Now in this time of economic turmoil we must be vigilant in how we spend our money, not only in our households and in the businesses we run, but also in our cities and towns.
Yesterday’s editorial in the local paper would lead you to believe otherwise. It is my contention that money spent at home, in our own community reticulates and come back to help those who live here. This is what I mean….if it costs a little more to have municipal work done locally it benefits our community more so than if we were to send that money out of town. I will concede that there are indeed times when it is necessary to bring in experts but that is not an everyday thing.
Case in point, the city’s decision to send over $108,000 out of town to paint pavement lines… work that could easily be done by people here who desperately need jobs.
Mr. Marquardt has researched this street painting issue and found a “top of the line” stripping machine cost around $2,995.00… certainly affordable when considering the use it will receive year after year. In fact some enterprising person could buy one and start bidding this sort of work not only here but in this entire region. The cost isn’t really prohibitive. Add to that the dollars re-circulating back into our local economy from paying wages and buying paint and other supplies right here in town.
It is hard not to notice that every time NIT points out issues such as the outside painting contract, the Globe counters in defense of City Hall. This tells us a couple of things, (1) John Skipper is an employee of the city, or (2) the City runs the Globe Gazette. It is turning into a serial……
Peter Children
Biggest issue/cost in dealing with paint is the requirements from EPA. Don’t know all the details but alot of government regulations and OSHA overhead if we had the equipment and employees trained and compliant. Easier and very possibly cheaper to oursource. If there were a local guy that did the work, I would be all for him getting the bid. We aren’t big enough a community to keep a company or crew employed full time. It’s a reality, not a conspiracy. Next topic please.
Peter, it’s the other way around. The esteemed Globe-Gazette Editorial Board runs City Hall.
I’m just embarrassed that you misspelled ‘striping’ in your amazing op-ed…
Great website…entertaining to read the opinions of amateurs who have nothing better to do than complain about everyone else.
“spellcheck” but a loser like yourself keeps coming back. Glad to see u have high standards.
Do your city maintence workers actually make $50k a year? not in my town. the cost is $108k for a few weeks or a months work. even at 40-50K a year for 2 full time employees. I have a feeling you could find another job for them to do. like pulling weeds??? how much was that contract for Matt?? Add that into the savings. Lets see 2x$50,000 is about $100,000. and i believe that is still less than $108,000 where I live. And we all know there are good employees that will work for less than $50K. Plus you could get another 47-50 weeks worth of work out of these new employees. Which also needs to be included in the savings. people from Mason City that will have more money to spend in YOUR stores. and a couple less families on welfare maybe. Do you have any potholes for these new employees to repair in town?? vehicles to maintain? grass to cut? water lines to repair? Ill bet you do. and even if these new employees arnt capable for water or sewer repair, it frees up time for the more experienced workers to do the job. nobody… not even Katie or Anonymous knew everything at their job the first day. whats wrong with training them to be better citizens? alot of people bitch and moan about people on welfare or freeloaders. this is one way to help. ever hear the phraze “little strokes fell great oaks”. it makes common sence to me. BTW I do not know Matt, Peter or any of you. so I DO come into this with an open mind, and, am old enough and smart enough to make my own decisions. Katie: IM sorry to say it but you have no faith in people. to think you need a degree to operate machinery such as this is sorry to hear. Maybe its simple because you have never worked around machines, ect I dont know. and Anonymous……sorry to everyone here, but if you really believe what you say, then your a dumbshit
I don’t think you need a degree to run machinery, but I know there are a lot of people out there who don’t give a crap about doing their jobs right. I ran my own business for over 10 years, with various types of equipment, and ended up with broken equipment, on a smaller scale, because some people didn’t follow the instructions or were just plain careless. No matter how much you train them, some people just don’t care. Some were too lazy to even clean out the coffee pot when it was empty. The City would need to find people who know what they’re doing and have a proven record with equipment so no one has to babysit them or that $3000 striper could be ruined in no time if a worker fails to clean it properly at the end of the day.
As for learning on the job, I am having to learn something new constantly, thanks to Obama and his never-ending government reporting. I wish my employer would terminate all his employees’ benefits because I’m so tired of all the red tape that goes along with them. I’m sick to death of it and may apply to be a road striper instead.
I have noticed how the Globe ALWAYS defends city hall and it’s mistakes and agendas. AND it IS interesting to note how more recently they counter articles and opinions from NI Today. Very corrupt and almost funny. Almost.
Its almost like the globe and sme people in this town are afraid of the little guy becoming the true source for information in this area. Globe keep following NIT’s lead maybe you too will get a following.
Matt if they didn’t know you were right they wouldn’t write the articles or send their cronies to your site. Keep up the good work. I am a proud non member of the beermeyer brown collar group. The air is much better not having to run around with your head stuck up his butt.
In my business some of my accounts demand I carry insurance. I bought a million dollar coverage for $285.00 a year. This is not rocket science
Peter the cost of insurance depends on the type of work you are doing.Liability and workmans comp are MUCH higher in high risk jobs.Insurance companies look at potential/probability of big payouts and dodging traffic is high risk.Like I said before have you guys driven in Mason City lately?
Reggie, you are right. There are all the hidden expenses with a project like this that anyone who has not run this type of business knows nothing about. Heck, there are probably laws about how and where you can clean the paint machine each time you use it. They probably have to get permits for it and then file a stack of environment impact reports just for that. I know how government works for that kind of thing.
I work for a small business and I wish I could outsource all my government reports! And I am NOT a crony of any news organization. I am an independent thinker.
I appreciate your thoughts. We have a difference of opinion and I respect your viewpoint. Thanks again for contributing.
You seem to know a lot about insurance Reggie, are you by chance in that business?
Peter, it’s called ‘common sense’. I knew that and I’m not an ins. agent or ever played one on tv.
Darn Be My Guest you took my comeback away but no Peter I am NOT in insurance.Matt now that is the civil way of disagreeing
i second that Reggie: this is alot better article and discussion that another recent article about your mayor. calm heads will win more people over in a debate.
People are always haters, they got nothing important to say so be the bigger person and walkaway.
Wish all sides respected each other and worked for the general good of the city.
Well Crazy: if everyone “just walked away” then NOTHING would ever get resolved. and I think that most of the people on here DO want whats best for the city. its just that sometimes some people (city hall) get to “big for their britches” and forget where they came from. just “throw it away today and buy it again tomorrow” is their motto. “somebody will pay for it”. is that really what you want Crazy? or do you think it would have been smarter to have a couple city employees do the work with the equipment they already had. BTW… the city already has insurance for that.
Years ago the city painted the cross walks, parking lots and other lines that needed to be painted inside the city. They also maintained the water line that goes to your water meter. Now if you have trouble with your water line, leak/break, you get to hire a private contractor to fix it to the tune of $5000.00 or more. Hows that feel????
There is way more to this than Matt and peter know. According to IDOT you would have to have flagmen for safety issues. Special Insurance. To hire extra people and pay them for these services with flagmen or wormen plus the time it takes to do it. I think the costs would be way more than 100,000 dollars. It is easy for peter and matt to say buy a 2600.00 dollar machine and you can do the work cheaper. It definitely wouldn’t be faster and all the other factors would cost way more than a 100,000
Anonymous… AKA Junior, Michael, harry, fyi, wishy washy, and several other names. I just gotta laugh at this. Another A-Teamer afraid to blog with real name. Not surprising. I will say that IDOT may have these requirements, and the city has already met all of them when they do other street projects. Why are you singling this one out? People are smarter than that… try again. “Special insurance”… maybe you sell insurance, perhaps on 2nd Street? Too funny. I want some of that “special insurance.” Is that anything like magic underwear? And then you say it “wouldn’t be faster.” Another laugher. Having stencils in a storage shed, paint, and the paint sprayer ready to go at a moment’s notice is slower than having the Gilbert, Iowa crew come up? Please. I have it directly from a person that USED TO DO THIS JOB for the city. It is much, much cheaper being done in house.
Matt and Peter ,I agree we should always look at hiring local and doing it in house but I don’t think we want part time college kids dodging traffic in Mason City. Have you guys driven around here lately?Mason City use to have 2 guys that painted.Thats 2 salaries at 40 to 50 thousand each plus fringes.Add in the cost of the paint,stencils,traffic control,training for using the potentially toxic paint,MSDS training,storage of the paint in an approved structure and maybe outsourcing doesn’t sound quite as bad.
Jeez, who’s being big brother now?
I hope anonymous has house numbers on his computer…
I never saw a flagger when the company was in town last year. They don’t have a flagger when the do other work in the streets. They are needed when one lane of traffic is closed and the other is used for traffic moving both directions in on lane. Anonymous should check out a traffic control class.
What you have here is an obviously do-able idea that would save the city money and put people to work. Period. What you also have here is city hall leadership (mayor, council and others) totally disconnected from thinking outside the box. If it is not their idea, they do not care and will pay no attention. In fact, they will actually go to the local newspaper and convince their lackeys there to editorialize against it, even to the tune of advocating OUTSOURCING.
The city is in trouble folks, it is getting worse, and if you tune in twice a month on Tuesday nights you can watch 7-8 of the captains lead you to the bottom.
Matt, grow up or we’ll take away your crayons.
You A-Teamers woud love to take NIT away, and me with it, I’m sure. You have actually tried to do this, over and over, and nothing so far has worked for you. I almost feel bad for you. I have a tiny grain of pity for you and your bumbling, desperate maneuvers. It is all documented. Someday I will write about it. Until then, thanks for visiting NIT multiple times a day.
Nobody wants to take your toys away from you, Matt. Isn’t the fact that I come here regularly to read this proof enough? I just want to point out your failings as a journalist and shaper of public opinion.
Whenever I drive by a car wreck, I always say to myself, “he shoulda had his eyes open.”
This makes a lot of sense. Why wouldnt the City Engineer recommend this? He must be a little preoccupied with something or another that he is not focusing on his job?
This job could be done by part time summer help. It could help some young students make some money for collage, It woul cost less in the long run and the $2,900.00 machine could be used every year.
This service is done by bid. It’s clear that there’s a need for it in this region and no one local bid the job. Some enterprising college kid should invest some money in this equipment that Matt recommends and start bidding these projects. If the low bid was $100,000 this year, and you could invest $3,000 for the equipment, you should be able to bid the job at $90,000 and make $87,000 JUST FROM MASON CITY. Imagine what you could earn if you expanded to the surrounding communities and took up painting parking lot lines! Why should the City be competing with private enterprise?
This is not about a bidding process. This is an arguement about why would the city Spend money when it would be must more cost effective to do it in house. The city could save money, not spend and also put a couple of citizens to work.
Your issue of private vs public enterprise is going to fall on deaf ears here for the simply reason look at the basic economics of this whole deal.
1. Jobs – not that the mayor or Corridor have attracted any
2. Why dont have purchase a piece of equipment that can be used over time, does the city have a depreciation schedule?
It just makes sense
I remember a few years ago Mason City had a contract to pull weeds around central park and a few other areas…boy I was steaming about that…we have full time employees to mow and they cant pull weeds? But memory serves me that a service company in town was hired…for a few years in fact. Were there any other bids, especially from local service companies for the painting?
I do agree with Children on the idea, with the college students, and you take it a step further and partner with either NIACC or an enterprise to start a business with needs in town that get constantly bid out, the candidates could submit a business plan and the one with the best plan would receive the business incubator loan money we all hear about. You would present this to the city council and they would give you a deer in the headlights look and thank you for your time because its not something that is big, flashy, something that gets 1,000s of jobs in Mason City, and different than the routine that council and city staff are used to…it would take innovation from a lot of parts.
I gotta agree with Peter & Matt on this one…I think it makes perfect sense to hire part time/seasonal workers to do this work with a permanent city employee supervising. Outsourcing is overdone to an extreme and is highly overated.
I don’t understand why in this city everything is hired out from outside companies. It’s important to shop local to help our local economy, but why isn’t anything hired local. Let’s help out own in this community and as far as painting the lines on the road, why isn’t that done be the city departments????
If no one local bids the job they can’t award it.
Peter, I see there are no comments on the Globe’s web site regarding this. Why didn’t you comment there as well as here? Do you really think the City should hire another worker or two for this job that needs to be done a couple times a year? That wouldn’t be very cost effective. It sounds as if the City really doesn’t have time to do the job with its present staff and it isn’t going to hire 2 more and train them just for this job. Get over it already!
This is not a full-time job. It is SEASONAL and can be done part-time. You are uninformed, “Katie” and quite possibly an A-Teamer in disguise. Why you people hate your own fellow-citizens is a mystery to me. Why don’t you watch the video of the line painting equipment. It proves anyone can do it, at a low cost, anytime it needs to be done, weather cooperating. It beats shelling out $65 to out-of-towners to paint a directional arrow.
Geez, Matt. Don’t be so thin-skinned. Why do you always attempt to taint those who have a different point of view? Katie had some good points and is certainly more civil about it than you, Peter, or the others who all have the same opinion.
Matt why do you resort to name calling when someone like Katie doesn’t agree with you? I think this is a very good topic for discussion without you calling anyone who disagrees with you an A-teamer.Do you always have to be right or can we have some civil discussion and maybe agree to disagree.
Matt, I DID watch the movie when you posted it. Things are never as easy as they look. You can’t hire just anyone to run that piece of equipment. You need someone who can read directions, figure out how to run the thing right, and clean the machine properly afterwards without total supervision. It AIN’T that easy to find someone who can do that without a bunch of training and/or supervision. And they have to understand the measuring and be able to read schematics. Then you let them go when the job is done and have to find someone else the next time you need it done.
I’m not an A-Teamer, whatever that means. I try to decide what’s right on my own and not let anyone do my thinking for me. I just think you are not looking at this objectively.
Oh. I finally get it. City employees are stupid, lazy and can’t follow directions. Thanks for clarifying that one!
I couldn’t agree with Pete more. It’s almost as if he sits in the Globe newsroom with those shut-ins and listens as they take their marching orders. Pete has just written what the whole town already knows, that it has been sold out. Keep the stories coming, Pete, we will publish them.
Good thing Peter has NIT to release all his intracranial flatus via a keyboard. His head would have exploded a long time ago were it not for this outlet.