The Way I See It!

Cudahy Grass Cutting

Posted by Randy Hollenbeck on May 29, 2009

Cudahy, Info, DPW

I was stopped by a DPW worker who told me the dissatisfaction over KEI cutting the grass for the city.  They were told it was to save the city money because KEI can do it cheaper by cutting any DPW overtime, but they felt it was to "Punish the workers” and they stated that they have not cut the grass on overtime. 

It was also stated that the money paying the DPW workers was already in the budget and the money spent on paying KEI would be new charges above and beyond.  They went on to say it is like a person that sees something on sale or has a coupon for something, buys it and states that “Look at the money I saved you buying this on sale” when you didn’t need the item in the first place and just because it was on sale it was bought.  They also felt that not enough time was given to the deal as far as Union notification is concerned.

I was also told many DPW workers read the blog, like it and agree with many of my posts.  I would like to give a shout out to the DPW workers reading the blog.  Thanks for the support and readership!

I received an email on this same subject from a reader. 

“Randy, I am not sure if you heard about this, but I hear that the DPW is really pissed that McCue's buddy's company, KEI, is cutting grass for the city, and this is being used to "punish DPW workers by cutting any overtime."  Last time I checked, they don't cut the boulevards on overtime.  Not sure, after they apparently just settled a contract, why he would be kicking them.”

I am all for saving money and just hope all of the angles were properly looked at as not to incur additional costs that we don’t have especially since Governor Dole is going to be reducing our share of revenue sharing.

On the same subject, Toledo City Mayor Mows Public Parks Due to Budget Shortfall

Ohio: Toledo city mayor Carty Finkbeiner has added mowing the grass in public parks to his list of duties after a budget shortfall meant that the city could only hire 40 seasonal workers over summer instead of the usual 80.

Finkbeiner was joined by 10 other administrative employees who also mowed public areas for free.  The mayor plans to be on mowing duty for the next several weekends and has invited residents to assist him.

Source: www.metro.co.uk