Posted by Bob on October 7, 2009 under Daily Blogs | 
The Borough Board of Mayor and Burgesses approved the contracts to fill two department head vacancies last evening (10/6/2009) at our regular monthly meeting.
Simon Wake, a CCMA1, will be hired as the Borough’s new Assessor to replace retiring Assessor Joyce Alegi. Mr. Wake, who previously served as an assistant assessor in Greenwich, CT, among other positions, will be joining us on October 13, 2009. We look forward to welcoming him to our team.
We extend our most sincere appreciation to Ms. Alegi for her years of professional service to the Borough. She has agreed to continue to provide assistance on pending assessment appeals to ensure a smooth transition and continuity of effort. The Borough extends its best wishes to Ms. Alegi upon her retirement. She will be missed.
The Board also approved by a nine (9) to one (1) vote the promotion of Assistant Engineer Wayne Zirolli to the Borough Engineer position vacated by new Director of Public Works Jim Stewart. Mr. Zirolli has been a dedicated and knowledgeable addition to our engineering department over the past couple years and will do an outstanding job in his new responsibilities. The assistant engineer position will not be filled at this time.
Posted by Bob on October 6, 2009 under Daily Blogs |
The Naugatuck Sanitation Committee has been exploring the possibility of instituting automated trash pick-up in the Borough. Funds made available to the Borough from the Connecticut Resource and Recovery Authority (“CRRA”) Enron settlement would be used to implement the first phase of the proposed change. Sanitation Committee members are in the process of determining what equipment would be most cost effective and what parts of Naugatuck are best to begin both automated recycling and regular trash pick-up.
Implementing such a system in Naugatuck will have the following benefits:
- Increased efficiency on behalf of our Public Works Department;
- Improved morale of Public Works employees;
- Replacement of and/or supplementation to our aging fleet of sanitation and recycling vehicles;
- Reduced workers compensations costs;
- Increased recycling by Borough residents.
Automated recycling works by initially distributing recycling and refuse containers to residents. On the regular day of pick-up, residents place barrels along the street. A truck with an automated arm lifts the barrels into the truck. This would reduce the number of employees required to operate a sanitation vehicle to one (1), the driver. In areas where automated pick-up would be difficult, an additional rider would pull the wheeled container unto an automatic lift, which would dump the container into the truck. While no reductions to existing staff would be part of this proposal, automated pick-up would allow the Borough to focus person-power to others areas of need throughout Naugatuck. Any reduction in force would be through attrition only.
Residents would be responsible for maintaining their individual containers, all of which would be identified by serial numbers. The Borough would have to commit to future purchase of containers, but should achieve greater savings through efficiency and reduced workers compensation costs. Fees could also be charged for additional containers beyond the initial distribution.
Only a portion of the Borough would be routed for automated pick-up to start. As savings are incurred and/or additional resources are available, additional routes would be added. While there may be some areas of Naugatuck that are impossible logistically to collect automatically, most of the whole Borough could eventually be covered.
While details of the proposal are still to be finalized by the Sanitation Committee and the Joint Boards must review the financial details, the concept represents our continued commitment to reform and modernize our public works operation. We welcome any questions and/or comments on the idea.
Posted by Bob on October 4, 2009 under Daily Blogs |
The Board of Education voted six (6) to two (2) to allow Borough Controller Wayne McAllister to assume the role of temporary business manager at a meeting this past Tuesday (9/29/2009). Our administration has advocated for a combined business manager position for several months in the hopes of increased efficiency and reduced costs. Former Mayor Mike Bronko had previously supported this change.
Having one (1) individual assume the role of chief financial officer for both the municipal and board of education budgets is not the norm in Connecticut. While it requires a very talented and dedicated individual to fill such a position, Borough Controller Wayne McAllister is the right person to fill that role. Mr. McAllister has performed both positions admirably over many years of service to the Borough. He is a tireless worker who enjoys the detail-oriented process of crunching numbers and providing the financial ramifications of different options and decisions.
I applaud the Superintendent and my fellow Board of Education members for making this decision during extremely difficult economic times. This arrangement will save significant dollars during this fiscal year and will hopefully yield collaboration that will provide additional savings in the future.
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