RE: http://www.newsandtribune.com/local/local_story_309131823.html


Galligan has hired one more fireman than what had been agreed to. The number was to be 70, we now have 71. It seems no matter how hard the council works to save money the mayor finds new reasons to spend. During the council workshop Grooms explained that Jeffersonville has overspent the budget by 1 million dollars each of the last two years. This amount MUST be made up by new revenue or by transferring money into the general fund from the raining day fund. Once the raining day dollars are spent that is the end of the fund, it is not replenished. That is Jeffersonville's only safety net.

Besides hiring an additional fireman, Tom has been giving employees "raises" at a time the council said no raises would be given. Here is how Tom has undermined the hard work of the council. The salary ordinance has a range of pay for each of the employees. An example is a range of $15.00 to $18.00 an hour. If this person is working now for $16.50 an hour, Tom is raising their salary to $18.00 an hour. This is within the pay scale set by the ordinance. Because some employees are already at the top of their pay scale some employees will receive raises while others won't. At a time when money is tight, or in Jeffersonville's case we have already overspent the budget, this is not necessary and is underminding the work of the council. The above figures are just an example, but as Mike Smith pointed out last night some of the salaries have a range of up to 9 dollars an hour. Tom said he needed to give the salaries a boost to keep the personnel and also stated he knew how to "manage people". He should have stated he knew how to overspend. In the end this overspending will cost you and I, the tax payers, more money. The hiring and spending freeze should have been enacted the first meeting in January 08, not now. Galligan has a good start at bankrupting the city, he must be stopped.

Connie Sellers is absent and she works for Galligan.........

How conveeeenient....

Where are the funds from the Parking lot (former sewer plant) coming from? If from city funds, is it REALLY necessary when we are so far over budget? They could've sewn grass there for a year and it would've looked just fine.

quote:

Originally posted by down and dirty:
Connie Sellers is absent and she works for Galligan.........

How conveeeenient....

Well now that you brought Connie's name up I'll post something that happened a couple meetings ago. The city has part time code enforcement officers, most working three days a week. The annexation ordinance provides that one of the positions will go to a full time "code enforcement supervisor" with a pay scale of $36,000 to $38,000 a year. (Pay scale again) Connie wants this full time position and I look for Tom to give it to her. But the bad thing is that a couple weeks ago when the council voted on this she also voted and did not abstain. Because she will be seeking the full time slot I think she should have abstained to avoid a conflict.

Who is the fireman that was added?

quote:

Originally posted by Supermike:
Where are the funds from the Parking lot (former sewer plant) coming from? If from city funds, is it REALLY necessary when we are so far over budget? They could've sewn grass there for a year and it would've looked just fine.

This was an 80-20 match grant. The city only has to pay 20%. This grant was secured over 4 years ago before Waiz became mayor. This was not a top priority with Waiz and only some planning by JTL was done. Jeffersonville does look a lot better. But the bad part of all this is when I 65 is widened and the new bridge is built the parking lot will become a ramp to I 65 northbound.

quote:

Originally posted by justanothercitizen:
Who is the fireman that was added?

I think his last name is "Stith". This is one of the candidates that had already been turned down by the pension board. Tom pushed for him to be hired and sent him to the pension board a second time.

I do not know this person or his family but I think he should have been THE NEXT ONE to be hired, not hired now. Something smells here..........

And let's NOT forget the huge attorneys fees that TG has spent when he abolished the City's in-house law department and placed the law department for the most part at the Wilder Law firm where Scott Lewis, Larry and Darren Wilder practice. Also remember that the Ethics Commission attorney Dustin White shares space at the Wilder Law Firm.

Scott Lewis - $24,977.50
Darren Wilder - $20,405.59
Larry Wilder - $92,187.66
Joe Weber - $1,750.00 (This should have been made out to Mickey. As they are partners they let it go)
Mickey Weber - $7,867.50
Greg Clark - $9,844.01

I believe that this does not include all fees paid to Joe Weber who has been the attorney for the Redevelopment Commission. These fees would be paid from the Redevelopment Department. I assume since he is running for judge that someone else will be apponted or maybe Larry Wilder or his brother will take that over as well. Also, be alert for the amount of money Larry will receive from the bonds for the sewer project.

It's a thing of beauty. TG had 4 years to think of all he left on the table during his first regime. He knows this is a one and done so he's going for the brass ring. Let's do a recall.

I can say that Stith would be a good hire. The timing of his hire is not great. The city continues to add more to the fire department while the police continue to be short staffed. More police calls are made in an hour than the fire department makes in a day. I hear the fire trucks and can't help but wonder.... does someone have a hangnail? Across America cities, on average, have more individuals on the Police force than fire. Not in good ol TG's city. I would understand if our fire dept made more fire calls but I can't reason why we contract an ambulance service when the fire department shows up to every medical call. I did some asking around and found that roughly over half of the police officers in the city patrol the streets. What do the others do?