Your Daily Spin from the Middletown Mess: Dubious Drewbious

"If your lips are movin', you're lie lie lying."
Today the Mess published an article copy and pasted from a press release from the Drew camp. Aside from a few added lines, its regurgitation of the talking points Drew is using to launch is campaign for a third term. Mayor Daniel Drew received an honor from the progressive organization called the New Deal org.  The New Deal is a "non profit" made of up liberal minded elected officials around the country headed by Governor John Hickenlooper of Colorado. Hickenlooper was co founder of the Community Health Center of Middletown back in his Wesleyan days, you can connect those dots..The Mess, oh so conveniently fails to mention what this group & award are really about. Must be an election year if the paper is already doing its due diligence as local Democrat's personal soapbox.

 Below are a few corrections to the congratulatory accolades Mayor Drew bestowed on himself in his auto- bio. http://www.newdealleaders.org/leader_drew_daniel

So what is the NEWDeal Org?? Basically a PAC founded by liberal democrats to give out fake awards to each other. Is it really news for politicos to give fellow politicos awards for towing the party line? The ND Org seems to be a millennial version of the Democratic Leadership Council, a '80s "non-profit" used to recruit young D's as future politicians & donors. A worth-the-click article explaining what this Democrat bank rolling machine is all about can be found here: http://www.vice.com/read/the-democratic-party-future-dark-money-fracking

"Since becoming mayor of Middletown in 2011, Mayor Drew has closed the $8 million deficit in the city budget and upgraded the city's bond rating with the lowest interest rates in city's history. (FALSE: All municipalities bond ratings have gone down in light of the economy! He created a deficit. Since he has been in office he has proposed & passed budgets increased by $13 million. Today there are more grievances being filed than ever before, 19 from Union 466 workers at the BOE alone, despite his campaigning to end the lawsuits. Also a record number of lawsuits by private citizens are being settled for big bucks instead of being contested, costing us all a lot more than they should. The City recently settled two for $250k and $400k that may have been disproved if they went to trial. But that would be bad publicity for Mayor Drew as the  "make nice" guy)He has also improved the efficiency and efficacy of City government by implementing large-scale re-organizations that will save taxpayers millions.(FALSE: This has never been proven with data presented to the public. In fact you can read here how in reality MORE money is being spent) Mayor Drew has restored highly competent leadership to the police department and added several new officers to the force. (FALSE: 3 officers have lawsuits for wrongful termination. Drew contested one officer's PTSD diagnosis. Since when is Drew an MD?) Several new businesses and manufacturers have opened or are under construction in Middletown. (where?)He has also enacted a senior tax relief program which will significantly aid seniors on a fixed income( most seniors don't qualify) in addition to a prescription drug discount program for Middletown seniors. (FALSE: Drew was against the Senior Center at Eckersley Hall and proposed it be crammed into the Council Chambers. The prescription drug program is independent of the city of Middletown, run by the state only low income seniors qualify for.)

In addition, he has re-negotiated a large energy service contract for the City of Middletown, saving taxpayers $1.4 million. (FALSE: Drew proposed budgets significantly raising the millrate each year he has been in office. NO savings of his attempts to consolidate departments have ever been shown.) Mayor Drew has saved taxpayers $800,000 by reducing pension fund costs. He also merged city and BOE finance operations, substantially increasing transparency. (FALSE: Outside legal costs are are at an all time high. Read it here)Mayor Drew graduated from the University of Connecticut in 2002. He will graduate from Columbia University in 2015 with an MA in social and organizational psychology.(Drew is attending college during work hours and still being paid, not too shabby, and why the hell not taxpayers sent him to CHINA once before)"

Letter to the Editor: Reaction to City Dept. Merger

Below is a essay by Middletown Republican Town Committee chair, resident, and veteran Ken McClellan. All opinions expressed are that of the author and not necessarily that of the Insider staff. 

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The Mayor’s Task Force on Efficiency in Government.

Thursday, May 2, at a hastily called Common Council meeting, the Common Council voted 10-2 to merge the Personnel and City Attorney departments, with the HR Director reporting to the city attorney.  There was not much publicity for the meeting, and attendance was sparse.  The meeting was called in order to allow a second vote on the ordinance change, as required by the city charter, within 90 days of the first vote.  The initial vote was taken on Feb 4.  The issue was removed from the April meeting agenda without explanation.

This was the first, and so far, the only recommendation implemented, out of 15 recommendations submitted by the task force.

In defending and justifying this recommendation, the Mayor and the city attorney, Mr. Brig Smith, in various meetings, gave a number of justifications for eliminating the personnel department, and placing that responsibility with the City Attorney.   Taken at face value these justifications make sense.  However, when examined, the justifications are not valid.
 

Reason 1:  Numerous municipalities and companies operate under this model. 

Mr. Smith and the Mayor stated during the Finance and Government committee that Lansing Michigan, and ‘numerous municipalities in Wisconsin’, and a number or ‘major corporations’ that operate under this model.  Mr.  Smith repeated this assertion at the special meeting on May 2.  Since Mr Smith is from Lansing, I would presume that he would have accurate information about that city.

Here’s what I found.   In Lansing, MI, HR and Legal are separate departments.  When questioned about the discrepancy between his statement at the Finance and government committee, and my finding, Mr Smith caveated his earlier statement, saying that the city attorney was also the personnel director of another agency.  I guess he misspoke at the Finance and Government commission.

Regarding Wisconsin, I checked the larger towns and cities, where there should be a Personnel staff. 

Eau Claire has separate HR and Attorney offices under Administration.

Racine, Wausau, Green Bay, Milwaukee, La Crosse, Madison, Wautoma, Onalaska, Fon du Lac all have separate offices.

Portage, Marion:  looks like the city clerk handles job applications, and Marion doesn’t have a city attorney.   In Grand Rapids, there is an Administrative Department with both HR and Legal as separate offices. That’s 2 cities with an Administrative Department, with HR and Legal as separate offices.  I’ll get back to that later.

As a further check I looked at Michigan.  Detroit and a number of other cities and towns of various sizes that I checked, all have separate Personnel/HR and Legal departments.

I checked a number of cities and towns in Connecticut, starting with cities with a population of around 40,000, like Middletown.  Among them: East Hartford, Milford, Stratford, Wallingford, Southington, Shelton, Groton and Norwich.  I checked Meriden, Glastonbury, Rocky Hill, Waterbury, Torrington, West Hartford, Greenwich, Bristol.  All of those cities and towns have separate HR and Legal.

I also checked a number of businesses, major corporations and small business in Connecticut and other states.  I could not find any that have the Personnel Manager reporting to the corporation counsel.  If this is as wide-spread a practice, I should have found one. There may be companies where the Director of Personnel is an attorney, but that would not be the same as merging the HR and Legal Departments.

Another example cited where the Personnel Department was supervised by the Legal Counsel was Southern Connecticut State University.  I wrote to the Personnel Director, Jaye Bailey. Here’s her response:  “..I serve as the VP for Human Resources and Labor Relations.  I don’t serve as the GC because only the Office of the Attorney General can act as the University’s counsel.  I report to the President. ”. 

So, what was the point of all this research?  At first, I did not believe that anyone operated with this model, but I wanted to try to find examples where it was used.  I found one.  In the interest of accuracy, I did locate one city that has the Personnel Manager reporting to the City Attorney:  Stamford.   Funny, that’s where Governor Dannell Malloy is from.  I found none in business.  If anyone can give me the name of a business that uses this model, I would welcome the information.  I will confirm that information with that business.  The conclusion is that the Mayor and Mr. Smith provided inaccurate, misleading information to the study committee and the Common Council when they stated that in ‘numerous companies and municipalities’ the City Attorney manages Personnel.   If Mr. Smith and Mayor Drew could provide specific, named examples where the Personnel/HR Department report to and is managed by the Legal Department, other than Stamford, I would like to see the list, and I will happily and publicly acknowledge any correction.  But, one city, out of the several dozen that I randomly checked, and not one business out of several dozen checked, does not make this a widespread practice.  Again:  Is Mayor Drew misinformed, or lying?

Reason 2:  Reduce the number of directors reporting to the Mayor

This reduces the total of 21 to 20.  I won’t comment on that, here, but I’ll get back to it later.

Reason 3: Efficiency gained by co-locating the City Attorney and HR. 

This could be done by a simple relocation of one office or the other.

Reason 4: Personnel is governed by laws and requires supervision by an attorney.

Legal concerns are not the extent of the Personnel department.  They do screening, hiring, training, promotions, performance evaluations.  Water and Sewer, Public Works, the Fire and Police Departments, the Common Council and Mayor are all governed by laws, so by the same logic, the Police Department, Fire Department, Council and Mayor should also be reporting to the Legal Department.  Sounds a little ridiculous, doesn’t it.

Those were the stated justifications for this merger.  If all of them are inaccurate, specious or ridiculous, what is the real reason for the merger?  Is there another reason that is not being made public?  

Reason not to merge

There is, however, one very good reason not to place the Personnel Department under the City Attorney.  The City Attorney needs to be an advisor to and resource for all city departments.  The city attorney represents the city in legal matters.  He or she should not be directly involved or managing routine operations of any department.  Department directors should certainly seek his advice as needed.

HR is responsible for recruiting, vetting, hiring, training and developing employees.  The Director of HR must at times hear work grievances, which could result in legal action against the city.  Would the Director of HR be a neutral hearing officer if reporting to the city attorney?  I don’t believe that is possible.  

There are 15 recommendations in the task force report. 

Here are a few, in the order they were presented in the report:

Establish a Technology Advisory Committee

Institute  performance appraisals with specific, measurable goals

            Supervisory and Management Skills Training

            Review City Personnel Rules

            Enforce Internal Controls and Checks and Balances

            Merge Information Systems and Tax Assessor into the Finance Department

            Reorganize the Finance Department and add a Grant Writer

            Merge Legal, Personnel and Human Resources

            Merge Arts and Culture Office and Building Division into Planning, Conservation

            Merge Senior Services into the Recreation Department

This is the order in which the recommendations were presented by the task force.  Merging the HR and Legal departments was Number 12 of 15 on the list.  Why did the mayor start with eliminating the personnel department? 

What is the status of the other 14 recommendations?  Will any be implemented?

During the meeting on May 2, Council members hinted that my opposition to this merger was political.  It is not.  I agree with a number of recommendations of the task force, and look forward to the mayor and council implementing those recommendations, including the Management Training, Performance Standards and Evaluations and enforcing Internal Controls. And I look forward to the improved service that will be provided to the citizens of Middletown by a more efficient, well-trained, well-led staff.

As a final  comment.  The Mayor’s task force was directed to reduce the number of directors reporting to the Mayor.  They went from 21 to 13.  I have a recommendation reduce that number to 4 Directors reporting to the Mayor, each with 4 – 7 Assistant Directors reporting to each Director.  The model I propose has been used by the US Military quite successfully, and is used in the majority of businesses across the country.  Group city departments and offices by functions.

Establish 4 Departments:  Administration, Safety, Public Works, and Services.  Take the current 21 Directors and group them as follows:

Administration:  Human Relations, Information Systems, Legal Department, Personnel Department, Tax Assessor Office, Town Clerk Office.  Include Finance and the City Treasurer in this department.

Safety:  Emergency Management, Fire Department, Health Department, Police Department.  Include Communications.

Public Works:  Planning, Conservation and Development, Public Works Department, Water and Sewer Department, Parking Department.  Include vehicle, building and grounds maintenance and custodial services in this department.  Include such portions of Parks and Recreation that do maintenance and landscaping.

Services:  Russell Library, Senior Services Department.  Include such portions of Parks and Recreation as Youth and Sports programs and Arts & Culture programs.

This organization:

1.      Reduces the number of directors from 21 to 4, saving money on salary, and reducing the number of direct reports to the mayor.

2.      Balances the number of direct reports to each director.

3.      Improves communication and coordination by grouping like functions.

4.      Places all vehicle maintenance under one supervisor, and consolidates purchasing of parts and supplies, maintenance management and supervision of repairs.

5.      Places all building maintenance and custodial services under one supervisor, and consolidates purchasing of parts and supplies, maintenance management and supervision of repairs..  This could be expanded to include building currently managed by the board of education. 

6.      Places all grounds-keeping/landscaping work under one supervisor, which should improve also resource usage and scheduling.

The proposal above is just that, a proposal, not a plan.  But I do have examples of this model being used successfully, and think that it is worth looking into.

Thank you for your attention,

Ken McClellan

Chairman, Middletown Republican Town Committee

City Department Merger Passes 10-2 With Bi-Partisan Support

Tonight the Common Council held a special meeting to vote on the merging of a variety of City Departments as outlined in the report by the Mayor's Task Force on Government Efficiency. Part of the merger consolidates the Personnel and Legal departments. Previously this year, Drew proposed  a memorandum of understanding between the city and Board of Education to use city attorneys. The new merger also  calls for the hiring of a third City Attorney.

To change the make-up of City departments, the Middletown Charter calls for a 3/4 majority. To reverse the decision, a 3/4 majority would again be needed. The Council had the option of the adoption of a sunset clause to try the new organization out and have it automatically expire if it did not work and then re-adopt by re-vote should it be successful. The Council, however, did not choose to exercise this option.The Charter also says that the Personnel Director must preside over the meeting of the Personnel Review Committee, how this will be addressed with the supposed elimination of this position has yet to be determined. The former Personnel Director retired this past December, and in order for the newly appointed police chief to be implemented, the assistant Personnel Director was made active in order to hold the Personnel Committee to vet the candidate.

In an article in the Middletown Press by reporter Jim Salemi, Republican Town Committee chairman Ken McClellan was quoted in regards to the merger, he said
“This is not a merger you want to make. The legal and personnel departments should be independent so they can render independent opinions,” he said. “It puts personnel subject to legal department. They are two separate fields of responsibility, they should be independent.” 
The full article can be read here: 

McClellan also provided additional analysis we published here

The special meeting was not televised on cable access like more City Council meetings. Mayor Drew was quoted in the media stating that the merger will save the City money; the Insider has published a variety of opinion pieces and analysis detailing fallacies in this argument. Republican Councilmembers Deborah Kleckowski and Linda Salafia (Salafia wrote a previously published letter to the editor detailing her reasoning) were the two dissenting votes.  Democrat Majority Leader Tom Serra and Republican Minority Leader Phil Pessina each gave speeches endorsing the Mayor's planned merger. 

Earlier in the month, Republican Minority Leader endorsed the Mayor's budget which included a 3.3% increase in taxes when he introduced Mayor Drew at the March 28th press conference where he presented the 2013-2014  budget to the public.

During Mayor Drew's first term, taxes went up 3.8%. The 2012-2013 budget passed 10-2 also, with the two dissenting votes being Kleckowski and Salafia. Last year,the Republican Councilmembers drafted and proposed and alternative budget that would have not increased taxes to that degree, which when brought the floor, was voted against by Councilmembers Pessina and  Deputy Minority Leader Joe Bibisi.  The Common Council conducted a public meeting on Tuesday where citizens could comment on Drew's proposed budget.

The Council votes on the proposed budget on meeting May 15. 

The full budget as proposed by Mayor Drew is available for download on the City website in Revenue and Expenditure packages:
http://www.cityofmiddletown.com/filestorage/737/776/2014Budget_Revenue.pdf
http://www.cityofmiddletown.com/filestorage/737/776/2014Budget-Expenditure.pdf
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Editor's note:  Want to know more about the Government ReOrg?
Read the Insider Staff's analysis of the Government ReOrg here: http://www.middletowninsider.com/2012/12/city-governmen-re-org-part-ii.html  
The misleading merge of City Legal & BOE Legal:http://www.middletowninsider.com/2013/01/apple-oranges-boe-budget-hikes.html 
John Milardo spoke of the downsides of the Governmnet ReOrg in a previous Guest Blog piece here:://www.middletowninsider.com/2013/01/guest-blog-his-town.html
Councilmember Linda Salafia also comments on negative aspects here: http://www.middletowninsider.com/2013/01/letter-editor-government-reorg-costly.html
Read the full report for yourself here: http://www.middletowninsider.com/2012/12/mayors-task-force-on-efficiency-report.html

Letter to the Editor: Councilmember Salafia: City Dept. Mergers Don't Save Resources

Below is a essay by Councilmember Linda Salafia. All opinions expressed are that of the author and not necessarily that of the Insider staff. 

The City Reorg will be voted on at a special council meeting open to the public at 6 pm Thursday May 2, 2013 in the Council Chambers.

Salafia previously commented on this re-org in an earlier letter to editor:

Read full article here.

 

The objective of the task force appears to contain a predetermined remedy for what were yet-to-be discovered problems. Salafia points out that many of the positions will still have to be filled and therefore the cost savings is a false assumption. Kleckowski cited departments becoming dysfunctional as a concern. In a previously published letter from the actuaries hired by the City to City Finance Director Carl Erlacher, the actuaries expressed concerns that the pension fund be in trouble as early as 2014. Apparently, Mayor Drew knows better than the professionals.

Editors Note: Background Information and financial breakdowns:

The package is available to read here: https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B1OYjxtLEgUwUm9EZ1gzYUdsODQ
The smoking gun letter from the actuary is here:   https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B1OYjxtLEgUwUm9EZ1gzYUdsODQ

 Previously published posts on this subject can be read here:

http://www.middletowninsider.com/2012/12/city-governmen-re-org-part-ii.html

http://www.middletowninsider.com/2012/12/city-government-re-org-part-i.html

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Councilmember Salafia's Letter to the Editor:

I want to respond to John Milardo's newsletter however I don't think the space for comments will allow me room to say what I want.

The vote on the merger of the Personnel Department into the Legal Department is scheduled for May 2, and most assuredly will pass.  However, I plan on voting no to that and to any other resolution presented as a result of the merger.  There are several reasons why I don't agree with this particular merger and don't think that it will either streamline, improve the efficiency of government or save money.

First, I don't agree with the report issued by the Task Force formed by the Mayor to improve efficiency in government shortly after he took office.  I believe that the Mayor gave them the charge to reduce the number of employees that report directly to him; not that the committee did an unbiased assessment of the workings of the city government.  The report stated that 20 employees reported directly to the Mayor, I'm having trouble coming up with those 20.  Also, I understand the concept of having outside eyes look at the procedures; however, they need to have a basic understanding of the current procedures before you make changes.  I had to point out to them that even though only one employee in a truck driver position was retiring that in reality they were losing up to 7 drivers who drive snow plows during storms.

Secondly, I don't agree with the numbers presented on how this merger will save money for the city.  As part of the package given to the Council outlining the savings, as John says, the second Deputy City Attorney position is included in the current funding column and also in the proposed column so that there is no effect on the bottom line.  While this is technically true, since the position of second Deputy Attorney is in the budget now, it was done so on the expectation of the merger happening.  It was not in the budget prior to this year and therefore should be included as a new expense.

Thirdly,  I truly believe that the Personnel Department has different duties and functions that although could often use the advise of attorneys, they should remain separate and distinct.  The volume of work needed to handle the hiring process of the city by itself should illustrate the need for a separation of duties.  Now you will be filtering the public and employees through the City's Legal Office.  The Personnel Department was a department of 4 employees and that had been reduced to 3; this merger is proposing 2 for this function.  I find it difficult to believe that 2 people are going to be able to handle the required duties without additional help considering what's on the horizon such as needing to hire a new Fire Chief, and the review and filling of the other positions that are open as a result of the retirement incentive given.  (That's another whole article about why I didn't agree with that either - as far as, I can see, there's been no actual savings with that.)  Paralegal has come up in discussions.

Also, included in this merger may be a change in the council committees which is going to be another problem and will require another whole discussion and I believe that should happen before any merger or change takes place.

Therefore, based on those reasons and more, I will not be voting in favor of this merger.  
 

Sincerely,

Linda Salafia

Councilperson, R

Guest Blog: The Reorganization by John Milardo

Below is a essay by John Milardo. All opinions expressed are that of the author and not necessarily that of the Insider staff. The essay in its original format can be downloaded here:https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B1OYjxtLEgUwYmItWUpkc1FmTWc/edit?usp=sharing

The Common Council will the vote on Mayor Drew's proposed budget just around the corner, the Council will be voting on the government re-org soon. Milardo discusses the impact below. See the Editor's note at the end of the article to read our past posts on the same subject for further background. Past newsletters from Mr. Milardo can be accessed on our site by typing in "And Justice for All" or "John Milardo" into the search area at the top of the page.
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“And Justice For All” is a newsletter involving my opinions, views, and commentary as a life long Middletown resident. In my capacity as a former employee of Middletown (retired) for over 41 years, I have a different perspective regarding how and why public figures do what they do.

Middletown’s Mayor Dan Drew commissioned a committee over a year ago called the “Bi-Partisan Task Force on Efficiency in Government”. The committee members were charged with reviewing how City departments operate, look into ways to save money and improve government efficiency. Every Mayor in the past 30 years has gone through these same steps. The only difference is they didn’t commission a group of individuals – mostly outside our town - to review it.

Each year, City departments are asked how they could downsize, consolidate programs, improve maintenance and performance, reduce overtime, and every other related issue. Over the years, there has been a reduction of budgets and employees. Most – and I say most, departments are operating with skeleton crews and the minimal budgets. There isn’t much fat to remove from most, while other departments get nearly everything they ask for…or pretty damn close to it. These same departments are always receiving the lion’s share of LOCIP funding (State grant money awarded to municipalities), millions of dollars in bonding for construction and improvements, and Capitol Budget funding to ensure their department has the proper equipment, vehicles, buildings, and whatever else needed for upkeep, maintenance, and service.

The report recommends the Public Works Department to oversee the Parks & Recreation’s Park Maintenance Division, and the Parking Authority. Currently, the Public Works Department entails the following divisions: the Building Division, Engineering Division, Sanitation Division, Recycling, and Construction. Rumor on the street is Mayor Drew is also entertaining the thought of having the Publics Work Department take over all Board of Education custodial work and employees. The other rumor on the street is the City will be looking into contracting the Board of Educations cafeteria services very soon. If I remember correctly, past history with the privatization of BOE custodial work failed. “Let’s try it again…we’re going to make our own history!”

The committee also recommended the Finance Department oversee the Tax Assessor’s office and the IT (Computer) Department. I don’t know why the committee recommended the IT department to be taken over by Finance; maybe the committee member who also once wanted the IT Director job still holds a grudge. The IT Department should be a stand alone department. Finance also currently oversees the Tax Collector, Purchasing, Payroll, and the Pension System.

Then, there is the Planning, Conservation, & Development Department being recommended to oversee the Building Division Inspectors, and Art’s & Culture Department. Planning, Conservation & Development is already in charge of the following Board and Commissions: Application Review, Citizen’s Advisory, Conservation, Design Review & Preservation, Economic Development, Planning & Zoning, Redevelopment Agency, Wetlands & Watercourses, and the Zoning Board of Appeals. Divisions of the department are: Community Development, Economic Development, Environment, Planning & Zoning, and Zoning Enforcement. Whewwww!! Isn’t that enough for one person to oversee? How can adding more divisions make this department work more effectively and efficiently for the public?

The lowly Recreation Division will keep to themselves and maybe inherit the Senior Center programming. (Since they’ve been doing it for the past several years anyway) What will happen to the employees of various departments if these consolidations take place? From my past as a Union Representative, there are many questions to be ironed out – and I know the public hates to hear this – through negotiations with the two (2) respective Unions; AFSCME and the Teamsters – it’s called Impact Bargaining, and part of our labor law here in Connecticut. Unless Mayor Drew is advised by the new City Attorney from Michigan, where \ labor organization members lost the right for collective bargaining?

If you are going to consolidate different departments into one, there is the question of cross

training all employees, so everyone knows each others work. If you’re not going to do that, what’s the sense of consolidating? If you do, you have wage issues. Public Works for instance has higher paid employees than the Parks Maintenance, Parking Authority, and BOE custodians. What about seniority? Do employees with more seniority and their CDL drivers license move over into a snow routes during the winter and Public Works employees get behind a tractor, snow blower or snow shovel? Do Public Works employees share work and overtime duties in the Parks Division, and the Parks employees with Public Works and the Parking Authority? Does everyone share work and overtime at the BOE? What about budgets? Will budgets be combined and intermingled so Public Works can use Parks funding for their projects, and vice-a-versa? If PW employees are allowed to take vacations during the summer as they do now, it would be no assistance to the Parks Maintenance side, where vacation requests are limited due to work loads. It can go on, and on, and on, and on. Consolidating departments isn’t something that you just do because you want to make “history” and put a star on you chest.

My calculations say this is going to cost the taxpayer more than anyone is anticipating, with no savings at all. How can I say that? Because the politicians who vote for these consolidations are going to appropriate and bond more and more money to make sure it works! Just look at Mayor Drew’s proposed budget for 2014 – new positions hired in the City Attorney’s Office, and the Finance Office.

There are going to be large raises for only a few Directors. The City will have three (3) giant departments which will be dynasties for those Directors, for life. What could the reason be why Mayor Drew wants this to happen? It’s much easier to control three (3) individuals that you have promoted with a hefty pay raise, than it is to control a dozen Directors who may have a different opinion than your own; Directors who only want the best for their respective departments and the public. Are these new Directors going to know how to run the different aspects of the departments they will take over? Absolutely not! There will be either the same managers in place, as well as additional hires. You can’t get a direct answer on issues pertaining to a department from one of the purported dynasty Directors now!

The Mayor has what he calls his “Cabinet” members. (Drew has unilaterally changed the Administrative Aide to the Mayors job title to Chief of Staff). Mayor Drew has also told Directors that they must be part of his “team”, and endorse his proposed budget recommendations, regardless if his budget is not in the best interest of their departments and the public. If they do not adhere to his directive, they will be considered to be insubordinate. You think this isn’t factual? See what Directors say about the Mayor’s budget when the Common Council has there upcoming Budget Hearings.

Some people say that Mayor Drew reminds them of past Mayor Maria Madsen-Holzberg, who ruled by intimidation and threats. Claims are she was charming when the camera was rolling, and vindictive behind closed doors; just like the current Mayor. The similarities are not too far fetched, as rumors have it, she is one of his mentors. The other mentor is a past Mayor who can’t get over he wasn’t elected for a second term and is still holding political and personal grudges.

Stay strong. Stay involved. Stay together. Seek the truth.

John Milardo

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Editor's note background: 

 Want to know more about the Government ReOrg?Read the Insider Staff's analysis of the Government ReOrg here: http://www.middletowninsider.com/2012/12/city-governmen-re-org-part-ii.html  
The misleading merge of City Legal & BOE Legal:http://www.middletowninsider.com/2013/01/apple-oranges-boe-budget-hikes.html 
John Milardo spoke of the downsides of the Governmnet ReOrg in a previous Guest Blog piece here:://www.middletowninsider.com/2013/01/guest-blog-his-town.html

Councilmember Linda Salafia also comments on negative aspects here: http://www.middletowninsider.com/2013/01/letter-editor-government-reorg-costly.html
Chairman of MRTC Ken McClellan discusses the reorg here: http://www.middletowninsider.com/2013/02/letter-to-editor-mayor-daniel-drews.html

Read the full report for yourself here: http://www.middletowninsider.com/2012/12/mayors-task-force-on-efficiency-report.html and packages here: http://www.middletowninsider.com/2013/01/who-gets-what-drew-cleans-house-with.html

Letter to the Editor: Mayor Daniel Drew’s Bipartisan Task Force on Efficiency in Government: A Commentary

Report of Mayor Daniel Drew’s Bipartisan Task Force on Efficiency in Government

A Commentary

First, let me credit the Mayor and council for looking for ways to save money and make city government more efficient. 

Second:  The composition of the commission:  Bi-partisan?  One Republican doesn’t make a commission bi-partisan.  That’s tokenism.

Competence.  Of the 9 members there are 3 attorneys.  33% of this commission were attorneys.   I would have expected a higher percentage of individuals with management and organizational expertise, and maybe one attorney for legal advice.  Where is the management experience? I see one business owner, who is an IT person.

Gerry Daley, Chair/Common Council

Todd Berch, Common Council

Joe Bibisi, Common Council

Dan Ryan, Corporation Counsel

Dennis Murphy, Deputy Commissioner of Labor for the State of Connecticut

Quentin Phipps, City Treasurer

Mike Gaudino, IT Expert/Middletown Business Owner

Jamie Mills, Labor Attorney, Middletown resident

Carl Chisem, Transportation Professional, Middletown resident ·

Commission first met in January 2012, and completed the report in April.  That was quick.  Was it thorough?

Recommendations – there were 15 Recommendations contained in this report.   Some good, some incomprehensible.

1.       Replace Engineering Technician and Drivers – The committee consulted with the Director and used his recommendation.

2.      Change the way the city fills vacancies, to include a review for alternate staffing, and include impact on health/safety, revenue, etc.   I’ll take this to mean that the impact to Public Health, Public Safety will be considered.  I hope these two concerns would rate higher in the decision matrix than cost and possible revenue to the city.

3.      Vital Statistics – No change here.  I don’t see the significance of the presence of Middlesex Hospital in Middletown has on who keeps vital statistics within the city.  But, again, the commission reviewed the issue with the Town Clerk and Health Department and took their recommendation.

4.      Information Technology Advisory Committee – I offer my services as a member of  this committee.  I have over 20 years’ experience with information technology, from building and programming computers, to designing and building networks and databases.

5.      & 6.  Performance Planning and Measurement – an excellent recommendation and brings the city in-line with current business practice.  When do we get a status update?

7.      Supervisory/Management Skills Training – ditto.  When do we get a status update?

8.      Personnel Rules Review and making them available on the city web-site.  Excellent.  All city documents, rules, ordinances, job descriptions should be easily available on the web-site.  When do we get a status update?

9.      Internal Controls and Fiduciary Responsibility – see comments above.

10.   Information Technology – merge into the Finance Department.  In the past that was where most corporations located the IT department, since the Finance Department owned most of the computers and software.  As computers have evolved, most corporations have separate IT departments which serve all other departments.  If the IT department is short of staff, I’m not sure how that will be helped by this merger.  If the issue is staff shortage, add staff, don’t merge it into another department.  This is a step backward in organization, but it is not without precedent.

11.  Financial Management – Buried in this recommendation is the new position of Grant Writer.  Is this the Grant Writer that Mayor Drew hired as soon as he took office, or is this a second Grant Writer?  Either way, I would be interested to get a report on the success of the this new position, i.e. how many grants have been applied for count and amount, how many have been received, count and amount.  Has this position increased the amount of money received by the city compared to past years?

12.  Merge the Legal and Human Resources Department.  This is the ugly one.  I’m not aware of any major corporation where this is the organizational structure.  Our new city attorney claims that Adidas, Citrix, and multiple municipalities in Michigan operate this way.  They may, but they are the exceptions, not that standard practice.  Law and HR are two different skill sets.  The Human Resources Department needs to be run by a Human Resources professional, with appropriate staff.  The legal department needs to be independent of and an advisor to, all other city departments.  The organization chart shows a Director of Human Resources with one-half of an administrative assistant.  In contrast to recommendations #1 and #3, there is no mention here about consultation with the HR Director.  I don’t see how an office of  4 is cut down to 1.5.  That math doesn’t work.  I’ll point out, again, that three of the nine task force members were lawyers.  I know lawyers are intelligent, highly trained people. But, they are trained in Law.  Not Human Resources.  This is not the place to try and shave costs.

13.  Merge Arts and Culture and the Building Division of Public Works to Planning and Zoning.  This one I don’t understand at all.  Arts & Culture, Buildings and Planning and Zoning?  Let’s use some actual logic here.  Put Arts and Culture with Recreation and Buildings with Public Works. 

14.  Merge Parks Division and Parking Department into Public Works – this makes perfect sense.  Facilities and property all under one director.  Good recommendation.

15.  Merge Senior Services into Recreation – makes sense. Programs for recreation in one area. This is where the Arts and Culture belongs.  Not in Planning and Zoning.

One recommendation I don’t see: Merge Water and Sewer under Public Works.  This is a logical combination.  It would consolidate vehicle service and maintenance, allow for close coordination of maintenance of streets, buildings, underground utilities and water & sewer.  I would also eliminate a Director and one or more deputy positions, saving the city a significant amount in salary and benefits. 

And before I sign off, I have to comment on the title:  “Mayor Daniel Drew’s Bi-partisan Task Force”?  Isn’t that a little grandiose?  In the past, it was sufficient to say “The Mayor’s Task Force”.

Thanks,

Ken McClellan

Chairman, Middletown Republican Town Committee
-------------------------------------

B.S.

Editor's note:  Want to know more about the Government ReOrg?
Read the Insider Staff's analysis of the Government ReOrg here: http://www.middletowninsider.com/2012/12/city-governmen-re-org-part-ii.html  

The misleading merge of City Legal & BOE Legal: http://www.middletowninsider.com/2013/01/apple-oranges-boe-budget-hikes.html
John Milardo spoke of the downsides of the Governmnet ReOrg in a previous Guest Blog piece here: ://www.middletowninsider.com/2013/01/guest-blog-his-town.html
Councilmember Linda Salafia also comments on negative aspects here: http://www.middletowninsider.com/2013/01/letter-editor-government-reorg-costly.html

Read the full report for yourself here: http://www.middletowninsider.com/2012/12/mayors-task-force-on-efficiency-report.html and packages here: http://www.middletowninsider.com/2013/01/who-gets-what-drew-cleans-house-with.html

Your Daily Spin by the Middletown Mess:When the Numbers Don't Add Up

Daily Spin: Response to City & BOE Consolidation of Legal Services

http://www.middletownpress.com/articles/2013/01/19/news/doc50f9defb8c1b4595879930.txt

There has been an article in some of the news outlets regarding a memorandum of understanding between the City and the BOE regarding the BOE using the City's legal staff rather than hire outside attorneys.

The article stated that the administration wanted to go back to pre-2008 staffing levels.  For this year, 2012, the City is increasing it's current staffing levels from an Acting City Attorney, vacant Deputy City Attorney position and a secretary to a City Attorney (already hired), two Deputy City Attorneys (one already hired and one scheduled to be hired in the spring) plus the secretary.  The Risk Manager's part of the department currently has three full time employees.  This is leading us to believe that the City previously had

that level of staffing.  However, in the approved budget for the year ending 6/30/2009, there was a City Attorney, one Deputy City Attorney and a Legal Secretary as had been budgeted for the year ending

6/30/2008.  A second Deputy City Attorney was requested but not funded.  At one time, for a short time, the office was staffed with a paralegal who first started as a part-time employee and then becamefulltime; after that employee received her law license, she was appointed as an additional Deputy City Attorney.  She subsequently left the City for other employment.  Should be noted that this former employee was one of the original applicants for the City Attorney position and not chosen.  The article is misleading in that except for a short period of time, the office has only had ONE Deputy City Attorney.

Also, the article claimed that the City has been able to settle some 30 some odd pieces of litigation stating further that numerous grievances and suits were settled by working with the Mayor, BOE and the union.  It should be noted however that the majority of the "30" legal issues were union grievances that did not necessarily require legal representation on the part of the City or the BOE.  These were grievances filed the employee through the union and were to be heard by a panel at the state labor board; the fee to do so is approximately $25.00 per party and did not necessarily rise to the level of requiring the attendance of an attorney at several hundreds of dollars per hour.  As part of the agreement the BOE insisted on keeping the illegal hire , Councilwoman Hope Kasper's son inlaw, whom she had a direct hand in hiring. Hmm. The hearing of grievances by the Labor Board is a matter of stating the facts and the specific part of the union contract violated to the panel and then waiting for their response; sometimes, the panel will request that the positons of both sides be submitted in writing

but generally it's straightforward: how did the employer violate the contract??  BTW, there is still a grievance out there to be heard and also an outstanding law suit not settled as of yet.

According to the paperwork handed out by the BOE at the workshop regarding their budget for object code 392 Legal Services for 2011-2012 the actual expenditure was $147,177.48; $100,000 was

appropriated bor the 2012-2013 budget and for the 2013-2014 budget $154,220 is being requested, an additional $54,220.00 over the current budgeted amount.  In the overall budget for the BOE, $147,177 doesn't seem extreme but it should be noted that much of what was paid for the outside attorneys for services rendered for the issues between the BOE and the City were paid for from the City's Insurance and Claims Fund and not the above referenced object code in the BOE's budget.  Monies in the Insurance and Claims Fund are reserved generally for payment for pending claims and suits against the City plus claims resulting from storms etc. and deductibles, and should the fund be insufficient after the payment of funds not planned for, an appropriation from the General Fund will be necessary to meet those obligations when and if

they arise.  If the BOE is expecting to have to pay less for legal expenses, one would assume that we will see the request for $154,220 be reduced.  Right??