to grow their own officers through a cadet program.

Hauled Services has listed 14 vacancies in every table since May. In June, Human Resources wrote that temporary drivers the city had recruited were "not reflected" in the table and should ease some pressure on the division. It added that a union agreement letting those drivers work past six months would expire at the end of June.

The division's foreman, Mike Mendenhall, retired at the end of August after 25 years with the city. Average retention in the division fell from 10.66 years in July to 5.81 years in October.

In a Sept. 30 memo, Public Works Director Bill Arnold wrote that hauled utilities were scheduled and a new sewer truck is coming on the last barge. One more driver starts next month, he wrote, and he is trying to hire another because two drivers will be out in November, with a few people taking leave: "nothing we can't handle." The memo lists three open mechanic jobs and says the landfill's one full-time technician quit in September.

The city manager's report names the hardest-hit departments as "particularly Piped Utilities and Fire Services." The fire department's September report shows all career positions filled and 24 of 38 volunteer positions filled. The city manager's report says the department is preparing for anticipated staffing reductions. Last month, six residents asked the council to pay firefighters more, Alaska News reported Oct. 25.

Human Resources says the hardest jobs to fill are those that require a commercial driver's license, for drivers and mechanics alike, and dispatch. Citywide average retention stands at 4.82 years, with a median of 1.98 years. Six employees left city jobs in September, and three of them were involuntary terminations.

Union membership rejected a tentative labor agreement, and talks continue, according to the city manager's report. Human Resources says some terms of a new contract would take effect retroactively to July 1 and others on Dec. 1, once members of COBEA, the city's bargaining unit, ratify an agreement and the council approves it.