Volunteer Task Force Recommendations

BY STEVE McINTYRE 

Late in 2009 the City Council turned down a request to impose a “trash fee” on the citizens of Huntington. A public meeting was held and I placed a poll on my website about the matter. At the time, most indications were that the people opposed to a fee would like for the City to make as many cuts in the spending as possible before asking for any type of fee. A lot of the citizens felt that their taxes pay for trash pick-up as opposed to a person living outside the City who pays a lesser amount of taxes but pay to have their trash hauled.  

 

In consideration of this information, I asked the citizens of the City of Huntington to volunteer to form a “task force” to look at the City’s current financial situation and to compile a list of cost-cutting recommendations to the Mayor and the City Council. The group of volunteers met 8 times and consisted of a variety of local residents which included attorneys, a real estate agent, a CPA, local business owners, and home makers. The meetings were also attended and/or observed by 2 other Council members and one of the City’s department heads on separate occasions. The Task Force is submitting a list of 20 cost saving ideas to the City for consideration. 

 

I would like to express my thanks to those who stepped up and became involved by offering their thoughts on the matter. I do not feel that it is my place to screen or debunk any of the suggestions so they are ALL included whether or not I agree with them. I would also like to encourage ANY Huntington resident who may have ideas or comments to send those to me so I can share them with the Council and Administration. I can be contacted by email or directly on my website. ( www.stevemcintyre.org or 

steve.mcintyre@huntington.in.us ) 

 

Steve McIntyre 

3rd District Representative, Huntington Common Council 

The “Volunteer Citizen Task Force” recommends that the City consider the following cost- 

cutting measures. It is requested that the Task Force be notified of which suggestions are used 

by the City and that if any of the suggestions cannot be utilized, it is requested that notification 

be made as to the reasons for the inability to use them. Notification can be made via Council 

Member Steve McIntyre, who served as the coordinator of the Task Force. 

Combine Parks and Street Depts.  This will eliminate duplicative costs (building and office equipment 

costs) combine positions; eliminate positions, cross train staff that remains. Ultimately creates efficiencies without cutting services. 

Volunteer park board - eliminate pay 

Layoffs in police dept: Data suggests that dept is overstaffed by approximately 10 patrolmen. 

   

Eliminate K-9 position (saves 1 salary, vehicle costs etc) - bottom line it's a luxury we can't afford. 

 

Consolidate police and sheriff dispatch centers (we are told this has been discussed for 30 years with no 

progress - we are in an immediate crisis and the ego and turf wars need to stop. 

  

Sell all un-used city owned cars (primarily police cars). 

Eliminate the take home car program (this will lower fuel and insurance costs) 

 

Put formal hiring freeze in effect (may have already been done).  

Reduce work week to 4 days for hourly employees.   

 

Revisit and stop the dollars proposed for the Umbaugh "study". 

Privatize trash collection (remove it from the city altogether) eliminates labor/ liability 

insurance/fuel/vehicle maintenance/ health insurance costs. 

 

Change employee longevity process (4 suggestions):

 

Eliminate longevity pay and replace it with bonuses based on merit and availability of money.  

Change longevity to be the same in ALL city departments based on the $160 per year worked as opposed to the percentage based figure. 

Cap all longevity at $6,000 (those making more would be reduced) 

Freeze longevity amounts for those above $6,000 and cap those below at $6,000. This would be a “long- 

term” cost saving that would not force employees to be reduced from their current status.

 

Sell the property where EMS are station on South Jefferson Street to PHH and stop paying their utilities. 

Eliminate the policy which allows public safety employees to have unlimited sick days. Start them with a 

“bank” of sick days of 48 hours and have them accrue sick time at rate of 4 hours earned per each month worked. 

Reduce the amount of “Holidays” from 13 to 6 (eliminating 7 days where employees are either getting 

paid to be off or they are being paid double-time to work. 

Combine the positions of “Human Resources Director” and “Operations Manager” and eliminate one or 

the other. 

Reduce the amount of Deputy Clerks from the Clerk’s Office 

Raise rates employees are paying for insurance to be comparable to other employers in the area.

 

Establish a hybrid “volunteer-paid” group of firefighters by establishing a volunteer group who would 

serve along with our firefighter and would expand as the paid personnel retire.

  

Make the move to garbage packers that utilize one man rather then three-men crews.   

 

Enlist community service clubs to form sponsorships for park improvements, programs and maintenance. 

 

Co-op with the County to save on purchases. 

Comments

[My two cents worth]

If trimming down to four day work weeks are not an option for a certain office, department, etc, there are other options. For example, an office can have each employee work four days per week but the office, itself, remain open all five days.

An office with 5 employees would rotate days off among those fives. Each day a different employee would be off. THe opffice would operate one person shrot each day.

This may not work in some places, but it is an option. In bigger department, say with ten employees, each person would lose only one day per every two weeks.

The UMbaugh study is unneeded overkill.

13 holidays is to much.

Park Board should be volunteer.

The Operations Manager is a luxury position and should have been done away with a long time ago.

I support the take home car program, Right now, though, it needs to be halted. At least, for the time being.

Dispatch shopuld be combined. This has been discussed for a long time.

I like combining the street and park Department, if feasible

[Tree Killer]

I am both appalled and impressed.

Appalled at some of the things I didn't know were going on, and impressed by the groups ability to recommend tough solutions that will offend, tick off, and likely invoke retaliation by the good ol' boys that put us in this mess in the first place.

Huntington may just have some hope after all.