The City of Chattanooga is increasing pay for its Wastewater Division, raising all salaries to a minimum of $40,000 annually and hosting a job fair to help fill more than 75 vacancies for the essential utility.
Representing an average pay increase of 17 percent across the division, the updated pay plan will better align with regional market rates to help hire and retain talent while reducing the nearly $3 million per year the division is currently spending on contractor labor and overtime costs resulting from unfilled vacancies.
The pay increase will come at no cost to residents.
Instead, the city will absorb the cost—approximately $1.5 million annually for current employees—using scheduled annual sewer fees and a surplus of funds resulting from years of unfilled vacancies.
“While we often think of law enforcement officers or emergency medical professionals as our first responders, our wastewater team is also on the frontlines every single day responding to emergencies at all hours that many of us never even know about,” said Chief Operating Officer Ryan Ewalt. “This utility is a critical operation for our community, and increasing its pay plan to market rates will ensure we are in a strong competitive position to hire and retain the talent we need for our sustainable future.”
To promote the pay increase and speed the hiring process for vacant positions, the Wastewater Division is hosting a job fair next Tuesday, Nov. 15, from noon to 5 p.m. at the Moccasin Bend Environmental Campus, located at 455 Moccasin Bend Road. No advanced registration is required, and residents are encouraged to bring their resumes to apply and interview onsite for priority positions, including plant operators, industrial electricians, industrial maintenance mechanics, and heavy equipment operators.
“Our wastewater teams work around the clock, every day of the year, to keep the city’s wastewater system running. In 2021 alone, they made more than 7,000 repairs and upgrades - that’s over 600 per month,” said Mark Heinzer, interim director of the Moccasin Bend Environmental Campus. “Increasing their pay not only provides these talented employees with market-rate salaries, it helps us grow teams and boost morale, demonstrating that the hard work and value of this essential division is not going unrecognized.”
In addition to treating the wastewater of more than 400,000 people in the Chattanooga region, the Wastewater Division also leads the City’s work to rehabilitate and renew Chattanooga’s wastewater system, ensuring that local waterways—including the Tennessee River—are protected from raw sewage overflow. Since the City entered into a consent decree with EPA and the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation in 2012, the division, working with other teams across the Department of Public Works, has made significant progress in revitalizing key components of the system, including:
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Building a new wet weather equalization station with the capacity to hold up to 30 million gallons of untreated wastewater during heavy rains
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Rehabilitating 12 pump stations, with four more on the way in 2023
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Completing 12 capital projects to enhance the Moccasin Bend Wastewater Treatment Plant
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Inspecting and evaluating 284 miles of pipe and rehabilitating 73 miles of pipe
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Rehabilitating over 2,000 manholes
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Cleaning approximately one million feet of pipe throughout the city annually