To: Molly Paulger, Linda Mcintire, David Herlihy
Public Records Requests Findings
400 Position Cuts
On July 9, 2008, VSEA sent public records requests to all secretaries, commissioners and human resources staff from the agencies and departments impacted by the 400 position cuts exercise.
We requested:
Copies of all written communications (letters, e-mails, faxes, documents, or any other reports) concerning-
-The Governor’s initiative to eliminate 400 state positions.
-The impact of this initiative on the services provided by the Department or Agency.
-The impact of this initiative on the operations of the Department or Agency.
-The impact of this initiative on the Department’s or Agency’s clients and employees.
-The possible or actual use of temporary or contracted employees to provide functions of the positions eliminated as a result of this initiative.
TRANSPARENCY
WHAT THE ADMINISTRATION SAID:
“Gov.Douglas has always been straightforward with Vermonters, and with the Legislature, about the challenges facing our state and the best way to address them.”
Cynthia LaWare, Secretary of Human Services
Burlington Free Press
March 18, 2008
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WHAT VSEA FOUND:
To: Mike Smith (Secretary of Administration), Tim Hayward (Chief of Staff)
From: Jason Gibbs (Communications Director)
November 3, 2007
“Have you had a chance to pass along talking points on the 400 positions to the Gov.? I would expect that the TVs will want to ask him about it today. Let me know if you want me to do that.”
To: Jason Gibbs (Communications Director)
From: Mike Smith (Secretary of Administration)
November 3, 2007
“Don’t we want to keep the Gov. away from this story?”
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To: Linda McIntire (Deputy Secretary of Administration), Molly Paulger (Human Resources Director), Tom Ball (Director of Labor Relations)
From: David Herlihy (Commissioner of Human Resources)
February 5, 2008
“I can hear Jeanette White now saying that she’s concerned because they don’t get frank input. Just an FYI so we don’t get caught off guard asking if we would agree to enhanced whistleblower protection. This bill is a nightmare.”
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To: Mike Smith, Linda McIntire (Deputy Secretary of Administration), Robin Strader (Private Secretary, Administration)
From: Molly Paulger (Human Resources Director)
June 11, 2008
“If we can account for the savings target for AHS, (and I am sure we can) why don’t we abolish three of the long term vacant positions, and leave the social workers ‘on the books’ – they don’t need to fill them, but at least we are not abolishing social workers.”
To: Gail Rushford (AHS Personnel Chief), Monica Hutt (DCF Senior Field Services Manager), Steve Dale (Commissioner, DCF), Linda McIntire (Deputy Secretary of Administration)
From: Molly Paulger (Human Resources Director)
June 24, 2008
“I know one of the options we discussed was to reclass the vacant social worker positions to Human Services Case Aide and Child Benefit Specialists...however, if we do that, the last person to fill the position will be a social worker, and my concern is that if legislators and VSEA recognize their names it will look like we are hiding the ‘fact’ that we gave up social workers. If it is not a concern that folks receiving this list will recognize Sarah Crosier, Sandra Crossman, Christine Dunn, and Mary Cameron as Social Workers/Domestic Violence Specialist, we can simply reclassify the positions.”
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To: Joshua Slen (Director of OVHA), Erin Cody (Associate Medical Director), Nancy Clermont (Deputy Director of OVHA)
From: Ann Rugg (Deputy Director of OVHA)
January 7, 2008
“What do you mean ‘hold open’? Would they then be lost? Is this an exercise of appearances? And if so how long must the appearance last? What is the target for ‘months of vacancy savings’?”
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To: Linda McIntire (Deputy Secretary of Administration)
From: Molly Paulger (Human Resources Director)
November 26, 2007
“So, when I abolished the Commerce position I moved it to the pool, but I have a bad feeling about that...I think it might be perceived as a way to build up the pool for our usual nefarious purposes.”
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To: Linda McIntire, Jim Reardon (Commissioner of Finance and Management), Susan Zeller (Deputy Commissioner of Finance and Management)
From: Molly Paulger (Human Resources Director)
March 13, 2008
“I was going to give HAC [House Appropriations Committee] the tracking sheet today – should I give them the second sheet with the $$ detail? I was not planning to, however, I am not sure we ever discussed what to give them”
To: Molly Paulger (Human Resources Director), Jim Reardon (Commissioner of Finance and Management), Susan Zeller (Deputy Commissioner of Finance and Management)
From: Linda McIntire
March 13, 2008
“They are like children – so give them the first sheet with the 1m savings – have them absorb that, then if they ask, hand them the second sheet – but they will be flipping it back and forth back and forth, trying to read it and you will lose them if they receive both at the same time.”
CONTRACTORS/TEMPORARY EMPLOYEES
WHAT THE ADMINISTRATION SAID:
“This exercise is about saving taxpayer money. Our efforts to reduce the size of state government will be to no avail if money saved from such reduction is re-directed to contractors or if there is an explosion in the use of temporary employees.”
Mike Smith, Secretary of Administration
Memo to Agency and Department Heads
December 14, 2007
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WHAT VSEA FOUND:
To: Bill Apao (Health Surveillance Director), Christine Finley (Health Field Operations Chief), Sharon Moffatt (Acting Commissioner of Health)
From: Maureen Barnes (Human Resources Coordinator, DOH)
April 18, 2008
“Chris indicated that you have a lab position and that the work of this position has been getting done by a contractor she suggests that you continue with the contracting and we will give up the position.”
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To: Neale Lunderville (Secretary of Transportation)
From: David Dill (Deputy Secretary of Transportation)
April 24, 2008
“What we may have to face with the 09 cuts is the standard dilemma – some consultant work instead of staff – with an extra $10 M per year or work...”
To: David Dill (Deputy Secretary of Transportation)
From: Neale Lunderville (Secretary of Transportation)
April 24, 2008
“Seems like a bad choice... If we are ramping up over the next 5 years, it’s going to be difficult to find position cuts and still get projects out... my gut tells me if we are gong (sic) to have a steady stream or (sic) new work, it would be more economical to fill positions and have the work done in-house.. we’d be sending lots of consultants’ kids to college otherwise!”
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To: Scott Rogers (AOT Assistant Director)
From: Alec Portalupi (AOT Manager III)
December 10, 2007
“With the loss of the Municipal Programs Manager position, we will have an immediate need to hire Bill McManis as a temporary employee to continue the processing of the various payments, tracking/processing of grant documents, and eventually closing out four separate FEMA declarations.”
To: Steve Chadwick (Admin Sevices Director, ANR), Brenda Berry (Assistant Director of Admin Services, ANR)
From: Susan Zeller (Deputy Commissioner of Finance)
June 2, 2008
“The loss of a Forester I position in Barre will be handled by a combination of shifting work and eliminating services. Since the incumbent was skilled in GIS activities, cutting back on the lease review burden from another GIS-trained individual by moving that work load to Waterbury will be suggested to help cover this work. The support services to the Washington and Orange County foresters that the position supplied will be eliminated. The state lands activities will be absorbed by the existing state lands staff as well as can be done. It will be suggested to the staff that they shift as much of the Recreation burden to the temporary Trails Coordinator as possible to mitigate this.”
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IMPACT ON PUBLIC SERVICES
WHAT THE ADMINISTRATION SAID:
“Coupled with strategic planning so that workloads are not simply shifted to other employees and public service is not diminished, this small decrease in the number of positions is doable.”
Mike Smith, Secretary of Administration
Memo to Agency and Department Heads
November 2, 2007
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WHAT VSEA FOUND:
To: Emily Trutor (Admin Support Coordinator, DOH), Jenny Audet (HRIS Support Coordinator), Maureen Barnes (HR Coordinator, DOH), Linda Piasecki (ADAP Operations Chief)
From: Barbara Cimaglio (Director for Drug and Alcohol Abuse Programs)
June 25, 2008
“The volume of work that this Division handles has doubled in the last four years due to budget increases from the legislature and Governor. Yes (sic), the administrative support had been cut in half. We have been supportive and offered to take cuts as is our share. Yet, when we cannot complete the work we have been assigned, the services are not able to be delivered to a needy population.”
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To: Steve Dale (Commissioner, DCF)
From: Jeff Cohen (Child Support Services Director)
November 29, 2007
“In general we will need to redirect work to other units and staff members. Although we will try to mitigate the impact by changing some of our procedures and processes, we will likely experience an increase in delays and some complaints as well as some reductions in collections and performance.”
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To: Gail Rushford (AHS Personnel Chief), Andy Pallito (Deputy Commissioner, DOC), Ira Sollace (Financial Director III)
From: Rob Hofmann (Commissioner, DOC)
June 3, 2008
“On the ‘work distributed to other staff’ certain tasks will inevitably & not surprisingly be delayed.”
To: Ira Sollace (Financial Director III), Andy Pallito (Deputy Commissioner, DOC), Jackie Kotkin (Corrections Field Services Executive Assistant)
From: Rob Hofmann (Commissioner, DOC)
April 28, 2008
“We will inevitably need to look at FY 2009 reductions elsewhere in P&P either for Pay Act or for the vacant position exercise.”
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To: Gerry Myers (Commissioner, BGS), Paul Rousseau (BGS CFO)
From: Tom Sandretto (Deputy Commissioner, BGS)
December 21, 2007
“I think three of the positions selected were unfunded and another was in Print shop where we are trying to stop the hemorrhaging. If they want money, we will have to find other positions. That is difficult when we are dealing with internal service funds. Theoretically, savings in our programs result in savings to our customers as we are forced to deliver the same product as (sic) a lesser cost. Thus any money collection should come from our customers. If we have to hand over cash to the administration, then we must keep our rates high in order to deliver the cash. Follow this to conclusion and we will soon be billing customers exorbitant markups.”
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To: David Dill (Deputy Secretary of Transportation)
From: Mel Adams AOT Director of Policy and Planning)
April 30, 2008
“In light of the news that we will not have assistance with the QA/QC this summer, our users will see a substantial slowdown in the service. Our response to requests for video and help calls will likely suffer, and our ability to provide timely updates to the State highway system on VsisData will also suffer.”
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To: Laura Pelosi (Commissioner, DEC)
From: John Klimenok (Environmental Analyst V)
July 3, 2008
“The four positions that were never filled were evidently important enough to be requested in the first place. The Essex and St. J offices REALLY need additional administrative staff, especially St. J. So, why are these positions no longer vital for the operation of our program? Guy Grenier has been asking for more help for years. Now, after that position in St. J was going to be filled, it has been taken away. I really feel for him and his office. I can understand his frustration with the way things are done. I know that tough decisions have to be made, but I have to question why the Secretary’s office needed more people and got them. Is the work that the newcomers to the Secretary’s office are/will be doing more important than the day-to-day work that the regional offices do?”
To: Kim O’Leary (AHS Principal Assistant), Linda McIntire (Deputy Secretary of Administration)
From: Molly Paulger (Human Resources Director)
June 27, 2008
“I am especially concerned with the line: ‘The skyrocketing cost of gasoline, home heating fuel and even food is resulting in increased caseload pressures across the agency, as our most vulnerable Vermonters face a true financial crisis.’ It seems to me this begs the question ‘Sooooooo, how can it be true that you are reducing positions and not impacting services?’... I think ‘mitigating the impact’ is going to be read to mean that there is or will be some level of negative impact on services.”
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To: Scott Johnson (Field Director, DCF)
From: Patrick Flood (Commissioner, DAIL)
May 19, 2008
“The number of positions required to be reduced is 250, but I don’t know how we are going to deal with no pay act. We have to find it somewhere.”
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To: Joan Senecal (Deputy Commissioner, DAIL)
From: Veda Lyon (Adult Protective Services Program)
April 30, 2008
“And quite honestly – I find it disturbing that at least initially, it seems Patrick/central AHS may be giving little or no consideration to the work load issues that we have dealt with (I have for three years, and Daniel, coming on board this past year) and are soon going to have to face given that a) with reorg, CDU lost two or three positions but retained the same amount of work – grants, etc, while adding some new programs; and b) we will have even fewer staff with coming staff reductions this next FY.”
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PROCESS
WHAT THE ADMINISTRATION SAID:
“The Department of Human Resources and Finance and Management have been reviewing your organizations’ missions, potential retirement opportunities and staffing levels and have established what I believe are reasonable targets for each of your departments and agencies.”
Mike Smith, Secretary of Administration
Memo to Agency and Department Heads
November 2, 2007
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WHAT VSEA FOUND:
To: Cindy LaWare (Secretary of Human Services)
From: Linda McIntire (Deputy Secretary of Administration)
November 14, 2007
“Gail indicated that you want to better understand “the numbers” re the targets, etc. and do not want to attend tomorrow’s meeting until you better understand them. Mike set this meeting up because word has come back here that you have been complaining about your targets to other departments and he needs to understand why you are not on the team re this project. No commissioner of secretary has done this, in fact, we have been pleasantly surprised that everyone so far has embraced the project- some have even proposed additional opportunities for next year. Although initially I was willing to talk to about methodology and have Molly attend the first part of the meeting tomorrow, I am informing her not to be here as this will NOT be a meeting about methodology or numbers.
I have not brought this to Mike’s attention – but, in short, you need to be here tomorrow and be prepared to talk about being part of the team. See you then.”
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To: Linda McIntire (Deputy Secretary of Administration)
From: Molly Paulger (Human Resources Director)
February 20, 2008
“I am not sure that they are close to making final decisions, apparently the departments are ‘squabbling’ and behaving like siblings over the reductions, which makes it difficult for the agency to make final decisions.”
To: David Dill (Deputy Secretary of Transportation)
From: Tom Trahant (AOT Human Resources Chief)
May 9, 2008
“We are engaged in a challenging relationship with DHR on numerous issues and it is my belief and one that is shared by others both here and at DHR that in the not too distant future (after the fall election) we (HR) very well may be engaged going full tilt utilizing all of our resources dealing with what we predict will be a very aggressive approach to staffing stabilization. The current vacancy ‘cost avoidance’ we believe will not result in the anticipated savings in personnel costs. It is likely to be accomplished through a RIF’s process at some level done in concert with a reduction of OT, controlled fuel cost, less vehicle usage and the like. Our concerns are based on past experience in similar situations.”
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To: Linda McIntire (Deputy Secretary of Administration)
From: Tom Pelham (Commissioner, Tax Department)
January 6, 2008
“This seems a bit inconsistent with our discussion that we would get some credit in this process for our past efforts....keeping in mind that in 2004, our position count was 195. Our budget target for 2009 as sent to us by Jim’s shop is fine, but reducing our position count in 2008 by 4 on top of what we’ve done in the previous years and what we’ll be expected to do in 2009 seems a bit harsh.”
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To: Linda McIntire (Deputy Secretary of Administration)
From: Molly Paulger (Human Resources Director)
March 10, 2008
McIntire: “What are your biggest concerns right now?”
Paulger:
“#1. Lack of progress in showing reductions: AHS not giving up anything yet, and not planning to until June; ANR’s reluctance to give up anything now.
#2. Alternate plans (VSEA/Leg)
#3. Legislature feeling sorry for, and perhaps trying to ‘help’ departments who have had a double hit (Education – claiming they gave up needed funded positions, vacant for an average or 2 years, PLUS getting a high reduction)
#4. Departments trying to add positions (another request for a JFO position from Military came in today)
#5. Dealing with endless requests for information”
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To: David Beatty (Budget and Management Analyst), Linda McIntire (Deputy Secretary of Administration)
From: Molly Paulger (Human Resources Director)
February 25, 2008
“I am copying Linda McIntire because I am beginning to wonder if I have all of this wrong? Maybe I do not understand what we are really doing, and/or maybe I have F&M’s role wrong? Maybe I am just way off base with everything, especially the ‘real savings’ thing, and I’ve been out making a fool of myself?”
To: Molly Paulger (Human Resources Director), Linda McIntire (Deputy Secretary of Administration), David Herlihy (Commissioner, DHR)
From: Harold Schwartz (Human Resources Administrative Services Director)
January 29, 2008
“Linda, per Molly you indicated that you wanted to know the impact of the 400 position reduction on union dues. I obtained data from Jeanette on the latest pay period dues collection. There are about 5,700 dues paying members, and almost 1,000 agency fee folks. Annually, between the two, the union collects just over $1.9 million. Per the job reduction analysis I performed last fall in order to allocate job decreases for the purpose of bargaining, my estimate was that of the 400, 284 would be bargaining unit positions. At 11.55 in dues per pay period, the amount the VSEA would be losing annually, by the end of FY09, would be 284 x 11.55 x 26 = about $85,000. If all 400 jobs were bargaining unit positions (unlikely), the figure would be about $120,000. So, for orders of magnitude, I would say about $100,000 give-or-take, would be the amount of dues the VSEA might lose.”