Rumblings: Nice guys finish last... or not at all.

1. ABANDONED: Mayor Dan Drew stated on the council floor he was going to have a report done to see how the 2013 blizzard that crippled the city could have been handled better. Rumors were that Danapolean gave the word to turn away help from the National Guard & there was a chest puffing match behind closed doors resulting in Middletown roads still being uncleared days later. No report.

2. ABANDONED: Mayor Drew & Gov. Malloy went to China in 2012 to "find jobs" and promised Councilman Pessina that a report would follow. And all that trade Drew said he opened up? How is China helping Middletown?? No report.

3. ABANDONED: Under Mayor Drew the Youth Services department launched a new website with reports with updates about activites. The website was last updated in Nov 6, 2013.  Cuz he's "young guy mayor" Danny did start the Yoot Youth Cabinet (not to be confused with the already in existence Youth in Government Program cauz if you rename somethin you can take credit for it duh)

4. ABANDONED: Mayor Drew's twitter boasts a computer rendering of LED lights on the Arrigoni Bridge. Critics & the town of Portland felt the idea to "bring tourist" excessive. Why such a "great tourism destination" quietly abandoned by the Mayor if it was so awesome?

5. FINISHED: Both budget's under Mayor Drew's regime resulted in milrate increases for taxpayers. The democrats on council voted against all proposals for senior tax relief under the previous republican mayor, yet endorsed a watered down proposal from Mayor Drew while simultaneously raising taxes for everyone else two fiscal years in a row! 3X a charm?

6. STARTED: Mayor Drew advocated for the merging of Park & Recreation and Public works as well as the City Attorney's office and Personnel Depts. to "save money" No cost savings have ever been proven upon inquiry. In fact, outside Counsel is stilled used by the Office of General Counsel at tune of $60K for the investigation into the allegeded drug abuse allegations against the police chief. In 2013 he told the Courant he expected to save more than $150K a year; in other sources Drew is quoted saying the savings is in the MILLIONS. It has been a year & no cost savings have been proven.

7. ABANDONED: Several commitee vacancies have remained unfilled by Drewilishious. Example: Design Review & Inlands & Watercourses, Citizens' Advisory have  had  vacancies for the entire 3 years Drew has been in office. Drew has had time to redecorate the Mayor's office to the tune of $6K.

8.ABANDONED: 20 monthes later...all those grants Danious Maxious got. The bike path, the parking lot redo's,the parking garage... so how yall citizen's enjoying those? Give them bread and circuses...

9. ABANDONED: City Hall news letter. When Drewocles took office he initiated the practice of wishing workers happy birthday via special email, a practice most hadn't had the priveledge of experiencing since elementary school. He also initiated a city hall newsletter. The last publication of which was July 2012. 

10. ABANDONED: Mayor Drew put out a mandate that all committee meetings take place after 7 pm so that members of the public could attend. Clean Energy Task Force still meets at noon 3 years later. And the Harbor Improvement Committee NEVER has met despite the focus on the spanking new riverfront.

11. FINISHED (NOT REALLY): Mayor Drew ran on the campaign to end all lawsuits and grievances between the city, union members and the Board of Education. He even held a press conference declaring that the smoke was clear. However, lawsuits still exist 3 years later....

12. ALMOST NOT FINISHED: Just in time for Veterans' Day: Trees of Honor, the memorial dedicated to fallen Connecticut Soldiers of the Irag and Afganistan Wars is underway at  Veteran's Park in Middletown. After the photo ops with the Big Dannel were over, Mayor Drew went a little MIA on the details of the two+ year project. The ribbon cutting of the memorial was scheduled. What did Drew forget? The planting of the actual trees!! President of the City (D's prefferred moniker) forgot to secure resources - ie heavy equipment and man hours to get this done... so at the last minute project volunteers scrambled to get help to get 65 large trees in the ground before the dedication. Not even Joe Samolis, Mayor's Aide, could get this accomplished & the man has had to shovel some hefy mayoral do-do. Organizers contacted local papers  to put the call out for help; the papers convenietly leaving out the fact that the holes had yet to be excavated literally days before the opening...several TOH organizers posted requests via personal social media pages &amp sent emails in an effort  to dig the project out of the perdicament Drew left them with... Luckily, volunteers hauled a**  & finished the job beautifully. Gee.. thanks Mayor D...

Unlucky 13: ABANDONED: 

ANYONE kept tally of how much money has been 

appropriated every month by the Council?!?!

Just about every meeting the Common Council approves requests for additional funds to departments above and beyond what was allocated in the fiscal budget proposed by Mayor Drew and approved by the council. No news source has reported how much has been spent and when asked certain council persons have stated the budget is "fluid"... the bleeding of taxpayers has been STARTED.....

Guestblog: Reorganization Joke by John Milardo

The guest blog by retired city employee &  former union president Middletown resident John Milardo reflects his opinions, which may not necessarily be that of the Insider staff; guest blogs and letters to the editor are published as a courtesy to readers. 

The original piece by Milardo can be read and downloaded in its original format here:  

And Justice for All: Reorganization Joke

“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."

 The consolidation of the Parks Division into the Public Works Department is coming!   
There is no stopping it!  The general public does not care one way or the other what happens with this merger.  There are those private entities that will benefit from the merger, and I’ll bet you they have 
already spoken with the administration to support it. 

      On July 31st, the Finance and Government Operations Commission held their monthly meeting.  
Mayor Daniel Drew presented the Commissioners his “Proposal for Merger: Public Works and Parks”.  
The report states there will be a savings of $150,000 due to the elimination of the Parks Maintainer IV/Working Supervisor position (retirement) an AFSCME bargaining unit job.  He also states the 
Parks Division Park Maintainer 3 employees will receive a one (1) pay grade salary increase due to 
added responsibilities.  Additionally, the Recreation Division, which will no longer be part of the 
department, is going to move into the Parks Division facility at Butternut Street, to save the cost of 
rent at their River View Center location.  (Recreation was moved due to lack of space 
at Butternut Street)  The Mayor states that combining Parks and Public Works will eliminate 
duplication of purchased items, and uses the example of a plasma cutter, used to cut steel, 
a $2,000 piece of equipment. 

Christine Bourne, President of AFSCME, Local #466 spoke at the meeting and stated the Union was not on board with the merger as presented.  The Parks Division has always been short staffed, but is currently at an all time low.  At one time, there were eighteen (18) employees.  Currently, there are eight (8) Park maintenance employees.  A far cry from the thirty (30) recommended in a job study performed years ago.   According to the minutes of the meeting, Commissioner Thomas Serra asked if Public Works Director William Russo could be brought forward to speak on what President Bourne had mentioned. The minutes reflect Director Russo’s exact statement:  “the Mayor doesn’t want five guys atthis level telling one guy at this level what to do, this is where the consolidation is coming in.” WTF gibberish is that!? This isthe person who is going to be in charge of the new department and get a big fat raise!  Director Russo also stated he spoke to Parks Division employees to find out their concerns.  Has anyone ever heardof “direct dealing”? It is a violation of labor law to deal directly with employees when they have a Union.The employer must only contact the Union’s executive officers.       As a long time Union officer, I understand the employer has the right to reorganize.  If the employer creates changes in job duties, hours of work, wages, benefits, and responsibilities, the employer must sit down with the Union and formally negotiate such changes.  When the Water & Sewer Department reorganized a few years ago, both AFSCME and the Teamsters were involved in formal negotiations with  the City.  After reading the minutes of this meeting, it doesn’t sound like any formal negotiations have occurred.      As for the $150,000 in savings by not filling one (1) position, no cost breakdown was included with the report.  The $150,000 figure seems unreasonably high.  If you do not fill a position there will be a savings on paper but what is the effect of the loss?  How does the work of that position now get performed?  If there are more positions unfilled, it compounds the problem.  How do you compensate for the loss of manpower?  Do you contract more bargaining unit work out?  Do you hire more part-time or temporary employees throughout the entire year instead of just during the summer?  What is that cost going to be?A complete explanation is needed.       Unlike the reorganization of the Water & Sewer Department, the Parks and Public Works  employees will not be cross trained.  No employees will work inter-departmentally.  The employees will stay within their existing divisions.  The only thing that is changing is the person in charge of the combined departments and some other supervision within the department administration.  They are using the guise of shared equipment --- which has always occurred anyway --- to push through this “reorganization”.Oh crap!  They should stop cooperating now!  Someone, please mind erase all the employees so they can truthfully say the departments never share or shared equipment before!      With a new Director overseeing the Parks Division, you can bet the cost of business is going to  go way up.  More contractors, consultants and engineering firms will be hired for every little thing. There will be a saving of one unfilled position with this consolidation, but there will be a high cost for private consultants, engineers,and contractors.  That’s how the Public Works Department operates, that is how the Director will want the Parks Division to operate.       The more consultants, engineers, and contractors hired the more perks and contributions to election campaigns.  Once you get through all the BS, it always boils down to one thing---money! Check the campaign donation lists this election year.  There are unmentioned costs other than  the one (1) pay grade increase for Park Maintainer 3 workers.  The Director of Public Works job  description has a two (2) word change in it.  The Deputy Director of Public Works has many  changes which increased his duties and responsibility, and the Parks Superintendent position has several changes.  There are office employees whose work will be changed, as well as the responsibility and duties of the Manager and Budget Analyst of the Mayor. Past City history shows these positions will receive pay grade increases and/or maybe even  additional assistance; if not now, then very shortly down the road.      So, what has the taxpayer gained with this recommendation to combine the Parks Division into  the Public Works Department? • You still have a Parks & Recreation Director on board, who will probably be in charge of Recreation and Senior Services at some point in time, so there is no cost reduction there. • No co-mingling of manpower for assistance to the Parks Division or the City Yard (Public Works) employees, so manpower needs have not been met or addressed, work load and completion will not change.  • There will be big increases in pay for the Public Works administrator(s); sooner or later. • There will be budgetary cost increases in the Parks Division, (work previously performed in-house), for engineering services, private contractors, and consultants.      Bottom line is the reorganization of the Parks Division into the Public Works Department is going to happen no matter what!  Even if there is a large public turnout objecting to it, it will be approved by the Common Council.  I believe the Mayor has the votes on the Council to push his agenda through. The Mayor and those voting in favor of this reorganization can put a pin in their lapels exclaiming  how they “improved services to the taxpayers, and reduced the cost to do so!”  It won’t happen  without them throwing millions of dollars to ensure success.  In my opinion, it’s all a giant smoke screen for the real reason(s). They are willing to approve this reorganization to monetarily take care of one or two people who are loyal political friends.  All the other mentioned costs are just peripheral  damage the taxpayer will have to pay for.       There will be a cost increase to combine the departments, just as there was combining the  Personnel Department into the Legal Department.  The premise of this new consolidation, according to  Mayor Drew is to not duplicate items.  He cannot say there is a duplication of services because  each division performs work completely different of the other.  There may be similarity with some  of the equipment used, but the work is far different, as are the job duties of employees.   The savings may be a $2,000 plasma cutter. Stay strong. Stay involved. Stay together. Seek the truth.  John Milardo, Middletown CT

Will Dept. Merger's Save the City Money? Real Numbers & Real Facts

At the August 8th* Common Council meeting the first vote for merger of the Parks Department into the Public Works Department and the merger of the Recreation Department and Senior Services into one department took place.  NO estimated savings were discussed or presented at the Council meeting.

This is the second round of mergers that are a result of the Mayor's Task Force; the first being the merger of the Legal Department and the Personnel Department.  At the time of that merger, it was put forth the combining of those two departments would produce significant savings to the taxpayer. 

The following is  a table we created of the amounts budgeted for the two departments for the past 5 fiscal years for their full-time salary lines.  The planned merger called for hiring of two Deputy Counsels however, during the budget process for this year (year ending 6/30/2014) only one was funded.  This table does not include any of the funds spent for the golden handshakes and payouts given to employees to achieve / facilitate the merger; but only what was budgeted for salaries.

The vote last week came down 9 to 1- with Councilwoman Linda Salafia (R) the only person o vote against the merging of Park & Rec, Senior Services, and Public Works. Councilwomen Hope Kasper (D) and Deborah Kleckowski (R) were absent. 

For the previous merging of Legal and Personnel the vote in May was 10-2 with Kleckowski (R) and Salafia (R) in opposition of the consolidation, which according to the end of the year fiscal analysis,  in fact, proved more costly to tax payers.

*Editor's note: The chart below is an example of expenses for the last three fiscal years for the separate Legal  and Personnel Department. Since the merger, the last last column under Total shows that for the 2013 fiscal year, the combined legal/personnel department with additional attorneys and staff has had an increase in spending despite the claims of the merger saving money. Outside counsel from other attorneys has cost the city even more money, despite new personnel hired in the Legal Office. So far, the merging of the Personnel and Legal departments has not saved money, but in fact been more costly to tax payers. 

Chart showing budgeted amounts for the legal and personnel departments for the last five years.

Year ending 6/30        Personnel department             Legal department        Total

2010                            $253,164                                 $363,867                     $617,031

2011                            $262,491                                 $340,841                     $603,332

2012                            $211,582                                 $391,606                     $663,188

2013                            $225,346                                 $420,279

additional appropriations  12/2012                                   70,000                     $715,625

2014                            $146,477                                 $487,769                     $634,246