It’s time again that the Commissioner of DPW is asking to
hire more help. There are certainly
enough DPW workers to fill all the positions right now, maybe even more than we
need.
Someone told me that the saw 2 DPW employees on Locust
Grove Rd. in the Town of Wilton in the middle of the day with a City truck
looking at 2 motor cycles, that is 2 employees that DPW doesn’t need if they
have time to look around for motorcycles out of Saratoga Springs, I wonder
where they went next and what jobs suffered because they obviously weren’t
doing theirs.
The same person told me that she was driving down Hitchcock
Rd. and saw 2 DPW employees sitting in their truck after 2pm reading a
newspaper and one talking on his cell phone.
Again, we can eliminate these 2 employees because they must not have
anything to do.
Have you ever followed a DPW truck around ( I know, get a
life) and you drive around for an hour burning gas and the truck never stops,
it just keeps driving round and round until it hits a coffee shop then stops
and refuels with java then drives around again?
How about the trucks that are parked in front of private
homes or out at the Wilton Mall or WalMarts?
Trucks stopping at personal residences picking up garbage?
Below is a picture of truck #210 parked during the middle of the day at the
ITAM club Grand Ave.
I think what this shows is that we have more employees
than we need and more working supervisors that the Commissioner promoted at
higher salaries. There seems to be more
‘working supervisors’ than employees, move some of these supervisors back to
regular employees. I think it also shows
that there is no one in that department that can plan jobs for a work day and
there is no supervision by the Commissioner or his Deputy.
If I were the one that Commissioner Scirocco was asking
for more DPW employees, that person should be telling Scirocco ‘how many
employees will you let go? The general
feeling of the City is that with all the spare time the employees have, DPW
should be accomplishing quite a bit more than they are with the size of the
force they have now.
The City Attorney did the sensible thing in resigning her
post after the Council was pressuring the Mayor to fire her. We had a City Attorney that was bright, easy
to get along with and very capable of doing a superb job. It’s sad that politics has to be forced into
that position when she was trying to protect the Council members legally and in
turn represent the legal opinions to protect the citizens. Sarah, you will be missed, but with your
legal knowledge you will have a long and prosperous career.
Here now are our City employees enjoying an afternoon at
the Italian American Club. See you
there.
Ciao for now.
Welcome back!
ReplyDeleteTruck 210 is Working Supervisor & best friend of Deputy Commissioner Cogan, JJ Nichols. He is also a part-time bartender there. I'm sure JJ's friend & coworker Kevin Older was sitting at the bar right next to him.
ReplyDeleteYou have never been so on target in reporting of DPW & the employees. I don't believe anyone could afford the price of gas it would take to follow one DPW truck for a day. They drive all over town in circles,& out to Greenfield, Corinth, Ballston Spa, Glens Falls, etc. They also have time to go to Dr. appt. on city time, shopping, and going home for a short nap or long lunch. The fact of the matter is Skippy has no control over this dept. & the employees like it that way. Deputy Cogan is just everyone's best friend. All Skippy knows how to do is cry he doesn't have enough help, enough money, enough trucks, etc. & it's all Tom McTygue's fault!
As for Sarah Berger, residents & taxpayers of this city have just been robbed of one of the best attorneys the city have ever had represent them. From the very beginning Comm. Madigan threaten to "have" Sarah's job. It's such a disgrace that we finally have a council that could do so much for our city & they can't get past their own insecurities. Madigan & her "Big" head has done nothing but damage to this city this yr. & she'll prove herself when she grants Skippy the money to hire 17 more DPW workers. I wish Sarah all the best.
Skippy hasn't got a grasp on his job yet and it's been 6 years. He complains about Design? Bring back Design and get rid of Skippy, Donna and Cogan. It's time we stop letting the City go to the dogs.
ReplyDeleteTotally agree 3:22. Scirocco has no idea how to manage the DPW dept. that's why he allows Gerri & Donna to dictate what he does & how the dept. is run. The dept. is loosing so much city equipment purchased by the taxpayers that Skippy's installed cameras in the DPW garage. At least when Pat Design was his Deputy the dept. was held accountable. That's certainly not the case now & hasn't been since Pat left. Skippy wants to hire another 17 people for his dept. Wonder how many of them are relatives of his, Gerri's, or Donna's??
ReplyDeleteWell, Captain, the same scrutiny should apply to the cops.....the ones who go on duty and then go down and hide in the woods to have the dunkin donuts coffee and jelly donuts. (while on duty And the fire-people who go shopping on our dime, park in the fire lane at the price chop, and then spend hours cooking with our gas and electric, all day long. And every day, the same scenario repeats, over and over again.
ReplyDeleteThey all cash their checks on city time. Which makes everyone wonder why they just don't get paid in cash.....oh wait,///......too simple.
C'mon people, when will somebody wake up and stop the insanity. Taxes could be a lot less, and not just in the DPW dept..
Please, somebody in government, take notice.
Well, I can't say that I have ever seen police in the woods. Firemen, if I am not mistaken work a 24 hour shift and have to cook meals in the station. The truck also has to go out when these guys go shopping in case of an emergency call. The City should pay their employees by direct deposit making it easier for the employer and employee. Also, police cars are driving around, that's part of their job. DPW trucks should not be driving around taking in the sights or seen at Target, Walmart or Price Chopper or parked at private residences, they should be on jobs working.
ReplyDeleteAnd you are saying that police and fire, and csea employees don't do errands on city time?
ReplyDeleteDirect deposit is a good start, especially for the retirees who bask in the sun in FL and AZ.
By the way, ever wonder how many "city" employees actually live in the "city?"
Firemen "have to cook meals in the station?"
ReplyDeleteWhy is that?
Do cops have kitchens?
I heard that they still sell brown bags at the price chopper.
Pack a lunch, like the Dpw people.
Do cops have kitchens? What does that have to do with my previous answer about firemen? Firemen work 24 hour shifts and can't go out for dinner during that time, hence the need to buy food to cook. Police & DPW workers work an 8 hour shift and can be home for supper.
ReplyDeleteCaptain Or My Captain! Scirocco has handed you another subject to investigate. He's stating he was just made aware last week that the plaster was crumbling and cracked in the ballroom. That's bullshit!! (He'll blame Tom McTygue, no doubt.) This problem with the Casino has been an ongoing issue for as long as Scirocco's been in office. Not only are there issues in the ballroom, but also in the parlor where Skippy had the wedding reception moved. Four or five yrs. ago a large chunk of plaster fell on one of the parlor tables, & only by the grace of God did no one get hurt. Scirocco's way of "fixing" the problem was to just drill wood strips all along the ceiling. It won't be long before that starts crumbling down. McTygue hired a laborer for the Casino who's main job was repairing the plaster, cracks, etc. Unfortunately, that person was removed from the position under Sciroccoto's direction because he felt it was a waste of manpower. I suggest you contact the people who have be very aware of this problem for many yrs.& contacted Skippy regarding the same. The Topper: Chicken Shit Scirocco had the Caterers call the bride regarding the unsafe issues at the Casino!!! The bride's contract for the Casino rental is with the DPW office in the City NOT any caterer!!! So sad!!
ReplyDeleteAnother Questions to ask on the casino: How much is this engineering firm going to cost?
ReplyDeleteAlso, I hear on the street that the million dollar water hookup loss issue is going to explode soon. Skips going to have to answer some big questions.
Madagen in on this to as protector of the city funds and turning a blind eye.
She's gonna be covered when the &^%# hits the fan!!
Why can't these commissioners do what's RIGHT?
The engineering firm is going to save the city a lot of money.
ReplyDeleteThe engineering firm is going to cost the City big money, sorry to say. I will supply some information in the next post, but the City had a person (Milkes) who for years worked inside the Casino keeping it in top shape until Skip moved him to an outside crew. There has been a leak in the roof that Skip knew about for quite a while. Now, if you have a leaky roof in your house what happens if you do not repair it? That's right, the ceiling sags or comes down, the walls start to crumble etc. We have a carpentry crew, we have roofers that work for the City, we have an expert plaster worker, and we have 2 engineers but use our own employees. No way, let's hire an outside firm and spend some big taxpayers’ dollars and tell the citizenry we'll save lots of money. Why is Skip in office? What does his Deputy know? If your answer is I don't know then shame on you, you keep electing 2 incompetents.
DeleteSkip is in office because he was elected by a majority of voting voters.
DeleteAs to "What does his deputy know?" I don't know because I am not him. One can never know what another person knows.
If the two city engineers had enough spare time to just jump in and do this job the city would not be effectively using them. Other projects would get put off costing the city large sums of cash due to delays.
Also by using an outside engineering firm the liability for saying this is safe is transfer to that outside firm. Think of the engineering fee as an insurance policy against some groom getting killed on his wedding day and the bride suing the city.
Exactly my point, it's pretty sad that a majority can keep electing incompetent people to run a department when they have no idea what they are doing.
DeleteSo are you saying that if the was an educated experienced individual that wanted to run for DPW you would support them?
DeleteWhat do mean by educated? What I am saying is that the Director and Deputy should have some knowledge of what the job is about and the know how of carrying out those duties and responsibilities. You can read some of the earlier posts about some of the decisions that were made like selling water to out of city residents, not keeping tabs on where employees are when they are supposed to be working, is he getting reimbursed from developers for doing paving when developers rip up streets and are supposed to have the roads repaved. Having city property being used by businesses as parking lots for their business vehicles where we are liable for any lawsuit? The last one should be enforced by Marilyn Rivers who is supposed to protect the city against any such exposure. See, you don’t need to be a Harvard graduate to do the job, just some common knowledge of what you are supposed to do in the best interests of Saratoga.
DeleteSpeaking of paving...whatever happened to Lena Lane and the $50,000 in improvements to the "public" lane that was supposed to be done by the owners of Hattie's in exchange for the use of the 'public' alley ?
DeleteThere currently is no director of DPW. I assume you mean the commissioner?
DeleteI stand corrected, thank you.
DeleteWhatever is exposed about Skippy, WHATEVER it is believe me, it will be someone else's fault!! Tom McTygue's, Bill McTygue's, Stan Borden's, Scott Johnson's, the President's. SOMEONE OTHER THAN SCIROCCO'S!!!! It's his MO, he never takes responsibility for anything he does unless it's something positive. And IF Michele Madagen is covering this up from the taxpayers, she's a guilty as Scirocco!!! The commissioners DO NOT have the authority to wave any hookup fees, especially to builders & contractors. "You Know"
ReplyDeleteRumor has it that the ceiling issue has been know about since early August ! How many events took place under that ceiling putting the public at risk ?
ReplyDeleteyour response goes back to my last question above, why are these 2 still in office?
DeleteI had the opportunity to speak with two different couples attending a rehersal dinner at a city restaurant last night. Both couples had the same thing to say about touring the Casino as a possible wedding rental. The building was in poor condition & extremely dirty! They also know of friends that have the Casino rented for their big day & now they're being told the whole reception has to be held in the parlor instead of the ballroom & their number of guests exceeds 150! If you know the Casino, you know 150 people with dinner, dancing, etc. in the parlor the guests will be squeezed tightly together? This is NOT what these people signed up for when booking their date. I also heard that the Mazzone management is totally sick of dealing with Scirocco, and the fact that Scirocco has laid the responsibility of relaying this information to the caterers. Captain I'll tell you why these 3 (Scirocco, Cogan, & Buckley) are still in office. The taxpayers of this city have NO idea how screwed up the DPW dept. is because the local media refuses to report information & proof they've been made aware of. If the taxpayers aren't made aware they apparently feel there's no issues within the dept. That being said, Scirocco is spreading his incompetence by the way the Casino is being cared for along with Congress Park, the unkempt grounds in the parking lots, especially right behind City Hall where the grass is three feet high!!
ReplyDeleteWell Dennis Yusko of the Times Union finally had the balls to publish a investigative story on the WORST DPW Comm. in Saratoga history. Titled To Pay or No To Pay Tap Fee? Seems Skippy Olde Boy took it upon himself (although he blames his lowly Eng. Tech. Stan Borden for waving thousands of dollars in water connection fees. Sonny B alone received $810,000, $35,000 written off for an Albany firm, $9,000 waved for Jim Doyle. Don't you wonder how much these three donated to Skippy's campaign? Meanwhile regular residents building new homes have to pay the city $3,000 for their new water connections!! Wonder how much money was waived for Skippy's other "Builder Buddy" Belmonte? What does Comm. Madigan have to say about this lost of revenue? She checked into it & saw nothing wrong with what was done by Scirocco. (Donna must be buying all the cocktails.) Scirocco's reply to all of this, besides blaming everyone but himself, "I want all water connections fees from the McTygue era to be scrutinized. He also wants the water ordinance reviewed & he wanted to clarify its language. Skippy it doesn't matter how simple the language is written you're to stupid to understand it. Bottom line Scirocco no matter how much you cry, blame everyone else, play dumb, lie under oath, harass,& bully YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE for your DPW DEPT. Seems you may have other lawsuits served against you besides the TWO Betty French has filed against you in Federal Court.
ReplyDeleteThe Commissioner has done the front of the casino, the West Wall and drainage, redone the handicap ramp, the roof, and the road. The place is beautiful, well kept, grounds are also beautiful. The ceiling has not fallen down, and the Commissioner was down at the Casino until 9:330 that night. So don't say that he wasn't there, he spoke with every bride and groom.
ReplyDeleteRead Anon. 10//4 7:29
DeleteI like 10/5 at 9:46
ReplyDeleteThe question asked wasn't answered, because the author of this blog is so narrow-minded -- Skippy, Skippy, Skippy.
C'mon man
Not only wasn't the paving done, but it was supposed to be shared by Hattie's and the other dump.
What in the heck are you talking about? I never answered that question, but if you want me to the answer is DPW was supposed to pave the alley and be reimbursed by the 2 businesses. The permit should never have been granted by DPW until it was paved. Now as far as Skippy, Skippy, Skippy, this is where all the hot action is now taking place. He is embroiled in at least 3 lawsuits which he will either lose or make a deal and this is not counting what may come of the MILLION dollar 'forgiving' of hookup fees he so graciously extended to a few developers (that we know of right now). So, blame Skip for the trouble he is getting the City into not my narrow mindedness. Also, we are supposed to have an Ethics committee, they should be looking at this latest give away of Skip's.
ReplyDelete