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Friday, July 15, 2016

WE DON'T NEED NO STINKING APPROVALS

Apparently the Hartford Charter is just viewed as a minor inconvenience and the Board of Education is just a nuisance.

Votes and process apparently mean nothing in the Kingdom of Luke.

Even though he hasn't been approved as CFO, Darryl Hill has already had his business cards printed in the City Hall printshop listing his job tittle as Chief Financial Officer, according to City Hall sources. As of today, Darrel Vinson Hills Hartford car taxes are still delinquent back to July of 2015, not a good lead for the potential Finance Director of the City of Hartford. Maybe as he runs down to the bowels of City Hall to pick up his new business cards, he could drop off a check in the Tax Collector's Office

Jose Colon Rivas has been nominated for the position of Chief Operating Officer for the Hartford Schools. Nominated being the key word. His position does not become effective until voted on and approved by the Hartford Board of Education

But yet, Colon -Rivas today announced his elevation to the new position , even though the vote does not take place until next week at the earliest. Maybe our elected officials should put a hold on both appointments to send a message that they were elected for a purpose and aren't rubber stamps for the Administration or the Superintendent

Colon-Rivas e-mail from earlier today today

------ Original message------
From: Braithwaite, Maritza M.
Date: Fri, Jul 15, 2016 11:44 AM
To: Everyone (City Only);
Cc:
Subject:Farewell from Jose Colon-Rivas

July 15, 2016

Dear Colleagues:

I write to bid you farewell and to inform you that I am leaving my position as Director of the Department of Families, Children, Youth and Recreation.  I will be joining the Hartford Public Schools as their Chief Operations Officer.
It has been my pleasure to work with you for the past ten years. With many of you, I have shared a unique camaraderie that I trust that will continue into the future. Each one of you has played an important role in the evolution of my career; thank you for the guidance and support you have generously extended to me. I take with me the strong bonds of friendship which I nurtured over the years.
You are an exceptionally dedicated and passionate group of colleagues. What we have accomplished would not have been possible without the committed team of gifted, tenacious individuals who came together to work relentlessly for a common goal: to serve our community.

Individually and collectively, we have many reasons to be proud!

I am confident that the Department of Families, Children, Youth and Recreation will continue to be a force for good in the lives of Hartford’s families and children.

Finally, dear Colleagues, “hasta luego” and my warmest wishes for a bright future!

Sincerely,

José

25 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sad!
However an another Puerto Rican iced by the SaraBronin Administration.

Anonymous said...

Well, why wouldn't these 2 be confident of their appointment? It's completely inappropriate to quit one job before being approved for a second, or to print business cards with a title you haven't been awarded but, unfortunately, this Council is reaping what they've sown.

Hasn't the Council rubber stamped every appointment and pretty much every Bronin request for the last 7 months? For all their staffing, this Council doesn't seem to be able or willing to do much independent research on the proposals the Administration brings to them. They've yet to flex any political muscle - or at least they haven't done so in a way that's visible to the public. At this point, who among us really thinks the Council won't rubber stamp these 2 appointments as well?

Anonymous said...

Next time Jose Colon-Rivas must learn how to write a better letter than this ass kissing one.

Anonymous said...

Jose Colon-Rivas earned more than $1 million in his years at the dept. of children & families. MORE THAN ONE MILLION DOLLARS.

Anonymous said...

sorry to announce to you all: this city council is nothing but a rubber stamp

Anonymous said...

They are not a rubber stamp. They previous mayor used them without rubbers.

Anonymous said...

What accomplishments, if any, can Jose show us after all these years with the Department of Children and Families?

KEVIN BROOKMAN said...

6:12pm,

At least no scandals that I am aware of other than his phony residence claims , until he got caught and actually moved to Hartford

Anonymous said...

Oh, Darrell Hill's new business cards have already been printed? Well in that case, the council has no choice but to approve his appointment. We can't afford to let the money spent on those cards go to waste!

Father Lou said...

Angel Morales is taking over Youth Services......

Anonymous said...

8:30pm This is a unique system, exclusive to Hartford: getting a new suit, printing business cards and decorating a new office for a new position BEFORE the new position was approved.

Anonymous said...

The appointment of Jose Colon-Rivas leaves several questions that I hope you can answer. Jose will be replacing Donald Slater as Chief Operating Officer. Donald Slater will become Senior Director of Special Programs. What will he be doing in that capacity and is he replacing someone or is this another NEW position that the Superintendent is creating? Exactly how many high salary Central Office positions has the Superintendent eliminated? With the tight budget, she said she would substantially reduce Central Office but it doesn't seem like that has happened. Kevin, can you get an organizational chart for Central Office? It seems like we have many layers of supervisors overseeing each other!

Anonymous said...

@ 12:35 The Superintendent promise to reduce Central Office is nothing more than a promise, a false statement just to satisfy the media.

Anonymous said...

Kevin Brookman at 7:22: JOSE COLON RIVAS: ONCE A LIAR - ALWAYS A LIAR.

Harshal Patel said...

This guy is about to become the COO?

http://wethepeoplehartford.blogspot.com/2013/04/mayor-segarra-get-out-scissors.html

"One of the highest paid City employees, Jose Colon Rivas seems to enjoy the finer things in life, running up a hotel Bill at a luxury hotel in California. Over $7400 in the course of 6 days at the Hotel Palomar in West wood LA. He must not have liked the thread count on the sheets at the Holiday Inn Express. Relax, you have a City credit card, money is no object when you have a $100,000 credit limit on the taxpayers card."

Mayor Bronin needs to do a bit more due diligence (new COO's past wasteful spending, new CFO being delinquent on taxes)

Maybe the next C level appointee will be out on bond awaiting trial......

Let's Go Hartford said...

Really a $100K limit. Please tell me why any City employee needs a $100K limit. Well look like he was trying his best to do a good job and max out the credit card. Must be nice. All those meals paid for by the City, does any City employee ever buy their own meals?

Anonymous said...

If Harshal Patel's comment is true, than the appointment is a huge scandal in Hartford. Nothing changed, same corruption, appointments by connections only, the city is run like a mafia. Shame, shame.

Anonymous said...

Anyone see the future of The Hartford Fire Dept in the Courant this weekend? Overweight teenage girls laughing that they failed to provide lifesaving CPR in a training session,how are they going to react in the flashover simulator? Bet they don't find it so amusing in there! I'm sorry ,but I like stereotypes. Bring back real women being mothers,real men being fathers and providing for their family, Did they eliminate the phrase "right person for the right job". Firefighting is not a joke ,now more than ever The Hartford Fire dept needs to get serious about restructuring its workforce . In the past two decades they've hired criminals,drug addicts,alcoholics,the mentally ill ,racists ,incompetents,people actually afraid of fire,people spending their entire career collecting a check not doing much,insubordinates who won't follow orders. It gets scarier ,due to the recent departure of real firefighters ,a lot of the same people described above have been promoted to higher ranks. Racists leading crews of a different color,scared individuals leading crews into fires,insubordinates expecting crews to follow orders,etc. So the last thing the residents,visitors and workers in Hartford need to see is a clear picture of the future and further demise of The Hartford Fire dept.

KEVIN BROOKMAN said...

I think your comments are way off. By mentoring Hartford's youth in the early stages, they can mature into prosperous adults rather than succumbing to the negative outside influences. Think back to when you were that age. Were you perfect already or did you mature and grow due to the influence of positive role models taking an interest in your future?

Anonymous said...

Colon Rivas has done nothing to enhance the Recreation Department...nothing has been done..as a resident very sad..whos idea would it be or shall I say who would approve for our city pools to allow adults and children to swim together in the days of pedophiles and everything that goes on....all locker rooms unsupervised...basketball leagues for the city youth...NONE..Arts and Crafts non-existent...parks are staffed from 11am-2pm to do what....the busiest part of the day unsupervised.

Anonymous said...

Kevin, you are so naive about HFD. The 10:50 comment is true.

If tonight, one of these "Hartford's youths" has to do CPR on their mother, do you this they actually learned anything? Not sure about you, but CPR isn't a joke.

The Lt. teaching that "class" is one of the laziest people on the job. She volunteered for anything to avoid being on the line. SSU, FMO, EMD, fake A injuries, fish bowl, etc. She was an "absentee" driver, always hurt or again volunteering for a cushy spot. I bet she hasn't driven to more than 50 runs. Years of this and now she is a Lt! If this is the future of the job you better move out of Hartford.

Many of these recent promotions are bottom of the barrel, guys who eked out a 70 and never would have been hired if not for the recent onslaught of retirees. Thank you Bronin, 60+ guys retired, can you say MASSIVE OT$$?

One of the new Lt's just promoted was the subject of a past blog. The fool that was delivering oil while on a fake a-injury. The a-injury that happened at the machine shop while getting apparatus repaired after being involved in a MVA, but while at Hartford Hospital suddenly remembered he was up for OT, so he went back to work, finished his shift, worked OT, and then went back on his injury to deliver oil full time. Also the same fool who is suing good firefighters for "racism". Yeah, perfect officer material. Just the guy I want running a fire company.

Another new LT who is a problem child since he was hired. Hates everyone and is totally miserable. Lives to defy officers of any level about anything. This is a person who stays on the apparatus on calls because his thinking is "they don't need me to rub their backs in there". That's just lazy, and basically being an asshole. Yet another fine example of officer material.

You may or may not post this but this is the HFD, mark my word, some of these new promotions will be the topic of a future posting on WTP, just give it time. Kevin, we have been trying to tell you for years about the workings and goings on at HFD. You unfortunately don't believe what is really going on. A once proud and respected fire department is being ruined and slowly dismantled before your eyes. The damage from past fire chiefs hiring practices and promotions, Bronin with his bright legislature ideas and negotiating tactics have all hurt this department severely. Chief Freeman is a great Chief, but he will need a long time to fix all of the problems and to re-establish HFD's reputation.

Don't forget the NIOSH report for Kevin Belle is due out soon. Read that and tell me we don't have incompetent and dangerous people in powerful positions. That should be a real eye opener for you.

Anonymous said...

Kevin,Your way off base. Please consider facts instead of emotion when responding to comments. The list of negative characters I mentioned above were the products of Hartford's attempt at "mentoring" the city youths in the past two decades. Whether it was Special Services handing out applications on street corners ,bodega's ,shelters or automatic enrollment to the fire academy from explorer/cadet programs,that's where HFD'S worst employees come from. I would respect your position more if it didn't involve a extremely serious occupation like firefighting or police officer.Maybe public works, city hall etc. would be a better fit??? You made me laugh with your roll model comment,,,the individual who spearheaded this program spent almost all of their time at engine 9 and please don't ask me about their integrity as a complete firefighter,I feel like I've said too much already.But trust me ,this is not the role model you want for the city's youth and representing HFD. Kevin, why don't you ask around and see if I'm right?

Anonymous said...

Kevin,
Now Luke wants to close Brainard Airport. This guys needs to be put in check. Anyway you can look into this?

Hartford's Shooting Stars said...

@11:59

Is there a cost to Hartford? How large of a cost if there is? Look, Hartford is tittering on the inability to pay its bills.

I fully support any and all efforts to reduce costs. This is serious. What don't you understand about bankruptcy?

I like the idea of setting up toll booths for non-resident use of Hartford streets. How about that?

Three more shot last evening.

Anonymous said...

Fine if the suburbs can do rhe same got a resl good feeling more people creeping out of Hartford then going in. Only 3 shootings, slow day.