Monday, May 25, 2015

Letter to Editor: Evaluation for City Employees Looked at.

Dear Insider.

I thoroughly enjoyed your insightful rumblings; however, I think that you missed one.  The City is currently going through a job evaluation for City employees.  The report has been posted on the City's website although you have to somewhat search for it. This is the link:http://www.cityofmiddletown.com/content/117/121/161/9831/default.aspx

It's going to be interesting to see what the City does with this study and how will it effect this budget - can you say appropriations.  Maybe we shouldn't worry about it too much - there have been previous studies that the results of weren't implemented such as the one of the Water and Sewer Department.  And others such as the consolidation task force that were implemented immediately such as the combining of personnel duties into the Office of General Counsel.

This is about the third job study done by the City; the first being the Thompson study and then the Maximus Study with various outcomes.  The Maximus Study (btw, the company behind the study is no longer in business, I believe) generated some sort of scoring system which is not shared with the employees.  One of the studies resulted in the Teamster (or whatever union they now are) union negotiating changing the hours the members were paid from 35 hours per week to 40 hours in exchange for accepting the suggested hourly payscale.  In essence: we think that your hourly pay is too high so we'll pay you more hours.

Going to be interesting to say the least.

Signed
Anonymous

Trees of Honor Memorial Day in Photos-
















Photos from Middletown's new Trees of Honor installation at Veteran's park taken by local Army Veteran & our own favorite blogger SteadyJohn! 

Remembered here are the Connecticut fallen from Iraq and Afghanistan; approximately 75 men and 2 women. Each soldier has a tree planted in their honor and a black granite stone with photo etching. 
Looking forward to the completion of this memorial. Thank you for your service & for the capturing these powerful images.
http://cttreesofhonor.com/about-the-memorial/








Memorial Day Parade Middletown 2015!

photo: J. Dypa
Below are some photos from friends & neighbors from around the web taken at the Westfield Fire District Memorial Day parade held on Sunday and the Memorial Day parade held on Main Street today. Feel free to share yours on our facebook page! God bless & thank you to our troops & veterans!

















photo: C. Dypa Newman.

Click to continue.....

Friday, May 22, 2015

Rumblings! Strike a Pose!

1. Who was absent from the most important council meeting of the year, the one where the city budget is explained? Treasurer Quentin Phipps! Why should the city's chief financial leader show up to only 1 meeting a year? $4,800 stipend to be City Treasurer of Middletown while living & working the the Bronx, not too shabby!  But Que made it back to Mtown to strike a pose front & center in the St. Sebastian Feast Parade!

2. How many times can Mayor Drew pat himself on the back at the budget hearing?  And how many times can he thank the public for coming to watch his spectacle? How many times can he thank the public for giving him the privilege of having a public forum in which to pat himself on the back? Well, you get the idea.

3. Knock knock. Who's there? Its just Mayor Drew patting himself on the back again. 

4. The audits in and Sodexo is costing taxpayers way more than inside services would. BOE  member Linda Syzinkowicz told us so over a year ago btw.

5. Councilman Grady Faulkner, on behalf of the NAACP believes no African American police officer should ever be allowed to exercise free will and leave the force to take another job, perhaps even a better one, outside of Middletown ever. Huh? He said so at the Councils budget meetings.

6. The recently passed budget increases spending by $5 million, gives each Council member a raise of $1,200 and makes the mayor's salary to $90k but it managed to cut taxes slightly. So what's missing? Can you say appropriations?

7.  The Democrats on Planning & Zoning were too cheap to request money be spent on a master plan for the riverfront because they all are planning experts and feel they are more than qualified to do it themselves. In the first sign of the Apocalypse a red heifer was born yesterday and Democrats exist who are against spending money. Luckily, the floating zone idea was recently flushed by the R's like the floater it was.

8. Rumor has it trustfund shoe fortune heir Wesleyan Grad & former National College Dem leader Ben Florsheim will be part of the D's p&z ticket. Will he put his money where his mouth is & bring jobs and have his family open a flagship shoe store in Middletown? 

9. Democrats want to appoint Lisa Santangelo Registrar. That's impartial right? Having the elected Town Committee Chair running elections?

10. Councilwoman Kasper got a break on her property taxes because she says her house is haunted. We wish we had made this up. Call Board of Ass.Apps. member Sal Micchula  if you think we're kidding.

11. Next Law & Order SUV Piddletown: A liberal elitist college jock sues his female assault victim for slander after his conviction.  Mariska Hargitay as Sgt. Olivia Benson & Charlie Sheen's exoskeleton as his wealthy CEO of a nonprofit health center father who just wants to clear up the misunderstanding with a little green. Guest starring convicted Dr. Tory Westbrook from the CHC as "Dr.McFeely."

12. Ed4Ed gets to hold a meeting in the high school auditorium to rally parents to reasons  as to why the BOE should pass the budget. Who pays for the janitor & police overtime? Not Ed4Ed that's for sure. If a GOP board member wanted to hold a public meeting at the same venue to discuss reasons not to pass the BOE budget with parents, who do you think would pay if even such a notion were even to be allowed? Its Ed4Ed campaign 2.0. Its an election year after all people! For the kids!!

13. Screw ups pay. Name that city employee who hired an individual for an unfunded position and is down for $10k+ bump in salary in the newly passed budget.

14. Inland Wetlands is illegal as far as party affiliation of membership which means all decisions are illegal. So nows the time to fill in that big swampy area while its open season.

15. I got 90 problems and they are all grievances by city employees. I thought we were ending lawsuits?

15 1/2 .Problems? What's going on with NEAT?

16. Suddenly Ed4Ed and Dr. P Charles are traffic engineers and have redesigned the road in front of Farm Hill School. The idea was wrapped in last years $1.8 million road bond referendum.  Never an issue suddenly is a crisis.  For years buses approached on the side of the school but because Public Works Director & Serra Cousin Bill Russo needs to flex his muscle, a plan that worked forever is getting tossed for a crazy concept infringing on private property. Quick: Suspend logic and start beating the "it's for the kids drums"!! What's it based on? The Complete Streets cut & paste manifesto lead by John Hall.

17. God bless Councilman Bauer & the R's for asking for an amendment to keep a rumored  specially created position for the good Reverend/Arm Chair Biologist/Jonah Bologna Center Dude/Wife Killer Defender John Hall  out of the budget before it was passed.

18. Speaking of God, Mayor Drew ended the practice of honoring National Prayer Day at City Hall, but couldn't even admit he caved to pressure from leftist progressive constituents. Instead, Drew  made participating clergy scape goats claiming they wouldn't allow other denominations. Funny, all other years the event was non denominational for multi faiths. And a month later, he marched  with clergy at the St. Sebastian Feast parade with Quetin, an event attended by hundreds of city faithful. Guess your belief in a secular society only matters to you when the event won't be widely photographed enough for your liking.

19. Just in time for Memorial Day: Bet you didn't know Mayor Drew gave the temp buildings housing the Veterans Museum the boot from the Eckersley Hall lot. Charming way to treat folks who fought for freedom ! Drew banished the veterans to a glorified cardboard box by modular building co. Mod Space ( follow the campaign $) at Vets Park. Thankfully the vets objected and are funding their own real ground up building with real walls, glass windows. and um insulation fancy that.  Also off the table is the dog park at Vets Park. Good job vets for finally getting the message across to Mayor Drew that excrement doesn't mix with a memories of heros'. Keep that sh*t confined to City Hall. And God Bless our veterans.

Wednesday, May 06, 2015

NO NEW CT TAXES! Sign the Petition & Add Your Testimony to the Budget Hearings

If you have not read the whole list of new industries the Democrats are proposing to tax click here

Dear Citizen,

I too am very concerned about the new taxes proposed on our small businesses and what it will do to those employees and their families. Because of this, I and my colleagues are working hard to speak out against all the tax increases proposed by the legislature's Finance Committee. Here is how you can speak out against them - this information will be going out on my e-newsletter shortly:

SIGN THE PETITION
If you agree that more taxes would be bad for our state, and you want your voice to be heard – please sign our petition atwww.NoNewCTTaxes.com. *

SPEAK OUT AT PUBLIC HEARING
Senate & House Republicans will also host a Public Hearing on the proposed tax hikes and new taxes on Monday, May 11 at 1:30pm in Room 1E at the Legislative Office Building, 300 Capitol Ave. Hartford. To submit your testimony fill out the form on NoNewCTTaxes.com, directly below the petition. We encourage you to attend the hearing to voice your opinion.

Together, we can make Connecticut better!

*The Republican alternative budget, A Blueprint for Prosperity, does NOT call for any new taxes.http://ctsenaterepublicans.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/BlueprintProsperityShortForm.pdf

Thank you for all you can do to speak out against these proposals. We are hoping if enough residents join together, we can minimize or eliminate as many of the new taxes as possible.

Sincerely,

Art Linares

State Senate

Democrats Propose New CT Services Taxes! See the list of ADDED Industries!

Did you know that the CT Democrats are proposing the following taxes on certain services which have NOT had a public hearing! Are these figures even accurate? Industry insiders beg to differ, but will never get their say since no public hearing has been held or is scheduled.These added taxes will undoubtedly cripple the economy even more and hurt businesses of all kids. Democrats even want to tax vet services!!  Taxes on museums, sports venues, engineers, architects, graphics designers, musicians and artists just t name a few. A tax to file your taxes? In some ways yes; CPA services for tax preparation is proposed as a new tax!

See the list below from the CT Senate Republican's website. Do you work in one of these industries or use the services? Speak up and speak out!  Sign the petition




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