Budget deliberations continue Monday (May 18) with reviews of the Public Works, Inspections and Recreation divisions, 7 p.m. in City Hall Library, 515 Watchung Ave.
Coming as they are in the weeks before a primary battle over control of the Democratic City Committee, the budget sessions have tended to be heavy on rhetoric finding fault with the Mapp administration. I hope residents will be able to watch the budget talks on local cable channels and glean for themselves the facts as presented by some very capable city staff members. Economic Development Director Carlos Sanchez, IT and Media Director Chris Payne, Health Officer Denise Proctor and Purchasing Agent Cindy Lea Weber all had good news to share, as well as some concerns. City Administrator Rick Smiley presented the mayor's budget.
The seven-member 2015 Citizens' Budget Advisory Committee outnumbered the council members, with only three on hand for last week's talks. It was no surprise to hear their comments against the mayor's wish to have a "confidential aide" aka chief of staff in his office, but it was somewhat surprising to hear Council President Bridget Rivers and former Mayor Sharon Robinson-Briggs telling Payne he needs more staff, in particular a Plainfield resident.
Payne said his division spent $48,500 on outside "techs and venders" last year. His 2015 budget request included from $25,000 to $50,000 for outside consultants. Looking at his list of "deliverables," Rivers first suggested shared services with the Plainfield Board of Education. In further discussion, Finance Director Ron West said the "world of tech changes so quickly" that staff did not always have the skill set necessary for the work. Rivers said it was more cost effective to hire Plainfielders and train them, saying of outside consultants, "They don't live here - they don't care about what they do."
Councilwoman Vera Greaves said she would like to see an apprenticeship program for young people, and later Robinson-Briggs said, "I agree with Madame President that IT needs more staff."
The council and committee made several other remarks about personnel last week, causing West to caution them about sticking to titles, not names of individuals.
A public hearing and possible budget amendments are scheduled for Wednesday (May 20), 7 p.m. at the Senior Center, 400 E. Front St., which sounds like a lofty goal considering the CBAC needs to make recommendations, but as of last Wednesday had not yet selected a chairperson. Monday's session is the last on budget requests.
--Bernice
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I do find the city council's logic extremely difficult to follow, as well as how the meetings are run in general.
ReplyDelete1 - I thought names were only to be used in executive session. Is that true? And if so, who is supposed to know this and implement the rule at the meetings?
2 - The Council consistently talks about 2 things - 1-we need jobs and 2 - people are hurting. Can someone from the council explain to me why when Carols Sanchez sits in front of the council and explains how he is bringing in businesses which can potentially employ Plainfielders, all the council can do is criticize? And in fact most of what they are criticizing has existed in the 9 years I have lived here, so it is not a product of this administration.
3 - The council obviously has no problem authorizing more jobs and salaries, so why are they throwing jobs at IT (who did not ask for any) and not helping Economic Development? Why are they discussing the Chief of Staff position, when through that office's efforts, 100 Plainfielders are now employed?
Economic Development and Chief of Staff are doing EXACTLY what the council keeps asking for, and yet the council throws staff for IT, and not a care about helping those offices that are bringing tangible results to this city? Can someone explain this to me?
One more thing, as a point of business. It is NOT cheaper to hire employees vs. consultants. When you hire an employee, your financial commitment is salary, benefits, pension, and a possible liability suit against the city (discrimination etc.) which extends for years - could be as much as 20. When you hire a consultant, you hire them for a period of time, at a fixed cost, with no added overhead such as related above. When the project is over, the consultant leaves, and there are no residual costs.
Jeanette
Bernice with all do respect the administration start calling employee names FIRST. Please tell the truth
ReplyDeleteThanks
Explain yourself. One of Jerry's kids I guess. All fabrication and no facts.
Deletecouncil president River comment about use of outside consultants is ironic isn't she using an outside consultant for the budget process who last year showed he did not care about Plainfield with his recommended budget cuts.
ReplyDeleteJeanette I was there also and I can not for the life of me wonder why it is so important to have a chef of staff whom I know for a fact do not work for his pay.
ReplyDeleteIt is so sad how there are a core group of residents that still can not see the forest from the trees when it come to this failed administration.
What the council need to investigate is the process of how the vehicles were purchased. It is very unethical and if the council dig deep they will see where the bones are buried.
How do you know for a fact that the Chief of Staff does not work for his pay? I find comments like yours very plentiful in Plainfield. What facts do you have to back up your statement? I consider pulling together an event that put 100 people in Plainfield to work a pretty good accomplishment, don't you?
DeleteWere you equally appalled at the financial findings of the last administration? Look at the auditor synopsis that talked about General Ledger entries not being done correctly. That is a heck of a lot worse than looking into the process of buying vehicles. -Jeanette
Well I wasn’t there an don’t have to be to know the games that are being played. The second I heard Sharon Briggs and William Reid was appointed I knew the process would be nothing but a farce. It’s just a shame it’s at tax-payers’ expense that they will do and say anything to make Mayor Mapp look bad. BTW, who wasted more money than Sharon, from her personal body guard to the food and candy she purchased to the fact that she didn’t have the proper people in place to maintain grants and deliver a valid and workable budget on time.
DeleteFor real change vote column C = Change that’s GOODE for Plainfield.
KS.
The bones are buried in the council member's backyards, so they are the ones that can not see the forest from the trees, too busy throwing rocks and hiding their hands. PLFD please vote out Administration, City Council, Board of Ed, Assemblyman/woman, do you really think Linda was the only one with unethical dealings, get real.
DeleteBoth Briggs and Reid have outstanding municipal debts they owe. It's public record not hearsay. Whether it's taxes on their home (Reid) or outstanding long term PMUA bills do (Reid and Briggs). I for one do not thing these two are in a position to make financial recommendations on city finances. Their advice could be seen as conflicts of interest as the City of Plainfield is literally "lending" them money as the City carries their debt.
DeleteAnd don't forget not only is the City lending them money, but the taxpayers gave them additional money when they were mayor and councilman. Only in Plainfield and only in America.
DeleteHi Bernice,
ReplyDeleteThank you for attending the Budget Deliberation Meetings. It is very important they get reported to the public. Regarding the discussions about the Information Technology budget, one of the points I pursued during my opportunity to question Mr. Payne and Mr. West was regarding the costs of using consultants in IT vs. training existing staff to the level of expertise required. I agree with the various Council and CBAC members that it is a laudable goal to employ qualified Plainfielders where and whenever possible both in City government and in the private sector. The key imperative is that a person is qualified to do the work they are being hired to do. Based on my 20+ years in IT, it is not always cheaper or cost effective to retrain existing staff to meet a technology need. There are a few factors that have to be considered in deciding on training staff vs. hiring a consultant. They are:
1. How much of the particular technical expertise do you or will you need? For instance if you are running an MS Windows environment, building windows expertise in-house makes all the sense in the world. However, if you need technical expertise in an application that has limited use in one department, it is much more to hire a consultant because you won’t get much use out of your training dollars
2. How much expertise do you need in a particular area and how soon do you need it? It can years of training and expertise to develop a high level of expertise in any technical area. You can’t create IT expertise overnight. If you need the expertise now, you will need hire it.
3. What impact does training have on your current IT projects? When an IT employee is sent off to training, he or she is not available to work on the current projects.
I discussed this with Mr. Payne and Mr. West and they agreed they need IT consultants to meet the needs the City has.
This is not to say we shouldn’t train our current IT staff. We absolutely should. The City should have a Three Year Technology Plan that covers all areas of the IT infrastructure which describes what technology the City is using today and what it will be using in the years to come. Out of that will come a training roadmap for the in-house IT staff to meet the most of the City’s IT needs. In addition, the Three Year Technology Plan will show the areas and specific technologies that IT consultants will be needed th augment the in-house IT staff.
The challenges in hiring IT consultants are making sure you hire a person with the sufficient technical skills you need and then managing them to ensure they deliver expertise and results you are paying them for. Those are management issues.
I think it is important that the public know about the questions and discussions from the budget deliberation meetings.
Thanks,
Tom Kaercher
Well said, Tom.
DeleteIt is very apparent they the council need an outside budget consultant just like the council needed a budget consultant when Mayor Mapp was sitting on the council.
ReplyDeleteThis administration is worst than the previous administration when it comes to hiding money, using money from different departments and the beat goes on.....
I know the late great Albert T. McWilliams is flipping in his grave. To think Mayor Mapp once said that Mayor McWilliams was his mentor. Well I say to Mayor Mapp Mayor McWilliams would have never done business like you do.
Give me examples as to why this Admnistration is worse than Sharon's. Is it a lack of CFO and financial responsibility, departments ignoring the Purchasing Agent and wasting money, grants lost because Sharon ignored them. Give me some examples please. I could give you many more about Sharon, so GET REAL!
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