INC NEWS - Solid Waste Director leaving

[kjj1 at duke.edu]

Patrick:

Thank you for explaining the task system and for taking the time to keep 
citizens informed about what's going on in solid waste.

Kelly Jarrett

--On Thursday, May 18, 2006 1:15 AM -0400 PBaker8667 at aol.com wrote:

>
>     As always, Bill exudes wisdom beyond his years!!  I can confirm that
> Mr. Jackson voluntarily tendered his resignation and I accepted it.  I
> certainly wish him well in all of his future endeavors.
>
>     Since 1999, solid waste collectors have been compensated through the
> task system.  Rather than being compensated for hours worked, they are
> compensated for tasks completed.  The task system is antithetical to the
> far more common time clock employment system but is a surprisingly
> typical method of compensation for solid waste collection positions.
> Proponents see it as an incentive plan for arguably the least desirable,
> hardest to fill positions in city government.  It also provides these
> collectors with an opportunity (through a shorter work day) to supplement
> their income through secondary employment which many do.  Despite the
> nature of the work, residential roll out solid waste collection is by far
> the highest rated service (in terms of customer satisfaction) provided by
> the City.
>     The most obvious criticism of the task system is also the least
> compelling:  they get paid for 40 hours of work but only work 33 (or so)
> hours.  (Only a government official could see the wisdom in such a
> scheme.)  The basic flaw in that argument is that since 1999, they have
> not been compensated for the hours they work; they have been compensated
> for the tasks they complete.  How long they work is not primarily
> relevant in the task system as the number of tasks completed is not
> primarily relevant in the time clock system.
>     It has taken me a year to come to terms with the benefits of the task
> system for solid waste collector positions.  My problem with our task
> system as it presently exists  is that it is heavily supplemented by
> expensive temporary laborers.  I would like to significantly reduce if
> not eliminate our dependence on temporary labor but that means filling
> current vacancies and possibly over hiring to insure that we have the in
> house staff available to complete our routes (tasks) by the end of each
> day.  The routes should also be periodically analyzed to insure that the
> value we place on their completion is appropriate.
>     Through a combination of vacancies, light duty medical restrictions,
> and sick leave absences, we were woefully unprepared to complete the
> routes Thursday and Friday without the assistance of supplemental labor.
> The citizen anger was predictable and frankly quite understandable.  As
> the City Manager although I  take full responsibility for the actions and
> decisions of all of my directors, I found that nearly 10K missed pickups
> last week to be completely unacceptable.  In the absence of a hurricane
> or an ice storm, we have never  to my knowledge had the number of delayed
> pickups as we did last week and early this week.  Accordingly, last
> Friday evening, I directed the return of the supplemental labor this week
> to allow us to get caught up from last week.  By noon yesterday, we were
> caught up and everything is back to normal for the remainder of the week.
>
>     Through an expedited hiring process, we will fill all of our current
> vacancies by next Monday.  We are also exploring the creation of a
> supplemental pool of floating city employees that will fill in as needed
> in various solid waste divisions. This will wean us off of the more
> expensive temporary labor services without any breaks in service to the
> citizens.  The savings would most likely remain in the solid waste
> department to be used to fill other needs and will be much appreciated by
> the employees.
>
> Stay tuned,
>
> Patrick
>
>