While attempting to throw away paperwork Tuesday, I came across a chart I made for myself to trace the many nominations to the Plainfield Municipal Utilities Authority. I realized I had not updated it and actually had no idea any more who the holdovers were.
According to the City Clerk's latest roster, only Malcolm Dunn, Cecil Sanders and Charles Eke are members with current terms. Harold Mitchell, Carol Brokaw and Alex Toliver are holdovers. There is one vacancy. The chart traces five failed attempts to make appointments in recent years.
While state law permits holdovers on authorities, it does not seem like the ideal situation to have commissioners serving in that capacity. The PMUA reorganizes in February; Dunn's term expires in February 2014 and Sanders' in February 2015. Eke, as Alternate No. 1, has a term to February 2015. Mitchell's term expired in February 2011 and Brokaw's and Toliver's in February 2012 (one of these should be 2013, but the sequence of staggered terms got messed up somewhere along the way). The Alternate No. 2 seat is vacant.
The PMUA board is just one of many boards and commissions that need attention in coming months. Each year, a list of upcoming vacancies is prepared in the City Clerk's office. With a new administration on the horizon, special attention should be paid this year to making sure all seats are properly filled. This used to be done at the Jan. 1 annual reorganization for most boards and commissions, except those with different reorganization times, such as PMUA in February and the Plainfield Public Library Board of Trustees, which has terms starting in September.
The Civic Responsibility Act of 2005 called for this list and a description of the requirements for each board and commission to be made public. All are listed here. Anyone wishing to serve should check this list and submit a letter of interest to both the mayor and City Clerk.
One of the problems in recent years was that correspondence from applicants was lost in City Hall and had to be re-submitted, sometimes several times. The mayor's staff did not seem to understand the sequence of terms and nominees were often submitted to the council with incorrect terms or successions. I saw this personally with the Shade Tree Commission, which was no sooner established than terms began getting mixed up. Older, established boards and commissions have suffered the same fate, as well as instances of prolonged vacancies to the point where some lacked a quorum.
One of Plaintalker's earliest efforts in 2005 was to advocate for timely and proper appointments to the city's many boards and commissions. Since then, City Clerk Abubakar Jalloh has instituted a modern, searchable data base of all the boards and commissions, as noted above. Under the city's advice and consent system, it only remains for the mayor's office to submit nominations to the City Council for confirmation.
The winner of the Nov. 5 mayoral election will also have to submit cabinet nominations for City Council advice and consent in January 2014. But that's a story for another day.
--Bernice
honestly... once the new Mayor is in.. It'll be a pleasure applying for the Shade Tree Commission ... AGAIN.
ReplyDeleteBridget Rivers told me she would stand down as City Council liason to the PMUA because her son works there. I see she is still listed as liason, along with Tracey Brown, who was most recently a PMUA commissioner and one of several that have been compensated illegally. The tab for commissioner pilferage runs to well over $500,000, and that's excluding the $1 million of payola engineered via the appointment of Malcolm Dunn and Cecil Sanders. This cannot be considered proper oversight in any way shape or form. If I were a PMUA employee forced to take a five day furlough to pay for this, I'd be pretty mad.
ReplyDeleteBridget Rivers confirmed she has removed herself as liaison.
DeleteThank you Bridget for being true to your word, and thank you Bernice for keeping us up-to-date. All Plainfielders know the services provided by PMUA are essential to the health and safety of each of us. The city is obligated to make certain these services are delivered fair and square.
DeleteWhy is there a vacancy on the Board of commissioners at the PMUA. There are a host of members of the Plainfield Democrat Committee that are anxious to serve. This font of wisdom should be able to produce a candidate to join his colleagues in this prestigious assembly. If Messrs. Dunn and Sanders can gain the approbation of the City Council it is hard to conceive of anyone who could not. If Mr. Mapp is elected, and this appears to be a fait accompli, he can show his resolve by having the temerity to nominate someone outside of this exclusive club ,i.e, The Plainfield Democrat Committee) .There just might be a citizen with business and professional credentials in our population of 50,000 that is willing to serve who is not a member of the good old boys club? Someone who might, among other things, take a look at whether the Shared Service Fee and Household Collection fees are appropriately proportioned as one example of 100 which we could place on the "Let's take a look list". This one issue will be the barometer of whether Mr. Mapp is sincere or yet another perfunctory minion of Mr. Green.
ReplyDeleteBill Kruse
It's plainfield recycling at it's best, they are waiting for Sharon or someone else from BOE, or city counsil or any of the other myriad agencies that call our ciry home to loose their position so we can put them in the PUMA country club- when they leave PUMA they move on to some other position on and on. buisness as usual. Gather the usual suspects and you will find the winner!
ReplyDeleteThe preceding program [financial disaster known as .... our PMUA]was brought to you by the Democratic Party. Soon to request your vote for other local, county and state office holders.
ReplyDeleteit's ok.. they're still singing koumbaya so vote the LINE !
DeleteTHIS TIME NO FOOLING!