Joel Robert questions overtime pay during East Ascension Drainage meeting
Michael Tortorich- A discussion about overtime pay for maintenance crew employees became tense at the East Ascension Drainage Board meeting.
- Council member Joel Robert suggested hiring more employees to reduce overtime costs.
- Parish President Clint Cointment argued that overtime is necessary.
A discussion about overtime pay for maintenance crew employees turned tense at times during the East Ascension Drainage Board meeting held March 11 in Gonzales.
District 2 member Joel Robert, who said he has experience in the restaurant and convenience store business, asked about the overtime and suggested the possibility of hiring more employees and paying less for the extra time worked.
"Maybe we don’t ultimately need more employees across the board, or we don’t need to spend more money on more employees," Robert said. "I think there’s a — not saying it's going to be this way — but there is a possibility that we could be cheaper with more employees and less overtime. Just something to look at."
Parish President Clint Cointment pointed out that the cost of benefits for the employees must be taken into consideration.
As the grass-cutting season continues to ramp up, no taxes on overtime gives employees incentive to work extra hours and make more money, the president said.
"It's hard to keep those guys around for $17 and $18, as you can imagine," Cointment said. "They have families to feed, they have bills to pay. You can imagine trying to make it on that."
The president also said emergencies, such as hurricanes, are a "whole different ball game," as employees must juggle their daily duties along with the emergency efforts.
"You can't just give away overtime because they deserve it," Robert said. "You give them a raise because they deserve it. That's how I would recommend doing that. You balance your overtime."
Cointment responded by saying "throwing people at a problem has never been a solution" for him.
"It has to be looked at in every single angle with the budgets you all approve," he said. "We've got to come to you and justify those things. We pay a lot of overtime due to the fact that we're in hurricane season and we just go into overtime. Grass cutting is a perfect example. The council in the past has always been very supportive with paying our guys to work that Friday and Saturday in overtime, especially with good weather. That's some extra pay for these guys and it means a lot to them."
"I think it would mean a lot more if you gave them a raise…" Robert said.
The exchange prompted the two to briefly talk over each other before Chair Blaine Petite recognized Robert to ask a second question.
Robert's questions arose during a presentation on work done during the first quarter of the year so far.
Gonzales Weekly Citizen and Donaldsonville Chief, part of the USA Today Network of Louisiana, cover Ascension Parish and the greater Baton Rouge area. Follow at facebook.com/WeeklyCitizen and facebook.com/DonaldsonvilleChief.