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'Green' Solutions Within Roswell Save Money, Streamline Work

City of Roswell employees make money-saving proposals.

When it comes to looking for a better way to do things, the city of Roswell has discovered that its own employees are an ideal source of innovative solutions to reduce expenses and improve efficiencies.

Created the Employees Acting on Roswell’s Needs (EARN) program has encouraged employees to examine current processes and develop improvements that ultimately lead to greater performance either in reduction in City expenses or reduction in time needed to perform job duties.

Recently, the EARN board approved its first three submissions for improvement, which total $8,951.21 annually in combined efficiency and cost savings, as well as increased revenue. The new ideas also present "green" solutions that will help the city be more environmentally conscious.

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"The EARN program has enabled us to tap one of the City’s greatest resources—its people—for insight and ideas," said Roswell Mayor Jere Wood. "The city’s employees are the ones who know the everyday processes and procedures best, so they are often the first to see opportunities for improvement."

Teri Brambilla, an administrative assistant for the city’s Water Resources Department, came up with a way to streamline the process by which the city provides a refund to residents who participate in the toilet rebate program through the Metropolitan North Georgia Water Planning District. Brambilla suggested providing a credit on the customer’s utility account rather than issuing a physical check. When the city reviewed changing the rebate methodology, it discovered that the amount of time employees spend on issuing a refund check and the cost of printing and postage equates to an efficiency and cost savings of $1,224.01 annually. 

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Jason Downs, crew lead, and Brady Hill, equipment operator, both with the city’s Stormwater Utility, saw an opportunity not only to save the city money and increase revenue, but also to help the environment. The city has typically disposed of the pipe that is replaced as part of Stormwater Utility improvements at the landfill. Downs and Hill suggested utilizing a recycling program to pick up and recycle the pipe instead. Their proposal reduces the amount of time employees spend transporting pipe to the landfill, reduces disposal costs and increases revenue from a new recycling program. The annualized savings/revenue from this program is estimated at $5,887.94.  

"Teri, Jason and Brady are great examples of the conscientious employees we have working for the city," said Stuart Moring, Environmental/Public Works director. "They all had that ‘a-ha’ moment—a moment where they could see how some simple improvements could work to everyone’s benefit—the city’s, our residents’ and even the environment’s."

An EARN submission from Julie Brechbill, Community Relations manager, recommended changing the city’s subscriptions for magazines, newspapers and other publications from paper to electronic form. This proposal would reduce subscription costs by utilizing e-editions as well as reducing employee time in distributing paper subscriptions. Based on a review of newspaper subscriptions, the annual savings would be $1,839.26. 

"Julie’s suggestion is a great one, and to her it just made good sense,” said Michael Fischer, deputy city administrator. "That’s the beauty of innovation. It usually presents itself quietly and without a lot of fanfare, but it takes great people to recognize how these small changes can result in a big impact for the city and all we serve."


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