I’m feeling better, not great but better. Tomorrow is
another bullshit paid holiday\overtime day for the cities workforce so no
pre-agenda meeting. I will write a bit about the cities ambulance\EMS report.
I’ve read it and I’m troubled by many aspects of it. I will say it contains
enough bullshit and cover for Public Safety Commissioner Christian “ Toothy”
Mathiesen to advance his plans for the eastern plateau fire station.
“ Toothy” plans from the beginning have been twofold.
1.Save the Fire department from extinction. I did notice that
the report never mentions the number of fire calls. The answer to that is
simple. The numbers are so embarrassing low the public would question the need
for a full time paid fire department. If the city had done the right thing and
hired Empire ambulance who were offering the city 300k a year and freeing the
city from any responsibility for personnel costs, the city would then have been
free to explore the gradual phasing out of the fully professional model of fire
protection and allowed it to explore the much cheaper paid/volunteer model
embraced by Clifton Park and Colonie. The saving to the city and property
owners would have been substantial. Many will say it can’t be done but it can?
Look at Global Foundries in Malta. Protected by volunteers. And I in Milton
with a jet port and three nuclear reactors humming away in my backyard. All
volunteer force...
2.With EMS now in place and “ Toothy” showing a bullshit
“profit” of 500k he is free to advance the next phase of his agenda. The
expansion of the Fire Department. Look for him to be advancing the eastern
plateau fire station. “Toothy” has long been an advocate of expanding the Fire
Department. Just go back and look at my campaign videos of his speeches.
Remember I was on the Democratic Committee. Members of that committee would set
me down and try to show me the errors of my ways. I advocated that higher
property taxes were hurting the poor and elderly of the city. That expanding
the cities workforce only benefitted politicians and the employees. I argued
the cities workforce was already bloated and expanding it was wasting money.
They believed that we lived in a “dangerous time” and only by keeping the
wolves at bay would we be safe. They told me the city didn’t have a high tax
problem it had an education problem. The public needed to be taught that they
had to pay for these services or move. I said “You're Fucking Crazy”
Now that brings us to the present City Council and the
needed fourth vote to pass this expansion .As you might have noticed Saratoga
Springs Public Works Commissioner Anthony “Skip” Scirocco just hired his son
Mark as a $16 an hour meter reader. You might to surprised to know I don’t have
a problem with it. Scirocco has been in office for years and rank does have
some privilege so why not. What I find telling is Elio DelSelte – Chairperson
of the Saratoga Civil Service Commission and Scirocco godfather blessed the
hiring. DelSelte’s niece had been hired by Scirocco and despite losing her
driver’s license for DWI {her job required her to drive} she was allowed to
keep her job. Commissioner of Accounts John Franck’s latest hire is also a
rental tenant of DelSelte. In my day
DelSelte was the bane of the cities democrats’ .Now he is seen as an important
ally in the unprecedented planned growth in the cities workforce.
So a deal has been reached by the cities Dems that in
exchange for giving Public Works Commissioner Anthony “Skip” Scirocco an
unprecedented fourth pass in the next election
Scirocco will be the critical fourth man to vote to fulfill Public Safety Commissioner Christian “
Toothy” Mathiesen final solution and part b of his plan. The hiring, staffing
an building the cities third Fire Station and you will be paying for it and Broadway
and Congress Park will continue to look like shit.
Saratoga in Decline
We never Sleep
Because a Coma is more relaxing
21 comments:
There must be someone out there who can challenge Scirrocco.
In reading the editorial which states several numbers several contradictions show up. They reflect an increase of over 1000 calls vs. previous year bringing the total to around 3100. Looking at the minutes of original meeting approximately 3700 calls were reported for previous year. Net revenue was reported twice in editorial. One number was ridiculously stated at $500,000 and another much lower in another section. It appears to me that this report was taken verbatim without any fact check whatsoever. The numbers have to be challenged because the SSFD own proforma projected much lower revenue for 90% of the calls which must be killing their people and setting up failure for Empire. It does set the stage for an expansion but if the financial people on this council both believe thatthis is na accurate number they are doing the taxpayer of Saratoga Springs a great disservice. Having stated the lack of credibility in the report I feel the SSFD has dne an excellent job with the quality of service and applaud them for there efforts. It is the leadership that has and will misrepresent the facts. They state no additional people were needed. The prior administration added seven additional FF to the ranks when the City recieved the Safer Grant. At that time it was stated their term might not be more than one or two years depending on budgetary concerns. They all understood the cirucmstances. If the $850,000 number for 2013 becomes a reality and that is somewhere around what the breakeven number is. Of course as you note there is only so much money in the pie and that will shrink over time and expenses will continue to rise. The new contract increased payroll costs approximately 7% not to mention the increased costs of pension fund contribution and cost of healthcare. Soon new equipment will be needed and that will increase the expense as well. recently Finda N. Y. discontinued their town ambulance service and last year the Town of Batavia with over 30,000 people discontinued their service citing rising costs and lower revenue. John, you are right on but you will never convince this bunch that their perspective for this is way off. Within five years this will become a major taxpayer expense and could be more if we contruct an additional building for the Eastern Plateau which would call for more equipment and people. TheCouncil should call for a detailed five year proforma which reflects all expenses and projected gross and net revenue and allow the Council and taxpayer to be part of the decision making process. In conclusion it is getting tiring to continue to hear we were doing it anyway. That is because the SSFD chose to because they had too much time on their hands. I don't know how the bamboozled Barbara who is usually pretty sharp with numbers but they did one hell of a job at it.
You're Alive!!!!
5:07 - Won't happen. He will leave on his terms. The challenge of rebuilding this department too long a project for anyone who would attempt it. The only people capable are either disinterested or carry too much baggage themselves. All that work for $14,000 a year is not worth the effort. The good people in the department are looking forward to retirement and morale is at a long term low. The situation is so ridiculous that everyone just shakes their head and say why bother? Remeber as stated in the past. "Everyone loves Skippy"
The new title for the old Fire Dept. should read EMS Service with Firefighting service if necessary!!
JT, you must be sick! I can't believe you don't have a problem with Skippy hiring his son! Can he hire him? Absolutely, but he should have at least gone thru the motions & at least interviewed the other 2 candidates with higher scores.
On another note, how did the Reservation Coordinator scoring go? Let's ask Skippy that question. My understanding is both Kelly Clark & Heather Mabee FAILED the test! Better yet, Ms. Clark is still doing the work!!! Where's Civil Service on this one?
I can't fault Skippy for taking care of his spawn and by extension his grandspawn. Nor do have have a problem with Mark defending daddy.
What I have a problem with is the dems and civil service rolling over on this.
What is the big deal about this low level job that's part time. Mark is a good guy and should not be penalized for his father being in charge. There are so many relatives to this one or that one on every department. Isn't Diane Young related to John Franck? They got away with manipulating the assessments so they and their friends get breaks on their taxes.
JOHN -- Get a box of chicken soup broth. Chop an onion and sautee in Grapeseed oil. Get a bulb of garlic. Crush the garlic, remove the chaff and add it to the broth. Heat it with a little thyme. Strain it and drink the broth. You will sweat out the virus and be well in 3 days. it never fails. Godspeed.
5:27, why are you comparing Finda N. Y. and Town of Batavia to Saratoga?? We can do anything better than any other City or town in the North East can, so why can't our ambulance service get up to speed in a few years?
5:27 that wall of type is very hard to eyeball. Hit the paragraph return key once in a while. :-).
Good post JT.
5:27,good intelligent comment it's to bad city hall doesn't see realty the way we do,to put a five year plan together for the taxpayers and for the sake of looking into a possible trend it's only smart and kind of to bad that it hasn't happened,as look as the general public refuses to pay attention to people like Madigan,Franck,Mathesian,and the newest democrat to the Party Scirocco we will continue to get this half- baked representation.
I-Saratoga is orbiting and hopefully will bring back that razor wit and intellectual analysis to the wretched.
JT you may not have a problem with Skippy hiring his son who scored lowest of the three on the test. I would bet you Mr. Kyle Brooks with a 95 score & Mr. George Hebert with a 90 score have a different opinion. They were not even shown the respect of an interview. Also, since when is the hiring of a city worker based on residencey? This list the commissioner picked from is due to expire in 1 1/2 wks. go figure!
Let's cut the Fire Dept. and put the money into a few more cops. Public Safety is filling the staffing gap with overtime at 50% premium.
Skippy hired his son only on a temp basis. There is no money in the budget to hire him permanently unless one of those existing funded meter reader positions opens up. So why all the fuss. It's not a civil service position, it's a temp position and those don't last.
If it is only a temp position,then why take a civil service test.
Also why is he getting fulltime starter pay at 16.00 an hour????
It is just another classic bullshit job by skoopy.....so his kid can SUCK the public tit like daddy......
PS: did he have too pass a drug test?????
I know he certainly didn't have to pass a literacy test. Just read Mark's Saratogian posts as "demroc" or suffer through any of his barely-coherent posts on his own abandoned blog. I would seriously question his ability to track and record even the simplest data... like meter readings. God help the folks on his route.
What I can't believe is patsy berrigan gave scabby all the answers to the test and he still got the lowest score.
Don't you call non union employees on a union jobs SCABS....Skoopy and Scabby.
This is a temp job that will most certainly become a full time job because the person he's "subbing" for is on medical leave & will not be returning. Skippy knows that!
Also important to note: The Civil Service List they are hiring Mark from will expire within the week. Great timing on Patsy & Skippy's part.
Didn't mark scirrocco work for the hungry spot???
Was it not the hungry spot that was dumping garbage at the transfer station when it wasn't being attended in non-city garbage bags.
So now Skoopy cures the problem by putting another fulltime person their at a cost of $6000.00 a month $25.00 an hour for 30 days.
So for the two people their all day cost's the city $12,000 a month,now I call that a smart business move....
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