The Airport Safety Officers are currently utilizing staff seven days a week, 365 days a year at both Buchanan Field and Byron Airports. Currently, seven (7) Operations staff members are assigned to Buchanan Field, providing 17 hours of coverage per day. An additional two (2) staff members are assigned to Byron Airport, providing between 8-12 hours of coverage per day. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Airport Operations staff utilized a combination of 8-hour and 10-hour shifts. However, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and to distance staff and enhance staff safety, Airport operations instituted a pilot program that included the use of 12-hour shifts to create multiple, separate work pods minimizing staff overlap. This action was taken to ensure that if one team member and or work group needed to be removed (quarantined) from the workforce, the Airports would have other staff available to fill the vacant shifts and keep the airports operating safely. Airport operations staff were one of the many County work groups that were federally mandated to continue working onsite throughout the pandemic.
Airport Operations have observed a number of benefits since instituting the 12-hour shifts, including a reduction in overtime expenditures and increased staff efficiency. The reduction in overtime stems from the fact that the 12/80 schedule allows for staff to spread out their shifts, which minimizes unnecessary overlap. Additionally, Byron Airport would typically require two weeks to mow the entire airfield in advance of the fire season, while this past year the airport staff completed the task in four days. Buchanan Field, on the other hand, would typically require three weeks to mow the entire airfield; the airport staff completed the task in just one week.
Airport operations staff must complete approximately 45 preventative maintenance (PM) tasks each month. The PMs include items such as inspection and maintenance of hydraulic security gates, emergency rescue equipment, 145 aircraft hangar doors, fire hydrants and extinguishers. Historically, several of the tasks would be carried over to the following month before all 45 PMs were completed. However, in the last five months, with the use of 12-hour shifts, the number of PMs carried over to the following month has been zero.
The attached side letter is the resulting agreement reached with the Teamsters, Local 856. The parties have agreed to incorporate the side letter into Section 6 (Days and Hours of Work) and Section 12 (Holidays) in the successor Memorandum of Understanding.
If the side letter of agreement is not approved, the Public Works Department will not have the staffing flexibility to operate efficiently.