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bbpolitical
Forum Admin
265 Posts |
 Posted - 06/20/2006 : 6:55:30 PM
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I attended the first 2 and a half hours of the budget hearing, enough to hear Mr. Henderson and the Personnel budget along with Mr. Doyle and the Maintenance budget. There was quite a bit of resistance to new hires in the upcoming fiscal year from most of the councilmen. I took copious notes of both of the departments (even more than the incoming Auditor) and learned mostly that most of the probing questions into Mr. Doyle's testimony were repetitive and ill-informed. This is particularly distressing since Mr. Doyle's budget request was all encompassing enough and large enough so as to not need further oversight (in the form of approving transfers later on) from the city government. The budget request handed out at the meeting from the Auditor was filled with errors that completely altered the amount requested and several line items. The problem here is that the City government may not know what they are approving or rejecting when they decide.
Now, Mr. Doyle seems to know what he is doing and said at one point "Trust me" this city needs more money now than it has in the past to keep up buildings and handle maintenance due to crumbling infrastructure. He spend several 5 to 10 minute span monologues describing his points. I understood most of his reasoning without having to probe him, and would have approved the budget. However, the council had very little idea of what the department did and what it was for, mostly asking any the same questions over and over.
All I have to say is that Mr. Doyle had tremendous patience.
Tidbits....
Mr. Van Campen was prepped by the Auditor's office and served up some nice softballs in support of the Maitenance budget
Mr. Simonelli seemed to think that the Maintenance guys mow lawns and plant bushes/flowers
Ms. Diflorio thought approving a minimum budget with the stigma of future large transfers from elsewhere to cover deficits would be better than trusting Mr. Doyle so that at least there would be oversight for large capital purchases. Mr. Doyle corrected her saying capital expenses must be approved seperately by the alderman/council anyway, (so it is a moot point)
Mr. Smith kept complaining that the new budget would cost more and couldn't see where costs would be reduced. Mr. Doyle simply answered that these expenses now will prevent future catastrophic loss (as has happened in the schools and other buidlings due to shoddy outside contracts) Mr. Smith had to be cut off by the Chairman after asking
a lot of questions that didn't really lead anywhere.
Ms. Smith said nothing at all for 2 and half hours, (except a few choic whispers to her father and a thank you to her friend for bringing a fresh Dunkin Donuts Coolatta after she drained one)
THERE was also a long discussion about contracts to outside companies and how Mr. Doyle was going to convert most of this to in house employee work. It seemed that no one was willing to "double-pay" while outside contracts were expiring during the year and new Maintenance employees were trained to take over. Of course, Mr. Hanlon's whole platform in the department was eliminating contracts with outside complanies and keeping things in house, and that is the right thing to do, in my opinion.
Outside contractors have been raping the City of Everett for years and it is time for them to go. Therefore, this Maintenance budget is vitally important to the city. If Mr. Doyle does what he says he will do with the money, it will be money well-spent. We will finally have Everett oversight over Everett work.
I am an average resident of Everett who would like to see more communication about anything and everything to do with Everett
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EverettsPride
Advanced Member
1140 Posts |
Posted - 06/20/2006 : 7:10:22 PM
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I watched the meeting today on TV. I have to agree that Mr. Doyle seems to have the right idea by trying to prevent future cost to be out of control. We cannot keep putting bandaids on everything we have to fix and replace things which will cost us right now but save us money in the long run. He seems like an intelligent and sincere man. I hope he does what he has planned to do,
Sally |
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bbpolitical
Forum Admin
265 Posts |
Posted - 06/20/2006 : 8:24:19 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by EverettsPride
I watched the meeting today on TV. I have to agree that Mr. Doyle seems to have the right idea by trying to prevent future cost to be out of control. We cannot keep putting bandaids on everything we have to fix and replace things which will cost us right now but save us money in the long run. He seems like an intelligent and sincere man. I hope he does what he has planned to do,
Sally
I agree. If anyone would like to get a more detailed description of what happened, check out my blog You must be logged in to see this link.
I am an average resident of Everett who would like to see more communication about anything and everything to do with Everett |
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Maintenance Budget Request
