Animal House Redux

Trenton's City Council is poised to have a second reading and public hearing of the amended business license ordinance at the Thursday, March 1 meeting.  Local business owner John McManimon has these thoughts about the ongoing follies in city hall.

Once again Trenton’s City Hall and City Council are running true to form.

Council recently missed a golden opportunity to portray itself and the City as business-friendly by passing a poorly thought out ordinance put forward by the City Clerk’s office raising business license fees astronomically, some by as much as 500%.           

Acknowledging the inadequacies of the ordinance beforehand, Council passed it anyway. They assumed they could change it later.

And they did.

A week after license applications were due, Council, with the assistance of the Clerk’s office, introduced a new ordinance that would rescind the previous ordinance and push the filing deadline back two months to April 1. It would also lower the fee increases to a more reasonable 100% in most cases.

Unfortunately, there is no provision in the new ordinance to reimburse those who actually obeyed the law and paid on time at the higher rate. The City Clerk, Leona Baylor, when questioned about this aspect of the ordinance stated that”… most people pay their bills late anyway.” So not only is the City encouraging people to pay their bills late it is actually punishing those that pay on time.

Kind of reminds you of the scene in “Animal House” when D-Day turns to Flounder after having wrecked his brother’s car and says “Hey, you f---ed up. You trusted us.”

It makes one wonder. Is this really some kind of frat house competition with one camp trying to continuously embarrass the other? One Councilperson’s rationale for increasing license fees in a stagnant economy was that property taxpayers couldn’t afford an increase. Don’t business owners pay property taxes, too?

Dean Wormer, put the Councilwoman on double secret probation!

The imbecility can’t just be contained in City Hall. All the voters of Trenton deserve a nod for electing people who have kept everyone in surrounding communities in stitches and late night talk show hosts rife with ready one-liners.                                                                                                                        

While residents decried the fact (almost daily) that public safety employees take thousands of dollars in paychecks back to their homes in the suburbs instead of living in the town they protect, the City of Trenton responded by laying a third of the police force off.             

These same aggrieved residents don’t seem to mind that absentee landlords funnel millions of dollars out of town the first of every month or that asking them to comply with building codes might actually result in not just improved housing but in jobs for city residents. The message we’re sending has resulted in tumbleweeds blowing through the gutted Inspections Department.

Of course every now and then a breeze of self-righteous indignation sweeps through the Council chambers and they pass an ordinance to rein in the rapacious owners. Unfortunately, passing strict laws and then laying off inspectors pretty much guarantees that only irresponsible and feckless landlords will be left. The responsible law abiding ones will have moved on.                                                   

The summer is coming and it promises to be a long and a hot one. Let’s see whose turn it is to lead the band down the dead end alley. If worse comes to worse we could always hope for some royalties from Letterman’s jokes and use them to hire a couple more cops. Or inspectors.                                                                                                              

Hang in there, Trentonians. Did we give up when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor? Heck, no!

Eric Stratton would be proud of us.                       

From the inbox

The following arrived in our inbox several times overnight:

Citizens for Appropriate Mayoral Compensation

Somewhere the question arose. And now it is moving thru out the City,” Why are we paying Mayor Mack so much, to do so little?” People are saying that he is excessively over paid. His results are simply not worth the $126,460, annual salary we pay him.

A committee of citizens in favor of appropriate mayoral compensation has formed. Their goal is to build citizen support to move City Council to enact an ordinance reducing Mayor Mack’s compensation to an amount more appropriate for his disappointing level of performance.

Upon taking office, Tony Mack fired every Director in the City administration. He then proceeded to appoint family and friends with little or no experience to these leadership positions: Hardly meritorious performance on his part.

After cooperatively approving his initial appointments against their better judgment, City Council refused to continue approving ill chosen new appointments to those same positions. Tony Mack side-stepped the permanent appointment process by using Acting Director status appointments. We are almost half way thru Mack’s four year term of office. And we have Acting Directors, open positions: Scandalous time keeping for pay purposes, and incompetent employees in many positions. This is not why we pay Tony Mack $126,000 a year.

City Council needs to pass a new ordinance reducing his honor’s pay to something like $80,000 a year, or less. Here is the ordinance.

AN ORDINANCE TO FIX THE COMPENSATION FOR THE OFFICE OF MAYOR,

PROVIDING FOR THE PUBLICATION OF COMPENSATION ORDINANCES FOR

CERTAIN OFFICERS AND REPEALING ORDINANCES INCONSISTENT HEREWITH.

WHEREAS, pursuant to the provisions of the Faulkner Act, N.J.S.A.

40:69A-43a.,40:69A-180 and general municipal law, N.J.S.A. 40A:9-

165, the power to fix the compensation for the offices of Mayor,

City Clerk, Business Administrator, Department Directors, and

City Council Members is required to be exercised by the adoption

of an ordinance; and

WHEREAS the City Council finds that it is in the public interest

That the compensation of the office of Mayor be adjusted and

Fixed at an amount commensurate with the current economic

Circumstances of the City of Trenton and that it and all other

Compensation ordinances shall be restored to published status

along with all published ordinances of the City of Trenton and be

readily accessible by the public; now therefore, be it

ORDAINED by the City Council of the City of Trenton as Follows:

1. Effective January 1, 2012, the annual monetary

compensation for the office of the Mayor shall be $80,000.00.

2. Any other provision of the Administrative Code or other

ordinance or instrument which provides for any monetary

compensation other than the amount of money set forth in Section

1. above or is otherwise inconsistent with the provisions of this

ordinance is hereby abrogated, repealed and superseded to the

extent of such inconsistency.

3. The City Clerk is hereby directed to provide for the

inclusion of the foregoing amendment of the Administrative Code

to become published along with the other published portions of

the City of Trenton Ordinances along with any and all future

revisions thereof and to respond to public inquiry with regard

thereto without requiring the formality of a written request for

access to public information.

4. Effective Date. An emergency having been declared with

respect to the effective date of hereof, this ordinance shall

become effective upon final approval and publication.

If you agree that Mayor Mack is over-paid, you should e-mail your Council Person and tell him to introduce and vote for this ordinance. Send your e-mail to Linda Kelsey, Council Aid,

lkelsey@trentonnj.org , and ask her to distribute it to each Council member.

You should also call your Council person and urge him to introduce and vote for this ordinance. All of them can be reached at their office telephone, 609-989-3146 .

And finally, you need to attend City Council meetings and ask them to introduce and pass this ordinance.

Please plan to attend the next Council meeting Thursday, February 16, at 5:30. If each of you do that, Council will be compelled to do your will, and will enact this ordinance. Then the Mayor will be paid a salary more appropriate for his level of performance in these poor economic times.

Please feel free to share this wonderful request with your friends and relatives. Encourage them to make a difference by joining this effort for more appropriate Mayoral compensation.

From your committee of Citizens for Appropriate Mayoral Compensation.

If one is good, two must be better

In an article in this morning’s Times, Matt Fair yet again reports that the city’s Policy and Communications Director could not or would not respond to questions from the press.

City spokeswoman Lauren Ira, meanwhile, failed to answer a series of e-mailed questions about whether the city expected to hire back any workers in the inspections department. She also ignored questions about EIC Inspection Agency’s continued contracting with the city.

With so many questions arising from the Mack administration’s antics, it must be overwhelming for one person to respond to all the requests for clarification, edification and explanation.

Would it surprise anyone if something similar to the following letter might turn up in the in basket of Director of Local Government Services Tom Neff’s in basket? (click on image see a larger version)

 

Anything is likely to happen in Mack-world.

What are they thinking?

We have a relative who is intellectually disabled. Her late parents did everything they could to make her as independent as her abilities allow. Her siblings continue that. The struggles, the triumphs and the tribulations of the situation have sometimes given rise to humorous stories.

One such event was when our cousin received her collection envelopes for the month from the local parish.

The next week, our cousin dutifully placed her weekly tithe in the provided envelope. Unbeknownst to anyone she also included a note.

A day or two later, the parish priest called our uncle. He explained that there had been something "extra" in the week's envelope and proceeded to read the note:

"Ok. I'll give you more money this one time, but it is the last!"

This week, Trenton's city council squawked and fussed but then approved a $500,000 cash call to keep the Marriott at Lafayette Yard solvent for another few months. The hotel, which has been drowning in red ink all but one out of the ten years it has been open, is a white elephant owned and financed by city taxpayers.

Trentonians not only have to pay about $1.5 million a year in debt service (interest on the $60 million in bonds floated to build the facility); we are on the hook for the operating costs.

When there is not enough cash generated by the hotel, the city kicks in some to cover expenses.

Last week, city council acted like our cousin and scolded the hotel board and management company about asking for money, but gave it to them anyway.

We understand the limitations our cousin is dealing with.

What is council's excuse?

Whaddaya think?

Below is the text of the purported Executive Order 10-11 creating Mayor Mack's Commission on International Business Affairs. You can find a pdf of the original here. You read it and then get back to us with answers to these questions:

• Does it make sense?
• Is this something the city of Trenton should be doing right here, right now?
• Is this even "legal"? 

Let us know what you think.

City of Trenton

EXECUTIVE ORDER 10-11

Executive Order by Honorable Mayor Tony F. Mack

Mayor's Commission on International Business Affairs

September 20, 2011

An Executive Order establishing the Mayor's Commission on International Business Affairs to encourage the development and implementation of policies, programs and practices specifically intended to improve conditions affecting the cultural, social, political, educational, health and general well-being of African and Caribbean immigrants, refugees and asylees residing in the City of Trenton, Mercer County. The commission shall make recommendations with regard to the Mayor and /or his designees, all relating to the improvement of conditions in the City of Trenton, Mercer County for International Business communities.

WHEREAS, Several international and humanitarian and international faith based organizations intervened in Africa, Europe and Asia refugee's crisis by arranging to resettle many refugees from these countries Liberia, Sierra Leone, Eritrea, Rwanda, Ivory Coast, Guinea, Sudan, Somalia, Italy, Russia, Ukrainian, Poland, and other Eastern and to communities within the United States; and

WHEREAS, Beginning in the 1990's and continuing until today, several African countries have undergone severe civil war and political unrest, leading to genocide of many ethnic and religious minorities, as well as the exile of former government leaders and their families, creating hundreds of thousands of refugees and political asylees; and

WHEREAS, At the same time, political unrest throughout the Caribbean, especially in Haiti, created an additional refugee crisis within the Western Hemisphere; and

WHEREAS, Similar umbrella Organizations will be created to represent the Italian, Polish, Russian, Asian, Central and South American Communities etc.

NOW, THEREFORE, by the power vested in me in accordance with Article 5, Plan D 3-­9 of the city of Trenton Charter, it is hereby ordered as follows:

Section 1. ESTABLISHMENT OF COMMISSION

The City of Trenton, Mercer County Mayor Commission on International Business Affairs ("the Commission") is hereby established in the Mayor's Office, which office shall pay, from appropriations made to it, all the expenses of such commission

Section 2. FUNCTION OF COMMISSION

·         Host monthly interactive Commission Meetings to promote and inform the African, Caribbean, Italian, Polish, Russian, Asian, Central and South American Immigrants of activities occurring within the Trenton Immigrant Community.

·         Collaborate with African, Caribbean, Italian, Polish, Russian, Asian, Central and South America affiliated organizations in providing support to events such as; health fairs, college fairs, cultural programs, political events, galas, and roundtable discussions on current issues.

·         Make representation at conferences locally, state-wide, and nation-wide and internationally to promote education, job security, and cultural enrichment and immigration issues.

·         Promote business and trade agreements on behalf of the African, Caribbean, Italian, Polish, Russian, Asian, Central and South American Communities.

·         Organize Trade Missions, International Trade and Business Shows and Forums and promote Exports

·         Engage in neighborhood improvements and revitalization programs

·         Assist Immigrants with accessing city services through the office of the Mayor.

Section 3. COMPOSITION OF COMMISSION

Each Independent Commission shall be composed of nine (9) members, who shall serve without compensation. The mayor shall appoint members of the commission as follows:

(a)    The President of City Council or his or her designee;

(b)   The Executive Director /Chairperson of each cultural division

(c)    Two (2) other members of the community appointed by the Mayor

(d)   Five (5) other culturally diverse professional, business owners and faith based community members from the City of Trenton appointed by the commission.

Section 4. COMMISSION OFFICERS

Commission Chair and all other officers of the Commission will be elected in accordance with the process outlined in the bylaws.

The commission will develop and implement bylaws and create a mission statement that supports and reflects the needs of the African and Caribbean immigrant community in the City of Trenton.

Section 5. This order shall be effective immediately.

And, if you check the original document, you will see it is signed on October 19, 2011...one month after the date the order was issued.  Really?

We know one thing, if we were one of the "advisers" to this endeavor listed on the city website, we would be screaming to have our name removed from any and all documents pertaining to this mess.

Fundraising for the commission

It looks like another round of "Hey, kids! Let's put on a show!"

Yesterday's big news was the creation of Mayor Mack's Commission for International Business Affairs. This august body was reportedly the result of an executive order issued by the mayor last fall. While we still haven't seen a copy of said order, we do have some questions about this situation.

Can a public body be created by the mayor via an executive order?
What powers would such a body have that require them to be "sworn in?"
How is this commission being funded?

Well, on that last point we have at least a partial answer.

Seems as though after Friday afternoon's "swearing in" ceremony at the Marriott, there will be a special dinner held at Amici Milano restaurant in Chambersburg. Want to attend? Just cough up $250 and you can!  At least that's what the invitation says.

Makes one wonder though...

You're having a ceremony at the hotel which has a ballroom and is fully equipped to handle a large affair, but you are going across town to a restaurant that is much smaller, for your fundraising dinner.

Our guess is that, like the "swearing in ceremony" itself, the idea of changing locations for the dinner is all about making a display.  Just picture it, a motorcade of limousines flying little flags from their fenders and ferrying the diplomats and such wending it's way through Friday evening rush hour traffic from the Marriott to Chambersburg. 

For the record

Just in case you haven't been paying attention:

Trenton city council was bamboozled (yet again) by the Mack administration into convening an executive session on January 3 via an improper resolution and to discuss something that wasn't subject to executive session.

A city employee who has been charged with using another person's name (fraud) to obtain a contract (prohibited under state statute) has been collecting sick pay (approximately $14,000 worth to date) while awaiting the outcome of the case.

Mayor Mack apparently issued an executive order last fall (we don't know when because we can't find any reference on the city website) creating a Commission for International Business Affairs that will seek trade ties with Botswana, Burkina Faso, Ghana and Trinidad and Tobago. The commissioners are to be "sworn in" this Friday but we're not sure why they need to be sworn in. We're also not sure what authority that mayor has to create a commission without running it by city council. And we don't know why, but one of the commissioners holds the title of "Treasurer." (Read Kevin Moriarty's thoughts on this here)

In the meantime, with all of this foolishness going on, we are so desperately short of cops on the street that this morning's homicide on Clearfield Avenue took just about every available officer off patrol to manage the scene.

And it's only the middle of January! Guess we're picking up right where we left off last year.

Apparently, Crime* does pay

You remember back in November when the story broke that long time City of Trenton employee and AFSCME local president Dave Tallone was charged by the Mercer County Prosecutor's Office with fraudulently obtaining city contracts, right?

You don't?

Then read Lisa Coryell's article from the Times, November 11, 2011.

And you remember when, on the heel of those charges, the City of Trenton issued a release stating that Mr. Tallone was to be suspended immediately without pay?  If not, here's the press release on the city website.
 Well, what if we told you that Mr. Tallone has not missed a day of pay in the past two plus months?

We didn't either. that is not until we checked his payroll records and discovered that Mr. Tallone has been collecting "sick pay", "holiday pay" and, of course, his "longevity pay" ever since his alleged suspension. 

Seems as though Mr. Tallone was never technically suspended. Sources are saying the city, in the persons of acting Business Administrator Anthony Roberts and/or acting Public Works Director Harold Hall, never provided Mr. Tallone with the required Loudermill hearing and notice of suspension.  There doesn't seem to be any reason to not have provided this "due process" to Mr. Tallone. He didn't even have to be present for them to hold a hearing and draft a notice to send to him.

The city just didn't seem to do it in the 30 days allotted.  So now Mr. Tallone enjoys a taxpayer paid vacation while awaiting the disposition of his case.

Was this by design or default?  Maybe Mr. Bocchini or the new state Attorney General should seek answers to that question.

UPDATE: The Trentonian has posted a story on line here wherein highyl paid contract labor attorney for the city Steve Glickman claims that Tallone's charges were not serious enough to allow suspension without pay.  Glickman goes on to explain that Tallone could be suspended with pay, but that would be like giving him a "paid vacation." 

Mr. Glickman, what is Mr. Tallone getting now but paid for not doing anything?  Sounds like a paid vacation to us.
*We use the term "Crime" here to make the reference to the old saw that crime doesn't pay. We fully recognize that Mr. Tallone was only charged with criminal acts and as yet has not been found guilty of any crime.  Innocent until proven guilty and all that.

Check please!

A little history of the salary mess in Trenton

In August of 2003, the Palmer administration put ordinances on the city council docket increasing the salary ranges for the Mayor and department heads, the city clerk and increasing the city council pay.  It was a sneaky, distasteful move on a couple of counts.

First, earlier that year, the same administration had asked department heads to cut budgets by 10% or so because of the city’s financial condition. Doesn’t make a lot of sense to cut budgets and then turnaround and grant the king’s court raises, does it?

Second, the ordinances were late additions to the docket of the single council meeting held in August.  This meant the second reading/approval would come at the first meeting in September. Coming at the end of summer when people are away on vacation and right after the Labor Day holiday when so many families are readjusting to a more regulated fall schedule, the timing of the introduction of these ordinances was obviously designed to circumvent public scrutiny and outcry.

Didn’t work. Various watchdogs, activists, etc. got wind of the ordinance’s first reading and spoke against it.  At the second reading in September of that year, a decent crowd turned out and spoke against the raises during the public hearing that proceeded the vote on the ordinances.

It was testy. Then Council President Paul Pintella was about to have one citizen removed from chambers but the speaker left of his own volition.  Another resident brought a tube of KY Jelly to the podium and asked that council at least use a lubricant before “putting it to the citizens”.  

The ordinances passed.

Another interesting development was that the ordinances for the Mayor, department heads and city clerk denoted salary ranges with annual increases over a several year period.  While not specifically prohibited, state statue does not mention salary ranges. It simply states “salaries, wages or compensation”.

§ 40A:9-165. Salaries, wages or compensation of mayor or other chief executive; officers and employees; exceptions; referendum

The governing body of a municipality, by ordinance, unless otherwise provided by law, shall fix and determine the salaries, wages or compensation to be paid to the officers and employees of the municipality, including the members of the governing body and the mayor or other chief executive, who by law are entitled to salaries, wages, or compensation.

Salaries, wages or compensation fixed and determined by ordinance may, from time to time, be increased, decreased or altered by ordinance. No such ordinance shall reduce the salary of, or deny without good cause an increase in salary given to all other municipal officers and employees to, any tax assessor, chief financial officer, tax collector or municipal clerk during the term for which he shall have been appointed. Except with respect to an ordinance or a portion thereof fixing salaries, wages or compensation of elective officials or any managerial, executive or confidential employee as defined in section 3 of the "New Jersey Employer-Employee Relations Act" P.L.1941, c.100 (C.34:13A-3), as amended, the ordinance shall take effect as provided therein. In municipalities wherein the provisions of Title 11 (Civil Service) of the Revised Statutes are in operation, this section shall be subject thereto.

Where any such ordinance shall provide for increases in salaries, wages or compensation of elective officials or any managerial, executive or confidential employee, the ordinance or that portion thereof which provides an increase for such elective or appointive officials shall become operative in 20 days after the publication thereof, after final passage, unless within said 20 days, a petition signed by voters of such municipality, equal in number to at least 5% of the registered voters of the municipality, protesting against the passage of such ordinance, be presented to the governing body, in which case such ordinance shall remain inoperative unless and until a proposition for the ratification thereof shall be adopted at an election by a majority of the voters voting on said proposition. The question shall be submitted at the next general election, occurring not less than 40 days from the date of the certification of the petition. The submission of the question to the voters shall be governed by the provisions of Title 19 (Elections) of the Revised Statutes, as in the case of public questions to be voted upon in a single municipality.

Not only were salary ranges and automatic, annual increases built in, Mayor Palmer chose to pay himself and his staff at the top of those ranges. Consistently.  The argument was made that when you have ranges, the average, qualified, competent employee should be paid at the midpoint of the range.  Someone with less than spectacular performance or a lack of experience would be paid in the lower part of the range; someone who excels at the job might expect to be paid at the higher end.  That’s common sense and good business.

The Palmer administration had no part of that. They argued that the cabinet members were all doing excellent work and must be paid as much as possible because many of the unionized employees they managed were making the same or more money.  Apparently there is some unwritten law that states the boss must make more than the employee.  And that argument was extended all the way up to the mayor.  If you inflate the department head salaries, then of course you have to raise the mayor’s. 

 To say the public was unhappy…or at least those who were paying attention…would be an understatement.

Flash forward to 2008. Not wanting to go through the hassle of having to explain the raises again, the Palmer administration illegally snuck them through via some vague language tacked onto the ratification of union contracts by city council.  It took a citizen to file a legal complaint against the city and a judge’s order to throw out those raises.  Of course, no one had to pay back the money they gained through the illegal raises.

That brings us to July 2010. Mayor Mack is sworn in and starts paying himself and his cabinet at the same rate, the top of the 2008 ranges that Palmer and company got.  Mack did this knowing the city was on the precipice of financial failure.  Mack did this while facing layoffs yet simultaneously going on a hiring spree, bringing in cronies and aides and interns and such.  Only because the ruling came down in August and was applied to the current administration did the pay scale get rolled back to the 2005 levels; the last legally passed pay raises.

A sympathetic, sentient Mayor would realize that a city with major financial issues, a city that must layoff hundreds of employees including 1/3 of the police department, can not afford to raise his salary or that of his cabinet.  Unfortunately for Trenton, Mayor Mack is neither sympathetic nor sentient.

Mayor Mack is a failed city leader. Eighteen months into his term, he has demonstrated no plan for improving public safety or economic development. He has demonstrated, repeatedly, an incredible lack of ability or will to do anything except hire and reward his friends while the city falls further and further into despair and disrepair.

Last night a very clear and strong message was sent to the mayor via the public comments at the city council meeting.  The people will not reward the continued incompetence of this administration with even the mere consideration of raising the mayor’s salary.

Don't drink the water

In the September round of layoffs, the city of Trenton was to release three technicians from the water department for reasons of “economy and efficiency.”  These are individuals who are licensed Water System Distribution Technicians…professionals who through the application of their experience and knowledge help maintain and safeguard the delivery of potable water to thousands of paying customers in Trenton and the surrounding suburbs.  (Need I remind the reader of the water distribution fiasco of October 2010 apparently caused by inexperienced individuals failing to follow proper procedure in opening and closing valves in the water system?)

First and foremost…laying off any employee of the Trenton Water Works does not save money!  Let me repeat that.  Laying off water works employees does not save money.

How is this so?  Well as you should know by now, the Trenton Water Works operates on its own budget separate and distinct from the city of Trenton budget.  The water utility revenue comes from the rate payers who buy and consume the water it produces. They may or may not be city of Trenton taxpayers. It doesn’t matter.  The money that flows into the waterworks comes from the distribution and sale of the water it produces. Period. 

Cutting the number of employees in the water utility does not save the city money or lower the property tax rate for Trentonians.

In fact, the argument can be made that reducing personnel costs at the water works actually hurts the city and can contribute to tax increases for city property owners.

How?  

Because the city of Trenton owns and operates the water utility it is allowed by law to take a portion of the operating surplus (profit, if you will) and move it over to the city’s general budget.  That portion is equal to a percentage of the utility’s operating expense.  The more money the utility spends on operating costs…like paying licensed Water System Distribution Technicians, the more money can be moved over to the city’s budget. 

Got it?  Good.

Now back to those technicians…why, you might ask yourself, would we lay anyone off from the water works, especially licensed professionals if it isn’t saving us money and thus lowering taxes? 

 
Good and fair question.  The answer lies in the fact that even though it operates on its own budget, the Trenton Water Works currently resides organizationally within the city Department of Public Works.  Civil service laws require that if a layoff impacts a department it must impact every division within that department. You can’t lay off people from solid waste but leave the water works employees alone.

If you recall, late last winter the city announced a plan to essentially shut down operations each Friday for 13 or 14 weeks as a cost saving measure. This would have been an across the board shutdown…including licensed water utility staff. This plan was eventually shelved at least in part because the city could not show how it could conduct these layoffs and still staff the water utility with the properly credentialed individuals.

In a letter dated February 15, 2011, John Plonski, the Assistant Commissioner for Water Resource Management at NJDEP, sent a letter to Mayor Mack raising the concern of proper staffing of the treatment facility during these weekly furloughs. The letter reminds the mayor that the water system is required to have licensed staff on duty at all times.

Makes sense, right? There needs to be proper, professional operators of the water system that so many depend on for potable water.

When the September layoffs are approved and notices sent out, Mr. Plonski sent a second letter, this time to then Business Administrator Eric Berry. This letter, dated August 5, 2011 (scroll down past thesecond page of the first letter) is more forceful and direct. Mr. Plonski states the case quite plainly:

“The NJDEP has identified the lack of qualified personnel as a key problem adversely affecting TWW’s ability to effectively operate its water system.”

A thinking person might reconsider the wisdom of laying off technicians in a utility already short handed.  Alas, our mayor does not think.  Or does he.

You see, the two licensed individuals targeted for layoff just happen to have testified before the grand jury last year about the misdeeds of Stanley Davis, the mayor’s half brother. This is a case of retaliation pure and simple. 

The mayor is not laying them off for matters of “economy and efficiency”. They are being singled out because they did the right thing and told what they knew about Mr. Davis.

Not convinced? 

How about this: last winter and again this summer, city council tried to pass an ordinance rearranging the organizational structure to create a standalone water and sewer authority department that could be isolated from the layoff plans. The first attempt was shelved because the less than astute members of council couldn’t grasp why it was needed. Then the city withdrew the “Friday furlough” plan and the issue didn’t come again until the September layoffs loomed.  That time, council passed the ordinance 4 – 3 but the mayor refused to sign it or discuss it and council couldn’t raise the fifth vote needed to override Mr. Mack.

It’s pretty common knowledge that when layoffs are planned, the most recent hires (the ones with least seniority) go first.  How is it that the long term employees…the licensed technicians were slated for layoff when two laborers and three water meter readers hired shortly after Mayor Mack took office were not?

Certainly the two laborers, Rodney Washington and Terrance Bailey should have been on the layoff list. Both are known Mack supporters with legal and other problems in their pasts. They are also the ones named in a harassment complaint brought by Kevin Moriarty for their verbal abuse while he tried to collect signatures for the recall petition.

The meter readers, too, by common sense would be the first to go in a layoff.  One, Charles Hall, is the nephew of Mack crony Harold Hall and although being paid by the water utility, is now assigned to oversee landscaping and design work in city parks.  Work that young Mr. Hall is absolutely not qualified to do.   Another is one time caterer and former owner of the now-closed Maxine’s restaurant, Henry Page. Page, another Mack “friend” reportedly cannot or will not complete his daily meter reading assignments, leaving them for others to do.

A week before the September 16 layoffs, Civil service stepped in and told the Mack administration to “bump” the technicians down to water meter readers and, presumably, layoff the two of the most recently hired readers.

That didn’t happen.  Instead, the Mack administration tried to move the technicians into laborer positions.  The techs balked; the administration moved to dismiss them entirely; a lawsuit was filed. A temporary restraining order halting the dismissal of the employees was also filed but ultimately, Judge Pereksta reversed it.  “While I agree that the DEP is recommending that (the utility) be more fully staffed, it’s too thin (an argument) to say that there is going to be this major effect on the safety of the citizenry of Trenton if your clients are moved to other positions,” Pereksta ruled. 

Assistant Commissioner Plonski states in his August 5 letter:  “Recent service disruptions due to operational deficiencies, which have not yet been resolved, indicate that TWW should not decrease the number of experienced and educated individuals who hold the licenses necessary to effectively operate the water treatment plant and distribution system. Targeting those licensed personnel serving TWW for layoff at a time when significant operational issues still exist is inappropriate and threatens the ability of TWW to provide a safe, dependable water supply to the City of Trenton and its surrounding communities.”

Judge Pereksta feels that is “too thin to say that there is going to be a major effect on the safety”. 

George Dougherty, attorney for the technicians has this to say: “The evidence is overwhelming that the reduction of the technician staff from an already low six to three is truly a dangerous thing to do.” .

So, we guess Judge Peksta is ok with putting the water supply at risk for the sake of Mayor Mack's spite against the people who he doesn't like. And we guess that Mayor Mack must not like customers of the city owned water utility.

Pass the bottled water.

Oops! He did it again!

The tragic-comic melodrama that is the Mack administration rolls on.

In an article in this morning’s Times reporter Matt Fairhighlights the ongoing problem with the city of Trenton giving work to outside legal firmswithout city council approval.

This is improper and illegal and a problem that started in the Palmer administration and continues under Mayor Mack.  It is a passive-aggressive way for the administration to get what it wants without interference from the governing body.  It is a blatant circumvention of the law and it is costing the city lots of money.

We’ll spare you the lecture on the proper process that should be followed in these matters. Suffice it to say that no contract should be granted or extended without council’s approval and we have strayed far from that procedure.

Despite the fact that the contracts were granted in an irregular if not suspect manner, work was done on the city’s behalf and we (the taxpayers) are obliged to pay for it…whether justified or not.

In the article, city spokesperson Lauren Ira is quoted as saying,

“Going forward, we are working on plans to make our processes more efficient. This will involve issuing timely requests for proposals, and selecting outside counsel prior to the expiration of the then-current outside counsel’s contracts.”

It seems to us that the administration’s attempts at making their “processes more efficient” have amounted to circumventing the law and short-cutting best practices.

Maybe what Ms. Ira, Mayor Mack and company should be focusing on is making the process more compliant with state statute and good sense. And maybe they should be looking at ways to eliminate the need for these expensive contracts rather than make the process of giving them out "more efficient."

What next Trenton?

While the recall effort fell short of the number of signatures required to put the recall question before the voters, it was a significant statement. Eighty five hundred people stood up and said, "Enough!"

The mistakes and missteps of Mayor Tony Mack are numerous and run the gamut from verbal gaffes ("Happy Pearl Harbor Day!") to complete disregard for common sense and good management.

It is plain as day that the Mayor cannot run the city.  City council for it's part, has yet to take full advantage of the authority and power vested in the governing body under our city charter. 

Can we afford another two and a half years of this fumbling and bumbling?

Let's tap into the power of those 8,500 people who signed the petition and change Trenton's course for the better before it gets worse.

What Tony is hoping for...

It is really quite simple

A lot has been said on the subject of the ongoing effort to recall Trenton Mayor Tony Mack; both pro and con.

After 16 months in office, the city of Trenton is worse off than before Mack was sworn in.

There is no plan with measurable goals for moving the city forward. Instead, we have a bunch of items ticked off on a “to do” list: street paving, park renovations, etc.

These are the things that a normal city does when the money is available. There was no magic here; no making order out of chaos.  Streets have been being repaved according to a prioritized list for several years now. Mack’s predecessor did it; Mack is doing it.  Park renovations have been in the works for years. To his credit, Mack pulled the trigger on spending the money…money that was earmarked for that use and that the city would have lost if it wasn’t spent.  Not a plan; barely an accomplishment; just doing the job.

The mayor often touts the fact that he has maintained the twice a week trash collection schedule.  Has it made the city any cleaner or tidier? No.

The mayor talks about getting vacant properties back on the tax roles, but he has decimated the inspections department so that all construction is slowed by delays in approvals.  Is this the way to revitalize our city and encouragement good development? No.

In the past couple of months there has been a lot of press about the police layoffs…as well there should be. Minimal staffing levels for patrols have been, well, minimized. And even then we have trouble making the number.  When officers are out on vacation or because they are injured or sick, our restrictions on overtime make it hard sometimes to meet the minimum staffing level.  The detectives are working hard to keep up with the case load, but OT restrictions hamper them as well.

And what of those who are charged with offenses…trash, building code, or other?

Our municipal court system is a mess.  We’ve been short a full-time judge since the debacle of the appointment last year of Renee Lamar Sumners.  On top of that, the mayor wants to replace the two, experienced, competent judges of is own choosing.  What will that do to the already strained efficiency of the court?

With a short-handed court and reduced personnel to cite violations and then appear in court, enforcement is suffering; people are denied a timely hearing of their case; and the city loses revenue. (Municipal court revenues were increasing 2006-2010).

The city is, plain and simple, messed up.

We haven’t even touched on the well documented personnel missteps of the Mack administration.

Ladies and gentlemen of Trenton…no matter what your personal relationship with Mayor Mack; no matter what you think of the state of the city when he took office, you have to admit we are no better off now than we were 16 months ago.

Not only are we no better off, there is no plan to improve things.  Our mayor, nice guy though he may be, is plainly not competent to govern the city. He has ignored or shunned any advice offered by those outside of a trusted circle of friends.  And that circle of friends is made up of people less competent and less trustworthy than the mayor himself.

There are those who say “give Tony a chance.”   We say, “How many chances does he get?”

You can wait until 2014 and simply vote someone else into office, but what will be left of Trenton then?

Sign the recall petition.  Go to the headquarters at 830 Lalor Street. Go to Artifacts Gallery, 1025 South Broad Street.  Email trentonrecall2011@gmail.com or call 609-614-0668 to arrange to get a petition and sign it.

It is that simple.

Dead from the neck up

Trenton mayor and two council members prove they are fools.

The state of New Jersey has announced its transitional aid aware for Trenton for the current fiscal year (FY2012).  Rather, we should say the state of New Jersey has announced a choice in transitional aid amounts that Trenton can receive.  (Of course this is all pending the approval of the legislature to release the transitional aid funds but that is another story).

Mayor Tony Mack has a choice before him. He can select between receiving $22 million in state aid for the city or $16 million.

No brainer, right?

Not quite.

There are, after all, some strings attached to that $22 million.

In order for the city to get the higher amount of aid, the mayor must sign an MOU with the state wherein he agrees to the creation of a three person committee to oversee the process of hiring people to fill key spots in the administration.  The DCA would appoint one member, the mayor, would appoint one member and city council would appoint one member.

Considering the Mack administration’s track record in selecting qualified candidates for BA and department heads, it is not really a bad idea to have an oversight committee. Just a quick recap: over a half dozen business administrators (one who pleaded guilty to stealing campaign funds); one Housing and Economic Development nominee who is a convicted felon and another who has a history of failed businesses, judgments and tax liens against her; a municipal judge appointee with her own financial problems; a municipal court director with a police record (who, by the way, has been enjoying a six week and counting paid vacation while a superior court judge determines if he is qualified for the position); serious turnover in the law department. 

So, leaving the question of the personnel committee aside what are the scenarios for the two aid amounts? 

1. $22 million --- balanced budget, possible tax decrease, probable re-hiring of some police
2. $16 million --- balanced budget, probable tax increase, no additional police

Yet the mayor can’t decide.  What does that say about his ability to lead this city?

If the mayor’s apparent indecision isn’t bad enough how about this comment in today’s Times from Councilman At Large Alex Bethea:

“We certainly need the money, but I wouldn’t want to give away the whole house for an extra $6 million. You have to maintain some control, notwithstanding that we’ve made some mistakes in the past,” he said.

“If he decides that, ‘Okay, that’s okay, we’ll take the $22 million,’ then I’ll sign off. If he says this is going a little too far, then I would have to support the mayor on that decision as well,” Bethea said.

This is it Trenton? This is the best you can do? A prideful mayor who would flush away $6 million in state aid is not fit to lead and a councilman who cannot think for himself.

But wait, there's more.

Council President Kathy McBride, in the same Times article, says she’s waiting to speak to the mayor before making any more comments on the choice of aid packages.  In other words, she is waiting for Mayor Mack to tell her what to think and say as well.

At least East Ward Councilwoman Reynolds-Jackson is keeping her mouth shut on the subject...for now. Someone must have whispered in her ear that old adage about it being better to keep quiet and be thought a fool than to speak and prove it.

What others are saying

The following are letters to the editor published this week in the Times.


No confidence in Trenton mayor

I was very pleased to read The Times’ article “Four on council express ‘no confidence’ in Mack” (Oct. 4). Until this past Tuesday, I thought that I had awakened to find that we were living in a foreign country under a dictator. How can our mayor keep repeating mistake after mistake?

How can he play around with our $27.1 million aid package? These monies are not his; the funds are for the citizens of Trenton. Would Mayor Mack want to lay off more police, etc.? Maybe he would like to install more of his friends to run the city and enforce the peace; after all, isn’t that what dictators do?

I’d like to know how Mayor Mack can say council has not acted professionally, when it’s obvious that he himself does not act professionally. Additionally, how can the committee “Stand By Tony” make comments such as “Mack has submitted qualified department director candidates”? Maybe council should approve embezzlers and wanton criminals. The citizens of Trenton voted in council, just as they, unfortunately, voted in the mayor. And from where I sit, council has acted more professionally and has looked out for the city’s interests many times over compared to Mayor Mack.

I happily signed the petition for the mayor’s recall. Please — I could do a better job as mayor. My qualifications: integrity, honesty and intelligence, three qualities the mayor does not seem to have.

-- Walter R. Dietrich,
Trenton

Printed in the Times, Friday, October 07, 2011

Trenton mayoral recall is an act of good faith

Trenton Mayor Tony Mack continues to march to his own drummer, despite the music the rest of the band is playing.

Besides not practicing basic management processes, he continues to violate the terms he agreed to in the Memo of Understanding he signed with the state.

There is every indication that the state will refuse to release the additional $24.4 million of transitional aid Trenton needs because of the mayor’s arrogant ignorance of the MOU requirements, as well as ignorance of sound administrative management.

It has been estimated that the loss of the transitional aid will cause a devastating blow to the city’s budget. The current proposed 2012 budget increases our tax rate from $3.63 to $3.74 per $100 of assessed value. That is a 3 percent increase in rate, and $220 on a home of $200,000.

If taxpayers have to make up for the lost aid, we would need a 37 percent tax rate increase — from $3.63 to $4.98 per $100. The total property tax would then be $9,960 on a $200,000 home. Suffice it to say that kind of increase on top of the large increases over the last two years would stress the financial resources of many Trenton residents.

We need to show the state that we are not like our arrogant mayor, but that we really are good people who deserve the transitional aid. What better way to show the state this than to sign the petition to recall Mayor Mack so that we can elect an effective replacement as soon as possible?

Isn’t this what we all want?

-- Don Wallar,
Trenton

Printed in the Times, Wednesday, October 5, 2011

And then again, maybe not

Last week we posted about the discrepancy between the resume of suspended municipal court director Nate Jones and the information provided by the online student clearinghouse that verifies (or not) an individual's college degrees.

We submitted another verification request to the same clearinghouse and this time came up with a different response:

While we cannot explain why the original inquiry turned up different information, we do feel it is only fair and correct to post the results of the subsequent research.  We have tried to contact the school directly to get an explanation but as of yet have received no response.

Name On School's Records:		NATHANIEL M JONES, JR.
Date Awarded:		05/10/1985
Degree Title:		BACHELOR OF ARTS
Official Name of School:		HOWARD UNIVERSITY
Major Course(s) of Study(and NCES CIP Code, if available):		POLITICAL SCIENCE
Academic Honors:		COLLEGE OF ARTS & SCIENCES
Dates of Attendance:		08/21/1978 to 05/10/1985
Name On School's Records:		NATHANIEL M JONES, JR.
Date Awarded:		05/13/1989
Degree Title:		JURIS DOCTOR
Official Name of School:		HOWARD UNIVERSITY
School Division:		SCHOOL OF LAW
Major Course(s) of Study(and NCES CIP Code, if available):		LAW
Dates of Attendance:		08/15/1985 to 05/12/1989

So we leave it up to you readers to decide which of the reports you will believe.  We have provided as much information as we have at our disposal.  If anything changes, we'll let you know.

Paul Sigmund update

As if to answer our question about the outcome of Wild Paul's Lawrence traffic case, today's Trentonian reports that municipal prosecutor Reed Gusciora has moved for a change of venue.  Gusciora cited a conflict of interest since he had worked for Sigmund's late mother during one of her campaigns.

News also reached us that Mr. Sigmund paid a visit to McManimon's Pub in South Trenton Monday afternoon where he enjoyed a couple bowls of chili washed down with a couple of large glasses of soda.

Apparently while employed as Mayor Mack's Chief of Staff/Deputy Mayor, our pal Paulie resided at the nearby Grand Court Villas (aka the Cigar Factory) and often visited McManimons.