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Wednesday, March 27, 2013

HARTFORD BOARD OF EDUCATION OFFICES RAIDED BY FEDS

High level sources in law enforcement and at both City Hall and the Hartford Board of Education have confirmed that federal investigators armed with a search warrant seized at least four computers earlier today from the Main Street offices of the Hartford Schools.

The City has remained very tight lipped about the search, and a spokesperson for Mayor Segarra, Maribel LaLuz denied any knowledge and said it "sounded like a hoax".

Nonetheless, sources confirmed that federal investigators seized and removed at least four computers as well as documents believed to be records for Hartford High School and other School Building Committee projects. Sources also said they believed that records  were being seized from Diggs Construction as well. Diggs was the construction manager for former Mayor Eddie A. Perez.

One source said they believed that investigators were also going to a basement storage area at Hartford High School that may contain additional documents.

In June of 2011, a undercover operative for the FBI , William Myles, testified to the corrupt activities involving Hartford school building projects during a trial in New Orleans , Louisiana.

A person at Diggs Construction named Derrick asked how I found out and then said "we have no comment " and hung up.A request for a comment from David Medina of the Hartford Schools has not been returned

WNPR's Jeff Cohen reported on that and his story can be found here

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

MORE ON HARTFORD'S FISCAL CLIFF

Much information is coming to light regarding Hartford's fiscal problems. Not all of the information is worthy of a full posting, but some items will be posted here so people can start asking questions and figuring out where their tax dollars are going.

Apparently the city is required to make a bi-weekly contribution to the City Pension fund, the city has not made those payments since last August. That should raise some eyebrows among City employees who contribute to the fund,. Are their contributions  helping to fund the now-banned ESI bonuses?

CITY HALL PAYBACK?


Sometimes I think City hall is full of masochists who just enjoy getting slapped. All  indications are that another solid slap will be on the way soon for the Administration of our City.

This one seems pretty clear but I really wonder what the motivation is or what any possible justification can be. This involves Hartford Police Officer Robert Murtha. Murtha has already won a long court battle with the city after he was terminated, wrongfully according to the State of Connecticut..

The decision cost the City hundred's of thousands of dollars in attorney's fees and back pay, interest and benefits and settlements for Murtha. Now the City is exhibiting their ignorance once again.

Murtha, who completed law school and is actually an attorney is entitled to a 7.5% pay increase as part of the Hartford Police Union's agreement with the City of Hartford..
 The City grants a 2.5% bump for an associates degree, a 2.5% bump for a bachelor's degree  and another 2.5% for a Master's or Doctorate degree. As an attorney, Murtha has his Juris Doctorate degree and has passed the bar and actually practiced as an attorney.

The City of Hartford is apparently refusing to grant Murtha the pay bump, even though according to sources, the raise was signed off by Chief Rovella.Human Resources Director Valda Washington, who has apparently been terminated herself, issued a terse response when questioned by the Union as to why she was rejecting the raise. "it  is my decision and the decision is final"

This will most likely end up in court and will cost the city large amounts once again.

Is it that hard to actually do the right thing or does vindictiveness run the operation

To read more about Murtha's earlier win against the City, click here

WILL HARTFORD'S GOLF COURSES OPEN THIS SUMMER?

Hartford's two municipal golf courses, Keney Park and Goodwin park may be in jeopardy of opening or remaining open for the entire season based upon the default of the vendor MDM Golf of Wallingford.

In a report to the Internal Audit Commission last week, acting Corporation Counsel  L John van norden painted a somewhat bleak picture of the future with MDM as the city has declared them in default of their contract twice now.

Van Norden expressed concerns about the viability of MDM to live up to their end of the agreement and stated to the Commission that in his opinion "they don not have the financial where with all to do this" referring to MDM .

Concerns apparently began when the City received numerous complaints regarding the operation and management of the two courses. An audit was conducted by the City's Auditors and numerous problems were found. One of the larger problems was that numerous repairs and maintenance issues were required under the contract between MDM and the city.

In order to assure that those conditions were met, a letter of credit for several hundred thousand dollars was required by the City. Although MDM did initially provide the letter, it was allowed to lapse. When the city realized the letter had lapsed they requested a new letter of credit from MDM and that was never received.

According to Van Norden" we had some concerns about whether MDM had the financial where with all to do that (supply the letter)We were fairly convinced they couldn't, at that point we declared default again"

Ther is no indication of the amount that MDM is in default or the value of the improvements that have not taken place as required under their agreement with Hartford. According to Van N?orden , negotiations have apparently taken place and MDM was prepared to walk away from the leases The discussions were focused on not creating a lot of controversy in order to get MDM out , according to Van Norden.

Van Norden seemed somewhat critical of the entire process and claimed that much of the confusion occurred because "you had too many hands making the soup". He further stated that "my understanding of where this ultimately has to rest is with the supervision of the COO.

When asked about the process by Attorney Bruce Rubenstein, it seems that some basic practice's were not followed by the Office of the Corporation Counsel. Rubenstein questioned whether  a "hand off letter" was issued by the Corporation Counsel's Office to other City Departments involved to advise them of their responsibilities on the enforcement of the contract. Van Norden said no such notification was given after the contract was complete.

The hand-off letter to the finance Department would most likely have helped the letter of Credit from being allowed to expire if the Finance Department kept track of the dates.

In the meantime, although Van Norden hopes that MDM will be capable of opening and operating the courses, it seems questionable, A of today, the phone number for Keney park has a recording that" the number is not in service, the number has been disconnected", not a good sign

2ND SHOOTING VICTIM PRONOUNCED DEAD

photo courtesy of WFSB'S Len Besthoff
 
HPD PRESS RELEASE
 
Homicide #2 and #3 03/25/13, 1704 hours

Barbour Street & Judson Street Double Homicide

HPD received reports of shots fired, as well as reports of victims down and injured. These reports were confirmed by the HPD Shot Spotter System. Both victims were transported to the hospital by private vehicle. The crime scene was located near the intersection of Clark Street and Judson Street and was secured.

Victim #1- Kwante Feliciano 19, of Hartford. GSW- chest
Pronounced by Dr. Marshall of St. Francis Hospital at 1724 hours on 3/25/13

Victim #2- Kelly Cooper, 30, of Hartford GSW- head, pronounced at 1145 hours today 3/26/13 by Dr Proshaoud Grover.

Major Crimes Homicide detectives are working to identify suspect(s). The preliminary description available is that of a H/M, 5'06", 180 lbs., wearing a black hooded sweatshirt.

Detectives do not believe this was a random act of violence. Hartford Police are seeking and requesting the community's help.

Anyone with information about Monday's shooting is asked to call the Crime Stoppers tip line at 860-722-8477 or Sgt. Brandon O'Brien at 860-757-4089. Callers will remain anonymous.

SEGARRA EXPECTED TO VETO RESOLUTION

This post will be short , it is the first one I am writing using a new I-phone app.

Word is that a veto message is being composed by Mayor Segarra to strike down the council's overtime resolution passed last night.

It is unclear whether the votes would exist for the Council to override a veto.

More on this when I get to a computer and can actually type on a keyboard