North Huntingdon commissioners should be prepared to lose several of the township’s public works employees, the leader of the department said this week.

“There could be a mass exodus out of here,” said Richard Albert, director of the department.

The commissioners accepted the resignation of Adam Hardy, effective March 3. Another employee has accepted a job in the private sector, Albert said.

The department could lose more employees because of private sector competition for workers, employees eligible to retire and a two-tier wage system that pays new workers less money under a labor pact that took effect in 2022, Albert said. The department has 20 employees, including Albert and his assistant.

The department also has eight longtime employees who soon will be eligible to retire, said Albert, whose 28 years of service, including 24 as director, also puts him in the same situation.

“Other guys are actively seeking jobs” in a labor environment where workers are in high demand, he said.

The township also created problems for the department by negotiating a two-tier pay system in the five-year collective bargaining agreement covering the public works employees, Albert said. A spokesperson with the union could not be reached for comment.

The pay system has caused “low morale,” and led to friction among the workers, Albert said.

That labor pact, negotiated by former township Manager Jeff Silka and unanimously approved by the commissioners in November 2021, starts employees hired under the current pact at $20 an hour and caps their pay at $25 an hour. By comparison, public works employees at a local municipality can earn as much as $25.50 an hour, Albert said, declining to identify the community. While the contract raised wages by 65 cents an hour this year for all union members, employees hired under former labor agreements can earn as much as $33 an hour, Albert said.

“It was a very unfortunate negotiation. The whole idea was to save money. I hate to say that it backfired,” Albert said.

Albert raised the possibility of reopening the contract for negotiation, even though it does not expire until Dec. 31, 2026.

Commissioner Zachary Haigis, board president, said that the reopening of the contract is something the township might consider, if necessary.

Silka, now city administrator at Cumberland, Md., could not be reached for comment. He left the North Huntingdon position in October 2021, a month before the commissioners, including Haigis and Virginia Stump, approved the deal.

Harry Faulk, township manager, said the commissioners would discuss hiring another public works employee.

If the commissioners authorize advertising the job, Albert said the response likely won’t be as overwhelming as in previous years. He recalls the days when he would be approached for a job when he walked out of church, but now, “We get only a few people to apply” for positions.

The township does not have a residency requirement for the jobs.

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