I am sorry if I wasn’t clear. I wasn’t looking to add an additional transfer day from 2 times per week to 3. Only when a big holiday occurs on one of the transfer days (Wednesday or Saturday) like 4th of July, Christmas or New Years, which may happy once every couple of years, would I consider reprioritizing the next work day to a transfer day. So, once or twice in a year every couple of years we ask the Dpw to open the transfer station on the next workday after a holiday. Not a big request with no budget impact whatsoever.
Peter Buchthal On Sat, 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. > >
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