Swampscott mulls outsourcing options for DPW management

SWAMPSCOTT – Swampscott officials are looking into outsourcing options for the management of the Department of Public Works water and sewer services, leading some workers to become concerned about layoffs.Town Administrator Thomas Younger and the Board of Selectmen listened to a presentation by Auburn-based private water and sewer contracting company WhiteWater, Inc. at their meeting Wednesday night to “open our eyes to other options for managing water and sewer,” according to Selectman Barry Greenfield, who is spearheading the research.Before the presentation began, Chairman Rich Malagrifa aimed to calm nerves of those concerned with layoffs. “This is for information only,” he told the room. “I don’t want people to think we’re shutting down the DPW tomorrow.”Northeast Regional Manager of Water Operations Russell Tierney described WhiteWater’s primary objective as a “management operation services in water and sewer, primarily in New England.” Tierney estimated 40 or 50 municipalities in Massachusetts work with Whitewater with varying types of contracts. Tierney said Whitewater can come in with a full service contract doing everything from “shoveling out their fire hydrants all the way to running the treatment plant.”Tierney said towns mainly choose Whitewater to manage their water and sewer services either because of bankruptcy or because they get “fed up with the headache of it.”Greenfield said the concern for Swampscott would be the town’s drainage problems due to the older infrastructure.Younger said outsourcing could allow the town to save money long-term, but Selectman David Van Dam said it could be more expensive if the town loses control of pricing.Town DPW worker Archie Lawless sat in on the presentation and said he was most concerned about layoffs. “That would be our biggest consideration – who wants their job outsourced? Basically a lot of this work that they’re selling would affect the union and union jobs,” he said,Tierney said acquisition is not common is Whitewater’s plans and neither are layoffs. “It’s not like we come in here and clean house,” he said. “I’m sure the union has concerns, but we have 90 percent (of workers) that stay where they’re at.” Tierney added that the 10 percent who are let go “usually don’t have the qualifications” needed. Tierney said Whitewater’s contract options have even allowed for a plan where the company comes in to exclusively train a town’s staff.Tierney said after the meeting Whitewater worked “side by side with the union” when working with towns Norfolk and Wellfleet.Department of Public Works Director Gino Cresta said before the meeting that he told his workers that had caught wind of the issue “not to get too excited. It’s some preliminary discussion and I think the selectmen are doing what they think is in their best interest and to save the town money.” Cresta said outsourcing water and sewer responsibility would free him up to do other important work. “‘But at what cost is the million dollar question,” he said.Younger said during the meeting that he needed to find out “how much of the DPW is water and sewer and how much manpower could be used in other places.”In conclusion of the presentation, Malagrifa said Younger will do research on the matter for the next few weeks. Tierney said he could return and show the selectmen examples of contracts that Whitewater had with other towns.In another part of the meeting, Daniel Turgel and the Jewish community who wish to erect the proposed eruv around parts of Marblehead and Swampscott presented their plan to the board. After listening to their presentation, Malagrifa said Younger should continue to meet with the Brookline town administrator as planned. “We should go for it and try to get this thing done for the community,” Malagrifa said.Kait Taylor may be reached at [email protected].