Town take home vehicles - 22 total
To recap the number of take home vehicles in the town government:
Building Department - 1
Parks & Rec Department - 2
Police Department - 6
Fire Department - 6
Public Works Department - 7
For a grand total of 22.
And they all get unlimited, free gasoline. Don't worry though. I first touched on the "vehicle use policy" (on TV) only seven months ago:
So I'm sure the Budget Committee simply hasn't yet had time to consider this... but will be taking this up "shortly."
I have no idea how many take home vehicles fall under the BOE.
Tim White
8 comments:
What I find most interesting about that short clip is our TM saying he'll get back to the TC in email.
Why does he feel that us tax payers are not interested? How are we suppose to get the answer to that question?
I think it is sickening that we are buying huge pick up trucks, filling them up with gas, paying insurance on it so these people can take them home on weekends and evenings to tool around in. What happens when they are on vacation?Do they take it with them?
How do we get answers and how do we stop it?
Control the information.
Control the agenda.
Obviously Mike, Mike, Matt, and Matt share Leona Helmsley's attitude, "Only little people pay taxes".
The tax payers need to know how many take home vehicles are controlled by the BOE too. The reasons for the take homes should be publicly explored too.
Most arguments associated with take home vehicles being required due to being on call 24/7 generally don’t hold water unless there is a true need for some sort of special vehicle to provide the ride in. The town radio story doesn’t quite carry the clout it would have 25 or 30 years ago either. It is suspected that in addition to a take home vehicle the assigned drivers also have a town issued cell phone or blackberry 24/7 as well and I’d bet that in most cases a cell phone would provide equal if not better coverage for all those employees who don’t even live within the borders of our little town.
And of course then there is the overall efficacy of one person being on call 24/7 for 365 days a year. Does that person declare time out (and hand over the vehicle/responsibility to an identically qualified co-worker) if the person decides to have a few drinks some evening or if that person, God forbid, decides to do illegal drugs for a night? Most real world companies needing emergency coverage have policies and practices in place to deal with this eventuality but of course we a talking about a Connecticut municipality here that seems unaware of reality all too often.
Reasons that are given for the need of a take home vehicle are the
(1) Need to quickly respond to an emergency
(2) To quickly deliver/provide a variety of special emergency equipment.
These reasons are totally ridiculous when the person lives out of town and is so far away that it is impossible for them to respond quickly.
It is important for people who are supposed to handle emergencies to live in town. If someone choses to live in Branford, they should not have critical jobs. According to Google, a trip from Banford to Cheshire Town Hall is 22.3 miles and would take 31 minutes. If there are any problems on the Q bridge or on I91, the trip could take a lot longer.
For safety purposes, 31 minutes is not acceptable. I can't imagine other responders arriving at the site only to wait 31 minutes or more for direction and equipment. A lot can happen, and every minute counts. Do we want to hear, I'm sorry, I ran into a lot of traffic.
If their is a real need for an individual to respond to emergencies, gets paid for that added responsibility and gets a take home car, then they should avail themselves to meeting all emergency needs or give up the added pay and car.
In the private sector, people drive their own cars and are expected to meet their job requirements and if they don't, they know that there are consequences.
Who lives in Branford? I hope we don't provide a car to someone who lives out of town....
To 3:17
Click on "transportation" on the bottom of the blog and you will see the 7 take home vehicles of the Public Works Dept. 6 out of 7 live out of town, including the superintendant who travels 23 miles 1 way to Branford.
It is really insane!
The numbers don't add up. (22) take home vehicles and there are 160++ vehicles in Town?????? Where are the other 138++????
I don't know about anyone else, but I don't think our Town Manager is very truthful with the taxpayers.
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