Just as a watchdog group is encouraging residents to get Gov. Chris Christie to investigate the Plainfield Municipal Utilities Authority, supporters of the authority piled on praise for it at Monday’s City Council meeting.
Clergy members, PMUA employees and a couple of City Council members complimented the authority for its service and for hiring otherwise unemployable parolees, while Mayor Sharon Robinson-Briggs said PMUA staff worked with 200 volunteers to clean up a neglected Plainfield Avenue cemetery “for free.”
Meanwhile, the DumpPMUA group is urging reform in authority spending and rate-setting and the governing body itself has been concerned with filling vacancies on the PMUA board of commissioners and with getting its top officials to come to a council meeting to discuss ongoing concerns including finding new revenue streams.
On Monday, The Rev. Danielle Bush claimed the PMUA has made Plainfield cleaner than Newark.
“I congratulate them,” she said.
PMUA employee Earl Bennett gave thanks for the job he found with PMUA after he “made mistakes” and society counted him out.
Former Councilwoman Joanne Hollis, now a Housing Authority commissioner, also lauded the PMUA policy of hiring young men who can’t get jobs elsewhere.
Alluding to controversy over the PMUA, Hollis said, “We talk about gangs – the biggest gang is us.”
When it came to council remarks, members William Reid and Bridget Rivers sided with the PMUA. Reid deplored the recent rejection of two candidates for the PMUA board, saying, “Let’s stop picking on people that are good citizens of Plainfield. We need them all.”
Rivers and Councilwoman Rebecca Williams were named council 2011 liaisons to the PMUA, but Williams said Monday she was concerned about “excesses of PMUA management” and cited an unexpected two-hour lunch meeting with PMUA officials at a Scotch Plains restaurant. When Williams said the council could encourage business meetings instead at the authority’s Plainfield office, Rivers rebuffed her concerns.
Rivers also called for a survey on whether the authority should be abolished, adding, “They might have the votes now, we might have the votes later,” alluding to a council majority that has resulted in several 4-3 split votes since the beginning of the year.
In defense of votes rejecting The Rev. Jason Greer and business owner Cecil Sanders, Councilman Adrian Mapp said he was looking for “reform-minded individuals who will put transformational measures in place.” The rejections came after the council interviewed board candidates at the Jan. 18 meeting. Councilman Cory Storch also said he wanted “change agents” on the PMUA board.
“How do we know they are not going to be change agents?” Rivers asked.
When Storch later reiterated his wish for change agents, the mayor admonished, “Be careful, councilman. You’re up for re-election – you want change?”
--Bernice
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While I agree the PMUA has done quite a noble thing by employing those most would deem unworthy of giving a chance to work, I don't believe that's in the original charter for the creation of the PMUA. If they are being wasteful and are quite simply another blatant patronage pit....Bring in the Governor. The warning shots are going out every few days regarding the Passaic Valley Sewarage Commission. If they don't hear the warning bells..it's not our fault. And considering the Mayor backed by Rivers and Reid like the status quo, I think that answers the question regarding whether it's a patronage pit.
ReplyDeleteAnd the Cheshire Cat warning Cory Storch he's up for re-election .... priceless. She really doesn't give a damn how childish and pathetic she comes across to the public. Perfect leader qualities.
The Rev. Danielle Bush also called for more money and effort to be made on the HIV-AIDS front before Union County has the highest incidence rate in the state. She and others who view the PMUA as a social-justice issue, such as Mr. Bennett or Ms. Hollis, should realize that the more money we spend living high on the hog, the less money we have to spend on things like AIDS prevention and awareness, and the fewer resources we have to give provide opportunities that would be alternatives to activities that end with people being counted out of society.
ReplyDeleteNo one is complaining about the quality of service generally or the line-workers in particular. The problem is behind the scenes in the overstuffed back offices and the free-spending. It's with the engineering consultants and the lawyers who get the big contracts and return the favor with poltical contributions on a regular basis. Simply stated, it's the lack of accountability of a public agency, and its unresponsiveness not just to its customers' complaints about high costs, but to inquiries by the City Council itself that are mandated in the Interlocal Agreement that created the Authority in the first place.
Our city needs to do everything it can not to waste the money it collects in taxes and the money so many of us work so hard to earn day in and day out. We can't blow it on puffed up professional service contracts, a billion lawyers, floral arrangements, high rents, junkets to Vegas, 58 days off for the executives, and the myriad excesses of bureaucracy.
Should, or can, the PMUA be merged back into the City? I think the answer is probably yes. Obviously there are numerous issues to be dealt with, particularly the massive debt load PMUA management has accumulated over the years, but none of them relate to the quality of service or those that are doing the heavy lifting on our behalf, whether they're on the trucks or keeping their nose to the grindstone sight unseen. PMUA has lots of those and we have your backs. Absolutely. It's everything else that's costing us an arm and a leg.
I called Grand Sanitation and will only pay $30 a month for garbage ($360/year) so I'm going to opt out of garbage. $900 a year for sewer service for a family of four is ridiculous. The council has got to look at Scotch Plains and Cranford's system. They pay less than $300 a year!
ReplyDeleteCome on council get in the game!