New faces, old issues for Watertown City Council

Dec. 31—WATERTOWN — The New Year will bring a changing of the guard at City Hall.

New City Manager Eric F. Wagenaar started his job on Saturday. Mayor-elect Sarah V. Compo Pierce and new council members Benjamin P. Shoen and Robert O. Kimball will be sworn into office on New Year's Day.

The city will soon fill the vacancies of two top administrators, the city engineer and human resources manager. Brian MacCue was appointed the new public works superintendent just three months ago and his assistant superintendent, Karen McMahon, came on board a month ago.

Compo Pierce acknowledged that there are a lot of new faces. That brings both "positives and negatives, but I think it's overwhelmingly positive," she said.

It will be a loss of institutional knowledge but the new people also will produce new ideas and ways at looking at things, she said.

Compo Pierce said the new council will have to face some immediate challenges.

What should happen with Zoo New York might be on the top of the list. A task force already has started looking at whether the zoo should continue to exist amid a financial crisis that closed it indefinitely. The task force has been divided into committees, looking at different aspects of the zoo, she said. The committees and the full task force will come together on Jan. 18 for its second meeting.

The city's drinking water also will be "a priority issue," she said. Talking with state and federal officials will be crucial in finding additional financing for a $50 million project to limit two contaminants at the Huntington Street water treatment plant. On Friday, the city announced it was awarded a $5 million state grant to go toward the project.

The city also needs to work with Fort Drum officials on improving its application for Department of Defense funding for the project, she said.

Having Wagenaar, the former deputy to the garrison commander on Fort Drum, as the new city manager will "definitely" help with his contacts at the post and the defense department as the city applies for that federal funding for the project next year, Compo Pierce said.

The city also needs to dust off a report on ways to offset the loss of a lucrative contract to sell hydro power to National Grid before the agreement ends in 2030. The city operates a hydro plant on Marble Street that provides power to city buildings.

In its report that came out more than a year ago, the hydro committee recommended that the city start investigating how to sell power from its hydroelectric plant to residents and businesses.

"It's time to review their findings," Compo Pierce said, "and see what the city can and cannot do."

Besides those issues, Councilwoman Lisa A. Ruggiero thinks that the city should focus on filling vacant positions.

After not getting any applicants during two searches, two people have finally come forward to apply for the city engineer position, which has been vacant since last summer. Several candidates also have applied for the human resources manager position. Matt Roy left the position last week. The new city manager is expected to fill those two positions soon.

But Ruggiero said several other positions remain vacant. She thinks the city needs to focus on hiring and retaining city employees.

The police department still has several positions unfilled, she said. It's been difficult to find public works employees, too. A city engineer position in the department has been vacant for some time.

Ruggiero suggested meeting with the Civilian Service Employee Association union to get some ideas on finding and keeping employees.

She's also optimistic that the atmosphere on council should improve with the new makeup of its members. With the departure of Mayor Jeffrey M. Smith, the bickering between him and Councilman Cliff G. Olney III will no longer occur, Ruggiero said.

"I am hopeful our meetings will now be more orderly and professional," she said.

Other issues that council will face include determining the source of a leak that causes the loss of 400,000 gallons of water a day from a city reservoir in Thompson Park and whether to proceed with an ethics investigation into accusations that Olney leaked confidential information from executive sessions.