Maintenance chief seeks overtime to tackle backlog; board weighs hiring versus in‑house overtime

Eric England, the county maintenance director, described a backlog of deferred building and grounds projects and asked the board for additional funds to allow his crew to complete more in‑house work. "We have asked for an extra 60,000 to use that labor hours for projects across the county," England said, noting that in‑house projects completed with overtime could save subcontracting costs.

Board members and staff discussed tradeoffs between overtime and hiring additional full‑time employees. Several members said they preferred incremental, short‑term overtime to avoid creating permanent payroll obligations; others noted that hiring could build long‑term trade skills in the department. England said the team currently handles roughly eight county facilities and that recent property additions increased grounds workload. He cited 77 outstanding work orders in his department as evidence of deferred maintenance.

Members emphasized the need for detailed cost comparisons before approving recurring hires and directed staff to provide specific in‑house versus subcontract cost estimates for one or two candidate projects. The board did not take a formal vote but signaled support for exploring overtime funding and data‑driven decisions about future hires.