Council, Administration Friction Escalates

A damning audit report, a new stab at the PMUA lineup and a lawsuit by Mayor Sharon Robinson-Briggs against the governing body intensified the simmering discontent among elected officials Monday.

Reporter Mark Spivey saved the bloggers from having to deal with the lawsuit story - by the time we got home from the council meeting, he had posted a full report online. The lawsuit comes nearly two months after the mayor was reprimanded and assessed a $200 fine following an investigation of funding for an Aug. 1, 2010 radio broadcast (see Plaintalker's post here).


Monday's agenda fixing session had barely started before Councilwoman Rebecca Williams blasted a newly-released audit report full of repeat findings of fiscal lapses. Williams said the report listed a "huge number of problems" and called it "really infuriating."


The council must sign off on a corrective action plan for audit findings, but Councilman Cory Storch said Monday he wants the auditors present when the plan is on the agenda. 


The city has suffered a high turnover of finance directors and is currently operating with a part-time chief financial officer. For three of the mayor's six years in office, there was no permanent CFO and state officials finally ordered the city to come up with one or the mayor and each council member would be fined $25 daily. The elected officials escaped the penalty when CFO Ron Zilinski was hired by the November 2011 deadline, but he just left at the end of January.


Besides the lawsuit Monday, the mayor surprised the council with last-minute nominations to the PMUA and the Housing Authority. The wrangle over PMUA appointments goes back many months, with stalemates resulting in commissioners staying on as holdovers. Two new commissioners approved by the council in November, Malcolm Dunn and alternate Cecil Sanders Jr, became instrumental in approving a controversial $1 million settlement to two former PMUA executives. Since then, the mayor tried twice to seemingly reward the pair with shifts to better terms, but the council rejected her nominations.


The PMUA reorganized on Feb. 14 with Chairman Harold Mitchell retaining his seat and Commissioner Carol Brokaw staying on a a holdover. Both had voted against the settlement. The mayor's new nominations Monday would reduce Mitchell to an alternate, meaning he would have to step down as chairman, and would remove Brokaw from the board. Sanders, Dunn and Alex Toliver, who also voted for the settlement, would stay on, joined by Wilbert O. Gill.The council vote on the mayor's nominations will take place March 12, the day before the next PMUA meeting.


The Housing Authority nomination is for Rickey Williams, who has been a holdover for several years.


The enmity contrasts sharply with the picture of harmony that Democratic Party Chairman Jerry Green projected on Feb. 24 when he gathered his City Committee members for a show of togetherness to impress Congressman Rush Holt. The mayor and Council President Adrian Mapp, arch rivals in the last mayoral contest, posed separately for photos with Holt and Green. While all pledged to help re-elect President Barack Obama, Monday's announcement of the lawsuit, the ongoing tiff over PMUA seats and the council displeasure with the administration reveal the ongoing rifts among elected officials.


There were many other aspects of the council meeting that will emerge on the blogs in days to come, including Maria Pellum's call for a health needs assessment, Olive Lynch's progress on her "green industry" venture, a Public Works union settlement and activists' call for restoration of an acute care facility at the Muhlenberg site instead of conversion to high-density housing. The council was also upset over the unknown status of the 2012 budget, which should be up for introduction by now.


--Bernice