WATERTOWN — In cost saving moves, City Council members have agreed to cut the hours of both the Flower Memorial Library and the city’s summer recreation playgrounds in the coming year.
As recommended by its director and board, the library will not be open on Sundays and Thursday nights. The move will save the city $20,000 in the proposed 2017-18 budget by eliminating a part-time librarian/clerk.
The decision was made during a four-hour budget session Tuesday night, the second one since City Manager Sharon A. Addison proposed the $42.5 million budget that carries a 4.5 percent property tax increase.
City Council members on Tuesday night went ahead with the plan, because fewer patrons go through the library’s doors on Sundays and Thursday nights. Executive Director Yvonne F. Reff said less than 200 patrons go to the library on most Sundays. Wednesdays are generally the busiest.
“The library’s hours should be up to you,” Mayor Joseph M. Butler Jr. said.
Six years ago, council members established the longtime goal of adding Sunday hours as a stipulation for the library board requesting additional staff.
Councilman Stephen A. Jennings said Wednesday the City Council can revisit the issue if the public comes forward to complain about the cut in library hours.
The library will be open 57 hours a week, from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Mondays through Wednesdays and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays.
Meanwhile, council members also agreed on Tuesday to increase the number of playgrounds in the summer recreation program from four to five playgrounds, but reduce the all-day program to five hours.
They decided to put money aside in the spending plan to pay staff for five playgrounds that will be open from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Mondays through Fridays this summer.
In previous years, the playgrounds were open from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., with four playgrounds operating the last two summers. The cost of the program will decrease from $49,000 to $22,400.
“I don’t know if we need to be there all day, but we need to be there every day,” Mayor Butler said.
In concurring with council members on Tuesday night, Erin E. Gardner, the city’s parks and recreation superintendent, agreed the program should include playgrounds at the Alex T. Duffy Fairgrounds, the North Elementary School, and on Portage and North Hamilton streets. A brand new North Star playground that opened earlier this spring, at the old site off Bradley Street, will be added this summer.
“We’re trying to go forward from here,” Ms. Gardner said Wednesday.
Calling it “child care,” Ms. Addison eliminated the program’s staff altogether before council members unanimously agreed to put it back into the proposed budget.
But council members expressed concerns that some parents use the playgrounds for child care by dropping their children off at the playgrounds in the morning and picking them in the afternoon.
Run by the Parks and Recreation Department, the program will be staffed by two seasonal counselors at each playground and a director to oversee it. Children get to participate in a variety of activities such as kickball games, board games and arts and crafts. The city still hopes to offer free lunches to the children.
Over the years, attendance has dwindled, with competition from children getting involved in video games and other activities. As recently as three years ago, the city hosted seven playgrounds and 11 back in 2009.
During Tuesday’s budget session, Fire Chief Dale C. Herman criticized the city manager for taking a 31-year-old ladder truck out of the five-year capital program.
The ladder truck, a backup for “Truck One,” is becoming less reliable while the cost of repairs increase, he said. Recently, the city paid $30,000 to overhaul its engine.
According to industry standards, fire department vehicles are not safe if they are more than 25 years old. Last year, the ladder truck went on 701 calls. It would cost an estimated $1.3 million to replace. The department also has a 2004 ladder truck that it uses on a daily basis.
Ms. Addison notified Chief Herman in April she eliminated the vehicle from the capital projects plan. However, it takes about two years to replace a ladder truck, from the time it goes out to bid, City Council approves the purchase and the order gets filled before the vehicle is finally delivered, the fire chief said.
The subject of increasing overtime costs for the fire department also came up again Tuesday.
Councilman Stephen A. Jennings reiterated that the budget includes a 34 percent increase in overtime for the fire department, from $468,668 to $631,000. He believes the fire department is purposely driving up OT costs amid a nearly three-year contract dispute with the firefighters union. He believes the department can run more efficiently.
It also came out that former water superintendent Michael J. Sligar remains a member of the city’s negotiating team with the firefighters’ union. Ms. Addison told council members Mr. Sligar will be paid $3,900 for his involvement in the negotiations in the coming year.
Budget discussions will continue without Councilman Mark C. Walczyk, who will be away at military reserves for the next three weeks. He might be back in time to vote on the budget.
“This is a final budget session for me,” he told his colleagues Tuesday night. “Good luck everyone with it.”
He urged his colleagues to pass a budget that includes essential funding for things like public safety and infrastructure.
“I hope this government slims down and focuses on the basics,” he said.
He still hopes the budget will come under the state’s 1.64 percent tax cap. However, his colleagues decided to override the tax cap.
On Tuesday, Ms. Addison also reported that the budget plan will have five new positions. As of Jan. 1, the city will use a $150,000 grant to help pay for a building safety inspector and secretary in the codes enforcement office. A part-time clerk for the Parks Department, a temporary administrative specialist for the city manager and an intern for the engineering, water and wastewater department also have been placed in the budget.
A code enforcement aide would be eliminated. Two firefighters in codes would be cut after their pending retirements, according to the budget plan.
The public will have a chance to give input to the spending plan at a budget hearing on May 15. The next budget session will be May 8 when council members continue to talk about the fire department and discuss code enforcement and police departments.