City Discusses Eliminating Public Works Position

The city decided just two-and-a-half weeks ago to retain an in-house mechanic, but talk at Wednesday’s budget meeting again turned to whether Municipal Services could function with one fewer employee.

Ward 3 Alderman John Poteraske posed the question: Once the city fills the vacant mechanic job, does Darien need to staff Public Works at its previous levels? 

Municipal Services has been down an employee since the city mechanic retired in June. Public Works employee Tom Masek, who assisted the previous mechanic, has been filling his shoes full time in the intervening months.

“Maybe we could look at instead of outsourcing the big stuff, we outsource the little stuff,” Treasurer Michael Coren said about vehicle repairs. “The (mechanic) we have now would just be responsible for the big stuff.” 

Municipal Services Director Dan Gombac said it would be difficult to continue to function without another employee because the department deals with such varied and unpredictable work. 

In addition to assisting the retired mechanic, Masek worked on a range of general Municipal Services projects before he started performing vehicle repairs and maintenance full time, Gombac said. 

The mild winter has made snow plowing less of an issue than it usually is, Municipal Services Superintendent Dan Salvato said. Even so, the staffing situation has made dealing with the few storms Darien has had difficult. 

“Losing just one (employee) means we can’t run a round the clock operation,” he said. The department postponed nonessential repairs over the summer, he said. The city has also held off on some preventative maintenance projects, Gombac said. 

“Maybe that’s the good thing to do,” Poteraske said. “Maybe it’s good to have a backlog.”

Gombac said he would need to keep a log for roughly three months to determine exactly what impact a smaller department would have on maintenance work in Darien. 

“There’s really not a good day-to-day measure,” he said. “Over time that could be provided, but a lot of random things happen.”

The city has already begun advertising for the mechanic job, City Administrator Bryon Vana said. He said the council would need to have another discussion about what would happen if the city hires a mechanic who is not a current employee. 

Ward 7 Alderman Halil Avci suggested Gombac prepare a report for Monday’s Municipal Services Committee meeting detailing what that particular Public Works position contributes. 

“We’ll take a look at every project and what the cause and effect will be,” Gombac said.

The draft fiscal year 2013 budget allots about $499,000 toward salaries for a fully staffed Municipal Services Department. 

Wednesday night’s meeting was the first in a series of budget talks scheduled over upcoming weeks. The next meeting is set for 6:30 p.m. Tuesday in City Hall.