Town Worker

[Swingfirst]

The name of the longtime town employee who lives in the white house on the
corner of Ansley and Center Rd. Does this person work the routes everyday
Again maybe you misunderstood my question. If they start at 7am are they done at 3:30 pm or are they done when they finish the route for the day, which could be 1pm or 2 pm and get paid for a full day. Thanks.

This worker retired more than 3 years ago. They are done at the end of the work day. If they finish their route they go and pick up the many late pickups for those who could not get their rubbish out on time.

[Swingfirst]

Is the CSEA the only union representing town employees, if not what are the other ones?

Also is there a residency requirement for being a town employee?

The CSEA represents all highway, sanitation, buildings&grounds, electrical dept, animal control, engineering, and sewer dept. Pretty much everyone excluding the police dept. There is a residency rule of 14 years I believe.

[Psycho1]

Got the contract and Bill O'Neil is a member of the CSEA Blue Collar Union CSEA, Local 1000. I am currently in the process of reviewing all of the figures and various articles in the contract.
Does anyone know what hours O'Neil works?

[Spirit of Ebenezer]

EB- It was also only dropped in Clarke's district so that I would not hurt Meegan's numbers. elections are a competition.

Does anyone understand this logic ? It is laughable and borders on lunacy. Anyone politically in town should never trust you, except probably Smokenstein. Care to answer my query as to who advised you on this tactic ? Or better yet, this rationalization. Did you actually read what you posted ?

Now that you attempted to insult me, care to explain why some have mentioned to me your "brushes with the law" in town ? I hope for your sake they are rumors that have no merit. If true, I would hope they would sink you politically, and it is even more appalling that you even had the nerve to run for office.

That said, I suppose we'll be hearing from you again in 2009

[Pumpkinhead]

Swingfirst - how do the highway people get jobs? Are they advertised somewhere? Do the Town Board members call up Finnegan and say "hire this person"?

[erlyrizr1]

Swingfirst, if you're really a town employee then you should be ashamed of yourself. Too many I thinks, not interested and I don't knows dot your posts. I, along with many of us on this post, know DPW workers. And one thing I will say is EVERYONE of them know their contract from front to back and back to front. You're a phony. I see Psycho has a copy of your contract. And Psycho, after you read it, chime in with your two cents and let us know if this person is legit. My money is on no.

[4thePEOPLE]

I am under the impression that when jobs come about the current Town Board works on a certain cycle.

For example- 1 highway job would come about and it may be Hicks' turn to pick, when the next job is up Osmanski would pick.......so on and so forth.

Keep in mind these are only things that have been brought to my attention and I can't state them as fact. It is hard to get hard facts without being on the inside. i have read on the town board minutes where there has been a bit of an uproar in the past when the politically connected have been hired over alternates in sanitation, who had been there for 5 years and more. I believe it was around 1999 or so. And I commend Dale Clarke because it states in those minutes how he had spoke on behalf of some of those passed over.

Thes jobs are definetely not posted to the public, they are for the politically connected and are of non competitive class. The competitive class jobs are open to the public and are civil service. They can be found on the erie county web site. but there are also ways around the civil service if you need explination let me know.

[Pumpkinhead]

Thanks Brian. Are these jobs that are actually needed or were they created because a town board member has a person who he wants to give a job to? Is the new town board stuck with people that are allies with the old town board? How about a hiring freeze from the new board? ha.not likely. I wonder if these practices are common practices for all towns around here.

[Spirit of Ebenezer]

Hey Bri, over here ! Did you miss my post ? I'll e-mail you directly.

[4thePEOPLE]

Most jobs come about from retirements or promotions. A highway laborer being promoted to a m.e.o. would creat an open laborer position. But you definetely can not rule out created jobs for cronies. Also keep in mind that when budgets are passed for certain departments there are positions included in the budgets that are vacant. Think of it as a cushion. If a layoff comes about such as 2005 they would cut those jobs first.

As far as being stuck with people who have already been placed in a union position then the new board is stuck. Excludunig certain yearly appointed positions like town attorney etc. The only way to get rid of the union protected employee would be through a layoff. Layoffs cut jobs down by seniority only. But employees having bumping rights. A meo position could be eliminated but that meo would bump down to the lower pay grade laborer and force a lower seniority laborer out onto unemployment. In order to keep these employees whom have been laid off from being called back you would not be able to make any new hires for the 2 year recall window.

Practices are common through out all municapalities.

[Psycho1]

Swingfirst, if you're really a town employee then you should be ashamed of yourself. Too many I thinks, not interested and I don't knows dot your posts. I, along with many of us on this post, know DPW workers. And one thing I will say is EVERYONE of them know their contract from front to back and back to front. You're a phony. I see Psycho has a copy of your contract. And Psycho, after you read it, chime in with your two cents and let us know if this person is legit. My money is on no.

From what I've read so far, it is a pretty standard CSEA contract, similar to the ones I deal with on a daily basis. They seem to use a basic boiler plate, and change the language as needed.

With regards to "Hours of Work" the CBA spells out an 8 hour day from 7 am until 3:30 pm with a 1/2 hour unpaid lunch, except for the Dog Control Officers who are scheduled 9-5 with a one hour paid lunch. Nowhere in the CBA is there a section that addresses leaving after you work is completed.
There is also a rather detailed Memorandum of Agreement attached, outlining the Drug and Alcohol Policy. So, with that said, if there are Town employees sitting in a bar during work hours, they are are in direct violation of their contract. I can also tell you, as a Risk Analyst so I know what I'm saying here EB, if an employee were involved in an MVA where there were a fatality the Town would all be subject to a huge law suit. Possibly the department supervisor, if it was discovered they were even remotely aware of the drinking. So, if Finnegan has half a brain and doesn't want to lose everything, he'd be wise to end it immediately.

[4thePEOPLE]

Eb,

Was not trying to insult you. I have been in some trouble in the past and myself and my family have greatly suffered the consequences. This was in my past before i was married and had children. I also knew it could be brought up before i decided to run...I am just an ordinary person who has made some mistakes.....and learned a great deal from them.

If you would like to get totally personal then please just give me a call 444-1221, or tell me who you are and quit hiding with brass words behind the shadows.

[Psycho1]

The CSEA represents all highway, sanitation, buildings&grounds, electrical dept, animal control, engineering, and sewer dept. Pretty much everyone excluding the police dept. There is a residency rule of 14 years I believe.

Your contract states that after 15 years as an employee of the Town, you are no longer required to live in the Town as a condition of employment. I find nothing outlining length of residency prior to employment.

[buffaloagain]

Does anyone understand this logic ? It is laughable and borders on lunacy. Anyone politically in town should never trust you, except probably Smokenstein. Care to answer my query as to who advised you on this tactic ? Or better yet, this rationalization. Did you actually read what you posted ?

Now that you attempted to insult me, care to explain why some have mentioned to me your "brushes with the law" in town ? I hope for your sake they are rumors that have no merit. If true, I would hope they would sink you politically, and it is even more appalling that you even had the nerve to run for office.

That said, I suppose we'll be hearing from you again in 2009

I don't have anything to contribute here, was just skimming the discussion, but you don't have to hit your spacebar before every sentence-ending punctuation you make.

[Psycho1]

Swingfirst - how do the highway people get jobs? Are they advertised somewhere? Do the Town Board members call up Finnegan and say "hire this person"?

This section of the contract is too long and involved for me to type out. There are many different references as to how jobs are filled, and it is somewhat difficult to follow given my limited knowledge in the actual structure of all of the departments. It appears that some jobs require a civil service exam, while other do not. There is then a section that address the unavailability of candidates from the civil service list, and then posting the position for 10 days internally. Seems backward to me, and wouldn't fly with any of the 11 Unions I deal with. Unless there is something on the books requiring the town to use the civil service list, it seems that it prevents residents from walking in and submitting an application. There also doesn't seem to be , or at least I haven't found it yet, any guidelines for advertising positions outside of the bargaining unit to the public. So take a bunch of CS tests and hope they call.