Flooding racks up overtime in Rock County
JANESVILLE — The Rock River is slowly receding into its banks.
But overtime for public officials continues to add up.
As of Wednesday, Rock County had spent $260,500 on equipment and overtime to deal with flooding. That number will keep getting bigger, county department heads said.
The city of Janesville still was working on collecting overtime numbers, administrative analyst Peter Riggs said. But it was safe to say parks and public works department employees worked lots of overtime battling the Rock River.
The Janesville police department logged 400 hours of overtime at a cost of $22,000 between June 14 and 19, Deputy Chief Steve Kopp said.
The biggest expenses for county government were buying sandbags and paying overtime to sheriff’s deputies and public works employees, according to a June 25 report from Assistant Administrator Phil Boutwell.
The county department of public works spent $77,799 on overtime and equipment, according to the report. The department spent an additional $43,800 on repairs and water control on County KK and the Indianford Dam.
Sandbags cost the county $52,650, and that was “just the beginning,” Emergency Management Coordinator Shirley Connors said.
When Connors talked to The Janesville Gazette on Thursday morning, she still hadn’t seen all the invoices for sand and bags.
Emergency management spent $3,700 on equipment, including coolers and sun canopies for Wisconsin National Guardsmen deployed in the county from June 19 to June 23.
The point of bringing in the Guard was to reduce sheriff’s office overtime, Sheriff Bob Spoden said. And it did free up deputies to leave safety checkpoints and get back to regular patrols, he said.
But the overtime still piled up.
Spoden said Thursday the department spent $71,285 on overtime for deputies as of June 26. That was already $20,000 more than the number Boutwell reported the day before while he prepared to give the Federal Emergency Management Agency a tour of the county.
FEMA workers were in Rock County on Thursday to assess damage to public property such as bridges and roads.
The sheriff’s office’s goal was to maintain a strong presence in flooded areas, Spoden said.
“That served two purposes,” Spoden said. “It offered a little bit of comfort and security to those affected and acted as a deterrent for those who see this as an opportunity to loot or scam people.”
The county provided some workers at no cost. Jail inmates in Community RECAP filled sandbags and built retaining walls for nine days straight, Spoden said.
What he’ll remember from his tours of the flood is the uplifting sight of neighbors, volunteers and inmates working alongside each other.
“You had an event that probably will never occur again in our lifetime,” Spoden said. “The commitment of neighbors to help each other—that’s the thing we can take from this dark cloud, from the sadness and the property destruction. That’s something you can’t put a price on.”
FLOOD OF EXPENSES
Overtime and other expenses incurred by Rock County for flooding response through Wednesday (numbers rounded to the nearest hundred):
-- Department of public works: $121,500
-- Emergency management: $57,000
-- Rock County Communications Center: $6,300
-- Sheriff’s office: $64,400
-- Planning department: $4,600
-- Public health: $6,700
Source: Rock County Administrator’s Office
Jun 30, 2008 at 9:23 p.m.
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If these fine people put in for overtime for all the work for our community that they have done on thier offtime this county would be broke.
I'm sure those of you complaining about it would not mind if you are at the clock punching out and your boss walks up and says you have to stay for another shift but you you won't be paid for it.
Jun 30, 2008 at 8:21 p.m.
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I know this is off topic, but JCK makes a point worth commenting about. I read the story and I think the basis for the grievance was that "volunteer" fireman were taking overtime opportunities away from Public Works employees.
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Earth to Union representing employees filing grievance, come in please. You have made a public relations blunder of epic proportions. You do not appear greedy, insensitive and self-serving - you are those things. There is nothing you can do now to redeem yourself. Please advise said membership not to turn their back to the traffic when working in public.
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Jun 30, 2008 at 3:27 p.m.
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Fortunately this isn't Baraboo where the public works employees have filed a grievance through their union because firefighters filled sand bags and they didn't get all the overtime they could have. Now they want to be paid for work someone else did.
I don't have a problem with workers wanting to be paid but I have a problem with this.
Jun 30, 2008 at 12:06 a.m.
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Go figure...!!! :( :( :(
Like some didn't see THAT one coming!!
Jun 29, 2008 at 8:59 p.m.
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Ummmmm, some of us were actually watching our own/family members homes being destroyed while watching the ignorant people driving by stop and take pictures of our homes like it was some kind of amusement day. Many people have helped in all kinds of ways, many have simply showed their selfish ignorance. I am sure that the majority were volunteering on their own time and expecting nothing, thanks be to them.....
Jun 29, 2008 at 7:16 p.m.
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I took the week off W/o pay thank you,to try and get my two cents worth in,filled so many sand bags,i feel like an hour glass.Maybe my spelling aint so goood,but my heart is in the right place,and aint gonna ask anyone else what they did,don't care. My point was & is you don't always have to get paid for a goood deed ,to many o's,i'm sorry!!!!
Jun 29, 2008 at 5:45 p.m.
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oh my here we go again picking on someone who miss spells a few words...........good greif get a life. I completely understood what woodsman was typing about. and yes i do miss spell words on pourpose just to tick people like you off. now i will get back on the subject. I'm glad to have the fine people of our city and county working as they do and yes they should get paid for what they do. and also they were there on their own time when they could be. evidently you wern't there to see them volunteering were you? ha ha I was.Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
see i took both sides of this argument and i got my 2 cents in. Can't we all just get along???????????????????
STAY SAFE
Jun 29, 2008 at 3 p.m.
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woodsman, perhaps someone should volunteer their time to teach you spelling and grammar before you post any more ignorant comments.
Jun 29, 2008 at 2:42 p.m.
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I'm sure these great people helped in other ways we don't know about, off the clock. I'm grateful there are such services and people doing them, both on and off the clock. it makes for a great community.
Thank you guys!
Jun 29, 2008 at 1:38 p.m.
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R u kidding me? These professionals have lives, wives, children etc. Do you volunteer to work 40 hrs of overtime per week at your job just because.......I doubt it.
Jun 29, 2008 at 11:41 a.m.
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I never have been able to get it,guess i never will! Why? When some thing happens that need a helping hand from the community,why is there always this overtime exspents??? They should be doing this for FREE,on their own time,just like the rest of the community dose,Volunteering there Time & Expertise should be a givin. But i guess the profesionals can't do NOTHING for FREE!!
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