After several months of discussion between the school district and the county, I.S.D. 166 has agreed to take over cleaning the YMCA.
The decision came at the board’s Tuesday, February 11 meeting, but also needs to be ratified by the I.S.D. 166 school board, which has shown strong support for the proposal.
Cook County Interim Administrator Rena Rogers noted the quality and consistency of the cleaning provided by the county to the Y “has been a contentious issue between the YMCA and the county.” The bottom line, noted Rogers, was that the county wasn’t able to meet the level of service the Y needs, even though the county has allocated the resources for the effort.
When the Y opened half a dozen years ago, the school cleaned the building. Since the Y is attached to the school, it seemed a good fit. However, after a couple of years, the county took over the cleaning, mainly because the county owns the Y building. Therefore it was deemed the county’s responsibility to maintain and keep the building clean.
However, county staff cleaned only during the evening hours or at night. That didn’t leave anyone other than higher paid county maintenance staff to come during the day to clean up human waste, spills, unplug toilets, and sweep up broken objects or refill paper products and soap when those occasions arose. And, the county has had a tough time keeping custodial workers who were hired to clean the Y.
In 2019 alone, the county lost five custodial workers who were assigned to clean the Y. That constant turnover has a cost to it, noted Rogers. “When an employee leaves, it creates a labor gap of 6 weeks to 3 months, where multiple shifts each week need to be covered at time and half.
“Currently, if cleaning needs to be done during the day, that would be performed by higher-paid maintenance staff, including the maintenance director. This daytime cost to clean would not show up in the YMCA custodial costs on the county’s ledger.”
This year the county budgeted $105,000 to clean the Y. The school district has been offered $90,412 annually to take on the responsibility and will be able to hire more staff to perform the extra work.
The school’s proposal includes daily cleaning when the Y is open, as well as emergency custodial services and regular facility checks during day hours.
Rogers noted the school has a work team in place and would need only hire an additional custodian to help with the extra cleaning.
An agreement has been drafted detailing the scope of work and communications between ISD 166, the county maintenance department, and YMCA management.
The county maintenance staff will continue to be responsible for the building’s structural, electrical, and plumbing systems.
The ISD 166 agreement for custodial services will be presented for approval to the school board—of which Rena Rogers is a member— at the school board’s next meeting.
Other decisions made at the February 11 meeting
* William Gabler, Lutsen, was approved to serve on the Revolving Loan Fund Committee. Gabler comes with 40 plus years spent working in developing and financing affordable housing in local and state governments. He has also worked in the private sector and has a broader range of public financing for local and state governments as head of Public Finance at Wells Fargo for the last 20 years. He also still does a bit of consulting for the Greater Minnesota Housing Fund.
* Gary Fagerman was hired as the new Dispatch/ Jail Administrator. He will start work on February 17, 2020. He replaces Ben Halberg, who stepped down from the position.
* Virginia Reiner was appointed to a second three-year term on the University of Minnesota Extension Committee, and Joan Farnam and Jim McDermott were both selected to serve three-year terms on the Cook County Community Center Board of Trustees.
* A 2019 Emergency Management performance grant of $15,439 was approved. Typically this grant would have been approved last fall, but due to problems at the state level, it came up for approval now.
* A request by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection to install a three-foot by two-foot sign at Saganaga Landing was approved. The sign will explain to people who are returning from Canada the requirements they need to fulfill.
* Following the consensus of the Personnel Director and Land Services Director and after a review and consent by the Personnel Committee and Classification Committee, the Recycling Center Operator position was amended.
The recycling center operator will now be considered a supervisor. The recycling center was opened in the early 1980s, and the recycling center operator has always been responsible for overseeing the day-to-day functions of the center, including oversight of assistants, seasonal, temporary workers, and sentenced to serve individuals when assigned to the center. In essence, the recycling center operator has always had the duties of a supervisor and this amendment signifies that status.
* Jackie Meyer’s letter of intent to retire was accepted with regrets. Jackie has worked with the maintenance staff for the last seven years.
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