Ousted Public Works Director Dan Pavelko became the center of attention at the Coplay Council workshop Tuesday night.

Pavelko attended the meeting to give his monthly public works report because he continues to serve as public works director until a replacement is found. He did not participate in the discussion, initiated by Councilman Charles Sodl.

"There has been some remarks made in the newspaper about a decision that we made lately about the director of public works," Sodl said. "I will not get into specifics because that's a personnel matter and I'm not here to embarrass anyone. I would like to talk a few minutes about the method, what we're doing, to make these decisions."

Sodl said in early spring he and other officials had a conversation about what they wanted the public works department to accomplish. They were told the crew didn't have enough time. So they contacted the Coplay-Whitehall Sewer Authority for guidance. As a result, one of the first things the borough did was require the public works crew to punch a time clock. Employees had been working on an honor system.

"So, some things we have to remember, what was good maybe 15 years ago, 10 years ago, … sometimes it's not good today," he said. "Some, not all, were abusing the honor system."

The next change was asking each employee to fill out a daily work log. The sheets asked for information such as a detailed description of the job, where it was done, the start and stop times on the job, what equipment was used and the mileage.

The information from the logs is put into a spreadsheet and man hours categorized so officials can see, for example, how many man hours are required for mowing versus collecting garbage.

"We're trying to understand where our labor dollars are being spent, what's it costing us and what we can do better," Sodl said. "We analyzed these every week, frankly more than every week, every couple days … This is going to help us make a lot more decisions."

Sodl said he asked public works employees how much time they spent cutting grass. Answers varied from between 35 and 40 man hours a week. However, the daily log and spreadsheets revealed the average was 16.4 man hours a week over a period of 11 weeks.

"I'll just finish by saying this. We are going to do what's right, not what is easy," Sodl said. "It's easy to ignore some of these things but that's not why we're here."

Seventh Street resident Larry Suranofsky had a different take.

"I'd like to say I think the guy [running] the public works department is doing a damn good job," said Suranofsky, who spoke during public comment, after Sodl make his comments. I think you're going to find it hard to replace a man that does all of the things that he does."

Suranofsky said during the recent Coplay Community Days festival, he heard a lot of people are not happy with council's decision regarding Pavelko.

"The garbage gets picked up on time, the [mowing of] the grass in the borough is getting done, the potholes are getting fixed," he said. "I mean what is he not doing specifically?"

"You don't have the facts," said council President Lou Bodish. "That's your assumption."

Bodish said the problem was not Pavelko's work performance.

"This is managerial skills that were lacking and this is … part of what being a public works director is," he said.

In most cases, when someone doesn't do his or her job, that person is fired. However, because council members know what a good worker Pavelko is, they offered him another job as the lead person on the crew.

"We haven't gotten an answer back on that yet," Bodish said.

When asked after the meeting if the borough was waiting for an answer from the union about whether or not Pavelko could move into that position, Bodish said to ask Pavelko.

Pavelko said after the meeting the problem is if the borough makes him the crew leader, it's not clear if the person who is crew leader now has to also accept a pay cut.

Bodish also said work needs to be planned.

"You just don't come in in the morning and say 'Well, I decided I'm going to do this today,'" he said. "We're not here to bash anybody but if it comes to that, we will make our statements."

"I stick by mine," Suranofsky responded. "I think he's doing a good job."

Councilman Bill Leiner Jr. said in 17 years in politics, the decision to replace Pavelko was one of the toughest. He also said he wished to point out that the decision was made by a unanimous vote. Council will not rush just to find "a body" to do that job.

"The only way I'll support a replacement is if I sit down across the table to dinner, eyeball to eyeball, alone, with this gentleman or this lady because I have a lot of questions," Leiner said.

Sodl asked Suranofsky if he knew what the public works crew people get paid. He said the average is $27.73 an hour. This gets paid 240 man hours a week for a total weekly expenditure of $6,600.

"I don't know how you could make all that judgement without having the facts," Sodl said. "You have to know what is being done, how it's being done and where it can be done better."

Pavelko declined to comment further.