Council Explores Budget Fixes

At a special meeting Thursday, the City Council voted to use unspent funds from the six-month 2011 “transition year” budget to help plug an unforeseen hole in the 2012 budget.

After holding budget deliberations since April 12, the council found out last week that a state review of the budget found errors and omissions totaling about $2 million.  

The 2011 funds totaling $905,000 will be added to surplus and $500,000 will be used for tax relief. Other more controversial proposals, such as making major cuts to the corporation counsel’s office and eliminating the new public information officer’s job will be taken up at a special meeting on June 6.

The council’s Finance and Administration Committee also recommended adding $70,000 to the Plainfield Public Library’s $1,556,338 budget, countering Mayor Sharon Robinson-Briggs’ call to cut funding by 40 percent to the minimum state requirement for the library.

The meeting included a report from the Citizens’ Budget Advisory Committee and a line-by-line report from the Finance and Administration Committee on other issues related to the budget shortfall.

The CBAC report, given by Chairman Charles McRae, called for reductions to the $752,000 Recreation budget, transition of Bilingual Day Care and other social service programs to outside agencies, outsourcing of property code inspections and reduction of the corporation counsel to part-time.

The group faulted the Recreation Division for not providing “a complete and verifiable accounting” of costs for its programs, for serving only about 5 percent of the city’s population and for not documenting details of how $400,000 for seasonal workers was allocated. The committee called for a total review of the Office of Economic Development, saying it “continues not to be able to provide sustained improvements in the city’s economy.”

Council members and Acting City Administrator Eric Jackson thanked the committee for its work since early April, when budget deliberations began. Members this year were Jaclynne Callands, Jeanette Criscione, Lisa Cright-Bryant, Delois Dameron, Robert Darden, Will Gill, Jan Massey and McRae.

In response to both the CBAC and Finance Committee’s calls to cut staffing in the Corporation Counsel’s office, City Solicitor David Minchello gave an impassioned defense against reductions.

Minchello, speaking in the absence of Corporation Counsel Dan Williamson, said the in-house legal staff not only handles litigation, but must give advice daily to city officials on various matters. In addition, the office must review OPRA requests, conduct hearings on employee disciplinary matters, check bid specifications, monitor police depositions and handle defense of hundreds of ongoing legal cases.

“This city is big business,” Minchello said. As a big business, it requires full staffing.”

Several years ago, the city switched from a part-time corporation counsel to one who serves full-time with two special counsels in-house and other attorneys hired as needed. Councilwoman Rebecca Williams asked Jackson to research how many cities of similar size have a full-time corporation counsel, which he promised to do by Monday. Councilman William Reid wanted a further analysis of the types of caseloads comparable cities have, but Jackson said that would take much longer.

Councilman Cory Storch said he understands the discomfort of the administration over such a proposed change, but he said, “Our city is afraid of change.”

Storch also brought up the city charter’s provision  that the corporation counsel must serve both the mayor and council, which became a problem last year during an investigation into use of city funds for a 2010 radio broadcast on gang violence. Each side ended up getting its own attorney and now that the mayor is suing the council over the outcome of the investigation, the governing body added $50,000 to its own budget for independent legal representation.

Minchello insisted that from his years of working with the office, it could not function with a reduced staff.

“I know the work that’s out there,” he said.

Storch asked why Williamson was not at the meeting and Jackson said he had asked to leave early on personal business Thursday.

Williamson is also leaving the administration July 1 to become executive director of the Plainfield Municipal Utilities Authority and that transition in part prompted the call the reorder the legal staff.

When the subject turned to the recently created IT and Media Division, some council members were surprised to find out the new public officer was now reporting directly to City Administrator Eric Berry. The PIO had been reporting directly to the mayor in violation of the city’s special charter, which mandates three departments over all city divisions. The council passed an ordinance creating the Division of Information Technology in 2010 and when the PIO was hired this year, he was placed in that division.

Williams called the new arrangement “a violation of the city charter” and said, “The city administrator should be here.” (Berry is on vacation.) She also questioned why the city was advertising for nine more people to join the division.  Al Restaino director of the Department of Administration, Finance, Health & Social Services under which the new division was also placed, said the idea was to get a “pool” of media technicians from which to draw as needed.

The council’s Finance Committee suggested eliminating both the PIO and an assistant, along with overtime in Media & Communications, to save $105,000.

The council will meet at 7 p.m. on June 6 in City Hall Library to vote on budget amendments reflecting some or all of the changes discussed Thursday. Final passage of the budget is expected to take place on June 18.

--Bernice