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NORTHBOROUGH, Mass. — Voters at the next town meeting will consider a measure to reorganize the town's Department of Public Works that the Board of Selectmen approved Monday night.
According to documents prepared by Town Administrator John Coderre, the recent recession has had a significant impact on department staffing. Many offices have been left unfilled, with their duties carried out by existing staff. Following the hiring of DPW Director Dan Nason, the department completed a formal review and presented the following recommendations:
- The town will incorporate the town engineer position into the DPW, where engineering services are needed, Coderre said. The town will also hire a part-time conservation agent to handle the many conservation duties that the town engineer currently performs. This agent was already approved at the April 2012 Town Meeting, Coderre added.
- The town will create a highway/parks superintendent position, who will be responsible for supervising road, park and cemetery operations.
- Because the duties of the cemetery superintendent have already been absorbed into the department, this vacant position will be eliminated.
- The town will create a water/sewer superintendent position, paid for through the water and sewer enterprise funds, rather than general taxation.
Calling them simple proposals, Coderre said the reorganization "is going to allow us much better coordination." He added that it would allow Nason to devote more resources to projects on his priority list.
Nason told selectmen that he was often dragged back to day-to-day work when he tried to focus on larger projects. "I need somebody that can help me through that process," he said.
To read the proposed reorganization plan in its entirety, click the link below.
Attached: (town_administrators_proposal_to_bos_to_reorganize_dpw_jan_14_2013.pdf)
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