Town Manager: ‘These Are Super Custodians’
Town Manager Jim Malloy and Board of Selectmen question job descriptions of custodians at senior center and library.
At the Jan. 24 Board of Selectmen meeting, Town Manager Jim Malloy defended his proposal to replace three fulltime custodial positions in the town with an overnight contract cleaning service. This followed a plea from Council on Aging Chairperson Dan Pavolis to keep the Westborough Senior Center custodian on the town payroll.
“Do we talk about being leaner or do we do something about being leaner?” Malloy asked the selectmen.
Pavolis made a case that the senior center needs a fulltime custodian on site when the facility is being used because of immediate needs such as moving furniture for changing events, cleaning the kitchen after meals and clearing ice during a snowstorm. “This is a safety issue,” he told the selectmen.
Priscilla Federici, a nurse and chairperson of the Friends of the Senior Center, told that board that she was concerned about elderly people getting sick, saying that there are times when someone throws up or gets diarrhea. “We can’t wait to get these things cleaned up,” she said.
“We’re highly concerned that if we get a custodian that just has a specific set of duties, we’re going to have some problems,” said Pavolis.
The presentation by Pavolis followed a plea to the selectmen on Jan. 10 by two members of the Westborough Public Library Board of Trustees. They asked the selectmen to keep the fulltime library custodian Mike Matley in the budget because he does more than just clean the building. A list of job duties was presented to selectmen by both Pavolis and the Library Trustees which outlined current responsibilities of the fulltime custodians, most of which fall outside of a janitorial job description.
Malloy’s proposal saves the town an estimated $157,000 by hiring out an overnight contract service to clean the senior center, library, Town Hall and Forbes Municipal Building. He told the selectmen that he hired out a contract cleaning service without issue in 1995 to replace custodians when he worked in Sturbridge.
He also questioned the sincerity of the expansive list of custodial duties presented on behalf of the senior center and library custodians. “These are Super Custodians,” Malloy said mockingly.
When asked by Selectman Ian Johnson how an incident such as an elderly person getting sick would be handled without a custodian on staff, Malloy said he did not think that such emergencies were common. “I would like to talk to [Senior Center Director] Alma [Damanche] about how many times someone has an incontinence problem…It’s probably not five times a day, I doubt it’s even once a year.”
Selectman Tim Dodd suggested that a custodian may be necessary at the senior center and library during the day because the public is using those facilities. He said that schools frequently require a custodian on site when a public event is taking place.
Selectman George Thompson, a lawyer, expressed concern that the responsibilities of these positions were allowed to expand past a job description, saying that the town may have set itself up for a grievance filing on the part of these employees. He and Selectman Lydia Goldblatt asked that a formal job description for both positions be presented to the selectmen before the next meeting.
Thompson also pointed out, admittedly for the sake of argument, that the amount of money being saved is relatively small when considering the nearly $90 million town budget.
Malloy told the selectmen that they could choose to maintain the two custodians at the publicly used facilities and opt to replace the custodian who cleans both Town Hall and the Forbes Municipal Building with an overnight contract service. He said that he would prefer to have that position moved to overnight hours so that he is not dealing with interruptions, such as an employee emptying trash cans during meetings or running a vacuum while he is on the phone.
Goldblatt said that no decision would be made until the selectmen had a chance to read the formal job description for the custodial positions in question.
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Theresa Ruisi
2:39 pm on Wednesday, January 25, 2012
How dare Mr. Molloy mock the duties of the custodians in the Senior Center and Library! These are very real needs that need to be handled by professionals who are trained and equipted to handle haz-mat spills and clean ups. Would you expect a teacher in the schools to clean up vomit? Of course not. That is a custodians job under the custodians contract and job description. That person has the proper training to properly do the job with cleaning up the site and disposing the waste material according to medically safe protocol.
While we are talking about the salaries of 3 janitorial positions costing the town about $152,000, why not look at the 42 schho custodians that cost the school system approximately $2.1 million dollars, using the same dollar amount Mr. Molloy is using to figure the other 3 town custodial positions. Now wouldn't that be a MAJOR savings to the town if the town contracted those positions out to a cleaning service? Surely, these custodians do not have the same responsibilities that the custodians that the Library and Senior Center custodian have. Now, let's not start a war, my custodian against your custodian. The bottom line is, why attack any of these positions, or at least the Library and Senior Center position, when the amount of money saved is negligible compared to the amount of money other departments are increasing their budgets at whim.
Theresa Ruisi
2:41 pm on Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Continued.... We, as a town need to get some of the larger budgeted departments to come in at as close to level funded as possible, including the school department. Other, wealthier towns, have taken a hard line on their budgets and have just drawn a line on the town budget across the line, including the school budget. We can not afford any increases, PERIOD. In this economy, there has been no positive financial turnaround. It is NOT time to increase spending money residents do not have. It is time to conserve our resources. It is a prudent decision to conserve these 2 custodial positions. I worked with Mr. Matley at the library for 12 years. There is no one who is more capable of doing the job he does for the pay he does it at. In fact, his position is not adequately described as a custodian. His position should be re-classified as a Library Facilities Manager as he maintains inventory, ordering for many building supplies, materials, and so on. When the library is having major renovations during off hours, when the library is closed, who do you think is supervising the work? Mr. Matley. So, Mr. Molloy, let's think before making comments that degrade town employees, or maybe you should think about looking elsewhere for employment. I as a homeowner and taxpayer do not appreciate you mocking an employee of the town. I expect an apology to the custodians.
Susan E. Dodd
10:02 am on Friday, January 27, 2012
Mr. Molloy, I take offense at your comments and treatment of town employees and the residents of Westborough. Your remarks regarding the needs of residents at the senior center were very offensive and degrading. I do not make public comments often, however I felt compelled to comment on your lack of sensitivity towards the needs of our community and specifically our senior citizens.To make mention of such a personal issue as incontinence shows not only your lack of knowledge of the fullness of the lives of our seniors but also your disregard for the full scope of the responsibilities and value of our custodians' positions. Susan E. Dodd
MaryJo Kurtz
7:31 am on Thursday, March 1, 2012
Just as a note on this article: I personally called Jim Malloy the day that this article posted and asked if he wanted to clarify his comments or expand upon them. My call was never returned.