City Work Being Contracted Out

[Lori Allen _]

Over the past few weeks, line painting has been taking place on Franklin/Hilliard. I believe they have been working east to west and are now down to Arthur. The work has apparently been contracted out to a company called Trafftech. They are based out of Bessemer Ave in Cleveland. This company is even working on Saturdays. The entire street is often blocked because they have three total trucks, with only one truck actually doing any work. A lot of the lines are not even painted straight. Some of them look like the workers may have drank their lunch before painting!

I believe this is the same company that put the bus lane signs up on Clifton last year. I believe they also worked on Saturday then. When these signs were put up, Trafftech blocked many of our street name signs, speed limit signs, etc.

I remember the days before a large amount of our service workers were laid off and our work was done mostly by city employees. In my opinion, they did a better job and did it quicker.

I also seem to recall a private contractor putting fertilizer down on the grass at Wagar Park last summer.

Finally, it appears that since council and the mayor have done next to nothing for five years, they are suddenly scrambling to get some work done before election! I have never seen so much getting done in one summer in my whole life!

[Lori Allen _]

It appears that the mayor has now hired Trafftech to install the green street name signs around the city. Trafftech was spotted doing just that today at Coutant and Franklin.

Traftec Coutant Franklin 2.15.17.jpg (47.58 KiB) Viewed 1946 times

Let it not be forgotten that Trafftech appeared to be Summers "go-to-guys" for painting lines on Franklin/Hilliard in 2015, painting lines on Athens in 2016, and installing new signs on Clifton in 2014.

I realize it is rocket science and requires a professional to paint lines on a road or to nail a sign into the ground.

It might also be worth mentioning that the two owners of Trafftech were both previously Lakewood residents for several years. Also, the company also appears to have been involved in roughly 30 lawsuits in the past 15 years, stemming from allegedly not assembling signs correctly, not paying workman's comp, not paying utilities, etc. Quite frankly, they appear to be goofballs.

Of course, I suppose I would rather have this as opposed to the convicted felons with drug dealing, robbery, and R.I.C.O. charges on their records at HEZ Enterprises that Gus Frangos hired to do demolition work in Lakewood.

The main point of this post being: What happened to our service department? Answer: it will soon become a skeleton crew, it appears to be on its way out.

Perhaps I am in the wrong business. Apparently, it is profitable to own a company that nails signs into the ground. Go figure.

[Jim O'Bryan]

The main point of this post being: What happened to our service department? Answer: it will soon become a skeleton crew, it appears to be on its way out.

Perhaps I am in the wrong business. Apparently, it is profitable to own a company that nails signs into the ground. Go figure.

Lori

Any way this administration can hide, "raising our taxes" by cutting services, they are there.

We used to cut our own trees, and then haul them to a person that would sell them and keep the money. Now we pay someone to cut them, haul them and keep the money plus our money.

City Hall out of control.


.

[Lori Allen _]

Let it be known that today, 5/23/17 at 2:45 P.M. (1445 hours), Traftech was spotted once again performing city work. Specifically, a Trafftech vehicle was spotted collecting “road closed” barricades off of tree lawns near Cook & Clifton, presumably from the races on Lake Ave. this past weekend.

Traftech Cook Clifton 5.2317 1445 hrs.jpg (416.28 KiB) Viewed 1654 times

Normally, I would not raise this as an issue. However, it is intereresting to note that Mr. Summers and/or City Hall seem to have chosen Trafftech as their “go-to-guys” to do seemingly menial work that our Divison of Streets previously performed.

For example, Trafftech was first spotted in the fall of 2014 erecting “bus lane” signs on Clifton. They have also been spotted for the past few years painting lines on the roads, even down to the so-called white “stop bars” before stop signs. They were also spotted this past winter erecting new green street name signs around Lakewood. Now, they are providing and collecting “road closed” barricades.

I am more than willing to privatize city services if there is actually a significant, documented cost savings to the city. However, this is work that our Division of Streets previously performed. This is the first time in all of my years in Lakewood that I have seen an outside company performing as menial of a task as erecting street name signs. It is my opinion that this work could easily be performed by the Division of Streets, as it has been in the past.

Then again, Mr. Summers did say in a January 2nd, 2014 e-mail the following:

we have 100 less public works workers compared to the pre-2008 era.

There it is, straight from the horse's mouth (sorry to all horses out there). If what Mr. Summers said in this January 2nd, 2014 e-mail is accurate, perhaps I can justify this outsourcing. On the other hand, this "may" be an attempt by City Hall to gradually outsource city work. Not only do I believe this work is generally performed better by city employees, but it is also a concern for those workers that may be laid off.

Also, it is probably just “another coincidence”, but is it worth noting that the president and owner of Trafftech Inc. is a former Lakewood resident and still owns rental property here in Lakewood. Again, it is probably just “another coincidence”, but it may be worth throwing out there.

In any event, I would especially be interested in seeing bids, cost comparisons, other documentation etc. regarding this most recent outsourcing, especially if City Hall's “communications army” comes out in force on this thread in an attempt to “shoot the messenger” (which I am waiting for and expecting).