Wednesday night’s information session with the Board of Selectmen was short and sweet. Town residents had few questions and comments about either the contracts to be ratified at next Wednesday’s Special Town Meeting or the proposed funding source. Members of the School Committee and the Finance Committee were also on hand to provide clarification.
Selectman Randy Dean opened the meeting with a brief overview of the new contracts for both union and nonunion employees. Dean pointed out that the selectmen supervised negotiations with all of the town employees, with the exception of the school employees; the School Committee was solely responsible for those negotiations.
What is PTO?
Joanne Helhowski of Stow Road asked for clarification on how town employees receive vacation and sick time now as compared to the new system, referred to as PTO, or Paid Time Off. Dean explained that currently, town employees accrue sick time, vacation time, and personal time, earning more time based on seniority. Under the new system, vacation time, sick time, and personal time will be combined into one lump sum, giving town employees the flexibility to take their PTO as they wish.
Selectman Lucy Wallace pointed out that under the new system, employees would essentially be accruing the same amount of time off at the same rate as before. Dean also added that the maximum number of hours for all employees will be capped at 320 hours.
Concern for nonunion employees
Susan Colwell of Littleton Road expressed her concern about the insurance split for nonunion employees as compared to the split for union employees. “It’s sending a bad message to nonunion town employees that, once again, you have to pay more,” she said.When she shared her worry that “nonunion employees don’t have a voice” in contract negotiations, Dean clarified that the process for nonunion employees is to have a public hearing in order to provide the opportunity for feedback. Dean added that as a result of last week’s public hearing on the contracts, the one-time payments to offset nonunion employees’ insurance costs were raised, from $1,500 to $1,800 for single employees, and from $3,000 to $4,500 for employees with families.
Funding with free cash
Wallace shifted gears to address the funding source for the contracts, which will come from the larger-than-expected sum of free cash received by the town for this fiscal year. Explaining the choice to use free cash, Wallace said, “We tried very hard to be conscious of how we’re positioning the town for the coming fiscal year, also being mindful of the residents having just passed an override last March.” Dean reminded residents that while free cash will cover the expenses for this year, “we’ll have to build about $200,000 of additional operating costs into next year’s budget.” When Wallace asked Selectman Bill Marinelli if he had anything further to add, he responded, “Yes. But I’m not sure you want to hear it. I am opposed to this. I think it is a dangerous precedent.” Marinelli explained his concern about ratifying contracts without identifying a recurrent funding source and added, “had I been here, I would have voted against this approach.” Dean joked, “Then you could have lost this vote with me.”
Should we regionalize police and dispatch?
Joe Schmidt of Stow Road shared his ongoing concern about the fact that of late, overrides have been required to cover town expenses. Floating a possible scenario for cost savings, he asked, “Will we begin to start looking at regionalization of dispatch and police?” Dean responded that the selectmen had actually had some exploratory conversations about regionalizing the dispatch system with the neighboring towns of Boxborough, Littleton, Acton, and Devens. Dean explained that the regionalization process is “not straightforward to undertake…The number of dispatchers required depends on the call volume. With three towns, we could go to having two people on call, which would be a savings of one person. But the incremental savings of costs would be very far in the future.” He added that the question of regionalization also brings up the issue that “we have a diverse set of expectations from the neighboring towns” and pointed out that Harvard residents have grown used to a “very personal level of service.”
Regarding the regionalization of the police department, Dean again said that “it’s not clear, given the land area in question, how much benefit we would get from regionalization,” pointing out that it would be a “dramatic change in the level of service.” “Community policing is important,” he added. “It is different from what you would get with a less personal, regionalized system.” Marinelli agreed. “When you get into these regionalization situations, you don’t save money but you do get an increase in service. But right now, in Harvard, I’d be hard-pressed to see an increase in value. I think we do OK with the force we have.”
Note: This article was uploaded to the Press website after the print deadline.
It did not appear in the print edition.
