BCAT News

The Town of Burlington is exploring the possibility of partnering with a neighboring community to fill a vital part time position.

At Monday night’s Select Board meeting, Town Administrator Paul Sagarino and Human Resources Director Joanne Faust informed the board that the state has decided to not renew its contract with most municipalities in Massachusetts to provide the service of Sealer of Weights and Measures.

The Sealer of Weights and Measurements is responsible for testing and calibrating all weighing and measuring devices at all retail establishments within a town and certifying they are providing accurate measurements. This includes gas station pumps, store price scanners, grocery store and deli scales, jewelry store scales, cab meters and the like.

In backup material provided to the board, Sagarino and Faust outlined the amount of work the town would generate for someone who took the position.

“Although Burlington has nearly 600 devices that need to be tested, we estimate this will equate to approximately 10 hours of work per week on average,” they said. “For this position, the work is performed offsite, without direct supervision, and can be done at any hour that a retail establishment is open for business, therefore it is imperative that we recruit someone who is a proven independent worker and highly trustworthy.”

The problem, Sagarino and Faust added, is that with the current worker shortage it is difficult to fill any position and especially part-time ones.

“In this job economy it is extremely difficult to recruit part time staff, so it is in our best interest to structure this position to generate interest from the best candidate pool possible,” they said.

What they are proposing is working with the Town of Lexington, which also had its services cut from the state, to make the position more appealing. Faust said she has been talking with her counterpart there and they estimate Lexington has roughly eight hours of work each week for someone in the position.

“We believe that if we combine the workload between our two towns, it would result in up to 18 hours of work per week, which would make the position more attractive to applicants,” she and Sagarino wrote. “In order to put this arrangement into place we would enter in a Shared Services Agreement where both towns pay their portion of the salary, benefits, and associated costs such as equipment and recruitment.”

They also noted that based on the amount of anticipated work the position is not anticipated to be eligible for health insurance, accrued leave or the pension system.

Members of the board said they were in favor of looking further into the agreement with Lexington.

“I love the idea of collaboration,” member Mike Espejo said.

Finally, Sagarino said the contract with the state ended on July 1 but that the town has until June 30, 2023 to have all devices certified.