City of Keene Parks and Rec. Department

[KBCraig]

Remember... this is a RECREATION DEPARTMENT. "Equipment" is mostly rakes and shovels and lawnmowers. The employees aren't doing office work.

They're not? I've spoken on the phone a number of times to the guy who runs our arena, as well as the lady who runs the gym, and the girl at the Community Center. I get flyers in the mail and I'll occasionally visit their web site. I don't think any of it is produced in the trucks. I'd also bet that the guys who do work outside have access to some sort of telephone, and that it isn't free.

Obviously there are people in the department doing phone/clerical/administrative work. You've named three of them. I'll give you the rec director as #4, and I'll toss in a couple more just for overhead. That leaves a solid dozen out of 18 who probably don't need or rely upon a telephone to get their jobs done. I've never seen a leafblower or snow shovel that required connectivity, nor a lawnmower that was a bandwidth drain.

A city of 23,000 should have an integrated telecom cost item. Adding a department of 18, of which perhaps six require city phones, is negligible and should be included in the citywide plan. Tacking on $9k? Outrageous!

Kevin

[Mark]

Remember... this is a RECREATION DEPARTMENT. "Equipment" is mostly rakes and shovels and lawnmowers. The employees aren't doing office work.

They're not? I've spoken on the phone a number of times to the guy who runs our arena, as well as the lady who runs the gym, and the girl at the Community Center. I get flyers in the mail and I'll occasionally visit their web site. I don't think any of it is produced in the trucks. I'd also bet that the guys who do work outside have access to some sort of telephone, and that it isn't free.

Obviously there are people in the department doing phone/clerical/administrative work. You've named three of them. I'll give you the rec director as #4, and I'll toss in a couple more just for overhead. That leaves a solid dozen out of 18 who probably don't need or rely upon a telephone to get their jobs done. I've never seen a leafblower or snow shovel that required connectivity, nor a lawnmower that was a bandwidth drain.

A city of 23,000 should have an integrated telecom cost item. Adding a department of 18, of which perhaps six require city phones, is negligible and should be included in the citywide plan. Tacking on $9k? Outrageous!

Kevin

What should the other 12 (a number pulled from your ass, not mine) do? Drive across the city to ask questions and get directions, or send a pigeon?

My suggestion to Russell would be to figure out a better way to do things and present it to the City Council. If his plan makes sense, they'll probably go for it. Nobody really likes to spend money for nothing. If the way they're doing their work is so ridiculously expensive, it should be fairly easy to show a better way.

Quick, someone smite me again!

[jgmaynard]

A better way to do things??????

Sssssskkkkiiiiiiiiiiiiiipppppppppppeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!

Or, generally, any VoIP system........

JM

[KBCraig]

What should the other 12 (a number pulled from your ass, not mine) do? Drive across the city to ask questions and get directions, or send a pigeon?

What makes you think this kind of work requires constant communication? Have you ever done manual labor? Here's how it works: the supervisor makes rounds of the work areas, plans out what needs to be done, and then tells the workers where they need to go and what they need to do for the day, usually in groups of two or three.

During his rounds to makes sure everyone is doing what they should be doing, and to check jobs that will need doing the next day, the supervisor has plenty of chances to be in contact and redirect people to new tasks, if needed.

Raking leaves, cutting grass, shovelling snow, picking up trash... there's really nothing to communicate that would require everyone to have a phone.

Kevin

[Lloyd Danforth]

Can't the people at Dunkin Donuts take messages for the people in the field?

[Kat Kanning]

LOL!

[Russell Kanning]

Can't the people at Dunkin Donuts take messages for the people in the field?

That cracked me up.

[Pat K]

That was a great one.

[Mark]

What should the other 12 (a number pulled from your ass, not mine) do? Drive across the city to ask questions and get directions, or send a pigeon?

What makes you think this kind of work requires constant communication? Have you ever done manual labor? Here's how it works: the supervisor makes rounds of the work areas, plans out what needs to be done, and then tells the workers where they need to go and what they need to do for the day, usually in groups of two or three.

During his rounds to makes sure everyone is doing what they should be doing, and to check jobs that will need doing the next day, the supervisor has plenty of chances to be in contact and redirect people to new tasks, if needed.

Raking leaves, cutting grass, shovelling snow, picking up trash... there's really nothing to communicate that would require everyone to have a phone.

Kevin

I've done plenty of manual labor, and plenty of mental labor. Both require occasional communication. How many phones would it take to exceed the time and mileage costs for that supervisor above?

[KBCraig]

I've done plenty of manual labor, and plenty of mental labor. Both require occasional communication. How many phones would it take to exceed the time and mileage costs for that supervisor above?

At this point we're just bickering without progress. But I think you're still missing the point: the supervisor is already making those rounds. And the idea that everyone with a rake or shovel must be reachable immediately is just silly.

Kevin

[Pat K]

There could be a leaf emergancy ya know. 

[Kat Kanning]

LOL!  Pat

[Russell Kanning]

They also had a parks department before cell phones ..... or any phones.

[Lex]

They also had a parks department before cell phones ..... or any phones.

Oh, common, we all know the world didn't exist before cell phones. 

[Kat Kanning]

   Ooooh what he said!