With all due respect, we are talking about adding a day here and there over what’s likely to be several years. Even at 1.5 x rate, this would be little additional money allotted for these holidays. From looking at the calendar, it looks like July 4th 2026 would be the next time this would even happen on a transfer station day. And my comments today are in no way judging our hardworking DPW, but questioning basic services we receive ( or should receive) in these special circumstances. I promise that this is my last email to LT about this subject, and I will follow up with the select board. I appreciate the many responses to my original email, both public, but mostly private. Thank you. Margo
On Sat, Jan 4, 2025 at 9:42 PM Sara Mattes <samat...@gmail.com> wrote: > Seth is correct. > Our DPW budget is tight and Chris does an excellent job working in that > constraint. > > We, as a town, choose where to allocate our taxes. > We chose an expensive new construction project when there were less costly > alternatives. > > That was our choice. > > The trade-off is to keep DPW, Public Safety and other budgets constrained > to limit tax increase beyond the large capital investment tax increases. > > Our choice. > > Sent from my iPhone > > On Jan 4, 2025, at 8:31 PM, Seth Rosen <rosen...@gmail.com> wrote: > > > > Regretfully, it does not work that way. I am reasonably certain our DPW > employees are non-exempt under FLSA. Therefore if they work “overtime” > they must be compensated at 1.5x base wage. If they don’t work overtime > and/or the town doesn’t wish to fund overtime, you are correct DPW could > reprioritize other activities. However our guys do some pretty important > work around town, and I imagine their “honey do” list is both long and > essential. Also I’m not sure it’s a good idea for us to tell Chris Bibbo > how to run his crew and prioritize… they do a heck of a job over there. > It’s one of the areas in town where I feel like our dollars are well spent, > and Chris does a very good job doing things in priority order. I suspect a > third transfer station day each week just isn’t a priority. > > Of course if they had more resources, they could do a lot more - but we’ve > already chosen to allocate our resources to other projects, like a > soon-to-be-mostly-empty-most-of-the-time community center. So if your > rotting trash is stinking horribly, you will at least be able to hang out > there while you wait patiently for the transfer station to reopen in a > week. > > Seth Rosen > > > On Jan 4, 2025, at 7:52 PM, Peter Buchthal <pbucht...@gmail.com> wrote: > > > Maybe I am missing something so please correct me if I am wrong, but > aren’t all of the people who work at the transfer station supervising > garbage drop off are full time employees of the town? > If so, I don’t believe re-prioritizing the schedule of the transfer > employees should cost the town money. If a full time town employee enjoys > the holiday, they could then work the transfer station on the next “work > day” by relieving them from their normal Thursday or Monday duty at the > highway, water department or other department. > > Let’s figure this one out without costing the town any money. It can be > done! > > Peter Buchthal > Weston Rd > > > i > On Sat, Jan 4, 2025 at 2:52 PM Margo Fisher-Martin < > margo.fisher.mar...@gmail.com> wrote: > >> Thanks for the detailed response Andy, and thanks to everyone else who >> has responded to me. I’m actually only advocating for an extra day on weeks >> that the holiday falls on a transfer station day. I’m not advocating for a >> third opportunity each week, even though that would be great! So it >> shouldn’t cost that much to add a day here and there when a holiday lands >> on a transfer station day. I’ll write to the select board to offer my >> suggestion. >> All my best, >> Margo >> >> On Sat, Jan 4, 2025 at 2:18 PM Andrew Payne <a...@payne.org> wrote: >> >>> >>> Margo wrote: >>> >>> I’ve lived in this town for more than 30 years. When we first moved >>>> here, the transfer station was open 3 days per week. >>>> >>> >>> I thought in the very early 90s it was more than 3 days per week, but my >>> recollection is fuzzy. I do remember when it dropped to 2 days a week >>> being, er, "annoyed". When the kids each turned ~16.5, they inherited the >>> Saturday morning dump run, as a rite of passage. It was the Lincoln >>> version of having kids to "work on the farm", perhaps. >>> >>> With the amount of taxes we pay, and the ability to build a new school >>>> and fancy community center, etc… you’d think a couple of additional hours >>>> of transfer station opportunities would be added. [...] I’m wondering >>>> if the town can cough up a bit more of our tax money to add a day or 2 per >>>> year. I’m not asking for pick up ( although, wouldn’t THAT be nice?!)! >>>> These are BASIC services. >>>> >>> >>> At the end of the day, of course, it's the residents that cough up that >>> money. Generally, there are not buckets of money available to add new >>> ongoing services without impacting our budget and resident tax bills. If >>> we want to expand services in one area without paying more, what >>> service/budget do we cut to offset the cost? That's always the $64,000 >>> question. >>> >>> (A small one I've been lobbying for: exiting the "printed matter" >>> business for town reports and the financial warrant. We'd have a small >>> number of reports available, printed on demand, at Town Hall for those that >>> don't have digital access and/or prefer that format. We have to comply >>> with various (mildly antiquated) notice/posting laws, and town staff is >>> making progress on this. NOTE: I'm giving this as an example, not >>> suggesting any cost offset is enough to cover additional T/S days.) >>> >>> Dover, with a smaller population, offers 3 days per week. And they have >>>> a lower tax rate than Lincoln. >>> >>> >>> One *general* issue we run into: higher staffing costs, driven by our >>> location. The "Metro Northwest" area of Boston, within a reasonable >>> commute to Lincoln, is an expensive place to live. That means: to attract >>> and keep staff, we need to pay accordingly. Otherwise, we (a) can't hire >>> people, or (b) as soon as a comparable job opens in >>> Weston-Concord-Sudbury-Wayland-Bedford-Lexington, employees jump, and we >>> have a revolving door. >>> >>> One "it's always a tradeoff" resident's view, >>> >>> -andy >>> https://payne.org/lt-disclaimer >>> >>> >>> -- >> The LincolnTalk mailing list. >> To post, send mail to Lincoln@lincolntalk.org. >> Browse the archives at >> https://pairlist9.pair.net/mailman/private/lincoln/. >> Change your subscription settings at >> https://pairlist9.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/lincoln. >> >> -- > The LincolnTalk mailing list. > To post, send mail to Lincoln@lincolntalk.org. > Browse the archives at https://pairlist9.pair.net/mailman/private/lincoln/ > . > Change your subscription settings at > https://pairlist9.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/lincoln. > > -- > The LincolnTalk mailing list. > To post, send mail to Lincoln@lincolntalk.org. > Browse the archives at https://pairlist9.pair.net/mailman/private/lincoln/ > . > Change your subscription settings at > https://pairlist9.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/lincoln. > > -- > The LincolnTalk mailing list. > To post, send mail to Lincoln@lincolntalk.org. > Browse the archives at https://pairlist9.pair.net/mailman/private/lincoln/ > . > Change your subscription settings at > https://pairlist9.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/lincoln. > >
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