Both common_sense and andiwonderwhy have it right on the issue at hand. As for the fairness issue, as I've stated before this isn't a convenience, it was a program begun to address nuisance levels of trash in the central neighborhoods where rental activity is highest. Some of the money comes from the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development through the Community Development Block Grant program and needs to be used to address issues in low- to moderate-income areas.
http://www.hud.gov/offices/cpd/community...
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Any citywide program would probably have to be 100% funded locally, and would cost several times as much. So far the city council hasn't felt the need or clamor for that given how much larger an effort it would need to be.
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This overtime issue could probably be resolved through better communication, but certainly whether doing it citywide is a good idea or not has to be balanced against the extra cost, which I know is a concern of some posters here. I don't see nuisance levels of trash out on Waveland or Morningside Drive, but here I regularly see everything from mattresses or sofas to appliances and yard machinery tossed at curbside, where the city sanitation trucks leave it by policy, until it falls to code enforcement.

I don't think that the issue here is wether or not to pay overtime to the city workers. That would be a whole other mess. The real issue at hand is that there is no communication. I am sure that when the City Council denied the overtime, they assumed that hours would be taken away from another project or this event would not take place. This article seems to place the blame on the City Manager, but he wasn't around when the decision was made. If he wasn't told, how is he supposed to know? I hate to seem blame placed when we don't know the whole story.

From reading some of these posts, I think some people are not understanding the problem. It is not that they don't pay the overtime for hours worked. It is that they are using overtime to pick up this trash instead of working it into the regular 40 hour shift. And the fact that the money alotted was removed by the city council but yet the city personnel still worked OVERTIME HOURS for this program, shows that somewhere the budget was not followed or documented correctly. Any why is it only in the downtown areas...why not for everyone with city trash collection? Doesn't see fair and equal to all tax payers.

"Truman learned a month or so ago that the money still would be paid to city workers. He met with city officials to ask why."

If it was such a problem, why weren't the city workers eliminated from the project? Why didn't they take a comp day earlier in the week so they could participate during their regular 40 hours?

I helped out at the event and it was well-attended by volunteers and workers. We were done by noon.
Complaining after the fact doesn't really make sense.

Of course they should be paid. What if one of the workers got injured or worse while doing their job...they would be S.O.L. If the city doesn't want the employees on the clock, then they need to find volunteers to do it. There's simply too much of a risk factor for these employees and their families. Get injured, no work, no pay.

The real point here is that the City bureacracy is out of control, even when the City Council tries to do the right thing.

If the Council expects that the 4th ward and Look west neighborhoods will have large item pickup, then they need to expect that there will be a cost. You cannot have joe citizen drive a city dumptruck or other equipment. There are employment rules just like any other organization.

If you make people work extra hours, you have to pay them. That is the LAW. If the Council wants to keep on having large item pickup, then they need to authorize payment. If they don't want to pay for it, then drop the service. It's that simple Bill.

If you want to organize your own private pickup on behalf of the neighborhood, then you can organize it like any other community group would do.
To all others posting that expect that you get whatever service you want becuase you pay some tax, you need to get a real expectation. I have lived many other places with most services being private and paid out of pocket (trash, etc). You have a good deal going here with trash being included in your tax and dirt cheap water bills. If you don't understand that, talk to someone who has lived in another city and state and you will get a taste of reality.

i am concerned .....why do we talk tax increases when our city council and the city administration are not aware ,as a governing body , of what is approved or not approved !!!!!!!!!!!!!! I see the great benefits of the large article pick ,only if it is city wide and scheduled on a citywide rotation system once a year.............the city tax payers must have more in- put on on project approvals and stop this gigantic sudden move on the ice arenas and the questionable parking ramps etc.............let's us start with REALISTIC POLLS AND REFERENDUMS........ let the people speak out ...thank you

I agree with you Beee80. They worked, they should be paid. If they don't want them being paid, then don't have them work. Have it be all volunteer.

The problem isn't that city workers got paid overtime to do the work. The problem is that the council specifically deleted it from the buget and the city went ahead with it anyway. Some other part of the budget will have to absorb the $6000 it cost which leaves that aspect short funded.

Labor laws prevent someone from volunteering their time to do their regular job, because in the past employers have coerced people to "volunteer" extra hours. I guess I don't understand why this wasn't handled with comp or flex time provisions, given it's just once a year. It seemed to be that was the thrust of the discussion last year, by deleting the overtime money.

So why shouldn't they be getting paid at an overtime rate to work outside of their normal hours? The answer is, THEY SHOULD. I don't think there was some sort of cover up to milk a few bucks to help a buddy who works for the city. Also the suggestion of having them "volunteer" their time and take time off during the week, just to save the city $6000.00. Yeah that's real fair, change their schedule and force them to "volunteer" their time. How many of you would "volunteer" you time to come in on a Saturday. Yes, as I'm sure some would, most would not, most would just say "eh someone else will take care of it." The fact is they worked overtime, they should be paid overtime, and for those of you thinking they are over paid to begin with TOO BAD DEAL WITH IT, that's what they get paid to do their job.

dhoflowe75,
If you would like your neighborhood involved in the large item pick up. organize a group in your neighborhoods. We in the Old Fourth ward and the Look West area got together years ago and met once a month.We are called the Neighborhood Action Team and now work closely with the city. Organize your neighbors and start a group. We have volunteers in our group that have been helping with the Large item pick up for years now. We wanted our neighborhoods cleaned up. We had to start it ourselves. We also do movies in the park and the Bike Rodeo.

I really would like to see this city wide, so it gets the whole city involved in the neighborhoods. It would help out our neighbors and it would clean up the whole city. On the pay side of things, the city workers should work for straight time pay and take off time during the week. Or volunteer their time.

That's almost as much as a (Gasp!) GM worker gets!
That's not right.

City workers average $26 an hour? That makes me extremely angry.

hmmm... Didn't the workers know? I guess I would be silent to for $39 bucks an hour to haul away trash.