Click image for Haverhill City Council agenda.
Haverhill City Council learns tomorrow night why Mayor James J. Fiorentini has yet to hire a maintenance director—a key agreement leading to last June’s approval of a $201 million city budget.
The mayor seems ready instead to pay $12,500 for the city’s share of a study to review city wide building maintenance operations. Haverhill schools would pay the other half—similar to the arrangement reached last June to hire a director to coordinate repairs and upkeep of all city buildings and share the cost of a heating and cooling professional.
Back then. the mayor said he was convinced to add the new jobs after meeting with Councilors Colin F. LePage and Joseph J. Bevilacqua. Fiorentini told councilors holding out for $250,000 more for maintenance they were mistaken if they believe it would solve problems.
“That doesn’t include the cost of the tools and machinery that they’ll need. It doesn’t include the overtime. It doesn’t include the cost of supervising them. It doesn’t include their healthcare, their pension, their sick leave or their unemployment benefits. It doesn’t include their retirement benefits and it doesn’t include their healthcare benefits upon retirement,” he said.
The schools continue to top the Council’s agenda as the mayor asks the Council’s permission to request a new boiler for John C. Tilton School and new Haverhill High School roof. As WHAV previously reported, the request will go before the Massachusetts School Building Authority for possible state financial help.