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6/18 Bayonne City Council Meeting - Last Minute Fireworks
Posted 06-18-2008 at 07:34 PM by neilbarton
Box movers making $37 an hour. Some workers making up to $75 an hour. What are these rates for? Working the city elections. It seems that a "tradition" has been set up over time to give the city workers an extra "bonus" in their salary for working early & late hours on election day.
This issue came up as a last item on the agenda at the council meeting. The motion to pay the salaries was requested to be tabled until July. However City Clerk Sloan requested that it not be tabled, and insisted on a vote quite adamantly. These workers were under his direction, and he wanted to see them paid. The tension rose quickly, with Mr. Sloan's assistant providing an emotional outburst agianst the city councilmen.
The debate apepars to be over the legality of Mr. Sloan to set the rates that are paid to the city workers. Councilman Chiappone (as well as other council persons) believe that, legally, the rates should be set by City Council.
At one point a city worker came up to challenge the city council, whio is obviously doing it's best to scrutinize any out of line expense. This worker said there would be chaos if not for the work the city workers do on election day, and that we would find no one to do the work if the rates were cut. Mr Lapilusa responded: "I am pretty confident that at half the rate that you get paid, we can get someone in here"
Ultimately the resolution to pay the workers passed, with a promise that the issue would be looked into.
This issue came up as a last item on the agenda at the council meeting. The motion to pay the salaries was requested to be tabled until July. However City Clerk Sloan requested that it not be tabled, and insisted on a vote quite adamantly. These workers were under his direction, and he wanted to see them paid. The tension rose quickly, with Mr. Sloan's assistant providing an emotional outburst agianst the city councilmen.
The debate apepars to be over the legality of Mr. Sloan to set the rates that are paid to the city workers. Councilman Chiappone (as well as other council persons) believe that, legally, the rates should be set by City Council.
At one point a city worker came up to challenge the city council, whio is obviously doing it's best to scrutinize any out of line expense. This worker said there would be chaos if not for the work the city workers do on election day, and that we would find no one to do the work if the rates were cut. Mr Lapilusa responded: "I am pretty confident that at half the rate that you get paid, we can get someone in here"
Ultimately the resolution to pay the workers passed, with a promise that the issue would be looked into.
Total Comments 2
Comments
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KingBayRatIt was noted that at least two city workers took 4 hours vacation so that they could work on the election at the inflated rate. What supervisor in his right mind would approve that? There should be a reprimand for that supervisor. This is an entitlement program to reward city hall favorites without having to go through the proper process of evaluations and rewards based on performance. Sloan and the other city worker who defended the practice had no arguement to support the grossly inflated payscales for the election except that "if they send people in from Jersey City, the rates will be over $100 per hour."
Holding back the pay these folks were promised was wrong, but shame on all of them if this practice is allowed to continue in November. |
 
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luluI question the timing of this issue. It has been a long running practice for the city clerk to set the salaries of election day workers and furthermore, the city council, who approve payment, has never before questioned or probably bothered to review the submitted bill. All of a sudden a question of legality arises as well as the actual hourly rates. I'm sorry but I'm very skeptical that this is a ploy to try to defame Mr. Sloan's character as he has hinted he will run in the forthcoming election for Mayor. If this is all they can "dig up" on him, I'll most certainly cast my vote for him.
We are entitled to a full explaination, including names and wages, of the people involved. A previous accounting would also be helpful in determining if Mr. Sloan has upped the ante or has conducted business as usual. The last piece of pertinent info would be to compare our bill to that of a neighboring community. If he acted inappropriately in any way, it would drastically change my impression of him. If this is merely a political tactic to sway votes away from him - shame on whoever is responsible for making a mountain out of a mole hill. According to the statements made at the council meeting, this issue was known to exist prior to the meeting and enough time elapsed to address it before the resolution was announced. If Mr. Sloan didn't want to bring it to the public he could have opted to shelve it. Something just doesn't sound right. Anybody out there with another viewpoint? |
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