Because of the comments received, below is the pertinent article. The proposed cuts are items that the Middleboro Board of Selectmen, were they competent, could and should have proposed in the past.
Recently, the Town Manager commented on town-owned and insured vehicles that sat snow-covered all winter and escaped the Selectmen's notice and the need for him to conduct an audit.
There is much else and many other areas where money could and should be saved, but this is a beginning, heralded by the Finance Committee.
Of those people who have commented around Town, the prospect of having an actual professional manage the IT Department has been greeted with cheers!
Middleboro proposes outsourcing IT dept. to save $150K
By Alice C. Elwell
MIDDLEBORO - The Finance Committee is considering outsourcing the computer support department, potentially cutting the department’s $316,000 proposed budget in half.
Vice Chairman Joseph Thomas last week proposed hiring an outside company to run the town’s technology department.
“They would do everything, all IT needs,” Thomas said, including upgrades and Web design. Thomas said outsourcing would slash the IT budget by at least 50 percent, while at the same time provide two on-site engineers for $150,000 a year.
Thomas said hiring an outside company would eliminate the $84,326 salary of IT Director Roger Brunelle Sr. Finance Committee member Glenn S. MacPherson estimated his benefit package costs taxpayers another $40,000 a year.
Brunelle is married to Selectwoman Marsha L. Brunelle, who has excused herself from discussions of the IT department in the past.
Thomas said selectmen would have to authorize the company to perform a site plan and network analysis in order to present an accurate proposal and scope of work.
The committee voted to meet with the company for a presentation before recommending the plan to selectmen.
In a further move to reduce personnel, the committee discussed reducing the hours of several full-time secretaries.
“Can we ask selectmen why they need a full-time secretary?” MacPherson asked.
“Why not one secretary for police and fire?” added Tarsi Velantzas.
Chairman Richard J. Pavadore suggested hiring a full-time mechanic to service the town’s fleet of 212 vehicles. Pavadore said town departments are budgeting $162,550 for routine maintenance, such as oil changes and brake jobs. He said hiring a certified mechanic to do the same work would cost the town approximately $90,000 with benefits.
“You realize that is completely contrary to everything we believe in,” said MacPherson.
Another cost-cutting proposal was put forward by member Stephen McKinnon, who questioned the town’s insurance deductible on motor vehicle policies, saying in most cases it was $500.
McKinnon said there would be a savings if the deductibles were adjusted, pointing out a 1967 trailer didn’t need a $500 deductible.
Pavadore said the town’s fiscal year 2010 budget is $70 million, with a deficit of more than $1 million.
wickedlocal
35 comments:
Could we get rid of the ambulance we don't need, cut the firemen and open one of the stations?
How about getting rid of the airhead that Lombard hired? Is she a family friend or something? He sure didn't give her a typing test.
New TM is taking lessons from Jack on fuzzy math.
Thinks leaving the trash fees with a surplus flies with voters? didnt do his homework on that one.
Arent they supposed to hold hearings when they change fees? How about public input?
Gone with the new TM? He's not a rookie and Hingham wouldnt tolerate this.
The board of clowns thinks they can do what they want?
Roger has made enough money and worked in this capacity long enough that he could have taken courses or gone to school. He was unqualified when he was hired refused to produce a resume. He volunteered himself into the position. He lacks the customary skills associated with the position. Time to rid the town of incompetence, improve services, save money.
The brain dead bos will never see anything. They're too busy avoiding the open meeting law and meeting secretly.
Way to go McKinnon for picking up on the $500 deductible!
Frugal people don't do dumb things like that that cost them money but Middleboro BOS allow this to continue.
Where is the Compression King?
Unless he can wave a banner or do something grand, he has no ideas.
Wait until Saturday. No gettin' our votes. There's too much money that could have been saved that Steve Spataro has ignored.
What's with the town planner? She's cost the town a fortune and now we're duplicating the service. She should work for the Tribe and save us money. She has never worked in the best interests of the town. Other towns have passed some progessive planning initiatives, cluster zoning, dark sky regulations. Ruth just wants to keep her petty issues that no longer serve the town like the common driveway nonsense she tried to pass. It's personal with Ruth frozen brain or not.
Bet you could save $100k in the fire dept alone.
Last year, the water department was notified by dep that they were pumping way more than they were billing hence mucho overtime projects began the water line was extended down old centre st to a new proposed subdiviion in swampland. What say you, Tinkham? Oh, you're retiring? How convenient!
Cuts? Like a secretary getting
$86K? Whose signatures were on that contract? Spataro? Bond? Perkins? Rogers? Brunelle?
Maybe that's why contracts should be posted on the ptws.
If voters took a look at the salaries in the town report they might vote and attend town meetings.
if information wasn't so inaccessible voters would be screaming and you'd have record turnouts because of the abuse.
healey and perkins made sure family was taken care of.
I have two questions.
Who is the company they are getting presentations from? Shouldn't this require an RFP and the town get proposals from more than one company?
Secondly, the members of the BOS have pretty much said they are ignorant of computer technology. Are they qualified to negotiate an IT contract with anybody?
Do they even know what IT stands for?
Ok, so it was more than two questions.
To My Favorite, Ever Vigilant, Nocturnal bird:
Valid questions!
The article indicates that BOS approval is required for a 'contractor' to examine the system.
Because of the value of the services, an RFP would be required, but this seems to be the appropriate place to begin raising the issue.
Clearly, there's a major problem that requires addressing.
The failure of the town to employ technology appropriately was raised in the DOR report. That was 2 years ago.
The issues raised in that report are self-evident, including the reliance on one-time revenue sources to balance the budget which the Town Manager has proposed again this year.
The appropriate employment of that technology would accomplish numerous things -
1. reducing foot traffic in town buildings - a review of the Assessors' information, if you can locate it on the user hostile PTWS, indicates that forms are available for download so you don't have to travel to their office.
The Town Clerk has done her best to provide information, but in fairness to Ms. Gates, she has additional ideas that would reduce phone calls and "in person" inquiries that the PTWS, as it exists, prevents.
Reducing phone calls and "in person" inquiries allows town employees to spend less time processing requests or explaining things.
One only needs to review other municipalities' sites for ideas.
(A list is available on the MMA site.)
2. Provide transparency.
3. Allow information to be accessed, sorted, discussed.
4. Accelerate transmission.
Surely, there are a host of other accomplishments those more versed in the technology can list.
When Marsha Brunelle uses the term "blog" and "email" interchangeably, to say "ignorant of computer technology" is more than kind. As a computer inept person myself, the ignorance is astounding to me. And remember that Mrs. Brunelle was Chairman when the tax bills were sent out months late because of the failure of the BOS to increase water rates, an Enterprise Account.
The DOR report recommended Quarterly Tax Billing.
The cash flow from the G&E has prevented the town from incurring borrowing costs to cover expenditures pending receipt of real estate taxes. Were those receipts invested instead, the interest income is additional 'revenue' to spend. It might pay for 2 teachers or 2 firemen.
Roger Brunelle provided bogus cost figures to oppose Quarterly Tax Billing.
The Assessor, Barbara Erikson, was insistant on her need to hire an additional person even though the Assessors' work load remains unchanged.
This might seem a minor matter, but it defines a resistance and refusal to change.
Roger Brunelle has provided numerous arguments to oppose changing the PTWS, in spite of wide spread criticism.
Maybe it's time to demystify the fairy tales that are being promoted by certain town employees.
Mr. Brunelle has been about as resistant to change as they come to use your words. He's still arguing about the horse and buggy and the world has gone well beyond him.
As the article points out, this isn't fully about a single incompetents retention. It's about all of the place where money savings are possible and the bos is blind and out of touch.
Steve Spataro can only say "Compression" and nothing else. He's one of the biggest stumbling blocks we need to get rid of tomorrow.
We need someone who will listen, learn, pay attention and remain accessible. Spataro still insists a nonpublished number is acceptable.
The town does not have an ambulance,not sure where that is coming from, they send a truck to assist, in some cases they are first on scene!
Yeah your right 100K saved in FD alone,
wouldn't it be nice instead of one salary rate for people who sat on their butts, and the ones who applied themselves in their jobs, be giving salaries that reflect that!! I'm sure
there would be lots of savings.
Yes the pay scales are available to see, like in the FD if your on for six
years you make the same as someone who has been on for 20 plus in the same rank, fair---- NO WAY! Earn your job and your time. same as is in the PD.
Ever Vigilant Nocturnal Bird????
I LOVE IT!
VOTE FOR CHANGE ON THE 4TH!
Anon ---
Allow me to comment on the town's "ambulance service."
I have sat across the street and watched the Middleboro Rescue vehicle depart minutes before the AMR ambulance that is housed in the same building.
They are dispatched from the same location.
Mark my words -- this policy that has been allowed to continue to dispatch the fire dept before the AMR ambulance will at some point result in the unnecessary death of someone.
This policy will result in a major suit against the town that the town will loose because it has been allowed to continue openly and publicly.
The town should increase call firemen and increase their pay. They might reduce some of the dead weight as well. There are other things they could do if someone was paying atention.
Do you think instead of staffing an ambulance for a casino that will never come we could staff one of the stations? The towns own ambulance study comitee said ambulance didnt make sense Matric said it didnt make sense looks like empire builders won and we have an ambulance service instead of a fire dept
if we elimanted a captin who cant even do house inspections that might help
there was a fire chief who was disciplined for commenting on budget cuts at the scene of a fire a court upheld his discipline
at the scene of a very sad accident Wiksten opened his mouth about the closest station being closed
bos doesnt have the spine to disciplin him
come up with solutions and look at the salaries printed in the town report
wayne perkins extended quin to the fd
smarten up people and look at the contracts
look at the executive meeting minutes its their
Too many town employees and they keep hiring more.
How many in the last 2 years?
You made a great point about Steve Spataro focused on compression. He remains silent during hirings and buying new vehicles. Its like it doesn't compute with him.
Mimi is out to lunch. Poor lady!
Allow me to digress briefly -
When I first began blogging, it was with the intent to educate each and everyone of you - to empower you - to ask informed questions, to know where to find the information, to understand how town government works and how dysfunctional Middleboro and particularly the BOS is, and to understand the truly dull and boring monetary issues that make this town no longer function properly.
I requested that the Auditors' Report, that your tax dollars paid for, be posted on the PTWS.
Although dull and boring, each and every one of them point to sorely needed changes in town policy.
The Town Charter is one of the few things posted on the PTWS.
Have you read it? Do you understand the responsibilities of the BOS that they are not fulfilling?
The BOS is charged to act as the town's auditors. Is anyone currently on the BOS even capable of doing so?
Since Mimi recently asked about changing the town charter, she clearly has read neither the Town Charter nor the additional information about changing it.
Although the DOR report was completed 2 years ago, it commented on the continuing use of one time revenues to balance the budget.
That's precisely what the current Town Manager is again doing.
Where will the money come from next year?
To simplify: using one time revenue is like selling your furniture to pay for groceries.
It means you're spending too much money.
If you meander through Middleboro Recall, you should find wage comparisons indicating that the contracts that Wayne Perkins negotiated are in excess of comparable towns.
Wage comparisons are available to town officials on the MMA site. It's not secret or hidden information, but readily available.
If Prop 2 1/2 provides a 2 1/2% increase each year, how did we think that Wayne Perkins' contracts with 36% pay increases would affect the future?
That being said, consider the level of debt incurred by the town.
Last year, how much was borrowed?
At the last minute, by a petition article, almost $1 million was approved to buy a ladder truck at town meeting.
I rose at town meeting to ask the FinCom if they had examined the impact of a capital expenditure override -- it would have been a one time payment of about $100 for each homeowner, but would have accomplished a number of things.
The town's bond rating is rather poor for a number of reasons, excessive bonding being one of those reasons.
Your eyes are closing and you've stopped reading, but it's just like subprime borrowing. The worse your bond rating, the more you pay. It's like a surcharge on your real estate tax bill.
Most of the borrowing last year was due to land purchases. Had those land purchases been funded with a CPA piggy bank, it would have freed additional money for spending. It might have even improved the town's bond rating.
As a town, we know that we have future needs -- new police station, new dpw building, new school. Is there any attempt to save to supplement those needs?
The bonding for the Middle School hasn't yet been paid. That was passed on an override.
Must we vote on an override for future needs for the above items as well?
At what point do we as voters insist that the town live within its budget? That's a 2 1/2% increase per year. That's it!
At what point do we as voters insist on transparency?
I stated 2 years ago when I helped organize the Recall, that if we cut spending at that time, we could weather this storm without cuts.
The storm is here.
Where are you going to cut?
There is no casino coming to bail you out!
You got to remember a certain captain had a protection cushion in his friend and wive's ex husband, while he was interim, anyone who knows there were a hand full that did and said what they wanted, because they were protected. They were not right, but it didn't matter, friends are friends. People can't seem to see the truth, when it concerns their friendships no matter how wrong they really are or inexperienced. Just because your an employee for so long does not mean your qualified!!!! Hopefully, we have an intelligent man with great experience at the helm now!!! Inspections how about does he know what fire is?
Bos discipline, ha? I heard one of the above mentioned plus 3 of his cronies, went to visit the first fire chief candidate, were they trying to intimidate him, don't you find it funny how he refused the job, right when he was suppose to sign the contract. Its like interference in towns business.
If it was true of their visit they all should of been disciplined!!!
With regard to speaking about under staffing at the scene of an incident I agree that it completely inappropriate. But that does not mean that the problem does not exist. At some point it needs to be noted (do you not agree?). Unfortunately, if you educate people of this when nothing has happened it has almost no affect. People continue to live their lives as if there is no problem, until/if it affects them directly. Any public safety official who addresses budget issues, or staffing issues while at the scene is a Donkey… That doesn’t mean that there isn’t some truth to what they are saying though. I want the protection I am paying for. I want what other towns have. I want our BOS to do their job and look at where the money is being spent and if there is really is that much of a need for it. It is absolutely CRAZY to me that we speak about cutting funding from an FD that already has such a small budget as compared to the size of the town. Other towns that have comparable populations, comparable call volume and far less land to cover have more than double the staffing of Middleboro FD, and they are under staffed. I just want to be protected. I pay for it, I deserve it, and so do you…
if you didnt have a hack on the BOS hand town employes 36% pay raises for reelection you might aford to keep 3 stations open
he has a relative on the town payroll was it legal for him to negotiate those contracts?
were you ever paying atention to the relatives in various town departments
it isnt the services your paying for its where you spend your money
if you let certain town employes be highest paid in the state what do you expect
do some reserch before you complain you got the town government you deserve
read the contract
I just found Hal Brown's comment mentioned earlier.
The man is clearly out of touch.
Everyone else gets this issue except Hal.
Can someone explain it to him?
Why don't we make em get real SERIOUS and LAY OFF some of the police and firefighters. Basically they are ALL OVER PAID, More Beneifits than any other normal employee, all this for doing alot of driving around or sitting and wasting gas, drinking coffee, on cell phones while on details, and picking up chicks. This layoff in those two departments would save the town so much money, it would be like we struck a gold mine. Those contracts are ALL DISPICABLE.
As I suggested to a previous poster, you need to gather additional information including copies of the contracts before you continue to comment.
Wayne Perkins negotiated a Police Contract that included minimum manning. That meant when cuts were made, civilian dispatchers were eliminated and replaced with higher paid police officers.
There are some other details you will discover when you do your research.
To my long-winded fan,
My suggestion, posted elsewhere, was that you join the nemasket discussion forum and pose your comments for others to contribute their perspectives.
You have misunderstood a great deal of information.
In addition, blogs are not democracies.
Comments are moderated by my choice.
You are welcomed to post elsewhere and might even find a more receptive audience.
So, if the police cut back on dispatchers with the help of Wayne and hired more higher paying officers with more higher costing benefits how did we save money? WE DIDN'T..In past recorded BOS meetings, the chief stated there is ONLY ONE officer per shift on the desk, ever walk in there and see two or three just hanging around shooting the crap? YUP, they are all so busy out helping people, making arrests, and protecting the town. NOT.
My goodness!
Again, to my long-winded emotionally overwrought fan:
When you address me as "Mr. CNBC", you clearly haven't done your research!
Thanks for the laugh!
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