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Friday, November 5, 2010 — The North Haven Citizen
Paying for leaf pick-up and firefighters on BOF agenda By Kyle Swartz The North Haven Citizen During the Oct. 27 Board of Finance meeting, topics included bulk leaf pickup and union contract negotiations. Board member Michael Hallahan asked how North Haven would fund bulk leaf pickup, which was originally cut during last referendum season, but ultimately restored with financing to be determined. Director of Finance Ed Swinkowski said he had been speaking with Public Works Director Lynn Sadosky about strategies to find $275,000 necessary to afford bulk leaf pickup. “At this point, we’ve looked at a few things,” Swinkowski said, “like tip-
ping fees — we think we could save $100,000 on that line item. Also, two employees who haven’t been replaced, and the deferral of those two items alone will save us probably about $150,000.” “But it’s a work in process,” he added, “and we’re still working on some other ways to come up with the $275,000. We’ve accomplished taking care of about $150,000 of the $275,000 so far.” Hallahan asked whether all of the $275,000 was anticipated to originate from Public Works cuts. “We’re trying to do that,” Swinkowski replied. “That’s our goal. That’s our objective,” added board member and First Selectman Michael Freda. “I think, over
the course of the next two Board of Finance meetings here, we’ll have a clearer picture of that.” Hallahan seemed to favor further bulk leaf pickup financing considerations going first through Board of Finance deliberation. “The question comes up — should Public Works make these changes without any advice, any conferring, with members of the Board [of Finance] to see if we agree with the areas the money is coming from,” he said. Board of Finance Chairman Richard Monico believed Sadosky could alone decide how to allocate within Public Works. “However she uses her resources to accomplish her goal,” he said. “All right,” Hallahan responded. “This will be an on-
going topic, I’m sure.” Hallahan also asked about North Haven’s negotiations regarding the firefighters union’s new contract, as the most recent contract expired this past fiscal year. “We’re in the beginning stages of that,” Freda replied. “We are officially in collective bargaining. I’ve met with the union on several occasions so far. We are sharing our different perspectives back and forth. There will be an attorney meeting coming up within the next two weeks with our town attorney and their at-
torney.” Freda could give no timetable for negotiation completion. “It could end up in arbitration, but that’s not the goal,” he said. “We’re trying to work this out. The town has certain things that we’re looking for. In terms of health insurance: increase in co-pays, increase in overall contributions.” “There have been very productive discussions at this point in time,” Freda added. “We’ll see how it goes.”
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