Board of Public Works Agenda Doesn’t Include Employee Rollbacks
… For Now
It was thought that the Board of Public Works (BPW) meeting on August 12 would include concessions demanded by the Governor and the Department of Budget & Management. Yet when the final agenda was posted to the public, notably missing were any mention to cuts in pay or program.
That doesn’t mean it’s not coming: we fully expect the BPW meeting scheduled for September 2nd to potentially contain harmful cuts, and it promises to be contentious. We are continuing our efforts to beat back these ill-advised proposals, ones that would harm not only our members but also negatively impact the services we deliver to our communities.
Here is what did happen at the August 12 meeting:
- The Department of Labor is adding assistance to its Unemployment Insurance Division to help with the unprecedented number of claims through a virtual call center contract with the company Accenture
- A contract was approved to help get-out-the-message on voting in this November’s election. NOTE: this is a non-partisan use of state dollars – it’s all about HOW, not WHO to vote.
- Modifications to an existing contract that MDOT/MDTA has to manage toll facilities
- Finally, several grants were approved to address safe drinking water issues that have been negatively impacting Western Maryland. The grants will address existing lead pipes as well as insufficient storage.
The next meeting of the Board of Public Works is scheduled for September 2nd, 2020. The agenda will be released next Friday, August 28th in the morning and we will have an update on what is on the agenda.
