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<DIV><FONT size=2>Chuck,</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2>You might compare the pace of work of the city public works
employees with that, say, of those employees at Les Schwab, who understand the
importance of working at a reasonable pace to satisfy their employers and to
satisfy their employer's customers (who ultimately pay the employees' wages,
like the taxpayers who pay the wages of the public works
employees).</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2>For example, several of us watched the city doing work on
Jefferson between 3rd and 6th this summer. What a joke.
Generally, not only was the one person actually doing the work moving slow, but
there were some public works workers just standing around or sitting under a
tree. Those of us who come to the post office daily observed this on
several occasions and remarked upon it.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2>Then there are the street markings workers. How slow can
you move without being confused with snails or statues? </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2>Why does it take three people to trim low hanging branches
from a tree?</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2>My comments are not about how <STRONG>well</STRONG> the work
gets done (although in the case first cited above among others, there are were
some serious questions<STRONG>*</STRONG>), but how <STRONG>slow</STRONG> the
workers are. During my summer travels, I can assure you that in some
cities and other places, I see city/county/state workers actually work at a
reasonably good pace and without an overabundance of standees. Can you
imagine this: In one city it took <STRONG>one</STRONG> employee just five
minutes to replace a street sign! Good luck in seeing this in
Moscow.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2>Slow workers or standing around workers mean higher taxes for
residents, or in the alternative, less money to spend on other items. One
would hope that in these recessionary times workers and their
<STRONG>supervisors </STRONG>would show enough concern and sensitivity to public
perception/pain to perform at a reasonable pace. I view this as a
supervisory/management problem, and one of long standing. It is also one
of certain other city officials being in denial about the problem.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2>If the public works department head or the underlying
supervisors do not promote/insist upon a reasonable work pace, it is
unlikely that the actual workers will voluntarily adopt such. I cannot say
from personal experience in the city of Moscow (but only by anecdotal evidence),
but it is possible that certain city public works workers who want to work
faster or smarter are sometimes discouraged from doing so by their peers who
have been employed longer by the city.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2>Wayne A. Fox<BR>1009 Karen Lane<BR>PO Box 9421<BR>Moscow,
ID 83843</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2><A href="mailto:waf@moscow.com">waf@moscow.com</A><BR>208
882-7975</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2><STRONG>*</STRONG>Why was the excuse of not knowing about the
lack of suitable Jefferson substrata used to explain the delay in resurfacing
Jefferson when the city had dug (and redug) several very deep holes in Jefferson
when working on the water mains several weeks (months?) earlier? The long
delay in paving/reopening Jefferson not only was inconvenient for those using
the federal building, including the post office, but most likely impacted
the businesses at 3rd and Jefferson where the ingress/egress from the parking
lot was a hassle.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV>----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE
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<DIV
style="FONT: 10pt arial; BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=ckovis@turbonet.com href="mailto:ckovis@turbonet.com">Chuck Kovis</A>
</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A title=deco@moscow.com
href="mailto:deco@moscow.com">Art Deco</A> ; <A title=vision2020@moscow.com
href="mailto:vision2020@moscow.com">Vision 2020</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Wednesday, December 09, 2009 9:07
AM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> Re: [Vision2020] Ode to the City
of Moscow Public works Department</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial>What a cheap shot. This city is as well run
as any I have ever seen. Chuck
Kovis</FONT></DIV></BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML>