ZLOTNICK SEALS FATE

  

I had this sent to me as a response on another post for when I wrote on the goings on at City Hall, but I thought it would be better to put it as a stand alone.  Thank you for the following:

The post:

"It would seem that Ms. Zlotnick sealed her own fate with her closing testimony yesterday.  If she taped conversations between office staff knowing she was filing a suit as a whistle blower she has made it clear that she is in this for money and her statements “Friday, McCarthy cross-examined her about her concerns with Kellner-Chille’s assessment, during which she admitted, “I am not qualified to know what her assessment is supposed to be.”

“So you don’t have any qualifications but you have opinions, isn’t that what it comes down to?” he asked her.

“Am I qualified as an assessor? No,” she responded. “Can I have concerns about assessments in my neighborhood? Yes.”

Zlotnick who was supposed to be looking out for seniors who couldn’t or (didn’t) know how to grieve their assessments was a lie as she was only worried about, in her words, her neighborhood.

If anyone doesn’t know how to grieve their assessments it is their own stupidity and let’s not use the growing excuse prevalent in our country ‘it’s somebody else’s fault’.

With her quoted statement, Zlotnick blew up any notion she had of a civil suit against the City.  Her attorney fees are also in question.  The attorney charges upwards of $350.00 per hour and there is concern from many citizens just who is footing the tab.  You may only have to look down the hall from the Accounts department for the answer or just follow the money to understand what is going on.

It seems to many that this may have blown up 6 months too early as a story circulating around that Johnson, Sutton and their lap dog Tighe wanted to wait for next years election, but they could not contain the very public attention seeker Zlotnick."

End.

The prevailing view point among people who are following this (which is not that many) is that Franck's office will be cleared of any illegal activity and that this was a well planned scheme to get rid of a Democrat Commissioner by a current Council member 2 seats down.  Zlotnick was well placed in the office by recommendation by Shauna Sutton (one of Zlotnick’s close friends I am told) and I think the person who is paying her legal bills promised a top notch attorney and that there could be a civil suit in it for her if she 'played the public game'. I agree that the money should be followed to see who is paying Zlotnick's legal bills because that may very well be the story.  A question to ask yourself, why would an employee who was just hired, start taping conversations and filming with her cell phone at work if there wasn't a motive in the beginning?  Just follow the money.

 

AN ARTICLE THAT SPEAKS FOR ITSELF

An article written by a former employee in the Baltimore Housing and Community Development and Planning departments.

The reasons for change in Saratoga is spelled out in the last paragraph, which sadly is a side effect of the Commission form of government  and as we can plainly see, happens all to often in our City.



"The strong-mayor system, in which all key policy and management decisions flow from the mayor's authority, was eliminated from thousands of US local governments in the 20th century, beginning with the ‘good government’ reforms of the Progressive Era. However, Baltimore's government never experienced those reforms, meaning that Baltimoreans still live in a ‘boss’ system where almost all hope, credit and blame end up singularly associated with the mayor.

It is clear that developers and other interest groups perceive - probably correctly - that the best method to gain decisions in their favor is to ‘grease’ the pathway. Sometimes that grease is pure corruption. More frequently, it is some version of interest peddling that does not quite rise to the level of outright corruption. Either way, it bends governmental decisions away from the public interest and toward the private interest of those doing the greasing.

The best-managed and cleanest local governments in the United States are not strong-mayor governments; they are council-manager governments. This is the structure of almost half of the local governments in the US. There are a few varieties of this form of government, in terms of the roles of the mayor and the city council; In all of them, however, the job of the mayor is not to be the chief executive officer, with responsibility for day-to-day management and decision-making. That job is handled by a professional city manager hired by the mayor and city council. There are universities that train these managers, who would bring expertise in management/administration and an ethic of clean and efficient government.In this system, the mayor and the city council together set policy, make laws/ordinances, and establish and approve the budget. They also provide oversight of operations, holding the city manager to account. The city manager is responsible for hiring and management.

One way to think of this structure is that the mayor and the city council would be like a board of trustees, with the mayor chairing the board and the city manager as the hired CEO.

One great advantage of this system is that it insulates day-to-day management from the intrusion of politics. There would be no benefit of ‘greasing’ decisions with the mayor or with individual council members, because they would not have that sort of power. Of course, there would be a risk that this influence greasing would move over to the bureaucracy staff, but that is not how it has turned out. Experience around the country is that council-manager systems tend to be far cleaner.Such a charter-reform movement would have the goal of overcoming the cynicism that pervades conversations about Baltimore's city government and have the ideal of creating a government about which the citizens could be proud - but would still be vigilant."

HIDE AND SEEK, A SUCCESS TACTIC

The League of Woman Voters cancelled the debate between 2 members of Saratoga Citizen and 2 members of SUCCESS scheduled for 9/19 because SUCCESS could not field 2 people to debate against Saratoga Citizen.  SUCCESS had also backed out of a scheduled debate at the library scheduled for the 13^th of this month for not being able to field a person for the debate.  This would seem odd as Remiga’s group has been spreading a lot of information lately and if anyone has read the Proposed Charter knows, it is misinformation they are spreading.  The debate would bring this out into the forefront and they can’t get caught in a venue like this without facts, something they just don’t have.

If you were at the evening of discussion they held with SUCCESS members Scott Johnson, yes our own Mayor (has anyone but me noticed how blood shot his eyes look all the time)?  How can he be holding office and be a card carrying member of this group and his partner Joe Dalton, who it is said, upon arriving in Saratoga to start his job declared a statement regarding Saratoga as being a city in the sticks.  This is the same Dalton, who was making $190,000.00 in salary and $25,000.00 in other income from the Chamber plus retirement and all the other benefits.  Anyway, Remiga did have the sense to take questions from the audience, but only from SUCCESS members.  She advertised it as an open public meeting, although she never recognized many of the hands raised by Saratoga Citizen members or regular citizens who had just woken up from the Mayor’s speech.

Well some news on a Saturday, the League of Woman Voter’s has announced that a debate on October 25^th from 7:30 – 9:30 will take place at the Saratoga Springs High School Auditorium.  Those in the debate for the group against Charter Change (SARATOGIANS UNITED TO CONTINUE THE CHARTER ESSENTIAL TO SUSTAIN OUR SUCCESS), again they can’t remember their name so they use SUCCESS, will be Ken Klotz & Jane Weihe and representing Saratoga Citizen (Saratoga Citizen) will be Pat Kane & Batavia City Manager Jason Molino.  Pass the word around.

This event will go on said a spokesperson from the League, no matter if SUCCESS is there or not.  Captain America feels that former Mayor Karen err I mean Ken Klotz or Jane Weihe will pass on the spotlight.  Expect some red faces when they can't come up with anything but 'look at wherre we are now'.  Pass on the information, you will want the truth and this will be the place to get it.

JOHNSON DOES IT AGAIN, BUT IS IT A SURPRISE?

Well, it has been done.  Mayor Johnson, who has been saying for 4 years that he was going to appoint a Charter Commission to make the current Charter much better, announced he has done just that.  What I can’t wait for now is to see the cast of characters he appoints.  One thing for sure, it will be Johnson supporters, SUCCESS members (guess who?) and the good old boys network.  This last grasp for power by the Mayor, Shauna and it appears the Republican Party shows how they operate and how they feel about the citizenry.

Now, do you think this was done by the Mayor to confuse voters with only less than 6 weeks before the election?  Granted, he CANNOT change the fact that the Proposed Change has to be voted on in November.  Do you think the Mayor is smart enough to propose this Commission after saying he was going to 4 years ago?  Some say no, I feel this smells a little of Shauna Sutton yanking Johnson’s (better not said).  Like Charlie McCarthy to Edgar Bergen, so to is Scott Johnson on Shauna Sutton's lap.

When the Mayor joined SUCCESS, he made it perfectly clear to citizens he was opposed to Charter Change.  Instead of being a Mayor and staying neutral he has again joined with a small group led by Remiga Foy who, at her party last week with Johnson and Joe Dalton, (we call him the $225,000.00 man because of his salary amount at the Chamber before he retired), had admitted that professionalism is the best solution when dealing with groups like government, school districts etc.  Her example was that citizen’s elect a School Board and the School Board then interviews and appoints a Superintendent to administer the District.  This does sound like blueprint of a Mayor/Council/City Manager form of government, doesn’t it?

One thing stands out as explained to me by a friend who visited both a SUCCESS meeting and a Saratoga Citizen meeting.  She said at the SUCCESS meeting it was attended by the same old guard of Saratoga Springs and she did say OLD GUARD.  She then said she was impressed that the Saratoga Citizen group consisted of every age group, young and old and ages in between and had more information and that they allowed attendees to freely ask any questions they had a concern about.  It was said that at the talk SUCCESS held at the Principessa Elena last week with SUCCESS members Mayor Johnson and Joe Dalton that after their talk, questions were taken from the audience but sadly Remiga would never take a question from any Saratoga Citizen member in the audience.  This is the Mayor’s idea of hearing from everyone,

Mayor Johnson has said we have a great economy here, and he is right, we also have a beautiful City.  However, look at what happened when we lost Racino money, it cost Saratoga Springs dearly, we had to slash services in a hurry.  What if the State's takeover of the race tracks doesn't work and it starts to hurt the racing industry, we will suffer immensely, what planning is being done just in case this might happen???  We cannot have knee jerk reactions to problems like we do now.  We need to get out of 1918 and get into 2012, things have changed in almost 100 years, everything that is but how our City Hall operates.  Captain America says to know what the difference between the two choices that will be on the ballot in November and vote for what you think will be better for the whole City.  Remember though, the Mayor's Commission will not be on the ballot.  The Mayor does not want you to consider change, show him we are not as dumb as he thinks we are.

MARY HAS A LITTLE LAMB

Well kiddies, it looks like Mary Zlotnick will be drawing her complaint out for a time while making the City spend more of our money.  Let me know if you think Mary is being self serving in her fight for her good name.  First, she goes to the police last year and after an examination of her complaint the police find nothinf wrong in the Accounts Dept.  Then by having lunch almost every day with HR Joe, this move creates an immediate conflict of interest for her.  Then after removing office materials from the department offices, it looks like she discussed the files with her HR lunch friend and the newspapers.  My sources that are in the proceedings tell me Mary sunk herself during not only early testimony but also when she was on the stand.  This has all the signs of a shaft that Zlotnick is trying to give John Franck and staff, when she has no idea how assessments work in the City,

Speaking of Zlotnick, she was given a reference by her good friend, none other than Deputy Mayor Shauna Sutton.  This in itself should explain why there is turmoil in the department.  It appears Sutton doesn’t do anything unless she wants to drag someone down.   The Mayor has had a far away look in his eyes for a while, I hope this doesn’t mean he’s off the Pepsi and is moving up into adult beverages.

How one can look at the past and current Council meetings and honestly say they don’t want a professional in the building has to be blind and deaf.

We even have an acidic blogger, whose motto is,’if we find a story with no merit, we’ll make one up.

Below are two pictures below, and I would like you to give a response:  Can you tell, of the two which one is the blogger and which one is learning to read a newspaper? Hint - it makes sense whe the blog and blogger are bananas. 

IT HAPPENED ONE EVENING

  

I have received some inquiries from various posters to blogs if I would post their responses that another blogger will not post, my answer sad to say is no. 

While some bloggers might be vile and offensive they do have a right to spew.  If they do not show your post, know that you probably either, hit a nerve, proved him wrong or just plain embarrassed him.

The only complaint I’ll post is against Captain America but I will not, if the language is vulgar.

Well, I attended the info session that was hosted by Remiga Foy’s group   Saratogians United to Continue the Charter Essential to Sustain.  Mayor Scott Johnson and Joe Dalton spoke about the benefits of the Commission form of government and how well it worked with the Chamber in bringing Saratoga back from the brink of disaster.
The discussion was what one would think it to be (talking to the choir), with about 35 people in attendance which included a number from Saratoga Citizen.  What was typical of Remiga though was when questions were taken from the floor.  Remiga who also served as moderator would not allow any questions from the Saratoga Citizen group in attendance.
This is the way Saratogians United to Continue the Charter Essential to Sustain and Remiga will be conducting her future ‘informational hearings’.  If I were you don’t bother to attend, just figure everything is wrong.

IS PROFESSIONALISM NEEDED FOR CITY GOVERNMENT?

  

If you attend the meeting and debate tonight that is being sponsored by Remiga Foy’s group SUCCESS here are some facts you may want to keep in mind or ask if you get a chance.

I would say that Joe Dalton being the PROFESSIONAL he is did a good job over the years transforming Saratoga to what it is today.  The question is did he do this alone? No.  Without the support of the businesses that were still here and a great citizen volunteer base along with a part time government it wouldn’t have been done.

The word Professional accounts for a great part in the City’s success.  I wonder how much better (not that Saratoga Springs isn’t a beautiful City) the City would be?  Paying a professional to do such a great job was key to the City’s evolvement.   Let’s look at some comparable salaries in chambers throughout the State and we find our Chamber  President, was and the new one may be the highest paid in New York State and maybe around the country.

Saratoga County Chamber of Commerce

2008 -  Joseph Dalton - $194,767 – plus $4,502.00 other income from Chamber

2009 – Joseph Dalton - $199,716.00 - plus $29,891.00 other income from Chamber

2010 – Joseph Dalton – $123,889.00 – plus $47,256.00 in other compensation from Chamber

            Todd Shimkus - $70,006.00 – plus $19,241.00 in other income from Chamber

The Saratoga County Chamber of Commerce only serves a few communities in the County.

The Southern Saratoga County Chamber,

 who has its own high paid President serves- Ballston Lake, Ballston Spa, Burnt Hills, Charlton, Clifton Park, 

Crescent, Halfmoon, Jonesville, Malta, Mechanicville, Rexford, Round Lake, Stillwater, Vischer Ferry and Waterford

The Manhattan Chamber of Commerce

2008 – Dennis Paget - $121,798.00 – no other income from Chamber

2009 – Nancy Poelger - $118,750.00 – Plus $6,250.00 in other income from Chamber

2010 - Nancy Poelger - $118,750.00 – Plus $6,250.00 in other income from Chamber

The Greater New York Chamber of Commerce

2008 - Mark Jaffe - $135,000.00 – plus - $7,000.00 in other income from Chamber

2009 – Mark Jaffe - $115,063 – plus no other income from Chamber

2010 – N/A

When a professional is involved in business, whether in a non profit, business or government it should run efficiently, streamlined and the Director should do his/her job as directed by the board, in the case of government the heads of the City would be the elected Mayor and Council.  Leaving an organization or government with part time unqualified people in charge is bound to have an affect on its performance especially with the ever changing tax laws and burdens placed on business and the ever increasing State and Federal mandates placed on City governments.  The point boils down to this, do we need professional management to deal with the ever changing times or do we leave it to unqualified leaders who “can be replaced every 2 years, if they don’t do the job”).  It seems to me that we can go for a long time replacing no nothings every 2 years.  Why we may even nee Remiga to run again as everyone in Saratoga would have taken their turn.

Ask this question tonight if you dare and see what the response is.

CHARTER DEBATES A GOOD THING

It’s finally good to read that Remiga Foy has woken up and is starting to talk about the change in the form of government.  As I read in the paper, Saratoga Citizen has had 61 meetings to explain and discuss and held informational sessions and had debates on the pros and cons of each form.  One question you may want to ask her is why wait until the 11^th hour before holding her meetings.  I feel it is because she thinks she can cause confusion in the last 6 weeks and that will help her in her quest to keep the status quo with as little debate as possible, thus having citizens keep wondering what is going on.

While as I said in earlier posts regarding my feelings on changing the Charter, I have not been associated with any one group but have some friends in each one.  One of the interesting facts between the two groups that were mentioned to me by my friends is that Saratoga Citizen has a mix of young, middle age and senior members while at the first SUCCESS meeting it was mostly all older citizens made up of the hard core Saratoga ‘natives’ Remiga leads on almost every issue.

It seems that younger voting adults as well as middle aged (up to late 60’s) make up the core of those wanting the change, there are a large group of newer seniors late 60’s and above that also seem to think we need to streamline government to save money and open government to the people.  All citizens agree however that Saratoga is a great City and a nice place to live.

Another slant on this issue is that Mayor Johnson and Joe Dalton are the 1^st guest speakers at Remiga’s first open meeting.  Finally, the Mayor has shown why he spent so much of the citizens money to stop the proposal from being on the ballot, it looks like Remiga had his number and ear early on and some say SUCCESS didn’t have the money to sue so the Mayor took up the mantle with financing their cause of stopping the issue from ever reaching the voting public.

However, we should look forward to these debates as educational and informative so they will help citizens make a sound decision in November.  I only hope that at the debates attendees will have the chance to stand and ask questions instead of filling out cards so some moderator can choose which ones to ask.  Many good questions are not asked if a moderator or screener feels the question should be bypassed.  If the group or sponsor of the debate is worried about time, start an hour earlier.  Questions and answers can be put in a word program after they are answered and projected on a screen if someone comes in late.

On September 19^th there will be a debate at the Saratoga Springs High School sponsored by the League of Woman Voters and the debate will be between 2 persons against change and 2 persons for change.

ATTEND THE DEBATES WITH AN OPEN MIND NO MATTER WHAT SIDE YOU ARE ON.

WHAT’S NEW PUSSYCAT II

Some interesting news the Justice League has heard from a Republican plant in City Hall (yes, we also have those).  What is going on in City Hall recently sounds like a good old soap opera.

 Oh! what a tangled web we weave,
When first we practice to deceive!

By: Sir Walter Scott

Well, the news goes like this.  The reason behind the executive session the other day was to get rid of the HR person that Pinnacle designated to City Hall.  It seems that none other than Mary Zlotnick (you all remember her?) was dating the HR fellow that worked in City Hall.  I guess we could call Mary a working girl, but there is nothing good that comes out of ‘pillow talk’, and this is probably the main reason of Ms. Zlotnick’s insubordination (could be because she wouldn’t stop the affair) and subsequent  termination and the following reason Mary ‘came clean’. The Mayor tried his best to keep the Company that works 3 days a week for a price of over $1,400.00 per day and it was pointed out by the Council that the budget line for the job would run out at the end of September.

Now remember, at the Council embattled Commissioner Franck made an argument and his motion was passed to give notice to terminate the Pinnacle contract.  The decision to get rid of the HR person and his company was done because of a possible lawsuit down the road for the City and Ms. Zlotnick.

This will be a series worth watching and the players seem to be changing every day.

More about the plant in City Hall.  It is a Variegated Ivy, so if you are standing by one do not talk, and if it’s red as a lobster, it’s Mayor Johnson.

WHAT'S NEW PUSSYCAT?

The answer is so simple I shouldn’t even ask the question.  However, I can’t help myself when it’s about someone who is such a schmuck. 

When is a person not a citizen of Saratoga?  Answer- When he doesn’t live in Saratoga.

At the City Council meeting tonight we witnessed again, a person who plops himself in the front row so he can tape the meetings and also be the first one in line to make comments or statements to the Council regarding City business.

HEY TIGS, YOU DON’T LIVE IN SARATOGA SPRINGS.  He has castigated the Veitch family because several of the clan works for the City.  It is hilarious because he admitted at the meeting tonight that 1. His father was Fire Chief, 2. His uncle was Police Chief, 3. Another uncle was a Captain on the force and 4. He worked for the City (his supervisor of his told me that he was about to get fired because he couldn’t even back up a truck, so he got ‘hurt’ in the nick of time to collect permanent disability).  He and his family have been sucking from the tit of the City and its citizens and he criticizes the Veitch clan with hateful spew.  Naughty fruitcake.

Also some information that came out of the meeting was the fact that John Franck and his office except for Mary Zlotnick had done nothing wrong in the ‘Assessment Saga’.  Also the problem here is that the Human Resource fellow that works for the City and gets paid over $1,400.00 a week for 3 work days per week may have leaked confidential information out and Zlotnick may have been the recipient.  The Council over Mayor Johnson’s protests (it would seem that he may be getting some kickback money, although the only proof is that even after discussing the topic last week with the rest of the Council, pleaded amnesia about what went on in the meeting.  Franck alluded to the fact that he heard Johnson snoring).

It looks like Zlotnick might find herself in a lawsuit brought by the City for leaking confidential information (a pattern that she cannot learn from).  I don’t think that anything went Johnson’s way.  Johnson at one point accused the Council of being political, can you imagine that?  He even trapped himself when Pat Kane from Saratoga Citizen made reference that Deputy Mayor Shauna ‘Tuna’ Sutton has been keeping the ballot wording buried under a stack of papers.  The Mayor jumped right on Kane saying his department has nothing to do with the matter.  Later in the meeting it was pointed out that the City Attorney was working on the draft (the City Attorneys work under Johnson’s Department) and he started to stutter a string of excuses.

The Mayor did make one great point; he suggested that a professional was needed in the HR department “because it is very important to have a professional”.  I guess he thinks we don’t need a professional working for the Council to streamline and run a more efficient government, to that point he would like to keep the amateurs running the City. 

The Mayor also announced tonight that he finalized the Lillian's parking lot deal after 5 years with Sonny Bonaccio.  The City recieved $750,000.00 which is 1/2 the price they could have gotten.  The other reason this sounds crazy is that the plans of what Bonacio is going to build on the lot were approved years ago, long before he paid for the lot (can you say Johnson & Bonacio in the same breath?)

Johnson may be nearing an impeachment as he has clearly put himself and his interests ahead of the City’s.

Well, time to go out and fight crime, I think I will go down to Malta and see who’s causing trouble there.

MAYOR'S JOHNSON & SUTTON SINK SARATOGA

Since as far back as your Captain can remember I have never seen the Mayor’s office taken down to the low level Mayor Johnson and Shauna Sutton have taken it to.  Under their stewardship they really have sent the office into the slime at the bottom of Saratoga Lake.  Let’s look at the Recreation Center debacle and the firing of a building inspector because he wouldn’t do as commanded by the dynamic duo and sign off a part of the job when it was unsafe and illegal.  The two then hired an engineer from Albany to inspect and sign off for them and she walked away and went back to Albany without putting an initial on the paper.  They also opened the facility without a certificate of Occupancy.  Next when the two put their heads together to plan the project, they left out parking spaces and showers for those using the building.

The next item that citizens of the City paid dearly for was the Mayor’s intentional delays and court battles with the citizens group Saratoga Citizen.  Scott spent nearly $80,000.00 of our money playing one-upmanship with costly court and appeal delays.  He lost every point in court and in the State Appellate Court.  So much for his prowess as a great litigator, (in his humble opinion), and taking the advice of the great West Side Dive Bombers, Elliott Massie and Remiga ‘who needs ya’ Foy.  Ok, I couldn’t resist a swing at Ms. Foy but she makes herself such a great target.

This just scratches the surface.  Next, The Mayor and his Deputy, give free reign to Sonny Bonacio to reshape the landscape of Saratoga Springs.  If you check the records you will see that Sonny get’s his projects through the various Boards faster than a speeding bullet.  One thing I’ll never understand is why doesn’t the City’s boards make Sonny put a Victorian look to his condo buildings?  I thought we wanted to project a certain look of a past era.

The Lillian’s parking lot was sold to Sonny for about ½ its worth by the Mayor and the sale price was used in 4 budgets and the City hasn’t received a penny yet.  Beware when the Mayor says ‘it will be taken care of within the month’ (remember the statements regarding the Waterfront Park).

The new parking garage which was recently built has its own prints by the dynamic duo on it.  The Mayor contracted out much of the work that the DPW could have done for more than ¾ in savings (hooking water lines etc.), but 2 engineer’s were hired to see that the jobs were carried out by another firm, probably with ties that can go back to the Mayor and Shauna.  Again, when the Mayor and Shauna couldn’t force the building inspector to put his ok on part of a job that was unsafe, you guessed right fired, gone, thrown out.  We now have no building inspector.  It is being said at City Hall that Scott Johnson is studying to become a building inspector, but as Mary Zlotnik has proved most employees don’t know the whole story.

These are just a few tidbits that the Captain has now, but we will be exposing more costly follies and possible actions that have put the City and its citizens in financial peril.  Until next time, superhero’s.