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Tuesday, May 30, 2017

SECOND GUESSING HFD

Last week, comments were posted questioning a training seminar that was conducted by the Hartford Fire Department for some of its members.

I haven't bothered Chief Freeman since he is out on paternity leave after the birth of his second daughter last week. Congratulations to the Freeman's on the arrival of their daughter.

I have spoken to several other people familiar with or who had attended the training. The course was regarding "Situational Awareness Training". From what I understand, the course was taught by a Fire Chief from Minnesota who was in the area to teach a course to the US Navy. The City was able to get a reduced rate on the training since he was already in the State of Connecticut for the Naval course.

Chief Freeman may not have risen up through the ranks of HFD and because of that may not be accepted by everyone at HFD. As someone who has observed HFD from the outside for a while now, I have to say I think the HFD is under the best leadership it has seen in quite a while. We aren't hearing of the discipline problems and chaos we have seen under the previous few Chiefs.

Chief Freeman is functioning under some of the most difficult circumstances seen in years. Between financial constraints and staffing problems, the HFD is still called upon every day to provide Fire Services for the City of Hartford and its residents. For anyone not aware of the situations facing Public Safety in Hartford, both Police and Fire are headed for a definite crisis due to the lack of commitment from City Hall.

The number for both Police and Fire are dropping steadily and they are not being replaced to keep ahead of the attrition. Sources at both HFD and HPD are telling me that those numbers will likely get much worse after July 1st as large numbers of Police Officers and Firefighters retire or leave for other jobs. Much of that attrition is being forced by the uncertainty and insincerity from Mayor Bronin and City Hall..

One high ranking HFD source told me that the training was held to help offset the damage of the upcoming exodus. The person explained that the loss of many high rankling officers is going to require the promotion of many people at HFD to important command positions The source made it clear that many of those people "were not ready for the promotions", but that everything was being done to prepare the future Captains and Deputy Chiefs to be ready.

Even though they may not be "ready", the promotions will be necessary to provide the Command Structure necessary for day to day operations at HFD.

Chief Freeman has had the vision and foresight to prepare for the possible disaster caused by City Hall and take the necessary steps to mitigate the impending disaster. Although some commenter's called the training a "waste of money", it seems to me like it will be money well spent if it keeps our firefighters safe with proper leadership in the field.

For those that claimed they learned nothing from the training, one source who attended the training told me that if anyone attended and learned nothing, "they were either asleep or not paying attention"

Wednesday, May 24, 2017

CHIEF ROVELLA SAYS NO TO O/T FOR MAYOR'S MEETING

Last night I posted about an informational meeting to be held Thursday by Mayor Bronin to discuss concerns over the Police Department's ongoing negotiations. Chief Rovella's informational e-mail was met with an e-mail from the HPD Union President encouraging Officers to put in for overtime or compensatory time if they attended.. I posted that I felt it was wrong for anyone to consider putting in to be paid for attending the meeting.

Here is a link to that  posting  http://wethepeoplehartford.blogspot.com/2017/05/wrong-wrong-wrong-let-me-just-say-it.html

This morning, Chief Rovella clarified in an email to all HPD personnel  that "by no means will the Police Department  pay overtime or credit Compensatory hours for attendance"

I haven't heard from anyone today that was upset or planning to put in for overtime for attending. In fact most were encouraged by Bronin's attempt to clarify information, or misinformation, regarding HPD's ongoing negotiations.



From: "Rovella, James" >
Date: May 24, 2017 at 9:26:02 AM EDT
To: Police Dept - Sworn >, Police Dept - Civilian >
Subject: RE: Conversation with the Mayor

Everyone,

For clarification purposes only, the conversation with the Mayor is not mandatory attendance, it is in fact optional. The Mayor is making himself available to employees of different departments, including the Police Department, to respond directly to your questions and address your concerns. I  picked one of the earlier blocks of time available.

By no means will the Police Department pay Overtime or credit Compensatory hours for attendance.

I hope to see as many people that can attend tomorrow at Quirk beginning at 4:00 pm.

As always, best regards.

Tuesday, May 23, 2017

WRONG, WRONG, WRONG, LET ME JUST SAY IT AGAIN TO BE CLEAR, THIS IS WRONG


It is not too often you will hear me singing the praises of Mayor Bronin. I just don't usually agree with his management style or his communication skills, or maybe I should say lack of communication skills.

But when he does something right, I want to be fair and say it.

Bronin's interaction with our City's Unions has been terrible. Much of it accomplished through his condescending management style and the lack of communication skills I previously mentioned.

 Maybe Luke has started to realize that he is not always necessarily the smartest person in the room and he actually wants to listen.

To that end, Bronion has apparently offered to meet with the various Union's membership for an informational session. The invitation to all personnel at HPD was extended on behalf of the Mayor through an e-mail from Chief Rovella earlier today.

Apparently the Mayor "is making himself available" for employees to ask questions and for the Mayor to address their concerns. If this is a sincere effort, it might actually produce some results.The meeting has been scheduled for Thursday May 25th from 4:00 to 5:30PM at the Quirk Auditorium (also home of the Hartford Police Academy)

The media apparently is not open to the Media, according to Rovella's email.

Sadly though, Chief Rovella's e-mail was met a couple hours later by an e-mail from Hartford Police Union President John Szewczyk, Jr. urging his membership to attend. That request was followed by a reminder from the Union President to his membership to "not forget to put in for overtime/comp time" for all off duty personnel who choose to attend.

Being paid to attend  an off duty informational session is not a show of good faith to be partners in working on the City's financial problems. I am sure many of the Union's members have questions to ask directly of Bronin and may actually put some of their fears at rest.

City employees need to understand that they have had a good deal for many years and now it is time to bring them into line with private sector employees. No where in the private sector would attendance in Union meetings be allowed on Company time and definitely not while being compensated with overtime pay.

President Szewczyk, your efforts to obtain a reasonable contract for your membership have been applauded by many here on this very blog. Urging your members to put in for time and a half pay to ask questions , and get honest answers , hopefully, from the Mayor, should be reconsidered to continue building on goodwill with both City Hall and the community .


Saturday, May 20, 2017

"COUNTRY BEFORE PARTY"

"Country before party". That is a quote from Senator Richard Blumenthal last week on CNN referring to Congressional action toward President Donald Trump.

After hearing that , I had to think "what a great idea, if our politicians actually started thinking about us and our Country first".

The more I thought about it though , I had to ask myself, "When does this Country before party thing begin Senator?"

Now I realize  that Donald Trump is a lightning rod, and no matter what I write or post is probably not going to be popular with at least half of the people. But a sense of fairness should be the same, whether viewed by a Democrat or a Republican or an unaffiliated person.

I don't think anyone, except maybe the blindest of staunch Hillary supporters, can deny that we had a couple of very flawed candidates to vote for last November. Only time will tell if voters made the right choice. History will be the referee of that, butI hope they did, and even I have my doubts some days, but those doubts would be much stronger if the Clinton's regained control of the White House. I think one thing no one can deny is that we know what we got with President Trump, warts and all.

I think with the Clinton's, we would never know. I often wonder what the outcome would have been if Democrats realized Hillary Clinton did not have ownership or some God given right to the Oval Office. A decent candidate probably would have been a landslide against Trump.  A Biden /Trump race may have quite possibly been a much different outcome today. No scientific polls, just my gut feeling. Especially since we now know how wrong those polls were right up until the last hour the voting booths were open.

So back to Connecticut's renowned Senator and Vietnam veteran  Richard Blumenthal. When does that Country before Party thing begin?

Where was it after the Benghazi operation that resulted in the deaths of American patriots? Or was it in the words of Hillary Clinton, "What difference does it make?"

Where was "Country before Party" in the Clinton's private server? Trump was the focus of attention this past week after a meeting with Russian Officials and he allegedly divulged "classified" information. How much classified information was divulged in emails possibly hacked from Hillary's private, unauthorized server? I guess we may never know .

What was the deal with the Clinton Foundation and how much political influence was purchased through "donation's" to the Clinton's toy chest?

And finally, I have to ask why Russia only became an issue after Hillary Clinton lost. I guess if Hillary won the election she could have used her Benghazi quote again if questions arose regarding Russia  "What difference does it make?". If she was in the White House, who would even care about Russian influence?

I GUESS THE HONEYMOON IS OFFICIALLY OVER

This picture below was posted on Facebook this morning.

It would appear to me that people are finally seeing through the "Kingdom of Luke" and his "Town Hall Tour" and his related publicity stunts to attempt to further his political career, and the careers of those around him.

Luke how about some reality and leadership instead of stunts.

How about treating people with dignity and respect instead of treating them like subjects of your monarchy?  I would think we would get a lot more from our unions if you left the room and we could get someone to sit at the table that they could trust and treated them with respect.

And enough of the false hopes and promises. To tell residents that $40 million dollars from the State was almost assured was disingenuous, if not an outright lie. And the front page of the Courant this morning pretty much assures us the opposite.

How could any legislator vote to bail out Hartford when we still refuse to help ourselves. That might be a tough sell to their constituents. Explain why you voted to give money to Hartford while at the same time they cut funding to their own towns. Sounds like a tough sell

I know, PILOT.., unfair, It's the States fault, blah blah blah. Keep repeating it , someone might start listening. In the meantime, what are you going to do to fix it? It might work in the Kingdom of Luke, but isn't working with the real people in the real world.

And what good will $40 million dollars make if you still refuse to make any structural changes as you have not done in your first year and a half. Your crash and burn mentality when it comes to City employees and Labor Unions is getting us nowhere , as you continue to fund useless positions that only make you feel more secure as opposed to making the City more secure.

It is kind of sad though, some of Luke's ideas might be somewhat sound, but his delivery and communication skills are terrible and the rapidly growing mistrust is not going to help.

In the meantime, if you would like to be part of the Wildlife Safari Tour, mail your checks in today to be first in line. All deposits are non-refundable. In true Bronin style, the money will be spent before it is even received. Please make checks payable to "Bronin for Mayor 2019 Re-election Fund".

The last sentence of the flyer mentions "to win Donald Trump style" Do we have our own "mini-Trump" in the making?