Albany City Commission OKs temps contract, UPS agreement

ALBANY — Sharon Subadan got a taste of bizarro city commission Wednesday night.

At the commission’s business meeting, pushed back a day because of Tuesday’s primary elections, the city manager found herself in the atypical position of having to defend an agenda line item that had already been fully vetted and tentatively approved by Albany city commissioners at a previous work session. It was an item designed specifically to save labor costs.

Yet two of the city’s six commissioners — Ward II’s Bobby Coleman and Ward VI’s Tommie Postell — argued extensively that signing a $382,800 contract with the Labor Finders business that had been supplying the city with temporary labor for years was bad government for supposed reasons that ran counter to the agreement’s need in the first place.

First, Postell said temporary workers did not have the motivation to do the work they were hired to do, that some would “sit around until quitting time and get taxpayer money for it.” Efforts by Subadan, assistant city managers Phil Roberson and Stephen Collier, and even by fellow commissioner B.J. Fletcher did little to convince Postell that the company’s workers had been effective, and well-supervised.

“We carefully control the employees used under this contract,” Subadan said in response to Postell’s remarks. “Our supervisors are the ones who determine whether the temporary employees are doing the job satisfactorily. If they don’t do the job, they don’t get paid.”

Coleman followed Postell’s remarks with a suggestion that the city not use temporary employees, who, Roberson explained, were often hired for seasonal jobs. Coleman’s solution: Hire full-time employees and give them full-time benefits.

Fletcher’s interjection that Labor Finders, which she said is operated by a local, minority owner and is run well with carefully screened employees, appeared to fall on mostly deaf ears.

“Those folks’ place is right behind my restaurant, and I’ve seen them send (potential) employees home for being three minutes late or for having on baggy pants,” the Ward III commissioner said. “They run a tight ship over there, and this is a local company providing local jobs.”

Fletcher later pointed out that the board had voted to approve the contract as a cost-saving measure.

“We don’t pay insurance, we don’t pay the employees; Labor Finders does everything,” she said. “We save money, and our supervisors determine whether (the temporary workers) are doing their jobs adequately. If these folks don’t work, they don’t get paid.”

Coleman remained adamant in his opposition, countering Roberson’s assertion that some Labor Finders temporary employees are utilized for seasonal work by proclaiming, “They can go from one season to the next. If they’re picking oranges, once orange season is done, they can pick peaches.”

In the end, Coleman was the only board member to vote against the measure.

Other action taken at the meeting included:

— Approval of an alcohol license application for Mike’s Country Store 3 at 3203 Gillionville Road;

— Approval of a $106,535.38 contract with Oxford Construction Co. for hangar demolition at the Southwest Georgia Regional Airport;

— Renewal of a lease agreement with UPS at the airport;

— Approval of $3.49 in utility rate increases starting July 1;

— The OK of a resolution calling for governmental support of the Oaks at North Intown housing project;

— Signing off on the use of SPLOST VI funding for the paving of one alley in each of the city’s six wards;

— Approval of a $500,000 contract with Electric Cities of Georgia for right-of-way power line clearing and maintenance;

— Renewal of software and Internet agreements.

As with the temporary labor contract, Postell questioned Subadan and Roberson extensively about the $3.49 utilities increase that had been previously vetted and approved by both the City Commission and the Albany Utility Board.

“These rates were used to build our 2017 budget,” Subadan noted, leading Postell to remark, “This should have been done 15 years ago to keep our customers from getting sticker shock.”

Roberson offered commissioners a list of alleys set for paving, including the Vintage Avenue alley in Ward I, First Avenue in Ward II, Lincoln Avenue in Ward III, Jones Avenue in Ward IV, Stuart Avenue in Ward V and Shadowlawn Avenue in Ward VI.

Roberson said the city’s target date to start the paving project is within 30 days of Wednesday’s vote.

Before the business portion of the meeting, Mayor Dorothy Hubbard read proclamations congratulating the Monroe High School girls track team and the Sherwood Christian Academy girls soccer team for their recent state championships. A similar proclamation was approved for the Deerfield-Windsor School track team, which did not attend the meeting.