Mayor Urges Expedience In Talks With BOE

Reacting to the continuance granted in a lawsuit the Board of Education filed against him, Mayor Sebastian Giuliano expressed optimism that "reasonableness can prevail."

However Giuliano urged the BOE to begin talks with the city immediately, especially as regards the fate of twenty employees who face termination Friday unless the city and the Board of Education can come to an agreement about which body has the right to hire those employees, and whether they are part of the city's collective bargaining agreement.

"I think there are certain things the charter is clear about," Giuliano said.  "Up until now they (the Board of Education) has said they don't have to abide by the charter, and they don't have to abide by the collective bargaining agreement, and that's just not so.  They have to recognize that.  And if they are willing to recognize that, then it's simply a matter of defining limits."

Giuliano speculated that neither the city, nor the Common Council would reject legitimate employment requisitions for essential employees requested by the Board of Education.

"I feel badly for those employees who were hired by the Board of Education, and who thought they legally had a job, and now that job's in question," Giuliano said.  "I don't want those employees in the cross hairs."

Giuliano was not happy with a related vote by the Common Council Friday in which the Democratic caucus assembled and overturned the mayor's veto of a Common Council amendment.  The reaffirmed amendment denies the proposal by the mayor to move payroll of non-classified BOE employees under the city payroll.

"That was a new low," Giuliano said of the meeting scheduled at a time when all Republican members were unavailable.  "Vinnie Loffredo said that the Democratic members were the only votes who matter because they had the votes they needed.  How about if we just send cardboard cutouts of the Republican members to all the meetings until the next election?  The minority didn't have the votes on this issue, they could only hold a mirror up to the other Council members, and the Council didn't want that.  They didn't want to hear the other side"