In a well crafted letter today former candidate for Commissioner of Public Works Edward Miller slammed brain dead Skip Scirocco for his seemingly single minded inability to grasp the dire situation the city finds itself in.
Scirocco just doesn’t get it.
http://www.saratogian.com/articles/2010/02/07/opinion/doc4b6e4425dadcd839661222.txt
Yesterday was a good example of Scirocco’s mismanagement. At the chowderfest late in the day when the barrels had already overflowed onto the streets he had one truck with three men to empty the Garbage Barrels.
Why did you need three men? One just sat in the Truck.
As I understand it you have a two man crew on weekends. Was the third receiving unnecessary overtime?
It only took a half hour to empty the barrels if they were working a 8 hour shift why not have them do it twice so it wasn’t such a mess.
What else do they do on weekends with no snow? Why can’t they be in the garage so the cops can get gas?
These aren’t really tough questions it just seems you lack common sense.
You have been very lucky so far this year Skip with no snow and all. I will credit you with one thing. I have never seen such bipartisan unity and cooperation by the Council in its criticism of you .As far as the Saratogians criticism of the Council browbeating you. All I saw was you grandstanding for the Public.
Every augment you make is full of holes. Most of your staff except for your massage girl Donna A Buckley, have been brought back.
You have “Big Deal" O'Neill as a supervisor with one man under him. That's right one supervisor for one laborer. You even spent $65,000 to buy him a new truck. I admire loyalty Skippy but you’re buying it with taxpayer money. What you afraid “Big Deal" might turn on you to? Once a rat faced fucker always a rat faced fucker.
23 comments:
For the casual observer of the recent meeting of the Saratoga Springs City Council, one could easily conclude things aren’t good, especially in the Department of Public Works. An understatement, maybe. Surely the current economic realities facing the city point to the sheer necessity of working smarter, cheaper and, yes, with fewer city employees.
At a recent meeting of the City Council, the near meltdown by the commissioner of Public Works, Skip Scirocco, over control of the city’s gas pumps should be reason enough for the city taxpayers to further question his competence to effectively run a major city department. The Council’s vote to install a more economical, automatic gasoline dispensing system for the use by the city’s police and fire departments was the right thing to do. However, it didn’t come about easily and without the rantings of the Public Works commissioner who accused his fellow Council members of near piracy when it comes to managing “his” department.
Unfortunately, Skip Scirocco doesn’t get it. The city is in economic trouble and Scirocco has done little to heed the City Council’s call for reduced spending. With all the moaning currently coming from the DPW commissioner, city taxpayers would be better served by answers to some very basic questions.
For starters, one may ask, why all the inflated and made-up numbers every time Commissioner Scirocco mentions the cuts in the DPW work force? The facts are, the DPW has reduced its part-time laborer staff by 11 employees. And, after laying off six full-time laborers on Jan. 1, four weeks later all but two employees have returned to regular duty. Also, as a result of forced reductions in City Hall staff, the commissioner lost his political appointed position of executive assistant, in addition to one office clerk position within the DPW.
Let’s be clear, the sky isn’t falling and contrary to the commissioner’s attempt to inflate the numbers, the DPW didn’t lose the 50, 40 or even 20 employees he’s claimed over the past two years. So, let’s stop with all the fairy tales and drama about why things are so awful in the DPW. The fact is, the DPW still has approximately 85 full-time employees currently on the department’s streets, highways and recreation payroll.
Other reasons may also exist for the City Council to turn a deaf ear to Scirocco’s cry of doom and gloom. Maybe it’s the fact that Scirocco is currently spending thousands and wasting much needed budget funds on his new office renovation project in City Hall. Or, maybe it’s the recent unbudgeted purchase of $65,000 in new trucks that were not included in the revised 2009 budget.
What has become clear is the fact the City Council’s patience has run out for a rogue Commissioner whose single goal has been to simply advocate for “his” DPW employee union at the expense of his real duty to manage the DPW and bring constructive ideas to the Council table, without adding additional cost.
Edward Miller was a candidate for Saratoga Springs Department of Public Works commissioner.
Editorial: The key to the garage dilemma
the Saratoga Springs Public Works garage contains gas pumps, above-ground gasoline storage and hundreds of thousands of dollars in machinery in a residential West Side neighborhood, around the corner from Division Street Elementary School.
How safe is it to leave the fenced-in facility unstaffed overnight and on weekends? Not safe, says Public Works Commissioner Skip Scirocco, who wants to reinstate a dispatcher. Not necessary, insist the other four members of the City Council.
We’re not convinced by Scirocco, but his colleagues should be responding to his concerns, not browbeating him. The solution involves cooperation and coordination between city departments. That isn’t asking too much, is it? Since January, the city garage has had a dispatcher on duty from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. Monday through Friday. Scirocco wants to bring back a DPW dispatcher position that was eliminated by budget cuts, to resume around-the-clock coverage.
His City Council colleagues disagree, emphatically. Over Scirocco’s objections, Mayor Scott Johnson and Commissioners Kenneth Ivins, John Franck and Richard Wirth voted last week to buy two security cameras and a gate swipe card system so police and firefighters can get into the garage to gas up their vehicles overnight and on weekends. That seems like a more reasonable and less expensive alternative to adding a full-time staffer, based on the experience so far this year.
During the first three weeks in January, with the garage unmanned and locked on weekends, city police spent about $150 a week gassing up at a Stewart’s instead. That would translate into about $7,800 a year, which is thousands of dollars less than having a dispatcher on duty. But store-bought gas costs about a dollar a gallon more than that at the city-owned pump. So a city garage security system would be cheaper in the long run than either staffing the garage on weekends or running a tab at Stewart’s.
Yet Scirocco says the gate card swipe system doesn’t make it quick and easy to gas up at an unstaffed city garage. Once through the gate, he says, the police officer would have to unlock the dispatcher building, go inside to turn on the gas pump, input identification information at the pump, pump the gas, go back into the building to turn the gas off and lock up the building. He has other concerns, too: The lack of someone to keep an eye on the place 24/7 to take action in case of gas spills, fires, break-ins or vandalism, all of which have happened while dispatchers were on duty, and the lack of someone to take residents’ calls when they have water or sewer problems.
“This is ridiculous,” Scirocco said at the City Council meeting. “Cameras can’t answer the phone.”
Cameras don’t have to. Taxpayers fund dispatchers in the city’s Public Safety department. They should be more than capable of handling emergency DPW-related calls from the public. This should already be happening.
Scirocco’s safety and liability, concerns, however, are not so easily dismissed. On Wednesday, Scirocco sent a letter to the city’s risk manager, with copies to the rest of the City Council, expressing concerns about the unstaffed city garage and inquiring about insurance implications. As of the end of the workday Friday, he hadn’t received even an acknowledgement.
What does the city’s insurer say about the city garage setup? How do other cities safeguard their gas storage and DPW vehicles? Scirocco’s concerns should be answered. If the city’s insurer is OK with the garage being unstaffed overnight and on weekends while the gas pumps are accessible, we’re OK with it, too.
Meanwhile, city police should make regular rounds through the site (and they can, whether or not they need to fill up, now that Scirocco grudgingly provided police with a key to the gate). And the emergency public works calls should be shifted, immediately, to the city police non-emergency number for public safety dispatchers to handle.
Consolidation is the way to go.
The cities of Cohoes and Watervliet will dive into their joint study of the future of their fire departments.
Read more: http://www.timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=897972#ixzz0erhYHApK
Is there an impeachment option in this city?
This guy is killing us.
Ed Miller’s letter was to the point.
Conversely it would seem that the Saratogian missed an opportunity to recognize that if the Commissioner’s so-called concern for the unsupervised gas pumps, above-ground gasoline storage and hundreds of thousands of dollars in machinery in a residential West Side neighborhood near a school and a hospital was such a dire problem, then why not ask the commissioner, why he as the administrator, doesn’t reschedule someone from his pool of 85 employees to fill the seat of the nighttime & weekend dispatcher (without creating a scenario for overtime)? Instead, this elected official states the problem for the record and informs the Risk Manager that the city is in grave danger thereby threatening us all by implying that the Insurance Carrier will view this unfavorably. All of this from a man whose drivers were responsible 35 traffic collisions in one month.
Is it possible that rescheduling another department employee from their duties of snowclearing, tree planting, street sweeping, utility repairs, roadway resurfacing, landscape maintenance, and capital projects or any assortment of jobs that at the moment can be viewed as being furloughed is beyond the ability of this Commissioner elected to office to essentially be the manager of the Department of Public Works? Moreover, if the Unions have created a roadblock where the city employee is prevented from carrying out the work required by the Code because Union definitions override them, then it is time to address that problem as well.
Instead of piracy, the charge should be that the City is being held hostage by someone who has continued to drag his heals, placating to his union employees, unable to perform his duties and those required of his department at the same time, threatening legal recourse. The only legal sanctioned discussions would best be held in a private office under the observation of a psychiatrist. Seems like only yesterday, that the ranting of impending disaster and law suits was the approach to signature incompetence by another council member.
Is what I'm hearing now a call for me to come back and fix all these problems?
Sorry Val back to your cage
I'm telling Keith!
I gave up on Martin when he said our taxes were to low. True we have a very low tax rate per thousand but the medium assessed value of our homes are twice as high and in some cases three times as high as other communities. So on paper you can make the deceiving case that our taxes are low but in reality they are Sky high. Take for example my dump on Warren St assessed at 250K if I had a 250K house in City of Schenectady it would be a Mansion in the GE plot. As long as Dems run as high taxing neo-cons whose first goal seems to be a better armed and larger Police Force they will lose. You need to find new direction and better leaders
City of Schenectady
Mean prices in 2008: All housing units: $131,333; Detached houses: $132,842; Townhouses or other attached units: $157,414; In 2-unit structures: $103,280; In 3-to-4-unit structures: $130,654; In 5-or-more-unit structures: $119,607; Mobile homes: $36,667
Read more: http://www.city-data.com/city/Schenectady-New-York.html#ixzz0ehVZ9l3E
City of Saratoga Springs
Mean prices in 2008: All housing units: $313,312; Detached houses: $327,832; Townhouses or other attached units: $326,152; In 2-unit structures: $236,632; In 3-to-4-unit structures: $242,677; In 5-or-more-unit structures: $268,962; Mobile homes: $24,311
Read more: http://www.city-data.com/city/Saratoga-Springs-New-York.html#ixzz0ehWQSYSC
City of Saratoga Springs tax rate$3.01
$5.36 $14.94 $23.31 0.7838 $18.27
City of Schenectady tax rate $7.63
$9.94 $16.01 $33.58 1.0176 $35.92
Well, I'm guessing that the fact you can not readily identify my IP address, thus requesting me "create a screen name" shows that you thrive on infomation for serepticious purposes. I'll stick with "anom 4:02".
So I will make my rebuke as brief as possible:
Yes SSFD had an "unlicensed" ambulance in their garage. And they've had it for over 2 years. It sits there, collecting dust instead of collecting third party revenue. Those are simple facts.
So let's move on to more "juicy" facts, shall we? Why is it that the three stooges (v. 2009) said publicly "we need to find additional sources of revenue", yet refuse to let the SSFD "ambulance" be placed into operation? Why is Franck quoted as saying, "they'll never run an ambulance while I'm sitting on the council."?
Here's another interesting fact. Johny-boy stated (in public) that "they (refering to SSFD) aren't the problem; they (meaning SSPD) are the problem." So the fire department, on Johny-boys own admission, is a victim of guilt by assosciation, rather than the evil empire that you (and the vocal minority) accuse.
And let's also address the over-time issue, shall we? When NYRA has the flat track in operation, overtime swells to stagering heights. That's no secret. But, what the vocal minority "over looks", is the fact that the city of Saratoga Springs receives a check from NYRA in mid-October covering the "overtime incurred for the direct operation of the track". This means all the overtime that SSPD & SSFD incur during the racing season, directly related to the operation of the flat track, is 100% reimbursed to the city. When the city gets that multi-million dollar check, instead of being dumped into the public safety overtime budget, it is dumped into the general fund. Now, money is money, and overtime is overtime, but the PD and FD are not charging the taxpayors for this expense. So, hypothetically, what appears to be a $4 million bill for overtime is actually about $850,000 (which does come the city budget). These numbers are guesstamates, but the percentages are spot on.
And if SSFD were allowed to operate their ambulance in tandem with SEMS, that overtime that is paid for by the citizens would be lowered to about $200,000 for all of DPS.
So why is it that the "3 stooges" and "shemp" are crying poverty & asking for more sources of income, but refuse to allow this "cash cow" to be milked?
And, before you respond with wantonous banter & name calling, look at the facts as I've presented them. There's money to be recouped that doesn't include a flawed paid parking system or having toothless petitions presented to the blind man in Albany. And, no, I'm not a union hack OR on the city payroll. Let's just say I'm well educated in this field and knows where the skeletons are hidden for the local 501-C3 "meat wagon"...
Where to start. First I only track IP address if they come from Government owned computers or if they contain a real threat. Not some tongue and cheek comment like “death walks behind you”, but real threats like” the last sound you’ll hear is the sound of my 357 for fat fuck motherfucker.”
Those I track.
Next you wrote
“Yes SSFD had an "unlicensed" ambulance in their garage. And they've had it for over 2 years. It sits there, collecting dust’
They do not have New York State certification to transport anyone sell it. Then investigate how they purchased in the first place.
SSFD will never transport anyone in this town, what ever revenue they could generate could never cover their personnel costs end of story. No community in upstate New York uses Firemen for patient transport.
You go on to add.
“And, before you respond with wantonous banter & name calling”
Last I checked "3 stooges" wasn’t there Christian names so you are also using name calling which is fine, just don’t complain when I do it.
I cannot prove or disprove your NYRA “Facts” yet, but I would suggest if you have this kind of explosive info you present it at a City Council meeting in the Public comment period. I would be happy to video tape your remarks and put them up here on my blog unedited, Just your words. I can state for a fact that for generations Public Safety personnel have had a summer gravy train of employment opportunities. From armed Guards at the Fasig-Tipton horse sales to fire marshals at SPAC , all in City supplied uniforms .The list of quick buck schemes have been endless.
I did read the story in the TU today at
http://www.timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=897972#ixzz0erhYHApK
Cohoes-Watervliet firefighting study starts.
It would seem that the consolidation and even the out and out abolishment of small upstate Fire Depts has begun. I would guess that in 10 to 20 years there won’t be a single completely paid Fire Dept between Albany and Montréal. The wages and benefits just became unsustainable in its present Jurassic form. I am sorry but it just appears the new reality.
As far as local 501-C3
501(c)(3) — Religious, Educational, Charitable, Scientific, Literary, Testing for Public Safety, to Foster National or International Amateur Sports Competition, or Prevention of Cruelty to Children or Animals Organizations.
Please tell us more if you have it.
Firefighters are important to this community but unfortunately for those who would wish to expand and create duplicitous services so as to insure their personal longevity (at least through to retirement) then we thinks that PS has to reinvent itself in ways that does not make work to be at work. The EMT training was part of a thinking to create a need for many more employees, which if required could be understood, but it just ain’t so. As far as chaperoning SEMS with the full compliment of truck and crew to every senior’s health line response for assistance (over 1000 runs annually) – someone has to ask, “Is this necessary and effective use of equipment and manpower?”
Responders (and respondees) need good dispatching (that is not self-serving) – period. Assessment of required personnel for every emergency is critical – no less than required and certainly not more.
Anom (sp.) 4:02 – responding to your “brief rebuke”:
Before quickly dismissing the procured 2-year-old mothballed uncertified and unregistered ambulance – you should enlighten us all regarding this City’s appropriation of it as long as you seem interested with information for seripticious behavior. It would seem the procurement of this vehicle was not something the came before the Council as an item to be included into fleet service.
If you like “juicy” facts, then (“Shall we”) provide some, instead of “guesstamates” (sp.).
Inasmuch as you wish to delve into the dairy business of milking cash cows, why not start with your own department the SSFD that is here to serve the public not milk them dry. You see revenue from the track as refunds for "working the track" which includes parking two vehicles all afternoon trackside with its full complement of lawn chairs, coolers and racing programs. Can you imagine a more efficient scenario for service providers? Imagine all of those hours all those years back in time and into the future? Can there be another model?
“Now, money is money, and overtime is overtime, but the PD and FD are not charging the taxpayors (sp.) for this expense.” The wear & tear on this community for hosting the racing season doesn’t fall on the backs of only the SSPD & the SSFD. Manpower management is something that your Commissioners were elected to control so why does overtime have to be your “cash cow” for retirement benefits and politicized within your station houses that rewards inefficient use of those funds? That was never its purpose, but the union mentality has created an unbearable model that rewards service by milking the system that benefits the often underworked, underutilized and unmanaged (and self serving) public employees. This goes for CSEA as well. The public pays twice – once at budget time and then again at retirement time. You people are pricing yourselves out of work, and if you don’t agree, just watch the horizon – those cows are coming home to the barn for some (no-fat) milking.
What’s next, do we start requiring physical endurance standards for our employees in uniform? The liability alone to support out of shape & out of prime employees required to respond to the physical demands of their jobs is a concern that you might consider along with your presumptuous “Feed me I’m your” mentality.
Next time, instead of your “wantonous banter ” (bantering wantonly) & name calling (calling names) try presenting some verifiable facts.
Nice article today in the Gazette about Skipys'office being done over again,Who's the new shoe that took bernsteins place...I'm sure Barbara has told him not to put pressure on scriocco and has explained how important sippy is to the intellectual community of the city,because if he resigns the cocktail set of the city will lose it's primary source of jokes..ya know like:"Can you believe the local yocals voted for this DFC poster thug" and how many siroccos does it take to say ya know.
Office face-lift at Saratoga Springs City Hall draws questions
Sunday, February 7, 2010
By Tatiana Zarnowski (Contact)
Gazette Reporter
SARATOGA SPRINGS — One city official’s spruced-up office is raising eyebrows in City Hall.
Shortly after about two dozen Department of Public Works employees were laid off at the beginning of the year, DPW Commissioner Anthony “Skip” Scirocco moved into DPW Director William McTygue’s former office in the basement of City Hall.
But first, department laborers put in new sheetrock, painted, installed new doors and a ceiling fan, put up new blinds and covered over the radiator.
A tall mirror also sits nestled inside a recessed area in the wall where there used to be a door to the police department.
“It makes for a nicer meeting place when you bring people in,” Scirocco said. He converted his former office into a conference room. That room was renovated in 2008 when Scirocco took office.
Most of the other commissioners haven’t been inside, since they and Scirocco have feuded at the City Council table and are currently not speaking to each other.
But they’re curious about — and maybe a little envious of — Scirocco’s new digs.
“The man cave? No, I haven’t,” accounts commissioner John Franck said when asked if he’d seen Scirocco’s office.
Scirocco defended the work, saying it cost very little in materials and only took three or four days of a couple city laborers’ time — laborers who wouldn’t have been occupied anyway because of the lack of snow this winter.
“There’s nothing in here except a little bit of sheetrock and a ceiling fan,” Scirocco said.
The money is budgeted in his department this year, because fixing up City Hall is part of DPW’s job.
Workers have made cosmetic changes for other commissioners in their offices.
Commissioner Ken Ivins got a new coat of paint in his office in 2008, and the front finance office was restructured, with DPW workers putting up walls so the finance director could have her own office.
Mayor Scott Johnson said his office got a new coat of paint that same year when he took office for his first term, although Johnson noted that was before the recession.
“I would certainly hope that in times of crisis, the right priorities were adhered to,” Johnson said.
And Franck expressed frustration that work requests in his office have gotten slow response from DPW — much slower than the workers’ renovations of Scirocco’s office.
It took DPW two years to return doors to the assessment office that were removed during a Homeland Security-required renovation, he said.
No one was outwardly critical of Scirocco’s office face-lift, but some officials questioned how he could do it with fewer workers.
Franck said his department is cutting back on every expense possible in case a planned $1.3 million in paid parking revenue never comes to pass.
“To be doing anything right now outside the basic stuff is ridiculous, man cave included.”
i certainly do not agree with everything that Skip does but your blog seems to hone in on just one person all the time. It makes me feel uncomfortable and bad for Kim, Bernstein, and Skip. Trust me, I don't want to feel bad for them. I just think the blog is too much over the top on a few individuals. It becomes counterproductive to what your intention is.
I know, I know don't read it. I just thought I would offer some feedback for what it is worth.
I will agree that I can be over the top.I hope to entertain as well as inform.As far as zeroing in on one person i would answer I have criticized many many people while praising others.I am particularly proud of my spotlight on NXIVM. I also feel that this is a very low budget operation talking on some very well financed unions newspapers and politicians and it kind of levels the playing field for other opinions
How about either Governor or Senator? I'm sure I could get the nomination for either one. What do you think my chances are in the general election? I think I'd have a good shot, don't you?
Val, Ron tells me he is a better teabagger than you.Care to test that theory. We could sell tickets for the Democratic Committee.I hear their a little short.
Gazette: "Scirocco defended the work, saying it cost very little in materials and only took three or four days of a couple city laborers’ time — laborers who wouldn’t have been occupied anyway because of the lack of snow this winter."
So if we have idol union laborers who can put up wallboard, paint and install a full size mirror ... can't they also sit and watch TV at the dispatcher’s station nights and weekends or, sweep the sand off the streets, maintain the rest of the cty's properties and equipment besides decorating the manager's 2nd office in two years?
We need to post "DPW at work photos".
Why do we have to read about Skippy"s Man-cave only in the Daily Gazette? This is a great story that should be news in our own daily newspaper the Saratogian? Remodeling his office while others are laid off collecting unemployment. What idiot came up with that idea?
To Anonymous who"s feeling bad that "Skippy" has become the City's Poster Boy for the Incompetent. Please try to understand, it's not Ben"s fault that "City Manager" Scirocco makes one stupid move after another and becomes a natural target for self imposed humiliation. Where else could you get such laughs? Some people pay money for less forms of entertainment.
To the officials in Public Safety I say... forget taking over the Gas pumps at the DPW Garage...instead the Cops should seize control of the Man-cave. From what I understand, the entrance to the Man-cave is right near the Police Dept. offices. Just imagine... no hanging wires from the ceiling, no holes in the floor, no missing ceiling tiles, no having to bang on the pipes for heat. Given the PD's miserable conditions, not a bad idea for the Police Dept. to have the newest remodeled space in City Hall, complete with new furniture and all the trimmings.
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