Field technicians from the Richmond Department of Public Utilities are upset that City Hall failed to include them among the first responders, such as police officers and firefighters, who received pandemic bonuses of up to $3,000 each during the holidays.

DPU technicians address problems with gas, water and sewer service.

“We are first responders,” DPU technicians stated in a collective email sent to the Free Press on Monday. “We meet the fire departments of Richmond, Henrico and Chesterfield on gas leaks and fires.”

In addition, “we enter customers’ homes on a daily basis to turn on gas and water services,” the email continued. “Both utilities are crucial, especially during a pandemic when you need gas to heat water to cleanse your hands.

“We are essential,” the email stated. “While other Richmond employees sat at home when the City of Richmond was closed, we still had to come to work continuously” to deal with service problems.

While office workers were paid to work from home, “we put ourselves at risk, not knowing if we were going into the home of someone exposed to COVID-19.”

Just like the rest of the first responders, the email stated, “we are overworked and understaffed. Yes, members of the Richmond Fire Department and the Richmond Police Department deserved a bonus. But they gave employees of the Juvenile Justice Department bonuses, but not us, who help keep the City of Richmond safe as well.”

The technicians called on the city to provide answers.

Mayor Levar M. Stoney and Lincoln Saunders, the city’s chief administrative officer, could not be immediately reached for comment.

City Council members raised no questions about the administration’s decision to award bonuses only to certain employees who had worked through the pandemic, including firefighters, police officers, emergency dispatchers and employees of the city Juvenile Detention Center.

When a question was asked about bonuses for other employees who maintained critical services, city officials said only that they hoped to find the money later to provide bonuses to them, but no specifics were provided and council did not seek any further information.