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07/18/2017 02:15 PMWith the office of the town engineer currently sitting vacant following the resignation of Mike Ott, questions have been raised about the path forward. At a Board of Selectmen (BOS) meeting on July 17, selectmen argued over how the position responsibilities are currently being handled.
After more than a decade’s worth of service to the Town of Madison, Mike Ott resigned as director of engineering on June 26, formally leaving his position before the start of the new fiscal year. Ott will serve the town from a consulting position for the next several months as the town searches for a new engineer. In the meantime, Director of Public Works John Iennaco has been appointed interim director of engineering.
At the BOS meeting, First Selectman Tom Banisch (R) informed the board of the procedure for filling the position.
“The course of action we will take relative to his replacement is currently unknown as we take advantage of this time to look at the possibilities going forward, whether we hire another engineer or contract for engineering services is one such consideration,” he said. “Another involves contracting for project management services.”
Banisch said he wants to consider all options when it comes to filling the post. With Ott under contract for the next several months, Banisch said there is no a rush to make a decision.
“I do know that for the next few months we have work to be done and very capable people,” he said. “I hope the residents of Madison will appreciate that we won’t rush into anything and that we will study our options to determine what is best in the long term.”
While the selectmen took little issue with the plan to eventually fill the position in one way or another, a few did raise concerns about what happens in the interim. Over the nearly 13 years Ott worked for the town, he had been involved in numerous major projects across town, including the Senior Center, the Ambulance Center, Strong Center, major roads reconstruction, the Downtown Center Project, and Salt Meadow Park in addition to day-to-day responsibilities. With such a large position at Town Hall now vacant, selectmen said they just want to be sure nothing falls through the cracks.
Selectman Scott Murphy (D) asked if there was a transition plan in place to make sure all projects and responsibilities previously managed by Ott had been formally reassigned. Banisch said a plan is in place, but Murphy said he thought otherwise.
“I was under the impression today in talking with [Director of Human Resources] Deb [Milardo] that that plan did not exist,” he said. “…It helps to inform us that the downtown project is now going to be owned by so and so and whether or not a conversation between Mike, who has historical information in his brain, has happened. That is just a typical transition plan. I would have expected that a conversation would have taken place on each of those projects...to ensure that the institutional knowledge that is in Mike’s head is going over to whomever is acting as the new town engineer or one of the employees.”
Banisch said a plan was in place, but noted it was not a complete plan.
“It is in the works,” he said. “A transition is not just something that happens overnight…[Ott] is here for four more months. He is contracted with the town, so during that period of time when things get done or don’t get done, then they will be assigned to the people they need to be assigned to. But to stand here two weeks into it and say we have a total plan for how we are going to do everything, that would be a lie.”
Murphy said that typical practice is to come up with a transition plan before the employee leaves the building. To make everyone more comfortable with how Ott’s job is being handled, Selectman Bruce Wilson (R) said it might be nice to see something on paper.
“I do think we have a working strategy in place,” he said. “I would stop short of calling it a written plan, but it sounds like there is a strategy in place to cover. To allay the concerns we are hearing, it would be nice to see Mike’s job description parsed out.”
In the meantime Banisch said department heads are working together to cover different parts of the job description.
“Communications have been excellent and if we have a problem we will work it out,” he said. “...We have a great staff that keeps us organized, believe me.”