It is time for some tough love for Hartford. Not by me but by our Mayor, Pedro Segarra. For someone that claims to have had this profound love affair for the City of Hartford, Segarra sure has a funny way of showing it. It is time for some tough decisions for Segarra.
If he really loves this City as he claims every time he has the opportunity to tell his tale of woe as to how he landed in Hartford, he needs to make the decision to either step up and be a leader or step aside and let someone else try. And I think a lot of that story might not stand up to any fact check. That would take a touch of class for the truth to come out
Segarra has been the political poster child for incompetence and poor leadership, almost on a daily basis. Just read the IAC Audits on everything from the abuse of City Credit Cards , the caviar Dinner, hiring practices, and the list goes on and on.
What Segarra apparently never learned was the number one basic rule of management: you are only as good as the people you surround yourself with. And I doubt there is much argument that he has surrounded himself with some winners. The Grand Theft Auto kid from farm country who thought it was appropriate to steal back his City car after he left City Halls employ.
Crash Borges who thought it was OK to crash her City car on the way to bail her kid out of Jail (Well, just to be clear , it was her boyfriend/fiancee/significant other, Hartford's future illegitimate Fire Chief who was operating the vehicle) the Finance Director that kept the City's credit card receipts in a shoe box in his office.
The Acting Chief of Staff who loves Hartford so much he won't even move here and the list goes on and on. Most of Segarra's problems could have been avoided by some decent people around him. People that don't lie awake at night trying to figure how to embarrass him next.
Segarra is in a tough spot now with several of his key positions vacant. Under Hartford's Charter the open postiions can only be filled with people willing to accept a contract of employment for the remainder of Segarra's term. That would be a little over a year and a half (time for a countdown clock in front of City Hall?)
All Department heads serve at the will of the Mayor, and quite assuredly, a new Mayor coming in will clean City Hall from top to bottom.
I doubt that you will find a competent Chief Operating Officer or Finance Director or Chief of Staff or DPW Director that would be willing to leave a successful career for such a limited commitment. Especially knowing what a mess this Administration is.
Isn't it sad that the majority of the so called leaders of Hartford are from outside of Hartford. The COO is from Windsor, the Chief of Staff is from Meriden, the Budget Director lives in Farmington no permanent DPW Director, no permanent Finance Director. At least our Police Chief honored his contract and actually moved into our Cityy, where he can actually be seen around town.
This budget season promises to be a blood bath at City Hall, despite Segarra's State of the City commitment to make sure that Public Safety will not be compromised, we all know what is coming from the Council. And we also know that Segarra will cave like a Franklin Avenue Bakery cream puff when it comes to fighting and standing for something he believes in.
Pedro, you need to decide, are you going to do what needs to be done and surround yourself with some decent people that actually care about Hartford and can move us forward. If not, please step aside and let someone else show their love for this City
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