2006-05-18 Cost of Government Commission Minutes

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Motion: Ms. Nicholson moved that the COGC acknowledge receipt of Ms. Huntington's letter and file it away until such time that they meet with the Civil Service Department. Discussion: Ms. Stremski wanted it clarified that they would revisit the letter. Ms. Garson is to draft the letter to Ms. Huntington, stating that the issues raised will be addressed later. Vote: All members voted aye to acknowledge receipt of Ms. Huntington's letter and to address it later. 4. APPROVAL OF ADDENDUM AND /OR SUPPLEMENTAL AGENDA There was no addendum or supplemental agenda. 5. PRESENTATION AND QUESTION /ANSWER SESSION BY THE SOLID WASTE DIVISION OF THE DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT The Chair introduced Michael Dworsky, of the Solid Waste Division of the Department of Environmental Management ( "DEM "). Mr. Dworsky stated that he is the chief of the Solid Waste Division within the DEM, which has two divisions: Wastewater and Solid Waste. He has been employed there for about ten months. Previously, he lived in American Samoa for ten years, where he also worked on solid waste and waste water projects. He is a sanitary engineer. Mr. Dworsky explained that he did not have time to put a lot of original thought into the questions posed by the COGC, as he has been snowed under working to keep the landfill open, among other work issues. However, there were a few things he wanted to address. He said he does not intend to come across as frustrated or bitter, but he sees a lot of inefficiency in how the County operates, which bothers him. The County does not do as well as it should. He explained that he is a one -man office and has no clerk or anyone to do filing. The DEM is not at the capacity of employees it needs to do its job. The recruitment process takes a long time. They cannot interview a panel of applicants until there is actually a vacancy. As an example, he said that the County has two scalehouse operators at its landfills. They work a four -day shift, with one day of overlap. If one of them gets sick, someone has to cover; and there is nothing in the system to allow him to quickly fill that slot. The scalehouse has to remain open, as it is the bread and butter from the private sector. The scalehouse operator is the lowest paid position in the system, but the DEM is having to use higher level employees to cover it, which means higher pay and overtime for those employees. Some employees are being cross - trained to work at the scalehouse while the 2