Two LWSC officials oppose Dumas contract extension

LYNN – Two Water and Sewer commissioners insisted they were not questioning Commission Chief Procurement Officer Betty Dumas’ job performance Monday when they voted against granting her a five-year contract extension.Walter Proodian and Scott McPherson said they favored giving Dumas, who earned $76,000 in 2008 according to Water and Sewer salary records, a three-year contract.”It seems excessive to provide five years of security when a three-year guarantee is more than 99 percent of people get,” McPherson said.Commissioners William Trahant Sr., Wayne Lozzi and Frank Zipper voted to give Dumas a five-year contract extension. Dumas’ previous contract was for five years.”She does a good job,” Trahant said, adding that he “wouldn’t want to even think” that gender played a factor in McPherson and Proodian’s opposition.Both men said they preferred offering Dumas a shorter contract extension at a time when the economy is in a slump.Dumas’ extension matches extensions granted other top Water and Sewer executives but executive secretary Dale Cyr received a three-year extension in October 2008. In approving extensions over the past two years, the commission has voted to strip down top executive benefits.They reduced buyback privileges for unused sick days from 50 percent of unused time to 20 percent and reduced allotted sick days for Executive Director Daniel O’Neill and other top officials from six weeks to three weeks.The commissioners initiated the cuts in 2007, months after they approved a 14.6 percent water- and sewer-rate increase to offset declining revenues and rising gasoline and electricity costs.Commission rate increases have not exceeded 3 percent for the last two years, but Water and Sewer Treasurer David Travers urged commissioners this week to hold the line on commission costs. Travers said a decline in revenue from water sales should continue into 2010 as mortgage foreclosures result in residential water shut offs.