Clueless!
Not unusual when you follow the Oswego County Legislature but, extremely concerning given the recent criticism of their decision making of late.
In the 2022 county budget there was a budget for 5 lawyers in the DSS department. They budgeted for 5 because the case load required it. The Lawyers they had were overwhelmed and cases were backlogged.
With cases being backlogged there are cases that have to wait for the proper care.
When that happens, families suffer.
Well at the recent May 12 legislative meeting they voted to remove one of the Lawyers from the budget and hire 2 more paralegals. I made a motion to keep the budgeted Lawyer and hire the two paralegals, per the Cornell report. Which one of it’s recommendations was the increase in the legal department in the DSS department after the death of Erin Maxwell. That motion was voted down. They removed the Lawyer and added the paralegals.
The cluelessness didn’t stop there. Next up was a resolution that would change the standard workday for caseworkers in DSS.
DSS is losing caseworkers every week. Being over worked and under paid has caused an exodus like none before. They work a standard 7 hr day. That is 7 hrs to try and get 10hrs of work done. Cases and clients suffer. Every time a case worker leaves the remaining case workers have to pick up the slack.
Well what is Oswego county Legislative body’s answer.
Lets change their work day to 8hrs that will do the trick.
So now they have to work 8 hours before they are able to receive any comp time or Over time. Let’s over work them for 8 hrs instead of 7 hrs. that will make them happy.
In 2019 the County Legislative body purchased two houses in Mexico across from the DSS bldg. They said they will demo one of the houses to build a parking lot.
The building of a parking lot will make the workers happy.
Last year a plethora of DSS workers came to Legislative meetings and pleaded their cases about being over worked and under paid. Some having to work two jobs to make ends meet. Asking to be paid what similar case workers in similar sized counties make.
What did they get? A longer work day and a dream of a parking lot.
Clueless for sure.
Frank Castiglia Jr.
Minority Leader Oswego County Legislature
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There are a few lingering questions. How much is the “dream parking lot” costing us? What was the cost of the 2 houses that were purchased? What is the cost of the demolition of the one house? What are the plans for the other house? How many case workers are employed currently? Let’s say there are 20 case worker (lowball) and let us further say that the “dream parking lot” costs 200,000. The parking lot is a joke, so we want our case workers walking across the street to get to their job. Last I checked the palace aka DSS has a large parking lot. Walking across the street to get into the palace in the winter that will be fun (said no-one ever) I have an idea, how about we give the case workers a fair living wage & budget additional resources? Weird thought I know. Furthermore, we lose a lawyer and hire 2 paralegals? The paralegal’s job is but not limited to, research, maintaining files, drafting legal documents basically taking administrative tasks off the lawyer’s plate. Hiring 2 paralegals and losing a lawyer makes ZERO sense. DSS doesn’t need a “dream parking lot” nor do they need to lose a lawyer. They need a fair wage, additional resources to help prevent another Erin & Jordan scenario. They need someone that listens and clearly that is not our legislative body.
Let’s stop saying they are overworked and underpaid. The current job announcement on the county website has the ENTRY level position starting at $24.23 per hour. An 8 hour workday should not be out of the question for that amount of money. Furthermore, that wage is more than acceptable to comfortably live in Oswego County. As in in any civil service position, people don’t take it to become rich. DSS has dropped the ball once again on a child in need and their answer is to blame their wages and workload. It’s time to stop appeasing them and hold them accountable. Thankfully we have other legislators focusing on the issues instead of blowing hot air into the news.
Citizen, Oh well you must be one of the clueless, form a group CPAC have a meeting, saying we must attract and retain caseworkers. Then vote to push them over the edge. Their wage is just shy of the poverty line. But that is OK because your one of the 14 that voted to not hire enough caseworkers back in 2019 like Legislator Castiglia said. It’s nice to have someone back in there that is holding people like you accountable for your lack of proper actions. Thank you Frank, keep up the good work.
Case workers get paid garbage. Thats why you don’t have enough & as a result, need more lawyers. Their jobs cause huge amounts of stress. Their salaries should literally be doubled. Focus on that.