Knowing several CEO's of varying measure has its merits.
I was told that a Chief Executive Officer would be fired by their board if they acted in a manner that put the company at risk. Unsolicited advice that came my way this week. Imagine that! Who could fire a Mayor? The City Council? Recall would be the only measure of evaluating or recourse in terminating an elected official and the time involved to implement such actions would exceed the present life span of Mayors in Newburyport.
Would getting caught at willful / unlawful actions qualify a politician to be recalled? It didn't happen to 'Bossy' so I have my doubts about such a local movement. But 'disbarred' would be a better avenue for observed behavior of a member of the bar (legal that is) if someone was witness to such behavior. Exempt? Nutaah!
Such is politics and some is expected. After all what qualifications does one need to be an elected official, except votes. And how does one acquire votes? Political promises.
I question how many AFSCME members have problems with our temporary DPS Director and have openly hired members of the bar to defend complaints of management of the city? I count six. How many previous managers have been the moving force to employ as many members of the bar in this state? We are good for the economy after all? One union employee clocked more than his basic weekly wage in overtime and no 'emergency' has been recorded to support such needs. That questions the basic amounts we pay some of our help and constitutes a gift to one union employee and not others. May be the reason there are so many employees that will not take the climb up the stairs and communicate with this interim director. Favoritism and nepotism. Who's watching? Not the ones expected to protect the taxpayers.
Another question! How many DPS employees have a higher education than their managers? Does the knowledge factor create uncomfortable situations in employment? Maybe a little envy. Enough to falsify records or protect ones own position by discriminating actions? Or false reporting? Past agreements to hire and train qualified employees and move past the demeanor of the classic unemployable city workers has been reverted to hiring unlicensed and unqualified help, sending the educated and professional labor pool back decades to provide the stipends this management style needs pay out for support. And the public records show the process. Results of studies of available man-hours and good management tracking have been abandoned and personal observations of managers are replaced in the efforts to record the actual value of the city's investment in labor. I would guess the education factor does have a cost. $854,122.04 in projected DPW Labor for fiscal 2011 and $54,808.00 approved overtime budget. Several DPW (listed as HW in the budget) have gone unfilled for a few years now, but the spending matches a full complement of employees available. How so? We have yet to see any city emergency that would explain the need for such expense and would expect to see savings from the 'unfilled' positions, right? Let's see! A quick look at the payroll spread sheet should support a savings trend. I'm sure there are no temporary employees performing in positions that are reported as unfilled and needing overtime to complete, right? Ok, enough! Some people can count. Call the City Auditor, Mr. Bill Squillace and see for yourself. Confirm the savings and management reporting of your investments as you have a right to do. http://cityofnewburyport.com/budget2011/Final%202011%20Budget.pdf See who's making the money and who's not!
LAMO, government at it's best!
No comments:
Post a Comment