Ortonville- The village will have two Department of Public Works employees instead of three from now on and there will be no DPW supervisor position.
The village council voted 4-3 at their Jan. 14 meeting to have a two-man DPW staff and voted unanimously to eliminate the supervisor position. The move means Jim Early, a DPW employee, will lose his job this week. Bill Prince will keep his job, but lose the title of DPW supervisor.
Council President Ken Quisenberry suggested the move in a letter to councilmembers more than a week ago because he said the village is receiving less revenue and he feels the DPW is overstaffed. He noted that in the 2000 census, the village had 1,547 residents, and in 2007, that number was only 1,497, a loss of 50 residents. He noted that in the past, the village operated with two DPW employees. A third employee was added when the village did snowplowing and mowing for the library, but the library no longer has the village perform these services.
‘We are spending unnecessary money,? Quisenberry said. ‘There has been no increase in work, population or revenue.?
Quisenberry anticipates a savings of $50,000 annually by eliminating a DPW employee.
Councilmembers Aileen Champion, Dan Eschmann and Melanie Nivelt voted with Quisenberry to eliminate one DPW position. Councilmembers Harold Batten, Kay Green and Mary Kassuba voted no.
In explaining her vote, Kassuba said, ‘I don’t think the time is correct for this… I agree the DPW may be able to operate with two good people, but I feel it should be investigated more. I also understand the union and the seniority order. I cannot and will not agree to eliminate a good, reliable employee with a good work record without more in-depth investigation.?
As a union, employees in the DPW must be laid-off according to seniority. Early, hired in August 2006, has the least amount of time on the job.
Quisenberry noted the council’s hands are tied with the funding and deletion of positions, while Eschmann acknowledged the council was probably letting a good man go and perhaps didn’t have the right two people, but that the village had a responsibility to save residents money.
‘I don’t think the people will care how much money is saved if the roads aren’t plowed,? said Green.
Village Manager Ed Coy was asked at the meeting if he believed two people could perform the workload of the DPW, to which he replied yes.
‘I don’t anticipate any problems,? said Quisenberry. ‘We always had two employees before and it will continue that way now… We have a new office staff and a downsized DPW staff. It will take a few weeks to get geared up and I anticipate things will run fine in both the front office and the DPW.?
The DPW has had numerous problems in the past year, including several pieces of broken equipment and problems with Prince which included a five-day suspension in November.
Quisenberry said he is not anticipating any more changes for the belDPW anytime soon, but the DPW and front office are ‘under continual evaluation and three months from now the situation could be different and there could be changes.?