2006-12-19 Cost of Government Commission Minutes

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Motion and Vote: Mr. Joseph moved to accept the wording for the Prosecuting Attorney's Office on page 13, with changing only the last sentence to plurals, that "no recommendations were made." Ms. Nicholson seconded the motion, and all commissioners present voted aye. The commissioners continued on to XIX, Public Works, on page 13 of the draft. Regarding "A," pursuing negotiations with the union to go to a 10 -hour, 4 -day work schedule for employees, the secretary explained that she did not see where the reason for the recommendation was clearly stated, and thus left it blank for them to fill it. Ms. Nicholson recalled that transportation to and from a job site, as well as building morale, had to do with the reason. Traveling to and from distant job sites ate up much of the employees' work day, so it would be a morale - builder for them if their work days were changed to be 10 hours long, 4 days per week. Ms. Nicholson suggested the following wording for the explanation: "Because of the distances traveled to many work sites, Highway Maintenance Division personnel often spend a significant portion of their work time getting to and from work sites and mobilizing job site equipment. A 10 -hour work schedule would mean more efficient time on the job as well as an increase to the morale of the Highway Maintenance employees." She said they could look at the next draft of the report at the next meeting and fine -tune this explanation. The Chair said he liked Ms. Nicholson's wording, as he wanted the word "efficient" in the explanation. Motion and Vote: Ms. Nicholson moved to accept the recommendations as presented in Draft 1 for Public Works, with the addition of the explanation regarding pursuing a 10 -hour, 4- day work schedule for Highway Maintenance employees. Mr. Joseph seconded the motion, and all commissioners present voted aye. The commissioners continued on to page 14 of Draft 1, XX, Research and Development. Motion and Vote: Mr. Joseph moved to include the wording that "Jane Testa was present for the meeting on Research and Development, and after reviewing and discussing the responses from Ms. Testa, no recommendations were made." Ms. Nicholson seconded the motion, and all commissioners present voted aye. Motion and Vote: Mr. Joseph moved to accept the wording for the Transit Agency, XXI in Draft 1, with the amendment of changing the last sentence to be plural. Ms. Nicholson seconded the motion, and all commissioners present voted aye. The commissioners continued on to XXII, Water Supply, in Draft 1 of the report. Mr. Joseph noted that the Water Supply Department never responded to the COGC's questionnaire. 12