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Thursday, March 21, 2013

MORE ON HARTFORD'S FISCAL CLIFF

I am not sure that anyone grasps the severity of Hartford's fiscal condition. I am also pretty sure that no one at city Hall with their $100,000 plus salaries, city vehicles , golden pensions and excellent health care benefits are in touch with what the average Hartford resident faces everyday to survive.

A $70million dollar deficit for Hartford's budget next year seems to be a minor inconvenience  for Mayor Segarra and his Administration as they continue to spend like money is being printed in the basement of City Hall and City credit cards are not real money being spent.

Last night I attended the Council's  OMB (Operations, Management and Budget) committee meeting and listened to those defending ESI bonuses (more on that in another posting later) and was amazed by a spreadsheet showing how much money the City gives away for police and DPW coverage for special events that occur in the City.

The spreadsheet, shown below, was provided to the Committee by COO Saundra Kee-Borges. The Council, in its infinite wisdom, had passed a resolution last year that capped the amount for events and parades at a maximum of $10,000.  This was apparently done to appease segments of the community who would have events and then never pay the bill, leaving the City holding the bag for large amounts of Police overtime.

As an example, the 5C's. the group that runs the Saint Patrick's Day Parade typically would accrue costs of anywhere from $30,000 to $35,000 for the annual event. The 5C's had always paid that amount to the City to clear their bill. Other parades were not as forthcoming with the payments.

So the Council decided to cap the amounts charged, so as an example, the St Patrick's Day Parade is capped at $10,000 so essentially we give away about $25,000 in City Services.
The annual West Indian Parade, according to the COO's spreadsheet ,last year cost $50,500.00 of which only $10,000.00 was billed  due to the Councils cap, resulting in a loss of $40,000.00 to the City's coffers.

The spreadsheet gives no indication of which groups actually have paid their bills and which are outstanding.

This is the type of thing that the City cannot afford as we head into projected multimillion dollar deficits over the next several years. If organizations cannot afford the expense of a lengthy parade route, then offer them use of Parks or areas that do not require a police officer at every intersection along a lengthy route.

According to the COO's report over $300.000.00 has been given away in the last year. The other interesting part is that these fees have to be absorbed into the Police and DPW budgets which affects their flexibility to cover other areas with overtime or increased staffing when needed.

The report is difficult to read because of the small text. it might be easier to print it and read it or go to scribd and magnify the image


Wednesday, March 20, 2013

GONE

Hartford's embattled Director of Human Resources took, a "leave of absence " yesterday according to an e-mail sent to City Hall employee's yesterday.

According to City hall sources, the "leave of absence" is the cover story concocted by the Mayor's Office and Valda Washington is not expected tot return to City Hall anytime soon.

Despite numerous issues, some of them outlined previously here, Washington didn't seem to be a good fit for Hartford. Several sources related that Washington's fall from Grace began when she refused to authorize a $25,000 raise for an employee of Mayor Segarra's buddy and "Cabinet " member Jose Colon-Rivas. Apparently Colon Rivas wished to raise the salary for his employee from $80,000 per year to over $105,000 and Washington felt the jump could not be justified and she refused to approve the raise.

Things took a downturn from there. I am sure there will be a lot more to come out from this story considering what I have been told already

HARTFORD'S FISCAL CLIFF

As the City of Hartford tries to close a projected $70 million dollar budget deficit, some are starting to question if there is any financial management at City Hall. City spending seems to be continuing "business as usual " as large charges continue to be racked up monthly on City credit cards, many of the charges are for items that are far from necessary. Many of the charges seem to be large amounts for food and beverages purchased by City employees at local bars and restaurants.

The city credit cards or "P-Cards" as they are referred to at City Hall seem to be routinely used without much oversight as to how or why they are being used. Recent purchases included flat screen televisions for the the Mayor's Chief of Staff;'s office as well as a flat screen television for the Office of the Mayor's Communication's director as well.. According to sources, cable television was also installed so they could watch the TV's in their offices.

Council President Shawn Wooden is expected to request an audit of the P-card use as well as P-card spending policies at today's monthly Audit Commission meeting. Another area that has been a chronic problem is the issuance of bonuses to City employees. The ESI program as it is known seems to be a backdoor route to circumvent issuing raises to employees, many of them who are already at the top of the salary for their position.

 It just seems that city employee's know what their salary is when they take a position and a $150,000 annual salary isn't enough to keep someone happy in a cash strapped city? One of Mayor Segarra's confidants and former Chief of Staff, Jose Colon -Rivas is paid an annual salary of $152,250 as Director of Family and Children and Recreation Services. Colon Rivas was issued bonuses of almost $12,000 above his salary in 2012.

 How can they issue bonuses knowing that we may be forced to lay other employees off due to budget shortfalls. And all indications that Mayor Segarra's buddy doesn't even live in Hartford, at least not at the address he claims to be living at. The list of ESI bonuses are below. Some that should raise eyebrows are those to Colon-Rivas , Saundra Kee-Borges who is not only collecting a pension from the City as well as her current salary and a large bonus of $4352.63. I guess a love for the City comes with a hefty pricetag.

 Also the Bonus to L. John Van Norden of $2625.00 seems a good deal for a City Attorney who isn't even recognized as an attorney in CT and can't practice law in Connecticut. I think he might owe us a refund rather than accepting a bonus.

The interesting part though is that your viewpoints must drastically change when you go from being a councilmember who frequently butted heads with a Mayor headed for prison, to when you actually become Mayor yourself. The following quote was directly from our current Mayor, former Councilman Pedro Segarra, regarding ESI bonuses handed out by former Mayor Eddie Perez "We have people losing their jobs, we have people that don't get that similar treatment and we are in deep financial straits here," said Councilman Pedro Segarra. "For anyone to think they can run our city like a Fortune 500 company making millions in profit -- it doesn't match our current reality."    You can read the entire article here


 

Monday, March 11, 2013

CORRECTION OFFICER ARRESTED FOR ASSAULTING POLICE OFFICER

 
HPD  Arrest Photo of DOC Officer Jason Beaudry
 
 
A State of Connecticut Correction Officer assigned to the Osbourne Correctional Facility was arrested Saturday after the Saint Patrick's Day Parade for assaulting and robbing a Manchester Police Officer .

Sources familiar with the incident said that the arrest resulted from an altercation in the area of Club Envy near union Place. DOC Officer Jason Beaudry apparently assaulted Manchester Police Officer Jon Carron and left him unconscious on Allyn Street. After knocking  him out, witnesses identified Beaudry  as the attacker.At the time of Beaudry's arrest, he was found to be in possession of Carron's Manchester Police Badge and Identification as well as his wallet, resulting in the robbery charge .

Beaudry 34, of South Windsor CT was charged with Robbery 3rd, Larceny 2nd, and Assault 3rd. His bond was set at $100,000. The HPD Major Crimes Division is investigating

No further information was available on Beaudry's status with the DOC at this time, No additional information was available on Officer Carron's injuries or present condition..

Friday, March 1, 2013

HARTFORD DAYTRIPPING IDEAS


 
Recently, Councilman Joel Cruz requested a residency report on all of Hartford's Department Heads. Under Hartford's Charter, all department heads must reside in Hartford, with the exception of a department head who is an upward promotion within the department they were already working in  (i.e DPW Director Kevin Burnham who was promoted from DPW traffic engineer to DPW Director).

The report apparently is in and and if you are bored this weekend, it could be entertaining to see how many of their addresses are actually occupied by the department heads as they claim. I'm not sure how the Chief Operating Officer created the report, it looks like they might have just taken them on their word as to where they live. Residency  normally requires more than just a mailing address.

Important questions to ask are where are they registered to vote? Are their vehicles actually registered and taxed in Hartford? Do they have any utility bills in their name for Hartford addresses?

You can start your daytrip Downtown at the listed residence of Human resources Director Valda Washington. Don't plan on staying too long to visit though since word is most of her furniture is still in storage. The storage fees are being paid for by the City apparently.(A good question for the Audit Commission...Why?) She might be waiting to see if this whole Hartford employment thing works out before she commits to moving the couch in.

Then head south , grab a hot chocolate at the Dunkin Donuts on Washington Street and as you exit the lot onto Madison Street, look for the address of Segarra confidante and Department Head, Jose Colon-Rivas. I haven't been able to find him at home, but maybe with a hot chocolate for him you might have better luck..

Then head over to Woodland Street and the listed residence of Andrew Jaffee, Department Head for Emergency Service Telecommunications. You probably won't find him there also, I never have. You will probably have better luck waving to him from a highway overpass each day as he comes into Hartford from his real residence in West Suffield, using the HOV lane in his City car.

When you leave Woodland Street, head a few blocks west to "Little Hollywood" and the Clemen's Place Apartments to find our Director of Development Services. His residency is an act worthy of Hollywood, but most nights and weekends he is still doing his performances in Providence ,Rhode Island, his permanent home .

You don't need to travel to the residences of John Bazzano, Police Chief Rovella or Fire Chief Casares. Most people see them out in the community regularly as actual residents who take their contracts and commitment to the people of Hartford seriously. They are actually out in the community , living what we live everyday, experiencing the same things we do everyday and not fleeing to their real homes whenever they can. They all are actually registered to vote in Hartford and have vehicles registered  and taxed in Hartford

Whether eating at a restaurant downtown, smoking cigars on Pratt Street or just walking around the City, the people;e that actually care about our neighborhoods are visible. The frauds using Hartford as a stepping stone and a means for a paycheck should be shown the closest entrance to the highway and sent packing. If you can't make a commitment to Hartford, we don't need you, move on.

And the issue isn't just with Department Heads, more on Hartford's residency issues coming soon.

UH OH !!!

In what may be a worst case nightmare scenario for many, Hartford City Treasurer Adam Cloud    has just announced  his appointment to the City's internal Audit Commission.
 
Treasurer Cloud has appointed Hartford Attorney Bruce Rubenstein as his pick to act as the City's watchdog. Rubenstein, a frequent commenter here on the blog, has a reputation for getting his teeth into wrongdoing and shaking it viciously until the truth comes out.
 
Attorney Rubenstein  is a Hartford Attorney who graduated from the University of Bridgeport (now Quinnipiac College) in 1980 and has been in private practice ever since.Rubenstein has also been involved in both local and National politics, but seems to be able to separate politics from issues of right and wrong.
 
This will hopefully usher in a new era of accountability in Hartford Government as all questionable matters are looked into and investigated by the Commission and City Auditors. The current Commission has not been known for any aggressive pursuits of corruption or wrongdoing.

I have known Bruce personally for several years and I would be hard pressed to find someone more qualified or capable of protecting the best interests of the people of Hartford and question and expose wrong doing.