The wife of a Dunkirk wastewater treatment plant operator slammed the city for understaffing this week at a Common Council meeting.

Carmen Muscarella-Sebzda, a Fredonia resident, said she was there as a Moffat Street property owner “and the wife of a wastewater treatment operator within the city. I’m here tonight to address a serious and ongoing staffing issue that has occurred at that plant for over a decade. I’m here to address the newly increased staffing requirements due to an incident that occurred over the weekend. These issues affect every resident of the city, and deserve immediate attention.”

Mayor Kate Wdowiasz told the OBSERVER Wednesday, “One of our employees fell into one of our tanks. We did implement a policy for the short term that says there have to be two people at all times… out of an abundance of caution until we can address the shortage of employees.”

She said the incident was “nothing horrific, nothing major.”

Muscarella-Sebzda continued, “To be clear, I’m not a wastewater expert — but I know a little bit about this, living it. I know enough to understand the critical role the facility plays in our daily lives. The plant processes, treats and separates everything that goes down the drains… the treated water is then released into Lake Erie, the same lake our water is drawn from.

“Here is what’s most important… right now the plant has four licensed operators to cover a facility that must be staffed around the clock. There are currently four trainees, but each requires 4 1/2 years of hands-on experience, five weeks of schooling and passing a difficult state licensing exam before they can even operate on their own. One current operator is likely eligible for retirement, which means the city could soon be left with just three fully licensed operators around a 24-7 facility.”

The treatment plant is now going to require two licensed operators, Muscarella-Sebzda went on. “How does the city plan to meet the requirement? How are people supposed to take time off or even have days off, which doesn’t occur a lot in my household. These operators, two of which have young families, are being forced to work 24 or 32 hours at a time. They cannot sleep on duty. … They cannot step away. They cannot grab dinner.”

She concluded by “urging this council and future council members to make staffing at the wastewater treatment plant a priority in your budget. It’s not optional. It’s a public safety issue, an environmental issue and a quality of life issue.”

Muscarella-Sebzda also offered two letters from her daughter, asking for her dad to be home for Christmas.

“She is correct, it does take a long time for trainees to become operators,” Wdowiasz said Wednesday. She called Muscarella-Sebzda’s comments “pretty accurate.”