The long awaited legal opinion on the City’s role in managing the SSHA was released Tuesday night. Prepared by the long tenured assistant city attorney Tony Izzo it states the city has a limited role in the running of the Authority.
I’m not a lawyer but I will break it down the way I understand.
a. The Mayor appoints 5 of the 7 Housing Authority board members.
b. The City Council approves but not set the Housing Directors salary.
c. The Mayor can remove Board members for serious misconduct.
a. The Mayor appoints 5 of the 7 Housing Authority board members.
b. The City Council approves but not set the Housing Directors salary.
c. The Mayor can remove Board members for serious misconduct.
Feel free to correct this if you disagree.
Now the crux of the augment between the city council and the mayor is this. Did the behavior of the board rise to the level of willful misconduct so the mayor can remove them?
The Mayor argues citing case law that since the City has not formally asked them to come before the council to make corrected measures such as presenting the Housing Authorities Directors salary their misconduct doesn’t rise to the level to warrant removal. The rest of the council minus Skippy who has nothing to say strongly disagrees with the mayor.
The Mayor has sent letters to the Authority Board dump Housing Director Spychalski’s current contract and renegotiate it .He wants the Board to start coming to the council for approval of the Directors Salary.
Where do I stand on this you might ask?
Well if it was up to me Spychalski would be ridden out of town on a rail. Back in Colonial America the rail was intended to show community displeasure with the victim so he either reformed his behavior or left. Luckily for Spychalski it’s not up to me but the Board.I believe Spychalski is a little bully and a petty crook that made the big time. No more, no less a very common man that will sue the housing authority and the city the first chance he gets. The Man sued the Waterford Housing Authority when he was shitcaned for “cause” and sooner or later he’ll sue this authority and city, so just except it.
So the Board most go. Dennis Brunelle term is up April 1 the Mayor said in very diplomatic terms if he seeks reappointed it ain’t gonna happen{ Take the hint Brunelle bow out gracefully} .
So next Eric Weller the disembodied “voice” that’s looms above public meeting as he is spookily projected on the wall by Skype from some secure but unknown location should be gone like last year. I believe of all the board members this arrogant bastard is the worst. Now understand I don’t take these word likely and I have chosen them with thought.
Wellers self-serving demagoguery sends chills down my spine. He has refused to acknowledge any mistake and bitterly resents anyone questioning any decision he has ever made. He reminds me of an unrepentant Stalinist who sees the gulags as a proper learning tool.
Weller’s attitude might not rise to an impeachable level as a board member but it sure does as a human being.
Wellers self-serving demagoguery sends chills down my spine. He has refused to acknowledge any mistake and bitterly resents anyone questioning any decision he has ever made. He reminds me of an unrepentant Stalinist who sees the gulags as a proper learning tool.
Weller’s attitude might not rise to an impeachable level as a board member but it sure does as a human being.
I will be at the Housing Authority Board meeting tomorrow at Stonequist at 11am with my little note from the police for my safe conduct without being arrested. See Ya there
14 comments:
In a City full of litigious wafflers with spines of Jello, I thank you JT for shooting straight from the hip. Your call for ALL the Bastards to go is spot-on. Thanks for the leadership and courage in a city sorely lacking in both.
The entire board and Little Ed need to go. Clean house and start over. It's the only way to put some trust back into that Board and the Director.
I nominate my friend and mentor Keith Raniere for the Board.
I also nominate Citizen Clancy as the new publicity director for this organization. Many of the people being served here are at an an advanced age where they can no longer comprehend written materials above a 2nd grade level. So she will work out just fine.
For the Director, I nominate Ron Kim. With an improving economy, he will be less able to make money from his bankruptcy practive and will need new work. He will kick some real ass over there. It might be the residents' asses, but it will be ass kicking nonetheless.
John Fanck for Mayor
Good story. Hopefully Johnson means it and Brunelle is gone. Good luck tomorrow. Don't get arrested!
Good story. Hopefully Johnson means it and Brunelle is gone. Good luck tomorrow. Don't get arrested!
Anyone remember Weller in :
Posted: Wednesday, May 28, 2003 12:00 am | (0) Comments
brady@poststar.com
SARATOGA SPRINGS - A retired Skidmore College administrator has entered the race for city accounts commissioner, saying he hopes to restore a Democratic majority on the City Council.
"We need to take back the city for the voters and taxpayers of Saratoga Springs,#" said Democrat Eric Weller at a press conference on the steps of City Hall on Tuesday morning.
Weller, 65, said that if elected, he will seek to increase city revenues from Off-Track Betting taxes and racetrack admission taxes.
He also said the city should study its property and liability insurance policies and establish an ongoing property assessment plan.
For two years, Republicans have held three of the five City Council seats. Democrats had a 3-2 majority for the two years before that.
"Our goal is to return our incumbents and to take back City Hall,#" said Saratoga Springs Democratic Chairman Shawn Thompson, calling Weller a "top-notch candidate#" and a "straight shooter.#"
Public Works Director Thomas McTygue and Mayor Kenneth Klotz, both incumbent Democrats, have previously announced their re-election bids.
A fourth Democratic council candidate is expected to be announced today, Thompson said.
Weller, who was dean of the Skidmore College faculty for 15 years and has lived in Saratoga Springs for 40 years, said the accounts department needs a better understanding of how economic conditions are affecting the insurance market.
"We need a strategy to get the best for our buck,#" Weller said.
Incumbent Republican Accounts Commissioner Stephen Towne defended his handling of the city's property and liability insurance. During his first year in office, he said, the department requested insurance proposals and selected a firm with the largest number of municipal customers. The City Council recently unanimously renewed its contract with the company.
He also created a full-time risk manager position, started a Safe City Program and re-instituted a safety committee, Towne said.
Towne took office in 2002, after defeating Democrat Bernard Mirling, who previously held the seat for two years.
Towne announced his re-election candidacy in April.
Saying that "good ideas come from contested elections, and I think that's great for the city,#" Towne said he welcomes Weller's challenge.
Weller, a widower, serves on the Saratoga Springs Housing Authority Board of Directors and is president of the Saratoga Chapter of the American Red Cross. He served for 25 years on the city's Civil Service Commission.
He earned a bachelor's degree in philosophy from Hofstra University in Hempstead in 1960 and a doctorate degree in philosophy from the University of Rochester in 1964.
Then there always the close knit Skidmore love story:
On Friday, November 7, The Saratoga Hospital Foundation Legacy Society honored Mary Ellen Fischer and Eric Weller.
David Marcell honored Mary Ellen and Eric by acknowledging decades of commitment to Skidmore and other organizations in Saratoga. He told the attendees about their unusual love story. They were friends for decades with their respective spouses. The death of their spouses, Erwin Levine, and Patricia Weller, brought them closer as good friends. In time, their friendship turned into a partnership for life.
Mary Ellen and Eric each spoke lovingly of the commitment they shared with both Erwin and Patty for the hospital. Erwin was involved with the Foundation encouraging, promoting, and giving of his own resources. Mary Ellen acknowledged Dr. Sam Mastrianni as the person who told Erwin to get involved with the community and support the hospital. Patricia was completely dedicated to the Flower and Fruit mission helping to support the hospital's maternity services for many years. When Patricia passed away, a garden was created outside the Women's Health Services entrance and a bench with a plaque honoring Patty was placed there and is still there today.
While I agree that this board needs to go, i don't think that a pack of dramatic firings will give us anything more then a moment of satisfaction. As it stands now Brunelle is a lame duck, and now the board is powerless. The board has been given a direct command from the mayor not to re-new Ed's contract and to re-negotiate it. They can either do what the mayor wants, and we get closer to getting Ed out, which is the real issue now that it's clear the board is powerless without the mayors OK.
If the board doesn't do what the mayor tells them, he has documented proof of insubordination, can dismiss them without worry, and we get what they want. Furthermore, if they were given a direct command (Renegotiate Ed's deal) and DISOBEY that order, resulting in additional expense to the authority (Ed's contract renews, etc) I wonder if they could be held financially accountable in a civil court.
The most important thing, THE BED BUGS, are gone. In the process of that horrible situation these other issues came to light, and are now being handled, and handled in a way that will give us the best long term result.
How much of the "outrage" from Mathiesen and Madigan is simply them wanting to clear the board in hopes of getting their own patronage people on it. How their "benefactors" would LOVE the opportunity to get the type of people on that board who wouldn't hire their kid for security, they'd contract out security to the SSPD tar pits AKA Command Secuity.
Don't be so sure the bedbugs are gone at Stonequist. I hear they've also now appeared in Jefferson terrace.
The Mayor was very gracious to offer Brunelle a way to save face and resign but now that Brunnelle has turned that offer down I don't understand why the Mayor is still negotiating with him. His term is up April 1. It's not like he would have any grounds to sue if he's not reappointed. His term is up--period--end of story. I only hope the Mayor's not involved with some ill-concieved maneuver to get Denny to agree to do certain things if he's reapppointed.The guy is certainly not to be trusted. The other worry is if Brunelle is gone who will the Mayor appoint. Hopefully someone with more of a backbone than Al-you're doing a great job, Ed-Calucci.
Val Keehn gave us Brunnelle and Spychalski now the Mayor who rid the city of her needs to rid the SSHA of her legacy.
Interesting that Weller's claims of attending SSHA Board meetings are not backed up by the minutes of those meetings. I thought that was the point of minutes--so everyone there could agree on what happened and who was there. That's why minutes are approved at the next meeting so corrections can be made. And yet Weller gets away with just saying he was there or Skyped even though there's no record that this was so. Why does he want to be on this Board so much anyway when he's never in town??
Any member of the board with two LLs in their name, needs to go, now.
Weller claims he was Skyped for a number of meetings and thus did not violate the Board's attendance policy which could lead to his dimissal.The minutes refer to his presence via Skype only once, though. You'd think if they referred to this once that they would indicate each time it happened but there are no other references. Oh, but he's Eric Weller so his version of his attendance c.annot be challenged
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