<p>The director of the Tisbury department of public works has resigned, town administrator John (Jay) Grande confirmed Thursday.</p>
The director of the Tisbury department of public works has resigned, town administrator John (Jay) Grande confirmed Thursday.
The resignation of Glenn Mauk is effective July 25 and comes during a time of change and upheaval in the town department. At the annual town meeting this spring, voters agreed to petition the state legislature to abolish the DPW as an independent government entity, bringing it under the control of the selectmen.
Mr. Mauk, a civil engineer and attorney, began work in December 2013. His 18-month tenure has been marked by strained relations with union employees and other town departments. The DPW was the brunt of criticism over the long, snowy winter for poor plowing on town streets, and during a recent investigation of a workplace dispute harassment, Mr. Mauk was faulted for failing to enforce the town’s sexual harassment policy.
He could not immediately be reached for comment Thursday.
Since 1989, the DPW has operated as its own government under the supervision of an elected board of commissioners. Special legislation to repeal the act that created the DPW is expected to win approval in a process that could take from three to 18 months, Mr. Grande said last week. Trash removal, maintenance of town streets and cemeteries and operations at the wastewater treatment plant all fall under the DPW.
Meanwhile, the DPW commission was recently left in disarray after three of the elected members resigned, and a fourth declined to take office, leaving only one incumbent. Immediately after the town meeting vote, commissioners Leo DeSorcy, John Thayer and Denys Wortman resigned. Jeff Kristal was elected to both the DPW board and the finance and advisory committee in the April 16 election, and opted for the finance and advisory committee. That left George Balco the only commissioner in office.
“I can understand why they left,” Mr. Balco said. “I was the newest one on the board, so the change, I didn’t feel, would impact my prior actions as much as it did some of those on the board for a long time. I’m going to stay on through this transition period. When it becomes an appointed [advisory] board, I won’t stay on any longer.” New commissioners have since been appointed by the selectmen. They are health agent Tom Pachico, former finance and advisory committee member David (Cricket) Willoughby, and Tomar Waldman, who has been active in promoting large-scale composting on the Island.
“Having this new board will greatly help us in the transition,” selectman Tristan Israel said.
Tensions have been growing in recent years between the DPW and the selectmen over everything from snow plowing to handling of internal affairs. When the town convened a series of visioning workshops early this year aimed at creating a blueprint for the future, the problems surfaced again.
“From my perspective, it was really all about the visioning process that had clearly pointed to government disorganization as problematic for the town,” said selectman Melinda Loberg. “The community kept pounding us about it.”
The result was a quickly pulled-together article for the annual town meeting warrant to abolish the DPW.
Mrs. Loberg and Mr. Israel both acknowledged the selectmen could have done a better job of communicating with the DPW about what was on deck. “The visioning report came out fairly close to the deadline for submitting an article,” Mr. Israel said. “There was some strong sentiment in the community to make a change. It was a matter of making a decision. Do we do this now, or wait a year.”
Despite the fallout, Mr. Grande said the independent branches of town government are already functioning better.
He said he has recently established a weekly infrastructure meeting on Monday morning, with the participation of managers from the DPW, fire department, water works, building department, and the health department.
“I think people are seeing the immediate benefit,” the town administrator said. “We’re physically spread out over the town, and it’s not easy to communicate because we’re not in the same building.”
Comments
What is with this town? There
deshandra brown mvWhat is with this town? There seems to be a constant crisis in a different department on a regular basis.
What is with this Town? Very
Very Annoyed Vineyard HavenWhat is with this Town? Very poor decision making, horrible leadership and even worst planning skills. For past 25 years, the selectmen that were elected made poor choices and chose favorites plus they were extremely short sited. The past elected leadership is a representation of the uninformed voters. Voters need to be informed and show up at TOWN MEETING!!!!!!!!! Do you realize that 150 voters make all the decisions for the rest of us, think about that!!!
It's systemic. The entire
Frank BrunelleIt's systemic. The entire apparatus is affected. Secrecy, lack of transparency play a large part. A refusal to respond it part of the problem which indicates that they follow some internally created path that does not actually reflect the realities around them.
Yes, VH is now becoming like
Mike Desanto TisburyYes, VH is now becoming like Oak Bluffs, riddled with controversy. I have never seen more inept government, the highest tax bills, with no results. Now everyone is worried about one tree on beach road, yet just a few hundred feet away the Planning Board, via Dan Seidman, endorsed a complete massive construction, Sam Dunn project, on a barrier beach, wetland, velocity zone, shore zone, and the Lagoon Pond district. These type of inconsistencies need the newspapers to review. Though I don't suspect payoffs, I do see ignorance and lack of any coherent enforcement. Maybe that is why Tisbury is the only town with no new government offices, the government can't even decide where, and the taxpayers won't pay/stand for it? Yes, re-elect Dan Seidman, like we just did.
Good example of the problem!
Very Annoyed Vineyard HavenGood example of the problem! When you are electing the officials on the Planning Board and other boards they bring their personnel agendas with them and having selectmen who are part time managers of the town with their agendas, you get government that is ineffective for the taxpayers! Again did you vote at Town Meeting! Town Meeting is the KEY for the better government!
I attended the all the vision
Lynne Fraker Vineyard HavenI attended the all the vision meetings and the concerns about Town disorganization went way beyond just the DPW. The Selectmen don't want to hear that and have refused to respond to problems in other departments. I agree that there needs to be more honesty and transparency from the Selectmen. A department head gets fired after 18 months, yet there are inept department heads in place for years.
Would an island-wide DPW be
Ben New YorkWould an island-wide DPW be more efficient and, with the larger scale of the department, be able to attract top-quality talent in this area?
The function of the Director
Tony Lacina Bourne, MAThe function of the Director should be to guide and aim the department, and enforce the policies of the town and the union contract. The Director, in my opinion, should NOT be an engineer and/or attorney. He/she should be a craftsperson who has leadership qualities and technical experience in day to day operations of a business model. He/She should be the guiding light and know WHO to call for advice and guidance in key situations. In other words, the Director should not be required to know everything, but a little of everything and have the ability to say "I don't know, but will find out". Perhaps it should be a requirement he/she be a member of a Facilities Administrator's Group where there are talent numbering in the hundreds of members who all share information? Given a chance, I am sure I could make this department function as it should.
First, it has come to people
Frank BrunelleFirst, it has come to people's attention that the tree cutting incident will be reviewed at the Tuesday Selectman's meeting. People should show up. This added to the blight on Beach Road but more than that all of the trees are in danger of being cut down unless the town takes action to change how things are done.
More importantly, in general, bad decisions and no actions, and inept management have combined to create a kind of perfect storm of blight and decreased property values. We understand that the Vineyard Haven Beach Road, Lagoon, and Main Street properties have decreased in value about 10% in the last few years. This is an anomaly on the island. Everything else is okay. So why? Was it the Watefront Zoning Bylaw that so restricted use that created blight that then caused this? That is a question, not a statement. I believe we need to find the answer. And if 10% less is true, then what is the dollar amount? Would that indicate about a 20 million dollar drop in property values overall or what exactly, if it can be determined, is the amount. And then another question would be if other towns are seeing rising values, like Edgartown for example, then would proper management decisions have resulted in a non-blighted Beach Road, and rising values? I think we need to start asking questions. Maybe these are not even the right questions, but we have to start somewhere, somehow.
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