The one ray of light is Councillor Storch's Blog today on questions regarding the "ShotSpotter program". He is right,every one is against crime but there has to be evidence that locally this program has been adequately researched. Such evidence is lacking.
Plainfield's financial structure is of great concern. Is it capable ti operate a multimillion dollar budget? Consider the following; Plainfield's financial table of organization has been difficult to understand. At this point one can only come to the conclusion that there is no organization in place responsible for a 70 million dollar budget. To the best of my knowledge and with information gathered from various offices in city hall eliminating the Mayor's and City Administrator the following positions are not filled; Director of Finances and Administration, Comptroller, CFO, Purchasing Supervisor.
City Administrator Bibi Taylor has been functioning as "acting Director of Finances and Administration since assuming the City Administrator position 7 months ago. She or a Mayor's appointee may act as Director of Finances and Administration if there is a vacancy. Th City Charter does not have a time limit although the Charter limits Temporary or Acting position holders to a term of 90 days "and they can not succeed themselves"
According to our Charter the Comptroller and CFO are one and the same position. Once again we have a repeatedly appointed Acting CFO formerly designated as Assistant Comptroller. The sad fact is that there is a question about the legality of either title and the qualifications needed to fill the State's requirements. See below the Charter description of the Division of Audit and Control.
The other critical financial post, Purchasing Supervisor once again the post is unfilled instead,
David Spaulding is Acting Purchasing Supervisor.
From the City Charter.
Sec. 2:6-7. Division of Audit and Control.
Within the Department of Administration and Finance there shall be a
Division of Audit and Control, the head of which shall be the City Comptroller
who shall be the Chief Financial Officer of the City. Under the direction and
supervision of the Director, the Division shall:
a Develop, maintain, and enforce a uniform system of accounts including
forms, standards, and procedures for all departments of the City Government;
b Maintain and operate the City's central accounting records in accord
ance with sound accounting principles and in accordance with the requirements
of the Director of the State Division of Local Government Services:
c Establish and maintain controls over all receipts and disbursements of
the City Government;
d Control all expenditures of the City to assure that budget appropriations are not exceeded, and maintain such books and records to provide an
appropriation ledger under an encumbrance system of accounting;
e Pre-audit all bills, claims and demands against the City as to conformity
to City budget, the City Charter, ordinances of the City and State law and
authorize disbursement of those that conform;
lW Prepare and submit monthly to the Mayor and City Council:
I Report of revenues
2 Report of appropriations;
3 List of paid claims:
g Prepare all disbursements for submission to City Treasurer;
h Establish and maintain an internal audit program for all City depart
ments and Federal and State aid programs;
i Be responsible for the sale and awarding of City bonds and notes and act
as registrar for the registering of City bonds and notes.
i Maintain and operate accounting records for all Federal, State, and
private funds under contracts of funds appropriated or advanced to the City in
accordance with sound accounting principles and in accordance with con
tractual agreements.
A.C. 1969, 6.7, as amended June 15, 1970: MC 1973-7, §1. March 5, 1973.
6&oss reference: As to purchasing procedures. see Section 2:10-5 et seq. of
this Chapter.
75 Supp. 12/26/73
§ 2:6-8 PLAIN FIELD MUNICIPAL CODE § 2:6-9
Sec. 2:6-8. Bond Sues.
a Except as may otherwise be provided by resolution adopted pursuant to
the Local Bond Law, the City Comptroller is designated as the financial
officer to sell and award bonds in accordance with the advertised terms of
public sale. lie shall report in writing to the Council at the next meeting
thereof the principal amount, interest rate, and maturities of the bonds sold,
the price obtained and the name of the purchaser.
b The City Comptroller shall supervise the administration of municipal
debt and the receipt and delivery of bonds and notes for transfer, registration
or exchange, subject to the provisions of the Local Bond Law.7
A.C. 1969,6.8
ordinance to be filled by the Mayor with the advice and consent of the
Council, the Mayor may temporarily fill such vacancy in the absence of any
contrary provision in the Charter or ordinance by appointing an acting
officer, including the designation of himself or a Department Director as
Acting City Administrator or the designation of the City Administrator as
an acting department director. Any such appointment shall terminate no
later than ninety 90 days after the date of appointment. No person shall be
eligible for a temporary appointment who has previously served a
temporary appointment in the same office during the previous twelve 12
consecutive months.
b Such appointee shall have all of the functions, powers and duties of
the office for ninety 90 days.
c In the event the City Administrator is designated as an acting
department director, the provisions of Section 2:5-9d shall apply.
A.C. 1969, 3.4, as amended May 5, 1969; MC 2001-46, § 1, December 19,
2001; MC 2004-24, § 1, October 30, 2002
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
What you say about our disfucntional mayor is correct. When will the City Council and State rectify this situation? I think this mayor needs to be recalled
ReplyDeleteTo recall the mayor you need to get the signatures of 1/3 of the registered votes of the City of Plainfield and you are under a deadline to get those signatures. As this is going on you might want to recall some of the council members at the same time(first and forth wards come to mind,) this might be an easier task. While I'm thinking of it it would make sense to include Assemblyman Jerry Green in the recall as part of the strategy -critical mass. You need to get only one quarter of the registered voters in his district.
ReplyDeleteTo get the governor to audit the finances of the city, a couple of bus loads of people going down to and picketing his office should do the trick.
Actually attempting to recall Assemblyman Green, as difficult as it would be could have significant beneficial fallout even if it is unsuccessful: the organization you would need to put together could end up being a new constituency which would weld some weight with both parties in the district; the adverse publicity would more than likely doom Assemblyman Green's re-election campaign, thus ending his political career. In fact the more I think about it the more interesting it gets.
ReplyDeleteStorch and the New Dems are speaking in code. They really do not want to spend money that is not in the 2nd Ward.
ReplyDeleteWhen Storch says we need to study this further, he is using the same coded language that Wallace used when he spoke about "states' rights".
It's code. But we all know what he is really saying. To stop something to "study it further" is the oldest delay and stop tactic in the book.
Sorry, I do not buy it.
5:10's comments are worth thinking about. How can you get 1/3 of the registered voters to sign a petition when the voter turnout at election. 6:54 PM's comments reflect the deep division in the local Democrat party.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous 6:54 PM:
ReplyDeleteYou are using innuendo and hearsay and it puts you into the same league as the Tea Party'ers. It would be useful if you explained to us the code being used by Storch and the New Dems vis-a-vis Wallace or where one might buy a book explaining the 'Code.'. You think it's OK to spend million dollars without doing a least a small proof of concept in the most crime ridden area in Plainfield. How much money has been wasted by Robinson-Briggs administration? The only assurance we have gotten that ShotSpotter will work has been for the vendor. Would you trust the vendor? As to the Forth, there have been numerous homeowners opposed to the plan.