Mount Vernon City Council's Runaway Train places city's finances at risk

All Aboard the Mount Vernon City Council's Runaway Train

They Just Don't Get it

Well, just about six weeks into the new City Council's tenure, two things have become abundantly clear...they will stop at nothing to avoid transparency and they will carry out Queen Maureen's agenda without fail.

Last night, the new Mount Vernon City Council voted to eliminate the city's Office of the Inspector General. Maureen's Four Blind Mice just sent a clear signal that Mount Vernon is now back to the days of corruption and fraud that occurred during the Davis administration. No wonder really as both Council President Yuhanna Edwards and Councilwoman Watts, along with their leader Maureen Walker, were all intimately involved with Davis Administration and did nothing to stop the criminal activity when it happened on their watch. Edwards will tell you that departments can police themselves and that the Comptroller can conduct audits of any department at any time. However, Comptroller Walker had these audit powers when millions of taxpayer dollars were being swiped from under her nose and she did nothing about it then. What makes Edwards think that she is willing to do anything about it now?


Chooooooo Chooooooo!!! Comptroller and City Council Raid City's Contingency Fund

Folks, the saga continues and gets even better. In an effort to restore funding to re-hire Maureen's Chief Accountant in the Comptroller's Office, Maureen Walker wrote a letter to the City Council asking them to transfer funds out of two budget lines - one to pay the city's insurance premiums and the other to pay the city's social security obligations to the Social Security Administration. This letter is public record and can be obtained by filing a Freedom of Information request with the City Clerk's office. When the sunlight was focused on this illegal and financially dangerous ploy, she scurried back into retreat and revised her plans. However, she is up to her fiscally risky ways yet again. Last night, at the City Council meeting, Maureen Walker and her lackeys, along with Steven Horton, raided the city's Contingency Fund to re-hire her Chief Accountant and to raise the salary of Nichelle Johnson, the part-time holder of the entry-level Legislative Assistant position within the City Council's office (more on that below). Now readers, this contingency fund serves as a last resort when the city faces an emergency situation. With declining revenues and federal, state and county funding commitments being cut regularly these days, we must act conservatively and hold onto this fund for stormy times. Using it to hire back a $112,000/year accountant in an office with an army of accountants and $100,000+ salaries makes no financial sense and puts the city at risk. We can only hope that Maureen's councilservants wake up and apply the brakes to this risky and dangerous behavior before it is too late.

Highest Paid 25 Hour/Week Employee in the State?

As mentioned above, they are still attempting to increase the part-time salary of Legislative Assistant Nichelle Johnson from $35,000 to $85,000. Now you may be saying to yourself, "I thought that the City Council already voted to raise her 25 hour a week salary to $85,000/year." Well reader, you are not imagining things - the City Council did indeed pass legislation to transfer money's around to give their friend Ms. Johnson a 242% pay raise. However, for some inexplicable reason, that pay increase was put on hold at a Board of Estimate meeting. Now, Maureen's councilservants are at it again and have approved legislation to increase Ms. Johnson's salary to $89,000/year - a 254% pay increase. That salary would make Ms. Johnson one of the very highest paid 25 hour per week workers in the state. Not bad for what is traditionally an entry level position.

There was this thing called an "Agenda"

Further proof of the shady goings on with the new City Council involves the council Agenda for each of their meetings. Prior to this year, you used to be able to stop by the City Clerk's office where, by the afternoon, there was an agenda available of the legislation that was to be voted on that night by your elected city councilpersons. This agenda allowed the public advance notice of the items/actions before the council that night. However, with the New Year and the new city council, the agenda is no longer available until you walk into the council chambers at 7pm for the start of their meetings. The last three meetings have seen no agenda available in advance. Why is this Council President Edwards? How about you Councilmembers Watts, Munro and Appuzo? All of you ran together on a Maureen Walker carried ticket and each of you espoused transparency and leadership. Yet, all we've gotten so far is secrecy and collusion with the Comptroller to support her agenda of division and destruction. Leadership involves following your own judgement of what is right and wrong. Where is the leadership from the new City Council?

Oh but Mr. Edwards is not done yet

Political patronage seems to be Council President Edwards modus operandi. In addition to hiring his friend Ms. Johnson and giving her a massive pay raise, Yuhanna Edwards has also hired long-time friend and employee of his, Patricia Fleming, to a part-time position within the City Clerk's office. So the question for Mr. Edwards is this: in addition to her part-time salary from the city, is Ms. Fleming still on your private payroll as well?

The Roadrunner is getting desperate

Last week, after the big snowstorm, the "Roadrunner Express", an email newsletter apparently sent out by an Ernie Davis loyalist and campaign manager for City Council candidates Edwards, Watts, Munro and Appuzo published unsubstantiated allegations against the Mount Vernon DPW. A very low quality photo of a white pickup truck plowing the driveway of a private business was used as evidence of wrongdoing on the part of a DPW worker. However, the photo contained no identifiable marking whatsoever and it clearly was a great stretch by "Roadrunner" to make such outlandish claims in an attempt to smear the city.

Is the publishher of the "Roadrunner" cracking under the pressure of continuously having to manufacture lies and fiction in order to drag this city down until Maureen Walker has a chance to run for Mayor?

Finally...

Keep up the pressure good people. There are clear signs that the new City Council is allergic to sunlight and is reacting to it by retreating on some of their blatantly risky legislative efforts. However, their idea of transparency is rather odd and they need your help to explain it to them. Keep speaking up at council meetings. Keep making the phone calls. Keep forwarding these emails to your friends and family who care about the future of our city.

You can follow the complete story of the new City Council's shenanigans by visiting http://www.mvexposed.blogspot.com