The Selectmen vote to hire a new worker for the DPW at a higher step and determine to revisit wages in July. One DPW employee has quit and a second has interviewed for another job over wage issues.

CLARKSBURG, Mass. — The town is entering a busy road construction season — but may not have the manpower to handle it.

Officials on Tuesday were scrambling to replace one worker who had quit and facing the possibility that a second member of the three-man department could leave.

"We could be down to one person ... But I'm still taking my vacation," said Highway Foreman Kyle Hurlbut only half jokingly.

At issue is the town's outdated compensation and classification plan and the failure to update certain employees to their proper steps. Further complicating the problem of wages is a policy that requires employees pass their anniversary date before getting to the next step at the beginning of the next fiscal year.

That means a worker hired on June 29 would get a raise July 1; a worker hired on July 2 would have to wait until the next July 1 after that date for his or her step raise to kick in.

The Selectmen had frozen any step raises earlier this year until the three-member board could review them and institute changes.

That left one worker out $1,100 and prevented another from moving up a step based on gaining his licenses. All employees did, however, receive 3 percent cost of living raises.

"I feel the salaries are comparable with other small towns," said Hurlbut. "The problem was the start [wage]."

The town has attracted few applications with its current wage structure, with laborers starting at $13.50. The board on Tuesday voted to place the DPW vacancy on BerkshireJobs.com and offer wages starting at the six-month mark - adding about 50 cents more — and bypass the probationary wage step. The highest starting pay would be $16.98 for someone who holds two required commercial licenses.

But starting a new worker near the top also won't sit well with current employees, Hurlbut said.

"That's why your Highway Department is looking for other jobs," he said. "They were out busting their butts all winter long.

"I don't want to fight, I want to fix this. ... I feel bad for my guys."

Board members agreed they wanted to do right by the workers, which was why they had planned on revisiting the compensation chart once the budget was done and passed.

Chairman Jeffre Levanos described the wages as "stagnant numbers," and Town Administrator Carl McKinney noted there have been years with no pay raises and forced furloughs.

"At town meeting, there were people who think we should be investing into the town," said Selectman William Schrade. "So salaries are an investment."

But there was disagreement on whether to bump the DPW up immediately with a $3,000 overage in the salary account or use it for part-time help. Levanos advocated for fixing the DPW issue now but Schrade objected that it would be unfair to the two library workers who were also behind a year in step raises.

"We can't do anything about the library but we can do something about the DPW," Levanos said. "We're in dire straights."

Hurlbut said there would be weeks during the summer with only two workers limiting their ability to do certain work because of safety issues. The town voted $65,000 for culverts to be put in but lack of staff could mean having to contract that work out.

But Schrade said he couldn't vote raising one worker's pay without doing the others as well.

"In my thinking, [the pay step] was going to be made up, but in the short term, it is a slap in the face," said Selectwoman Linda Reardon, who repeatedly assured Hurlbut the salary issues would be fixed this summer.

The board determined to set the hiring wages for a new worker and use part of the overage for part-time hours. It will review the wages in July and present a new plan at a special town meeting being set early this fall to decide the school feasibility study.

In other business, the West Cross Road reconstruction project to A.J. Virgilio Construction Inc., which had the low bid of $855,000 — but not until after removing three open-bottom culverts from the plans.

The town received a $920,000 MassWorks grant to reconstruct West Cross but open-bottom culverts have jumped in price from $26,000 a piece to $260,000. Virgilio's initial bid with the culverts was $1.4 million; a second bidder at $1.11 million pulled out because of the price changes.

The culvert cost also affected the bidding on the Gates Avenue project, which all came in over the $350,000 budgeted. The project is being rebid and McKinney said it would put the project behind four weeks.

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