Gettysburg officials explore outsourcing administrative task

[Fire Marshal Bill]

In the Times today.

Preliminary conversations have begun about potentially outsourcing some of the Borough of Gettysburg's administrative functions to the Borough of Chambersburg, which employs approximately 200 people because it owns and operates its own sewer, water, electric and gas utilities.

"They think there is so much duplication of services" that both sides could benefit if they "unite," Birkner said during Tuesday's special council meeting.

Sorry couldn't copy the entire article.

I know it may end up being initially cost effective for the borough.

I don't live in the borough, so maybe I shouldn't say anything about this, but sending money to Chambersburg to do administrative work doesn't make sense to me.

The people doing this work, will probably live in the Chambersburg area. They are probably paying taxes in the Chambersburg area, and I don't think they will be coming to the Gettysburg area to spend their money.

What does anyone else think of this.

[Alex Oreilly]

I think I need to know more about the details before I agree or disagree.

[Venter]

What the hell, Harrisburg controls our traffic, York may provide the water, Cumberland Township helps with their Rec. Park, and the National Park Service controls everything else, so why not have Chambersburg in charge of our money!?

How many tits can one Borough suck on - and still not survive?

Surely these NINE BOROUGH COUNCILPERSONS can figure this out without outsourcing.

They've changed the Ordinances to enable New Hires to live outside of the Borough, all the while forcing the residents to abide by Rules and Regulations that they, themselves, are not bound by.
To me, THAT is a sin, but it's even worse to allow "foreign entities", as it were, to run the Borough from afar.
I'll bet we can sell the Train Station to some Dubai Businessman, and maybe a few other properties while we're at it.

A person who OWNS PROPERTY in Gettysburg, but doesn't LIVE there, is not eligible to be on the Council.
A person who OWNS A BUSINESS in Gettysburg, but doesn't LIVE there, has NO VOICE whatsoever - taxed, but not allowed influence.
But, this Borough is willing to give up the reins to a town 30 some miles away.

WTF???

[Fire Marshal Bill]

I’m not saying the Borough necessarily has to do all of these functions, especially if the job isn’t so demanding as to keep one person busy 40 hours a week.

Maybe partner with someone closer, such as Cumberland, or Straban Townships, or any other township in the county.

How about forming a consortium with other municipalities. Gettysburg will hire someone to go job “A” who will also give ten hours a week to do the same job for Cumberland township, and five hours a week to Straban Township and five hours to Freedom township to do the same job.

Cumberland Township will hare an employee to job “B” that every municipality needs done, and they will work for a few other municipalities a few hours a week doing the same job.

Each municipality will pay for the hours they use the employee.

I am sure if this were the case, they would have employees who will pay taxes to one of the municipalities, and will do some of their spending in the local area.

I just can’t understand how they can justify sending money out of the entire area, with no possible return. The people performing these functions living in Chambersburg will not pay taxes here, shop here, or probably eat any meals here. Why not just bring Ramona Overton back and let her run the money through the shredder?

[Fire Marshal Bill]

I must admit though there is an advantage to outsourcing if managed properly.

If you have a job that requires irregular work schedules, that is an ideal job to outsource. If you have a job that at a few times a year will require someone to work 60 hours a week to get it done, yet the rest of the year, including lunch and toilet breaks the person has trouble keeping busy 20 hours a week, this is a great job to outsource. You hire someone to get the job done, and pay them a fee. It is then up to them to provide the necessary people to get the job done.

You aren’t paying that individual to sit and twiddle their thumbs 26 weeks a year, and then pay overtime or another 26 weeks.

Or a job that really has no estimated work week. One week there may be five hours of work, the next week 60 hours and then the next week fourty.

But how about at least trying to keep the workers local so some of that money may come back to the community.

If it is a job that doesn’t require a full 40 hour work week, why not hire a retired person, or contract with a local company that can do the work?

[gdaddy]

I read the article and said, what job (s) are they actually talking about? Certainly not Boro manager, Seems that task actually takes someone who can actually look at the problem at hand and as of yet google street view does not include every boro pothole. My guess? hey Mr. Guise over at GMA, have your resume up to date, comin for you, pal. what can they really outsource that needs to be done? Sure, I have ranted about the bloated Boro government, but really skyping someone sitting with their thumb up their ass? On second thought, Hey, Scott Dellett, maybe it is you they are looking at. As FMB says, people actually take part time jobs, so what can be done better by the 200+ in Chambersburg?

[philliesfan]

With regards to the outsourcing of certain job(s), would it not be feasible to hire a part time person to handle these tasks or take selected tasks and add them into someone else's job description as an added taks and compensate them accordingly? It seems like the Borough sends alot of business to outside agencies at usually a very hansome cost! It amazed me that the traffic study for the 150th was outsourced to Harrisburg, when you have many years of expertise between the local State Police, Borough PD and Cumberland Township PD and I am sure some sort of financial agreement could have been worked out to have those agencies complete the survey since they were more familiar with the "lay of the land"? Just my opinion!