A Lively Common Council Community Meeting

The Common Council hosted a lively community meeting on Thursday at Moody Elementary School in Westfield. Mayor Giuliano and most of the Council were there, only Councilmen Serra, Daley, and Loffredo did not show. The meeting took place at the small tables and chairs of the school library.

The public comments, not surprisingly, dealt almost entirely with matters related to the City Budget, which was scheduled to be voted upon at a meeting in City Hall later that evening. Union leaders of Local 466 (AFSCME) spoke passionately in favor of the Mayor's proposal to move the classified union positions from the Board of Education budget to the City's budget.

Jeff Daniels and Linda Salafia said that if this was done, all union members would be treated the same by the city, with supervision by a departmental director and reporting ultimately to the mayor's representative in the Personnel Department. Both said that when workers had grievances and they were dealt with by the Personnel Department, the school administration frequently completely ignored the agreement. Salafia said, "We need a change."

Ed Thibodeau, a Staff Representative from AFSCME, told the Council that the relations between union employees and the school administration were by far the worst he has seen in the state. He said that while even big cities might have only one or two charges to the State Labor Board for violations, there had been 8 in Middletown in the past two years. He charged that union positions in the schools had been eliminated and employees let go, "in retaliation for union activity."

Two employees in the school system expressed fears about what would happen in the future. Tracy Vess said if the schools retained control of the union salary budget item, then they might fire those employees who supported a change, and if the city obtained control then they might simply lock out employees and have the work done by others. "My job is on the line. ... Either way we are in trouble."

I spoke briefly about the lack of transparency in the budget which would be voted on tonight. I expressed my frustration that none of the budget information would be available to the public prior to the vote.

After the meeting, Mayor Giuliano commented that he and the Republican Council members had also not seen the Democratic budget until today. He called the budget workshops held by the Council in April, "A dog and pony show" with no value. Giuliano called on the Finance and Government Operations committee to work on a budget next year, as an open process involving all of the directors.

Councilman Robert Santangelo took issue with my characterization of the budget process as lacking transparency. He said that the mayor's budget was not delivered until April 1st, and the Council was required to vote on a budget by Friday, May 14th. Santangelo said that there was simply not enough time for the Democrats on the Council to finish a budget in time to share with the public. Santangelo also blasted the Republican Council members for their lack of participation in preparing the city budget, saying they had been invited but did not participate.