Ex-Saugus DPW worker on layoffs: ‘It’s a travesty’

SAUGUS – Arthur LeBlanc first took a job with the Saugus Department of Public Works in 2002.The 49-year-old Saugus resident said it was a great job as he helped keep the town’s parks and cemeteries clean with what he referred to as “unit 25, an old rack bottom truck.”But all that changed last week after budget restraints forced Town Manager Scott Crabtree to lay off LeBlanc, along with five fellow DPW workers.”It was a good job and everything was good, then a couple of days ago I was terminated,” said LeBlanc.”It’s a travesty because a lot of good hard-working guys got laid off besides me. Our lives got wrecked, destroyed, mangled, right through the freaking wood chipper and we don’t deserve this,” he said.The layoffs came after a forensic audit, which found $1.4 million in general fund-related payroll and other expenses being charged to water and sewer accounts, which the audit says is a violation of municipal finance laws.Some of these expenses include employees of the highway, forestry and cemetery departments being paid out of the water and sewer accounts, hundreds of thousands of dollars in vendor expenses not properly bid and payroll stipends improperly paid to employees.After transferring those payroll expenses from water and sewer back into the general fund, Crabtree said the town could no longer afford to pay those salaries, which amounted to around $300,000.Since being laid of last week, LeBlanc said he’s “pissed off” and “hurt,” and while he acknowledged he’s been following news of the audit in the newspapers, he said no one ever questioned where their paychecks came from.”That’s beyond me,” said LeBlanc.DPW Director Joe Attubato said his department now has just 13 workers. Attubato said he had 40 workers when he first took over as director in 1984.”If we lose any more we might as well shut the department down,” said Attubato. “We have 13 people left. That’s it to take care of a town a little over 10 square miles and 30,000 population. We have to sit down and see how we’re going to attack the daily requests that come in.”Attubato said he’s never been involved with layoffs before, noting that the town just hasn’t replaced workers after they retire. And while he acknowledged that some workers weren’t paid out of the proper accounts, Attubato said he wasn’t “involved directly in things like that” and didn’t know about some of them until recently.”This just didn’t happen overnight ?” said Attubato. “Those people that were under sewer and water were not working full time in those positions and it was done so they wouldn’t get laid off. I didn’t see anything wrong with that. I don’t know if that’s right or wrong or indifferent. I didn’t want to see men get laid off.”With such a small crew, Attubato said residents may notice delays in repairs to pot holes or catch basins, but noted emergency work to water mains and other major repairs will still continue.”It’s going to be rough here for a while,” said Attubato. “We do have to tend to emergencies. We know enough to make a decision to react to some of this stuff and what to prioritize.”Attubato said he doesn’t think he’ll be able to rehire anyone else even after the new fiscal year starts on July 1.As auditors continue to look into procurement and personnel issues, Crabtree said he still has to look into ways to “reduce expenses.””Overall we’re evaluating all departments and all costs and expenses, and look at places where we’d have the least impact on services,” said Crabtree. “The revenue that we have doesn’t match the services that we’re providing.”Matt Tempesta can be reached at [email protected].