In a sign of growth and coming of age, the city’s newly formed public works department — which until now has basically been the street department — will assume direct responsibility for providing water and wastewater services for city customers.
As of Oct. 1, the city will take over the service and upkeep of the water and sewer systems from Southwest Water Company. The operation of the city’s sewer plant will remain with Southwest until Oct. 1.
The change is a sign of the city’s growth, City Manager Anthony “Biff” Johnson said.
“We’re at a size now that we need to be accountable for our own system,” he said, adding that city administrators had planned for the coming change.
“It was a natural progression,” Johnson said.
Pat Womack, who transitioned from assistant city engineer to head the public works department in December, said the transition should smooth, since many facets of the service will not change.
The timing and format of monthly invoices will remain the same since the city has always handled the billing, he said.
The phone number for service calls will also remain the same, though response times for service calls may improve, he added.
Previously, customers’ calls for service came to city staff, who then passed the call to Southwest responders.
Now, city employees will respond to service calls.
“Our crews are in-house, in the city,” Womack said.
Fees for connect and disconnect service will remain the same for the time being, though they are under review, he said.
The transition from contracting with an outside company to bringing the water and sewer operations in house began last year.
In one of the last acts of the 2009-10 budget year, city staff approved funding for city vehicles and hiring employees for the utility department.
The department also incorporates the street department, which is responsible for roads, drainage, traffic lights and signage.
Finance Director Robert Powers said labor costs represent the largest increase, along with equipment and maintenance costs for the city.
Both he and Johnson said even with the changes, an immediate savings of $200,000 will be realized by changing from contract labor to city staff.

Three employees have already been hired, and seven more will be added to the new department including three plant managers, two service technicians and two maintenance crews.
Last month, the City Council approved $285,000 to cover the lease-purchase of four new trucks plus a sewer trailer for the public works department and three vehicles for the police department.
Womack said the department will also utilize used vehicles from the police department for its meter readers.
Another long-term change planned for the department, and city customers, is a slow changeover to automatic meter readers (AMR), which allow meter readers to read the meters from the street without having to visually check for the monthly usage amounts.
Womack said the city is installing AMRs for new service connections. He estimated that there are about 500 AMRs out of more than 9,200 meters in the city.