SNOWPLOWING LEAVES??

Here in Saratoga Springs nothing is as it seems.  The celebrated Broadway once a celebrated top ten downtowns in America is now #99 out of the top 100.  The dirt, garbage and lack of clean parking garages in the downtown core, lack of summer debris, total lack of the leaf pickup in the fall and not in late November which leads to snow plowing of tons of leafs along with the snow is a sign the City is not what it used to be in keeping up with being one of the top 50 best small cities in the lower 48.

There is a reason for this decline and most of it is because of the incompetence of DPW Commissioner Skippy Scirocco.  He was unqualified for the job when elected and it shows.  The City hires more outside engineers when we have 2 that make good money and benefits, his motion to cease collecting water hookup fees on new buildings cost the City $1 million dollars in income by ceasing to collect on 1 project and since then he has lost about ½ million dollars per year, this money could have been retargeted to improving our ancient infrastructure. He takes care of neighbors and friends when their street needs paving or need new sidewalks.  

Scirocco being the only Republican on the Council never comes up with a clear thought unless coached by none other that ‘Magic Michelle Madigan”.

Scirocco’s son Mark who works for his father in the Water Dept. was arrested in Feb. 2018 for has been charged with a DWI in Milton, being assigned a driver to take him throughout the city so he can perform his job of reading and repairing water meters. The younger Scirocco is not allowed to drive a city-owned vehicle with a pending DWI, which would also be in violation of the city's fleet safety policy. From a TU article “When city meter-reader Mark Scirocco was arrested for an alleged aggravated DWI in February, he didn't lose his job. Instead, he got a driver.” 

  

“Scirocco added this kind of situation occurred in the past and "was been handled in the same exact way."

 Sharon McCormick, one of DPW's four meter readers, disputed the elder Scirocco's assertion. She said that the younger Scirocco is getting special treatment.”

"They are constantly hanging the fleet safety policy over our heads," said McCormick, who has feuded with the Sciroccos in the past. "If you can't drive, you'll be terminated."

“McCormick, who has worked for the city for 14 years, said that in the past when a worker got a DWI, the person was either given a desk job or fired.”

McCormick said it was proposed that Mark Scirocco be dropped off in neighborhoods and picked up later in the day so that Colucci wouldn't have to fit in all of his city duties as well as the younger Scirocco's. The idea was nixed, she said, so we pay for a chauffeur a salary & benefits for carting Mark around. 

 "Skip (Scirocco) said no way were they doing that," McCormick said.

Mark my words Scirocco will not be fired by his father but will instead be given an inside job.  The elder should be brought up on ethics charges by not turning the case over to the HR department to handle but even doing this might cause the Director of HR a vote on her salary increase. 

Court records show that Mark Scirocco, 45, was stopped on Route 29 in Milton on Feb. 17 at 3:10 a.m. He was charged with driving while intoxicated and aggravated DWI because of a blood alcohol content that was 0.18 or higher. He was also ticketed by the arresting Saratoga County Sheriff's deputy for unsafe lane movement.  His case has still not been decided in court.  It has been in court since Feb. 14^th and word is he won’t be back in court until the new year (2019).  Maybe he’ll throw a party.

After the fire at City Hall where most of the damage was from water our City Hall was gutted.  They found asbestos and had to remove it but gut the whole building?  There has been no update from the Mayor or Scirocco on a cost estimate. 

I heard they will be changing the inside of the building and making new arranged Departments.  I would think that this would need the approval of several Boards but none have been mentioned.  

 I hope Madigan’s $7,500 toilet wasn’t destroyed because the charge for fitting the seat to her derriere (buttocks) is a costly measurement.

We’ll have more in the upcoming weeks.