Barrington DPW union says it is part of 'town team'

Union workers push back against possible charter change

Posted 9/20/18

A dispute over a potential charter change continued this month between Barrington Department of Public Works union leaders and Barrington Town Manager Jim Cunha.

Union representatives Carlos …

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Barrington DPW union says it is part of 'town team'

Union workers push back against possible charter change

Posted

A dispute over a potential charter change continued this month between Barrington Department of Public Works union leaders and Barrington Town Manager Jim Cunha.

Union representatives Carlos Pedroza and Kevin Braga said a section of the town charter currently restricts the DPW from doing work inside the schools, but Mr. Cunha has proposed a change to that part of the charter. If the change is approved by voters at the November election, it would allow DPW workers to complete tasks inside the school buildings. 

Mr. Cunha said he proposed the change because it will allow for better cooperation and efficiencies between the municipal government and school department.

"I am looking for the ability for the schools and municipal side of our town to work together as efficiently and effectively as possible," said Mr. Cunha.

Mr. Pedroza and Mr. Braga said the DPW has on numerous occasions shown the "team approach" in town.

Mr. Pedrosa said DPW workers already cut the grass at the schools, and trim trees on school grounds. 

"We plow the parking lots at the schools," he said. "Even inside the schools, the courtyards… That's all DPW. DPW does all that, and he (Mr. Cunha) is saying we don't do that.

"He doesn't really know what public works does. He's only explaining to residents the minimum that we do. That's false information. We complete a lot of tasks at the school department. He's saying we don't even plow the parking lot. What do you mean we don't plow the parking lot? Of course we do."

Mr. Braga said the DPW also delivered and spread 90 cubic yards of mulch at the public school playgrounds and helped complete a Town Hall cleanup a while back. 

"If he (Mr. Cunha) is worried about efficiencies and the council thinks this is a good idea, then they should get rid of the superintendent, save money right there, and let the town manager run the school department and municipal side," said Mr. Braga. 

"Put that in writing… We should just have the town manager, Jim Cunha, run the whole town because he knows what efficiency is and how jobs can get done."

Mr. Cunha said he has a responsibility to find ways to save taxpayers money, and will continue to do so as long as he serves as town manager in Barrington. 

"This is a continuous process of improvement," said Mr. Cunha. "Just because it isn't broken, doesn't mean there isn't a more efficient way to do it."

Mr. Cunha said he meets regularly with Barrington Superintendent of Schools Michael Messore and they discuss a variety of issues. He said the charter change would allow for better efficiencies and that would bring on savings for taxpayers. 

A while back, Mr. Cunha had asked the DPW to help with some minor repairs to school department buses. He said the school department had been using an outside contractor to complete bus repairs, but the process was slow.

"Driving the bus to Upland Way (DPW garage) makes a lot more sense," Mr. Cunha said. "No one was asking them to make major repairs."

Mr. Pedroza said that small early work orders grew larger and more involved. Eventually, he and Mr. Braga showed the town manager the provision in the charter restricting that type of work. 

DPW union representatives have also told the town manager that their department is not responsible for picking up roadkill. They said the animal control officer handles that duty, and police dispatchers are contractually obligated to do that work when the ACO is not available.

"You can't just have the dog officer jump in a plow truck and go plow the streets," said Mr. Braga. "No, that's our responsibility. Just like if they tell us now, go pick up a dead animal because we don't want to call in a dispatcher and pay them for the four hours… He doesn't want to spend the money to call in a dispatcher."

Mr. Pedroza and Mr. Braga have challenged the potential charter change, stating "if it's not broken, then don't fix it."

"It's worked all this time with no problem. I can understand if there was big issues. There was never any issues. Even with Peter (DeAngelis) as the town manager, he obeyed that town charter. The town charter is there to protect all the departments," Mr. Pedroza said.

Mr. Braga added: "I can see if there's an issue and they were short-handed, they didn't have enough guys and there were projects that needed to get done. He says, 'No, there hasn't been any issues.'"

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