Pratt, frustrated, gets men raises

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The Whitehall town board.

By PJ Ferguson

Town organizational meetings are typically mundane and brief, with officials being sworn in, establishing the rules and procedures for the upcoming year.

However, Whitehall’s town organizational meeting was anything but.

Several dust-ups occurred between town officials. Perhaps most notably was highway superintendent Louie Pratt, speaking up to the board regarding his request to pay two per-diem employees $18.50 an hour, rather than the budgeted $16.50.

Town councilman Timothy Kingsley initially took issue with the request because he believed it meant that the per diem help would be earning a wage equal to the full-time employees, a proposal he felt was unfair.

The two per-diem employees, Jim Shattuck and Barry Lane, are retired former employees of the town highway department, with each having 14 years of experience.

Pratt has been operating the department this year with three full-time men, including himself, with the others only being on board for the past few months.

“Who do you want to call on Christmas for $16.50?” Pratt asked the board.

 

This is only a preview of the story published in the Whitehall Times. To read the full story, pick up a print copy of this week’s paper at the newsstand or read it online here.