The council and administration were chewing over the same pros and cons of the Legal Shield plan when Councilwoman Gloria Taylor said she was asked to approve a mayoral nominee to the Plainfield Municipal Utilities Authority in exchange for allowing the payroll deduction plan.
Taylor said City Administrator Rick Smiley offered the deal to her by telephone.
"Don't do it again to me," she said. "I don't do deals when I am a public servant."
Mapp defended the ploy, telling the council, "I am very comfortable attempting to negotiate with you. I would do it with a bullhorn."
Mapp said the city's 50,000 residents and 16,000 households were being affected by "what is happening at PMUA," citing employee furloughs, a wage freeze and a $1 million settlement with two former authority executives.
"What I want is for you to work with me to allow me to appoint the right people at PMUA," he said, to which Taylor responded again with a charge of "dirty politics."
Asked after the meeting if he indeed was proposing a quid pro quo, Mapp said, "A quid pro quo happens in politics every day."
His proposed trade would result in replacing PMUA Commissioner Malcolm Dunn with Thomas Crownover, whose nomination the council rejected in January. (See post here.)
A main supporter of Legal Shield is Dunn's son, Jeffery, who along with Legal Shield representative Jilletta Riley has argued that the previous administration allowed the payroll deduction plan and it should continue in Mapp's new administration. Both again gave many reasons why the plan is a benefit for employees who may not have bank accounts, and again Councilwoman Rebecca Williams pointed out that Jeffery Dunn has personal ties to the company. Williams outlined her objections on her blog Monday.
Notwithstanding Taylor's umbrage and Mapp's aplomb, longtime union activist Dottie Gutenkauf raised another argument against the Legal Shield plan.
"I think that the council and administration and public have had to spend far too much time on this Legal Shield stuff," she began, suggesting that if employees really want the plan, they should take it to their unions.
"Put it on the bargaining table,":she said.
Gutenkauf warned that allowing a payroll deduction for a company that hasn't been compared to other companies was "opening Pandora's box" and letting loose "all the nasties."
"You are asking for trouble if you do this," she said.
For all the talk, there was no outcome Monday, as Legal Shield was only on the agenda as a discussion item. Mapp said he had a resolution prepared on his PMUA nomination that the council could have agreed to put up for a vote at next Monday's regular meeting, but the council moved on to other items without giving consensus.
--Bernice
Excellent reporting bernice still got it.
ReplyDeleteDottie makes perfect sense that the employee's union, if it wanted such a service option, should bargain for it. Councilwoman Williams suggests that competing services should be researched so the best one is chosen. That too makes sense. But the elephant in the room is the pattern of wholesale profiteering and corruption that no one is willing to address, but exists nevertheless. From the $100,000 monthly that flows to the PMUA from City coffers to the $1 million giveaway, from the illegal job training program to the false statements in the signed proposal and contract, from the UEZ funds that flowed over a 12-year period for a desk on Park Ave. to the parking lot at Central and 2nd, from Legal Shield to a farcical resolution praising "a model to emulate and ... a standard of excellence towards which others might strive", the dots are clear. There is an epidemic of chicken pox, and the Council majority, led by its President and the talkative, delusional Ward 3 appointee, say "bring it on".
ReplyDeleteWhat happened to my idea of direct withdrawal from the Council members paychecks to pay for their City Taxes and PMUA fees ??
ReplyDeleteNot sure, but if Legal Shield goes through, I think this should be brought up and aggressively perused.
DeleteSooo .. either way Dunn profits. Get $10,000+ from the PMUA or $$$ from the LegalShield deal.
ReplyDeleteHow about kicking Dunn off the PMUA and nix Legal Shield?
How about getting someone to run the Chamber of Commerce who isn't about lining his own pockets?
Gloria Taylor is stuck in her husbands days. She knows nothing and if you notice after the meeting was over she was making deals with Mayor Mapp. Assemblymen Greene need to find new energy to put on the council and stop trying to reincarnate the past.
ReplyDeleteMost of the constituents who I have spoken to think that if someone wants Legal Shield, they should get it themselves.
ReplyDeleteThe numbers, by the way, are out of 400 City employees, 40 subscribe to legal shield. Out of the 40, 14 do not have a checking account (less than 4%) and their salary ranges from 41K to 118K. I think there may be a seasonal worker in the 14 who would not be eligible.
And, it makes my blood run cold hearing it doesn't cost anything. This truly speaks to how uninformed some council members are in business - and running city hall is a business.
Of course it costs, it costs the city when the employee fills out the form, when the data person enters it into the system, and any validating that has to be done.
What happens when the wrong amount is entered? Is this a one-time deduction? My understanding is that the money only goes for so many hours. What happens if more hours are needed? Who enters that? It does cost money. Would be nice to have council members who understand business.
My thanks to Bernice for your excellent reporting of my remarks--and my thanks to the Council for suspending the rules so I could make my statement.and go home.
ReplyDeleteMy comments were, as I stated, completely divorced from all the tangled webs in Plainfield politics. My point was (and is) that this is an employee benefit and properly belongs at the bargaining table. And as I pointed out last night, I had not discussed this issue with anyone at all.
As for the eruption between Mayor Mapp and Councilor Taylor, may I suggest that public grandstanding is no substitute for thoughtful discussion and negotiations--the outcome ought not to be "trading favors" but rather what's best for Plainfield and its employees.
PS, my thanks to Alan for helping me get safely to the meeting and back home.
upon rereading the post i say congrats to ms rev taylor for not trading her vote on crownover for the amazingly inconsequential legal shield thing. if that's the best deal the admin can come up with it's going to be a very long four years .
ReplyDeleteps - it also throws williams under the bus - all that energy and time against the amazingly inconsequential legal shield and mapp just throws it away. are these guys really that artless?
What was thrown away? And Legal Shield itself might be inconsequential but the concept of endless and random payroll deductions (that smells of inside dealing for Jeffrey Dunn) isn't inconsequential. There is a way that these things should be done and it isn't willy nilly. How many payroll deductions, beyond the standard ones, do you have at your job and how often are they just offered randomly to employees?
DeleteTaylor's on the wrong side of both issues, and PMUA is far more consequential than Legal Shield. That's two strikes against her. This stuff shouldn't have to be negotiated, it should be exorcised from the city like the cancer it is.
Delete11:01
Deleteyou might want to rethink that legal shield equals cancer analogy
12:44 - I think 11:01 is referring to PMUA as the cancer that should be exorcised. As it is and as it should be.
DeleteOnce again the city council lives up to its reputation for being clueless and silly. They wasted, once again, valuable time that could be spent on actually governing to discuss the Legal Shield issue. They love to talk about how they have "constituents and employees" coming to them to say how important it is to have this payroll deduction but they do zero work in understanding the process, service or ramifications to the city. They just think it sounds like a good idea (for Legal Shield and Jeffrey Dunn) and think it should be done. If employees want this service they should arrange payments themselves (and get a bank account) or as Dottie suggested use collective bargaining to have the service (through Legal Shield or a competitor) added to their benefits package.
ReplyDeleteGloria Taylor is now in the lead for the goofy councilperson of 2014. She doesn't like "dirty politics" like compromise and trading of initiatives? What planet is she on? She says her husband was a good Mayor - I guarantee he did the same thing the Mapp administration did hundreds of times - its called compromise, trading, bargaining etc etc. I would really urge her to step down if she is going to just sit there and work in a vacuum. This is how life works, not just politics - you want something, then you have to give something up that someone else wants. While it can be done in a "dirty" way it isn't always the case and she should really stop the drama.
Also - if the public has to sit through Jeffrey Dunn and that silly Legal Shield representative one more time at a council meeting there may be a revolt. If I was a user of Legal Shield and I saw the performance of these two clowns I would cancel my membership immediately.
Gloria Taylor need to go. She will never beat the newly and energized Veronica. Veronica will bring new ideals to the council. I live in the 3rd ward and I would never VOTE for Mrs. Taylor. I didn't VOTE for Mayor Mapp either so as people are saying he is a big disappointment they knew what they were getting.
ReplyDeleteI guess four more years of Sharon was a viable choice. Two-thirds of Plainfielders disagree.
DeleteWait a minute! Gloria Taylor publicly calls Mapp out on trying to buy her vote on an important appointment and he just sits there and crows about it as though it's no big deal, it happens every day?
ReplyDelete- He's lost that vote on everything he cares about until next January 1 and maybe beyond
- He gave his enemies major ammunition. The calls for an investigation into his ethics will start any day now.
- He's lost his chance at controlling the PMUA
All over LegalShield!!?? Are you kidding!!??
12:41 - you should work for Fox - that is some serious drama you have come up with - ALL IS DOOMED. Mapp's move might not have been the best thought out but it certainly isn't the end of the world and there certainly isn't anything unethical about horse trading its done all the time - in and out of politics.
DeleteI'll buy a drink for the first person to spot a Gloria "My Vote Can't Be Bought" Taylor t-shirt. Your choice of venue (no strip clubs please).
DeleteTaylor is a joke. Her husband used the same ploy to negotiate with Council. I wonder who Taylor is working for. She needs to get real and start working for the people of Plainfield, not the crooks on the PUMA Board, no other politicians, and not her personal interest. I don't trust her one bit and I bet I'm not alone.
ReplyDeleteGloria Taylor is a nice lady and I am sure she means well but if she listened to her own speeches she would realize that in her speeches she is all over the place in her reasoning - she is for, against and unsure of an issue all within the same 3 minutes. She also, like so many on the council, loves to make proclamations that are based on nothing other than narrow, isolated and not fully informed thinking. Add to that the continuous inability of most on the council to study and issue, research, read, and comprehend and you have a really worthless governing body. The apparently think that they are just there to play dear abby and react to issues on the spot, no matter the facts and realities of life. If council members aren't going to put in the effort that is fine, but they should resign and let someone else take a shot at governing.
ReplyDeleteAs the economy improves the city has an opportunity for meaningful progress for all citizens. Unfortunately with this council we will lose the race to other municipalities and remain the once great but not stunted queen city.
In other words - DO SOMETHING. Learn something, work for progress, think big picture, think outside the box and please realize that just saying no to everything and distilling nonsense from the dais is not governing.
Not only are they wasting time and money, this should really be a non-issue. This would never happen in the real world of business, unless you were in the business of wasting money. Who in city hall is getting a kickback for this service to be managed by the city? It’s obvious someone is. If the few employees that want/need this service then they should do what I did when I was suckered into purchasing this useless service. Get a bank account provide them your routing number and let them deduct the fee from there. I had this legal service for a few years, never once using it. I found it to be a total waste of money and had my bank stop the deductions. Another thing, I just can't wrap my head around someone being a city employee making at least 40K without a bank account. Who are these people? Whoever thinks this is a worthwhile service should set up some type of account where these people can come to their place of business with cash and they can manage this process without any involvement from the city.
ReplyDeleteThe real truth here is that the powers that be and the controlled city council will find any subject to waste time and take the focus off real issues. Why don’t we take a look at what JFK is doing at the Kenyon building on Randolph Rd? Apparently, they are doing some major renovations over there and no one on the city council seems to know anything about it. Surly if JFK has begun renovations on that building someone on the city council should know since permits should have been applied for, correct? I cannot imagine anything happening at that site without Jerry Green and the city council being aware of it. Now this is something I believe our newly appointed 3 ward council person, Gloria Taylor should be addressing and not wasting tax payers money on a service that has nothing to do with improving this city. We expect you, Ms Taylor, to represent us and have clear precise answers for us when question.
City council where is the study that you order for the best use of the Muhlenberg property? Why not get this on the agenda for the next council meeting. Your constituents deserve and expect updates on this.
KS
Hi Bernice, could you please post this to a separate Blog. thanks. last try, I promis
ReplyDeleteCEDAR BROOK BLOOK ASSOCIATION
WE NEED YOUR INPUT AND SUPPORT
We are having an intimate meeting with
Mayor elect Adrian O Mapp
And newly appointed 3rd ward council woman Gloria Taylor
Please come out on Mach 5, 2014 to our regularly schedule block association meeting. Now is the time to speak directly with our Mayor Elect and newly appointed 3rd ward council woman Gloria Taylor. JFK has 3 dumpsters in front of the Kenyon Building on Park Ave. Here’s your opportunity to hear her views and ideas for the Muhlenberg property and to question our newly elected Mayor on the study that was ordered by our city council and the recent movement of JFK.
This promises to be a truly informative meeting but, only if you are there to give your input. You can ask anything that is on your mind in relations to Plainfield and our neighborhood. Let’s not forget that JFK is still trying to get buy-in from the community and our elected officials to build a 600 unit apartment complex in our neighborhood. We have done an excellent job so far but we need to stay diligent and keep the pressure on our elected and appointed officials.
Refreshments provided!!
Meeting time: March 5, 2014 at 7:30pm
Place: Senior Citizens building located on 1272 Park Ave, rear entrance lounge.
Robin Bright
Sometimes slience is a weapon of choice mapp should have never commented on the accusation. therefore it would have remained hearsay. When he went to Washington D.C. shouldve took notes on how the big boys do it .
ReplyDeleteHis administration did nothing wrong - trading is how it works in life. And the big boys in DC can get a damn thing done either so no lessons to learn there.
DeletePlus all this commotion is taking away time most of us need to have to watch TV's soups and TMZ
ReplyDeleteWho you calling 'Boy' ... Willis ??
ReplyDeleteAll one needs to do is look at what is going on at the PMUA. The backroom deal that resulted in a million dollar payout to the two retired executives, that has caused employees to be furloughed, that has allowed the PMUA to literally price Plainfielders out of their homes, was caused by two of the current commissioners who voted in favor of this settlement. Appointed Councilwoman Taylor has no problem with that deal. The (interminable, repetitious) grandstanding the other night was painful to witness--the snickers by those in the audience showed that they weren't taken in by the finger-wagging. And yet, Jeff Dunn and his LegalShield are INVITED to the mic for 3 months, wasting our time and the time of the residents in attendance at the meeting, to try to make money off the employees when it is clear that the council has no power to compel the administration to offer this particular legal plan as an employee benefit. I would have thought that my fellow councilors would have agreed with my suggestion that employees should also hear from representatives from competing legal plan companies--not a word was said. PMUA bills are extraordinarily high--we must look for a way to ease the burden on ratepayers. I would say the same about the tax burden. Saying you care while continuing to empower those who drain our community is hypocritical. As many have pointed out, the hypocrisy of individuals who do not pay their taxes, who do not pay their PMUA bills, and who sit in judgment of others, is stunning.
ReplyDeleteRebecca
Perhaps I should suggest, as I did in my blog post, that we have HerbaLife (another MLM company) salespeople come to the city council meeting to make a pitch for a payroll deduction for that company's products and services. That would make for a good discussion item.
ReplyDeleteRebecca
Followed by Amway and Mary Kay.
DeleteActually Rebecca, I would be more if favor of HerbaLife. At least it would promote employee health, which would reduce our health insurance premiums which would give relief to the taxpayers.
HerbaLife - bring it on!!
Obviously, the Fab Four care nothing about the people they represent. Only Dunn and the family. Why do I say that? Have any of them asked their constituents what they think of Legal Shield? Probably not, because most would say - let them pay for it themselves!
ReplyDeleteI guess dictating is how they view their positions.
Sort of off topic, but back in the fall the administration at the high school made the staff sit through a Legal Shield sales pitch. These are mandatory meetings that are supposed to focus on school matters. Instead we had to sit through that nonsense because one of the administrators was doing a friend a favor.
ReplyDeleteVery much on topic, unfortunately. Do you remember who did the pitch? Can the administrator be censured?
DeleteDon't know who did the pitch, I was busy reading about what a terrible service Legal Shield was while they made it. Censure the administrator? Not likely. The admins on the rise are good pals with Berlin Piles, and she doesn't seem to care or even realize that her boys are running this school into the ground. Everything Brown turned around these last couple years will be destroyed by October of next year if things continue as planned.
DeleteRemember- Appointed Councilwoman Gloria Taylor is just that- APPOINTED! AND...ASSemblyman Green is the person who appointed her. And...the only way she became appointed is because she made a deal with ASSemblynan Green.
ReplyDeleteSo...she can be gone even if Slimey Green gives her the line by Voting Smart during the primary.