Budgets cuts by 25-35%. Your pay cut 5-20%. Benefits slashed. Your co-workers laid off. Experienced people retiring before their time. Is there anything that can be done to save jobs and benefits?
Government has done the kneejerk reaction by cutting worker’s pay, benefits and/or laying them off. But have they done all they can?
Pay attention to the local municipalities and their services.
Does the upper administration still drive “take home” vehicles? Especially administrators that don’t deserve a vehicle?
Are they still having the “3 martini” lunch?
Are the exterior lights on the buildings and parking lots still coming on too early and turning off too late?
Is the air conditioning freezing the workers in the summertime to the point they have to bring their own space heaters? Or is it too hot in the winter so they have to bring in their own fans? (Little know fact; when workers bring in their own cooling/heating appliances, it overloads their workspace electrical system and causes failures, necessitating a “call out” for service at an additional charge)
Are they undertaking new, costly projects that aren’t necessary?
How about old projects that seem that they will never work, but they keep pouring money into them?
McNeil Island Correctional Facility in Washington State used to be a federal facility but was turned over to the State of Washington in the 1980’s. The state continued to use the island as a correctional facility until its closure this year.
The island had been settled by pioneers in the late 1800’s, but they were chased off the island by the government, so the homes and property were still on the island. A valuable resource for historians.
I was told by a guard that when the island was turned over to the state, the feds bulldozed the pioneer’s properties and burned them for unknown reasons. Items that could’ve been studied and placed into museums.
Locally, the LVMPD “headquarters” was just recently finished and employees are moving in.
At triple the cost of what Metro was paying for rent in other previous rental buildings, the new buildings are going to cost over $1,000,000.00 per month in rent with a 30 year lease.
Brand new furniture was purchased for every office in the building even though the previous furniture was still in working order, and in some cases, supposedly only a year or so old. As a result, hundreds of pieces of furniture, computer equipment, televisions, electronic equipment and other items were thrown away or given away. Some equipment was just left in the old buildings for the landlords or movers to scavenge. Some property deemed to be auction worthy will be moved from the old building (hire some movers), put on moving trucks (hire the trucks), placed in storage (pay for storage). Later the items will be placed into lots, on pallets and wrapped in plastic (more workers). After all this, the property will be sold for pennies on the dollar and probably would’ve been cheaper to donate or throw away.
After an “interior designer” picked the colors for the walls, some of the new occupants were unhappy and requested a different color. One comment was the colors were not “soothing” enough. I guess beige isn’t soothing enough to offset the atmosphere of a building where resolving things like violent crimes is the modus operandi. So, work orders were placed for new paint. I wonder if any research was conducted to discover exactly what color would be soothing enough, and how much that cost?
The questions posted above have been suggested to administration officials at all levels, but the “perks” of the job for them seem to be protected.
When you moved to your new home, did you get all new furniture? And just toss out the other perfectly good stuff? Did you move into a place that cost 3 times as much but didn't do most of the things it was supposed to do or meet the design specifications? If so, there just may be an administrative job at Metro for you......
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