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« Opinion
Now is not the time to fill high-paying job in Y’town
Mayor Jay Williams must know that paying $50,826.88 for a glorified secretary, even in the wastewater treatment plant, will not only undermine his efforts to glean concessions from city employees to address the current budget crisis, but it will open him up to charges of being blind to the reality of the private-sector workplace.
And, if the job is filled by an individual already working in city government, the mayor will be confronted with the suggestion that this was nothing more than a pension-boosting scheme.
Williams should let it be known that even though a civil service test for the position of “pretreatment administrative assistant” in the wastewater treatment plant was given Saturday, he has no intention of making an appointment.
As for an agreement between the city of Youngstown and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency that Williams says requires the position to be filled, we are confident he will be able to persuade the federal agency that Youngstown’s population decline and the loss of jobs demand a reassessment of the wastewater treatment plant’s needs.
Unless it can be shown that usage has remained the same or has increased since the time the agreement was signed, there is absolutely no justification for maintaining the same level of bureaucracy.
For several years now, the private sector has been governed by the “do more with less” principle; it is only recently that the public sector has been forced to follow suit. Tax revenues are down, other sources of funding for government are being strained and both the federal and state governments cannot be counted on to provide the same amount of money they did a year ago, let alone five years ago.
The U.S. EPA should not get away with making unreasonable demands on the city of Youngstown.
Congressional intervention
Indeed, if agency officials remain intransigent, Mayor Williams should seek the assistance of Congressman Tim Ryan of Niles, D-17th, a member of the House appropriations committee.
No federal agency would dare snub a member of the committee that controls the government’s purse-strings.
The qualifications for the job of “pretreatment administrative assistant” in an advertisement on the city’s website show that this isn’t a position requiring a four-year college degree or intimate knowledge about the treatment of waste water.
Indeed, one of the main requirements is the ability to type at 40 words a minute. The individual must also be able to perform major clerical work. While that isn’t defined, we imagine the ability to do filing and to make coffee come into play.
This is not the time to be wasting taxpayer money. It does not matter that the wastewater treatment plant isn’t a general fund operation. Very few low-level government employees are deserving of $50,000 — and full benefits.
Just because there is a job listed on the master salary ordinance does not mean it must be filled.
In fact, this would be a great opportunity for the mayor and city council to conduct a review of all the jobs listed in city government and to get rid of those positions are unfilled or are unnecessary in a shrinking city.
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Comments
Lets just parse this if we will.
"glorified secretary"
That is about as close to the mark as an arrow can be.
"we are confident he will be able to persuade the federal agency that Youngstown’s population decline and the loss of jobs demand a reassessment of the wastewater treatment plant’s needs."
You live in a dream world when the Federal EPA will acquiesce to the needs or wants of a local Government entity.
"Unless it can be shown that usage has remained the same or has increased since the time the agreement was signed, there is absolutely no justification for maintaining the same level of bureaucracy."
Are you folks on the Editorial board really that stupid,do you really have any idea of the subject matter that you comment on,or do you just like to blather on about things you have absolutely no CLUE about.
"The U.S. EPA should not get away with making unreasonable demands on the city of Youngstown."
Lets see,the EPA has chased jobs out of this Country by tying the hands of Manufacturers for well over thirty years and NOW they "should not get away "with it,get a clue will you.
"The qualifications for the job of “pretreatment administrative assistant” in an advertisement on the city’s website show that this isn’t a position requiring a four-year college degree or intimate knowledge about the treatment of waste water."
Your first comment about the "glorified secretary" was as accurate as could be,the last person that filled this position never set foot in a waste water treatment plant untill his pre-ordained job interview.The only thing going for him was his relationship to MS Consultants
"Very few low-level government employees are deserving of $50,000 — and full benefits."
Wow , what a self-righteous,self-glorification,self-absorption,self-concieted view you have of yourself Bertram,when you think about it all you have to do is write one thousand words a week and you get paid just as much money as someone who will have to sign thier name to official documents and risk going to jail if there is any errors,wrongdoing or funny business going on behind thier backs.
The Vindy has cried for years now about Government doing more for less with the taxpayers money,maybe you should take a page from your own stale playbook.For the last decade the content of your stories seems to have been researched and written by a highschool newspaper,and what have we gotten? Higher costs at the newsstands,inferior stories,and over-paid Editorial Writer's.
I wonder why I still read these tiresome articles!
I think calling a $50k salary "high paying" is a stretch.
I think paying a $50k salary is a stretch unless it's a Union job then it's ok.
What do you mean by that Union? It is okay to make $50k if you are unionized? Why in you opinion can''t non Union people make over $50k? It you are a top performed at your job then the Union likely is holding you back from making more. Why, because if they give you a raise or bonus, they have to give it to every other worker. Even the losers that your dear Union protects, bums that should have been thrown out like yesterday's garbage.
PROUD TO BE NON UNION.
Woody, relax, I suspect UnionForever was being ironical.
I wouldn't put up with the smell of sewage at the wastewater treatment plant for ten times that amount ! She deserves every penny !