Bellicose Bumpkin

It’s good to see that maybe Cristello is finally seeing the poor financial shape this town is in. He has made questionalbe hiring choices which have cost the town not only in current salary but in retirement costs and benefits. It’s not that I mind seeing qualified people making a good salary for their hard work but, in a town where we can’t afford to educate our children it’s not reasonable for top level administrators to be getting $3ooo+ pay raises. Now I’m not saying that no one should get a raise, some of our town employees get reasonable pay increases and should since they are the ones out working on the front lines. They are not the ones you hear about at BOS and town meeting. They are the people who have been passed over for promotions in favor of hiring high cost Bridgewater employees to replace our superintendents. They are the employees who will hopefully still be working hard for our town when the Bridgewater guys retire in 3-5 years and collect their retirement and health benefits off the back of our town.

I would like to point out to CIgal why some of the pays are high and that sometimes people really do need to look at all the facts before they can understand and justify the pays.I personally, do not like some of the pays. Everyone is correct that saids some employees are grossly overpaid but I can honestly attest to one pays that is not high in consideration to the public safety factors, the education needed, the experiences needed and proper licenses needed.
There is a reason why the Bridgewater Water Suprentindent’s license was only a level two and that Middleborough requires a level three, at the very least but actually should be a level four. The levelsare the mandates from the state and while it is alright to hire someone with a level two and not a level four the town has to demand that the person go ASAP for the higher level.
It is actually a very simple formulated concept devised by the the state water commission, many, many years ago.
The formula is based on the number of treatment plants and facilities in a town.
Middleborough has 11 wells, 8 chemical control facilities,a slow sand filtration plant, a Vyredox/Vyregard water treatment system, two water storage facilities, 1 river level dam /a Bascule gate installation and a large water distribution system and plus or minus six thousand water customers in our town.It , also, has a large cross connection program with over 400 backflow prevention devices that are required to be tested on a once or twice a year basis depending upon the device. Testing and surveying cross connections must, by law, be done by licensed testers and surveyors. Middleborough has one personnel licensed for this work in the water department and the superintendent in charge of this program also, has to hold the proper licenses.
A superintendent needs to hold the proper treatment and distribution licenses as well as the cross connection licenses. The Bridgewater superintendent had the level two license because it has far fewer water responsibilities and fewer treatment plants. Again the state is the one that tells the superintendent what level he is required to have and it goes according to how many facilities are in the town that is connected to your drinking water.The more facilities a town or city has the higher the license requirement.
Another thing the town needs to realize is that the Bridgewater superintendent had and has the full responsibility of the state college to attend with but they did not and do not have their own treatment plant so that person had the responsiblity for all the students and town’s people in the entire town, giving him a great deal of expertise. Thirty two years of complete water responsiblity for everyone in Bridgewater is what he is bringing to our town, along with the licenses and other experiences needed.
So when people talk about requirements for the water superintendent than they need to realize that they are talking many different factors.
Another thing is that the reporting that has to be done weekly and monthly and yearly to state, EPA, and any other required Federal and state agencies. These reports can be delegated to supporting personnel, only after the actual testing and viewing is done by the superintendent and drawn out for the clerical workers.
A superintendent absolutely must have managerial experience and ability as well as holding all these licences.The superintendent oversees many employees, is required to do evaluations, watch over the licensing and testing procedures of the workers. All the operational and managerial procedures of a business managers responsibilities. Thus, there was no one in that particular department that has and had all the combined promotional factors for promotion from within.All of these responsibilities and other’s are a key factor in the pay for the superintendent and the most important thing is that the superintendent is on call 24/7 and the job is actually a 60-70 hour job per week.
The water sup. has to set their budget for the town budget’s, has to analyze department
needs, plan and devise proper methods for grant’s for water structure needs, work with all town departments at all times, answer to many bosses act as a liason between many professional, departments and companies and businesses and answer to many, many questions from many outsiders. He has to antacipate the needs of the immediate water consumption and anticipate the future needs of the consumption as the second largest land town in Massachusetts grows. But most of all he has to protect your water needs from conamination and pollution at all times with many factors playing into it.
The water superintendent’s job should be equivalent to the Police Chiefs salary.The key is public safety. Every single human and animal life in this town depends on the capabilities of the person holding that well deserved and well earned license. Can you or anyone else imagine what caos there would be and devastation if the terroists contaminated the water or pollution and no one caught it? The suprentindent is the only one that would catch it before the other’s.
The test for the new suprentindent can be done online at any given time and can be taken as many times as needed. Needless to say, a man like Joe Silva with 32 years experience in all the mandates, managerial skills, water testing and schooling will pass that test. The DEP mandates that the level license needed be taken within a reasonable time after hiring and then they will levy $10,000.00 a day (not a misprint) penalty if that license is not in the file of the new water suprentendent. That test can be taken on line on any given day by the new water suprentindent. The incentive for him to get it, ASAP ,is to avoid the public outcry that will come to the BOS if the taxpayers start getting a $10,000.00 a day penalty.
Another key issue is that they are required to take yearly classes for many purposes, go to seminars, attend Mass and Municipal meetings in water issues and are encouraged to join the Massachusetts’s and New England Water Works Association.
Can anyone really trust others without the proper licenses in wastewater and water and the proper education and experience in managerial matters?
As our population grows and the industrial community gets bigger to offset our tax base comes a higher level of licenses that will be needed.
We have many hard working employees in this town but not all of those employees can be promoted within and just because a new employee comes from the closest town does not mean that there are other reasons why they are being chosen instead of a person working in that department.
The new water suprentindent is in his 50′s. He will probably work here until he retires. The average staying period for higher ranking municipal employees throughout the country is five years, so he has already proven that he has loyalty to his position and staying power.