One of the naysayers at last Tuesday’s board meeting
questioned the number of hours our general manager works. Well, that is really
a question with two answers. There is the minimum he is to work but there is no
maximum and he is salaried.
Tracy is on call 24 hours per day and until I was
elected to the board I had no true idea what that entailed. Tracy works for the
board but he is at the top of the pyramid when it comes to responsibility for
operations. Who do you think is called if we have a problem with a gate not
working at night? Who gets called if there is a dispute with a P.O. that gets
out of hand? Who do you think gets called if there is a water leak at the rec
center? It all falls on him at all hours of the night. He is to follow through
and handle the situation. I personally have spoken with him both with me
initiating the call and at times him calling me well into the evening.
Add to that the evening meetings he attends. We’ll
use this week as an example. 4:30 p.m. is his normal time to leave the office. Monday
evening I went to our finance commission meeting at 5:30 and who was there? You
guessed it, Tracy. He had not yet left the office. Not only that, he stayed for
the meeting and when that meeting ended he next was attending the AQUA advisory
group meeting. I have no idea how late that lasted. Now on to Tuesday evening.
After leaving the office he was back at the rec center at 6:15 for the board
meeting. There is another three or so hours of his time. These are the
instances I personally am aware of, not because he told me but because I witnessed
it personally. I have no idea how many meetings he attended or calls he took (although
I spoke with him twice this week in the evening) or special trips he made here
for circumstances but I will tell you this, it is no gravy job.
When the question was asked there were no
accusations made, simply the question, but I felt this needed addressing to set
the record straight. This guy does his job and does it well. He has my backing
and I see nothing changing that.
Ken Dillenburg