Lowell Facilities Panel Votes to Protect Union Jobs in Proposed Centralized Department

LOWELL — February 25, 2026 — Lowell's joint facilities subcommittee voted to pursue a centralized facilities department and pledged no unionized employees would lose jobs in the process. The panel, bringing together City Councilors Rita Robinson, Corey Atrisco Dakota, and John Scott with School Committee members Yen Abahu, Andrea DelRossi, and Paul Rossi, voted 5-0 on Robinson's motion that "not one employee will be negatively impacted" by the creation of a collaborative centralized department. City Manager Tom Golden and Superintendent Liam Skinner said they would jointly develop a structural proposal before the next session, expected in three to four weeks. District facilities director Richard Underwood revealed school work orders have surged from 551 in fiscal year 2023 to 3,200 in fiscal year 2025, with 46 percent of all requests involving HVAC and plumbing — a shortage UTL President Paul Georges called the product of chronic understaffing, not mismanagement. Georges urged the panel to formally eliminate privatization from consideration, warning that "any place that's been done, it's been a miserable disaster."