Thursday, December 14, 2006

Ka-ching! Holiday gifts from City Hall

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Ka-ching!

That's the sound of the Administration's holiday gift(s) to the taxpayers.

The cockles of your cold hearts should be warmed by learning -- as PT was told recently -- that the Mayor's bodyguards security detail have earned $15,000 in overtime this year.

That's on top of the approximately $150,000 the two of them earn in regular salary.

That's to protect a part-time Mayor who is paid $35,000 a year, whom no one has expressed any interest in harming.

And the deal was supposed to be that they would serve WITHOUT OVERTIME.

Ka-ching!

If the $3,000± spent by the Mayor on 'eats & treats' in September is a good measure, are we looking at an annualized item charged against the taxpayers of $36,000?

Does that include things like private luncheons celebrating the promotion of members of her security detail?

(PT is told that TRADITIONALLY, the promotee foots the billl for a lunch honoring his or her promotion, and that such have NEVER been held at City Hall.)

Lots of folks are pestering to find out what the tents and spread for the holiday tree lighting set the taxpayers back. We'll get to that later.

Ka-ching!

Then we've got the matter of the so-called 'information technology consultants' which it seems will FAR EXCEED the paltry $129,000 PT was told was committed before the Council was informed. Rumor has it the total tab may run in the neighborhood of $400,000, when all is said and done.

Ka-ching!

Puts PT in mind of the famous quip of the late Sen. Everett Dirksen of Illinois -- "A billion dollars here, a billion dollars there, pretty soon we're talking about real money."

Happy Holidays to you and yours from the Administration!

Ka-ching!

-- Dan Damon

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3 comments:

Anonymous said...

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND TO ALL A GOOD NIGHT !!!

Anonymous said...

Oh stop it you cannot be talking about the same administration who ran on all those lovely promises and was calling for an outside audit when McWilliams was mayor. Because they claimed taxpayers dollars were being spent inappropriately. Oh the Christmas cheer of Unity in the Community.

Anonymous said...

This is deeply offensive to all Plainfielders. I want to know what Council President Van Blake, Councilwoman Carter, and Councilmen Burney, Storch, Simmons, Davis, and Gibson are going to do about this. How dare this woman have a private security detail in the absence of any threat! The city council MUST DEMAND an accounting of the overtime from these officers. There must be a complete record of all the time they put in traveling from the towns they live in to accompany the mayor to local events. What you're saying is that if the mayor is going to an event at the library, one of the officers who lives in Franklin must drive all the way to Plainfield to meet the mayor so that she can travel the few blocks to the library?? That officer gets overtime for stuff like that?? What is the council going to do about this? The council must take action before she bankrupts the city with this. This council prides itself on fiscal responsibility but does that stop when it comes to the mayor? I urge everyone to contact their council people and demand that they do something about this out of control situation! Where is the Finance committee on this? There needs to be an accounting, meaning the log sheets of those officers and what they did and when they did it need to be available for council scrutiny. Otherwise, take away these officers. They should be doing something more than accompanying the mayor who has a husband and an additional protector in the form of Jerry Green to go with her to local events. She is being laughed at in other towns. So is our city council for allowing it. I don't think it's funny, though, not when there are more serious and pressing issues. For example, what is the city council going to do about the fact that the mattress factory had no fire detection or sprinkler system? All businesses in the city need to be inspected immediately to make sure they are up to code. This is something the Public Works Director Wenson-Maier should get on right away, before someone dies in a fire. It is against the law for buildings not to have updated fire alarm systems and sprinkler systems. The city council, the mayor, the public safety director and the public works director have a responsibility to make sure that the city is safe. If they sit on their hands on this, there may be a lawsuit filed.