State’s budget problems prompt concerns for jobs program
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The cleaning of the Interstate 90/39 rest stop north of Janesville goes on without closing the facility. James Mitchell uses a battery operated scrubber to clean the floors of the main public area of the rest stop.
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Trevor Mitchell washes the windows on the entrance doors at the Interstate 90/39 rest stop north of Janesville. Mitchell is an employee of VIP Services in Elkhorn, which has a contract for maintenance services in the area. Possible state budget cuts could affect the 60 workers at VIP.
ELKHORN — Trevor Mitchell likes to sing while he works. He says simple melodies sung quietly express the joy in his heart. Mitchell, a 40-year-old handicapped worker with VIP Services in Elkhorn, is working a job he enjoys, cleaning rest areas for travelers on interstates in Rock and Walworth counties. He occasionally breaks up the workday with a little standup comedy.
What Mitchell doesn’t do is worry about state contracts that keep him employed. That’s for VIP administrators.
Apprehensive directors worry about the possibility of state budget cuts affecting their $840,000 jobs program that keeps Trevor and 60 others at VIP working.
Mitchell, a six-year veteran with VIP, is more concerned about keeping windows spotless and wood benches buffed. The fragrance of lemon polish lingered as Mitchell moved between tasks on a recent morning. VIP, 811 E. Geneva St., is an agency that provides employment training, support and day-care activities for 375 disabled adults. The agency has operated for 40 years.
The agency has contracts with the state Department of Transportation to clean and maintain two rest stops on I-43 near East Troy and rest stops near Janesville and Beloit on I-90/39.
VIP assigns workers who can keep up with the physical demands and skills needed to work off site and often outdoors. They are paid by the hour and can advance from laborer to supervisor.
VIP workers also clean the Elkhorn Police Department, the state Division of Motor Vehicles Office in Elkhorn and Wisconsin National Guard armories in Whitewater and Elkhorn.
They maintain a one-acre plot where a “Welcome to Wisconsin” sign is planted along Highway 14.
Cindy Simonsen, VIP executive director, said there’s no sign that any rest areas would close, but in this time of volatile state and federal budgets, there’s no telling what can happen.
“We’ve gone through this already—when there were plans a few years ago to stop the cleaning contracts and maybe close rest stops,” Simonsen said. “The rest stop workers attended a state joint finance committee meeting in Racine to testify how important the VIP jobs were to them.”
Simonsen said money somehow becomes available at the last minute to renew contracts that never contain pay increases.
A transportation spokesman said contracts and rest stops are secure at the moment.
The rest stops near Janesville and Beloit are among the top five in visitors, serving about 1,300 travelers daily. That makes cleanup and maintenance all the more important, said Max Dodson, who has been with VIP for 15 years.
In comparison, the rest areas in Walworth County average about 350 visitors daily, according to the DOT.
Dodson, who directs the 60 workers, on a recent morning was at the Janesville location, a 22-acre site that needed sidewalks swept and trash cans emptied.
Dodson has managed VIP work crews in Rock and Walworth counties since 1998. The crew also cuts grass, scrubs floors and removes snow from sidewalks.
Dodson proudly displayed VIP’s new Retco Genie B, a $3,000 floor scrubber that “provides a whole new level of floor cleaning,” he said.
The Beloit rest stop, a 34-acre site, is considered a gateway location because of its proximity to the state line.
The state a few years ago pulled the state tourism employee from the rest stop, and it’s now up to Dodson’s crew to make sure a good supply of tourism brochures is stacked on the shelves.
A state spokesman said VIP, under the direction of Simonsen and Dodson, has worked out well for DOT, but state budget cuts could unexpectedly change the longstanding cleaning and maintenance agreements.
Apr 20, 2011 at 10:31 a.m.
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Walker will cut their budget or close them up. All part of the tea party / republican agenda. Look at what he is doing all over WI to save money and help big business, but not the people that need it.
Apr 18, 2011 at 3:09 p.m.
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Another Gazette "Scare" story. Negative and filled with distortions and half facts. Did you write these when Dolt was in office?
Apr 18, 2011 at 2:50 p.m.
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thanx for the chuckle with yer 'fuzzy math' lar;)
Apr 18, 2011 at 9:51 a.m.
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Lar80: check your math. $840,000 divided by 60 people is $14,000 per individual, not $140,000.
Not quite as much room for cutting now, is there?
Apr 18, 2011 at 9:37 a.m.
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Many of the employees that work for VIP are disabled and only work 4 hours per day, earning Min wage and no benefits, so no way are they "taking home 60K including benefits and perks".
Apr 18, 2011 at 8:33 a.m.
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Just settle down now folks..
.
"$840,000 jobs program that keeps Trevor and 60 others at VIP working"
That adds up to 140K per individual.. I'd be willing to bet that the folks actually being supported in this program are maybe taking home 60K including benefits and perks... Where is the rest of the MONEY????.
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There is plenty of room in this program to make cuts and still employ the women and men that are actually going out and pushing brooms and fixing travel stops... Yes keep the workers busy.. Cut the suits and let them find real work. One supervisor is all that is necessary.
Apr 18, 2011 at 8:25 a.m.
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Here's a novel idea. Sell the rest areas to private business. Stipulate they must keep x number of clean restrooms open and available to the public. Let them open fast food and gasoline businesses. Lets generate income from these properties rather than expenses. The 40 million dollar rest areas developed and maintained by the state are absurd.
Apr 18, 2011 at 7:06 a.m.
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Out of all this, the one thing I can't understand is why people can't grasp the concept that broke is broke! If you have $1 in your checking account, you don't write a check for a thousand.
If you have to pay your mortgage and your credit card bill, but only have the money to pay one, you pay the mortgage. You prioritize.
How come this is an easy concept to understand for your home budget, but not for the state budget?
Apr 17, 2011 at 9:53 p.m.
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No cuts, an increase in funding.
"Addressing a crowd of travel and tourism professionals last week at the Governor's Conference on Tourism at the Kalahari Resort in Wisconsin Dells, Gov. Scott Walker promised to increase the state's tourism marketing budget by $1.2 million in fiscal year 2012 and by $2.3 million in fiscal year 2013.That's up 10 percent and 20 percent, respectively, from this year's budget, which is $9.9 million."
NorthStar Travel Media, LLC
Apr 17, 2011 at 9:48 p.m.
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hey sk8 and phoenixkid...read the article again
"A transportation spokesman said contracts and rest stops are secure at the moment."
Apr 17, 2011 at 7:33 p.m.
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Hey news flash the Rebublicans and Democrats are doing this! Cuts have to be made plain and simple. If you want to contest look what's going on in Washington!
Apr 17, 2011 at 7:04 p.m.
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Emmo didn't read the part that said the budget cuts would unemploy these good people.
Apr 17, 2011 at 7 p.m.
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Emmo, Walker is cutting State/government funding all over the place, which affects this group of people. He's not just busting unions, he cutting a lot of money from a lot of important places.
Apr 17, 2011 at 6:49 p.m.
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Hey, what the h*ll does Walker have to do with this?
I have stopped there and dropped off brochures. I have met Max Dobson and a few of the crew.
They work hard, enjoy their work, are proud of what they do.
They don't need a taxpayer supported union to do it.
VIP and the crew...good job!
Apr 17, 2011 at 5:41 p.m.
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concernedperson- I agree with carlitosway. I continue to wonder how people can blindly follow this corporate pied piper, oblivious to the damage he's inflicting on our state and it's citizens.
Here's his next big idea: http://blogs.forbes.com/rickungar/2011/0...
Apr 17, 2011 at 5:17 p.m.
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Well said Concernedperson
Apr 17, 2011 at 5:03 p.m.
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I wonder what the total cost per worker-hour is for this.
I'll bet its not all that much.
Apr 17, 2011 at 4:34 p.m.
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I am concerned for these employees. I really am. Gov. Scott Walker doesn't care about people. That is quite evident.
Just another example of his "getting rid of jobs," NOT CREATING THEM.
Walker is a menace to our state, and to the wonderful people in it. I really don't know who he thinks he is. Well, yes I do, he got his pockets full and now he wants more on the backs of all the working people in this state.
BE GONE, WALKER, THE SOONER THE BETTER!
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