COMMENTARY
John Milardo, Superintendent of Parks, in Middletown, and President of the Middletown Managers and Professional Association (Local 6092), shared these thoughts with union members about the appointment of Parking Director Thomas Hartley in the MMPA News.
Middletown has hired a Director of Parking, who is also a new MMPA member, Mr. Thomas Hartley. He was approved during last night’s Common Council meeting, by an 11-1 vote. Mr. Hartley worked many years for the Disney Corporation and one of Connecticut’s casinos. His worked entailed the areas of parking, retail, production, and other areas for these companies.
The only descending vote was from Councilman Vincent Loffredo. Councilman Loffredo stated his vote was based upon the State of Connecticut’s financial problems, and had nothing to do with Mr. Hartley’s qualifications. He felt Mr. Hartley was well qualified, but did not feel it was the proper time for Middletown to hire a director. Apparently, the Councilman relies too much on the State of Connecticut’s financial assistance; or lack there of, to Middletown.
Councilman Thomas Serra informed the audience there was $400,000 worth of unpaid parking tickets in our City, and no one attempting to collect them.
Councilman David Bauer stated that Middletown is “perilously close to losing Federal” monies for parking and business funding, because we have no one in charge of the parking issues in Middletown.
Councilman Gerry Daley stated that Middletown is “leaving a lot of money on the table the way we run parking.” The Councilman, who is also a State of Connecticut employee, felt hiring a Parking Director, was “an investment in our future.”
Considering the State is approximately $19 billion dollars in the hole, and experiencing what has been called a “fiscal tsunami”, they still have to build, fix, hire, and continue to keep the State going. So does Middletown.
Councilwoman Debra Kleckowski explained the City’s Parking Division should be self funding. She believed Mr. Hartley’s comment; regarding parking as an “asset”, along with his experience, far outweighs any reason Councilman Loffredo gave for not hiring a Parking Director.
I really didn’t think any of our Councilmember’s would vote no for this Parking Director. During the PRC meeting, if I had a concession stand selling drool towels, I could have made a fortune. The candidate was that impressive.
The only thing which could possibly make anyone vote in the negative was an international spy ring scam: which there wasn’t. Leave it up to Councilman Loffredo to try and sell everyone that we shouldn’t hire someone because the State of Connecticut is screwed up. Maybe the Councilman wanted to use the Parking Directors salary to pay for some of the deficit our City is going to have this year and next, due to a Democratic budget? I believe Finance Director Carl Erlacher stated it was $6 million dollars.
The one comment that I had a good laugh over came from Councilman Robert Santangelo, when he said: “I like what you said (referring to Parking Director candidate Hartley), about running the department like a business. All of our department Directors should think like that.” What the hell does he think we try to do? It’s impossible when the Common Council has the final say on the budget.
When we recommend charging fees for services and programs; they say no! When we recommend eliminating services or certain programs; they say no! When we give them ideas to reduce expenses, they say no! If anyone isn’t running the City like a business, it’s the Common Council. They’re more interested in politically slapping each other around and arguing over the dumbest things. “I’m in charge! No, I’m in charge! It’s my idea! No, it’s my idea!” It’s gotten all so ridiculous, we’d be better off without them.
They really are not performing a service to the community as they should be. They are more interested in creating Commissions and Committees to oversee every little item for self glorification. They want to be so involved in the “business” that they are preventing it from working properly. Is that how successful businesses operate? I don’t think so.
3 comments:
Let me get this straight. Thomas Hartley was voted in as our new city Parking Director, just shy of a unanimous vote. According to Mr. Milardo, that's a good thing, right? I would agree.
Yet, Mr. Milardo still chose to take this as an opportunity to cherry pick a few sentences by certain members of the council, and slam them.
I'm finding it difficult to accept why any union leadership would continually go on the offensive and agitate an already distressed bargaining climate. There are other unions out there who do not have the same contract language as the MMPA. Mr. Milardo's words will not be doing them any favors. In fact, this constant bitter discourse sharpens the teeth of the anti-union sentiment that is festering out there due to this bad economy and record unemployment.
We get it that Mr. Milardo doesn't care for the Democrats on the Council. So what!
City Councilmen and Woman need to stop playing politics with City government, the election is over.
Council Member`s need to be held accountable for their actions, the City charter give`s them no authority to make up their own rules and override the City Director`s and the Mayor. City Directors and the Mayor are operating from a budget that was given to them by the Democratic Council, our City Directors know what is needed to run their Departments and should be listen to by Council, their expertise in which they are hired for. I urge all Council Member`s to do the right thing for the taxpayer`s, start working on the real issues with your appointed committes and commissions before the City of Middletown ends up in a financial hole as the State of Connecticut is in.
To Anonymous at 8:58am…
It is not that I don't like Democrats of the Council; I don't like all the baloney served up by them, or any political party. Especially when they attempt to pass it along as being done on behalf of the publics best interest . I also believe the comment made by Councilman Santanglo, implying current Directors do not view their respective departments as a "business", was insulting to them.
It just so happens the Democrats have been the majority on the Common Council for many years, and as they put it; "are the fiduciary authority of the City of Middletown." As employees, the majority of us do not agree with how the "business" is being operated. Many problems over the years are due to political input from the Common Council.
I find your third paragraph most disturbing. Why would any Union leader or bargaining organization need to worry about exercising their "freedom of speech"? The implications of your comments lead me to believe; if we don't shut our mouths and get in line, we will feel political retribution for our stance. Any anti-union sentiment you say is festering, is coming from individuals such as yourself; and it is not just because the economy collapsed, the anti-union sentiment is always there.
The facts are the facts, organized labor members make a better living, and have better benefits than those who do not belong to a Union. There is no reason any Union members should apologize for that. As a matter of fact, we would like to see every worker earn a decent wage with benefits. If companies took care of their employees properly, there would be no need for Unions: that's why they still live on.
John Milardo, MMPA President
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