Treatment Plant Mechanic I

Charlotte is America’s Queen City, a diverse and inclusive community where residents, businesses, and visitors thrive. The City of Charlotte delivers quality public services to promote safety, health, and quality of life for all. Guiding principles include valuing teamwork, accountability, productivity, and employee development while providing courteous and seamless services.

Charlotte Water is an enterprise department of the City of Charlotte and one of the largest public water and sewer service providers in the Southeast, serving over 330,000 customer accounts with more than 1,300 employees. The service area includes the City of Charlotte, Mecklenburg County, and the towns of Huntersville, Cornelius, Davidson, Mint Hill, Matthews, and Pineville.

About the role

This position performs skilled maintenance, repair, and troubleshooting on equipment associated with water and wastewater treatment plants and supporting sites. Responsibilities include testing equipment efficiency, inspecting plants and machinery, maintaining and repairing equipment, reading blueprints and manuals, fabricating parts, and responding to emergencies. The role may also involve documenting readings, ordering parts, preparing reports, and ensuring safety procedures are followed.

Responsibilities

• Maintains and repairs mechanical equipment for water treatment plants, wastewater treatment plants, pump stations, tank sites, and sewage lift stations.
• Inspects plants, pump stations, tank sites, and booster stations.
• Performs preventative maintenance, including greasing, cleaning, exercising equipment, checking belts and connections, changing oil, and replacing or rebuilding components on pumps, motors, valves, drives, and hydraulic or air cylinders.
• Performs corrective maintenance, including troubleshooting, repair, removal, and installation of pumps, motors, drives, valves, compressors, chemical feed systems, odor control systems, screens, filters, plumbing, and auxiliary plant equipment.
• Conducts monthly inspections on vehicles, power tools, forklifts, crane trucks, stationary cranes, and safety retrieval systems.
• Conducts tests to determine operating efficiency of equipment.
• Maintains records of equipment status, hours worked, chemicals and materials used, and costs.
• Fabricates parts as needed, paints, and replaces concrete.
• Responds to emergency situations, outages, and equipment failures.
• Performs shop and vehicle housekeeping.
• Operates cranes, trucks, forklifts, and other equipment as needed.
• Coordinates activities with operational plant and re-pump facilities.
• Follows safety policies and procedures, including lockout/tagout and confined space work procedures.
• Performs other related duties as assigned.

Requirements

• High school diploma or GED from an accredited school; college courses in a related field are desirable.
• An equivalent combination of education and relevant work, industry, military, or job-specific experience may substitute for formal education.

Qualifications

• Preferred certifications:
  • NC Grade I Maintenance Technologist Certification
  • NC Grade 2 Maintenance Technologist Certification
  • NC Grade 3 Maintenance Technologist Certification
  • NC Grade 4 Maintenance Technologist Certification
• Valid driver’s license; must obtain and maintain a City Driver’s Permit.
• NC One Water Maintenance Technologist I certification or must obtain certification within 30 months of hire.

Skills

• Knowledge of computerized maintenance management software.
• Knowledge of operating and repairing related equipment.
• Knowledge of municipal wastewater and certain chemicals.
• Skill in mechanical and electrical repairs.
• Skill in using hand and power tools.
• Ability to obtain a City driving authorization.
• Ability to operate various types of cranes and other motorized equipment.
• Ability to work as a team member.
• Ability to follow safety regulations.

Physical Demands

The work is very heavy, requiring applying up to 20 pounds of force constantly, 50 pounds frequently, and up to 100 pounds occasionally. Physical abilities required include:

• Balancing, climbing, crouching, feeling, grasping, handling.
• Perceiving sounds at normal speaking levels and distinguishing among sounds.
• Kneeling, lifting, mental acuity, pulling, pushing, reaching.
• Repetitive motion, speaking, standing, stooping.
• Expressing ideas by spoken word, shouting above noises.
• Visual acuity in data, color, observations, and equipment inspections.
• Walking.

Work Environment

Work is performed in environments with heavy equipment and machinery that could result in bodily harm. Conditions include:

• Working in confined spaces and below ground, including wet wells.
• Working at heights and in all types of weather.
• Working overtime and on-call, including emergency call-backs.

Pay

Hourly pay ranges from $25.00 to $38.19, commensurate with experience and certification level:

• NC Grade I Maintenance Technologist Certification: $24.34/hr
• NC Grade 2 Maintenance Technologist Certification: $26.83/hr
• NC Grade 3 Maintenance Technologist Certification: $29.58/hr
• NC Grade 4 Maintenance Technologist Certification: $32.61/hr

Benefits

The City of Charlotte provides a comprehensive benefits package to eligible employees. The City is a drug and alcohol-free workplace.