Wednesday, May 21, 2014

SRB Charge Against Mapp Not Correct

 A March 2010 blog post on layoffs does not jibe with former Mayor Sharon Robinson-Briggs' charge that Adrian Mapp got rid of the city's only media person when he was a councilman. The layoff list actually came from her administration.

In comments at a special meeting Tuesday on budget amendments, Robinson-Briggs said Mapp suggested that the city get rid of Laurence Rice and outsource media. However, the vote on layoffs at the 2010 meeting was 4-3, with council members Rashid Burney, Linda Carter, Cory Storch and Council President Annie McWilliams voting "yes" and William Reid, Bridget Rivers and Adrian Mapp voting "no."

As noted in the blog post, the administration submitted the layoff plan to the council after the budget had been amended and passed:

Laurence Rice, who produces content for Channel 96, noted the long hours he puts in recording events and suggested he was being targeted for his loyalty to Mayor Sharon Robinson-Briggs. But McWilliams said it would not only be immoral and unethical to make such decisions on the basis of politics, it would be illegal.

After the vote, McWilliams said the budget had already been adopted and amendments to it had been unanimously approved. The administration had then submitted the layoff plan. The council could not then decide not to support the plan, she said.


The former mayor has been attending public meetings lately and making various allegations against Mapp, who won the 2013 Democratic primary and thus deprived her of being on the November ballot for a third term.

--Bernice




4 comments:

  1. I hope you bring this up at the meeting on the 27th.

    I recall Rice's speech to the Council, and thinking how sad that he did not realize it is Sharon who suggested his job go, and not the council.

    And only in OZ as Doc would say - Reid - Rivers-Mapp all on the same page!

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  2. Bernice, can you please explain this?

    "As noted in the blog post, the administration submitted the layoff plan to the council after the budget had been amended and passed:"

    I do not understand. If the layoff plan was submitted after the budget was submitted, doesn't that mean that no one was laid off? Sorry for being dense.

    So the council

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  3. The budget was passed three-quarters into the fiscal year.
    http://plaintalker.blogspot.com/2010/02/council-rejects-further-delay-adopts.html
    I don't know why the SRB administration sought more layoffs. The CFO left in 2007 and there was not a lot of oversight. Maybe it had to do with bumping rights.

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  4. Here is the list of 5 people on the 2010 layoff list

    Police: Captains El'amime (sorry for the spelling) Gilliam and Celentano

    Planning: April Stefel
    Media: Lawrence Rice

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