The Flowery Branch City Council voted unanimously on December 1 to establish the Director of Public Works and Utilities position.
The city of Flowery Branch has historically designated two separate positions—the Director of Public Works and the Water and Wastewater Director. Ordinance Number 677 seeks to combine the two positions into a single director. The ordinance also established two new managerial positions: the Manager of Public Works and the Manager of Public Utilities. These managers will report to the director for a more efficient, effective operations workflow.
Flowery Branch City Manager Tonya Parrish says the previous Water and Wastewater Director Jimmy Dean is retiring, which allows the city government to adjust the current structure.
“He's [Jimmy Dean] done wonders with our plants,” Parrish said. “He is retiring, and will still be available to us as a contractor, thankfully. But in that retirement, we had an opportunity to look at our current organizational chart and determine whether it's the best for our efficient operations. And thought it would be best to have one director over both of those functions: water wastewater—which are public utilities, as well as public works, because the Public Works crew maintains water and wastewater lines. So it just made a lot of sense to combine those because the two departments work so closely together.”
The Director of Public Works and Utilities has been designated as a full-time position. The pay-rates and specific functions and duties of all three positions will be edited at the discretion of the city manager.
The primary motivation for condensing the director positions into one role with two reporting managers comes from the city’s desire to strengthen department communication.
“Right now, we have two separate directors for the two separate departments, and they work so closely together, which is fantastic,” Parrish said. “But moving forward, just having one go-to person for both of those functions, that can sort of streamline all of that and one person will be much more efficient, in my opinion.
With the unanimous vote to pass the ordinance, Flowery Branch will begin accepting applications for the new positions in the coming months.
