OZ REVISITED

Report from OZ; Except for Maria's Crusade Blog the advent of fall has been outstanding for the dearth of new blog material. Maris has with justification turned her sights on both Administration and Council. This past weeks OPRA revelations should be a must reading for every concerned residents.

Next Monday at the Agenda Setting Session there will be a recommendation to place or omit the second and f final vote on an Ordinance for a million dollar bond issue to purchase the "ShotSpotter" system as recommended by the Director of Public Safety. As commentators to various blogs and the bloggers have pointed out there are too many unanswered questions to justify consideration at this time.

The issue has been further clouded by questions on the administrative credibility of the Director Of Public Safety in view of the recent prisoner handling fiasco. Moreover, in the past 36 months there have been two major organizational restructuring in the Police Department from 4 Divisions to 7 and then t0 3. The numbers may be wrong but the description of the Division on the City site lists 7 Bureaus some headed by individuals who have left the Service and others who have been demoted. Such confusion leads to serious doubts about the competency and degree of research done to recommend purchasing the system. If the Council places this item on the agenda they should take a good look at their fiduciary responsibilities.

It would also appear that among the discussion items for next Monday's meeting is the unanswered questions regarding the perpetually vacant critical financial positions and the lack of compliance with state statues. What is the Administrations excuse for failing to have presented.the proposed budget promised for the end of August or at the latest by the September Council meeting. Even if it (the budget) is now on the agenda there is no excuse for failing to meet the deadline set by administration.

Earlier 2010 the Personnel Division proposed and presented to the Council a contract for automated time machines and software to replace the manual inefficient paper system. The Council was in approval but suggested that for accuracy the bid be restructured to included fingerprint identification. Was this ever resubmitted to the Council or has it been lost in the. administrative morass?

In view of the recent exposure of deficiencies found in the fiscal audits for 2007,20087,&2009 is it possible that the Council can not act on the suggestion from its Finance and Administration Committee as mentioned in September.

There may be an addendum to this post later today.