By Nate Leskovic
Times Staff
7/10/08

(previous)
Along with the cuts, the position of assistant town engineer—John Thompson—was given the responsibility of contract manager. The manager of street/traffic lights—Jack Calabro—is now also maintenance manager. The employees will receive a total of $4,300 in additional pay.
Fagan says she is concerned there will be less time for grant writing, which was handled by Program Manager Reva Levin. However, she says Police Chief Richard Wells—an experienced grant writer—will lead a training session for town officials.
In addition, Levin managed the department’s community activities.
“We’ll be trying our best to accommodate and
fill in, but some (tasks) may not be taken up,” Heller says.
The loss of Rita Fantasia, who took many of the incoming calls, has Fagan concerned about response-time delays. She is asking for patience from residents.
“I think the effects will be minor,” says Heller. “There will be a little more relying on voicemail. It’s just going to be missing the personal touch.”
Fagan says moving all DPW offices to the Randolph Avenue yard could increase efficiency. Previously, employees were divided between town hall and the DPW yard. Employees will move into a building vacated by construction managers for the mostly completed school building project.
“Hopefully it will ease some of the loss,” Fagan says.
In addition, DPW hours will be changed from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., to 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Another change is the restoration of an in-house engineer position to design projects. Last fiscal year the position was eliminated. Fagan says the cut resulted in payments to consultants totaling more than the $50,000 appropriated for the engineering position in this year’s budget.
Thompson, Calabro and the engineer—who has yet to be hired—will be considered head managers directly under Heller.
“It takes some of the people who were directly reporting to me and puts them under a manager so they get more oversight on a daily basis,” Heller says. “The managers will have more time to get involved.”