Dan Toto, Gang Czar

UPDATE: After I posted this earlier today, I received a note from a reader who told me that Dan Toto does not work directly for the US Housing and Urban Development Department, as reported in the Trentonian. Rather, he works for the New Brunswick Housing Authority (NBHA). I’m not able to confirm that myself, but the website of the NBHA does contain a listing for one “Dan Toto” on its contact page. So the question of Mr. Toto being disqualified due to being a Federal employee may be moot. However, apart from that matter there are several other questions about his experience, qualifications, even his availability to work in Trenton during regular weekly business hours and meet with Trenton employees and police without incurring overtime.  These should be addressed by Council before Mr. Toto is brought on board.

— # —

Today’s Trentonian carries an article about Mayor Mack’s announcement – he actually contacted the paper to do so (!) apparently ending his petty feud with the born-again muckraking tabloid – of his campaign guru Dan Toto to replace Barry Colicelli as the administrator of the Federally-funded YouthStat program to coordinate anti-gang efforts in the community. These efforts are sorely needed, as stories of escalating gang-on-gang violence got even worse this week.

The appointment of Mr. Toto would be questionable under any circumstance. His resume is pretty light when it comes to relevant experience for this position. Four years as a staffer in the Big Sisters/Big Brothers program from 1993 to 1997 is about the best that can be said for him in the article. Other stories about him last month, when he was rumored to be under consideration for the Business Administrator spot described him as a “tax expert, political strategist and one-time confidant to Mayor Tony Mack,” which seem to be more germane to this appointment than any recent actual experience in gang-related, or juvenile, or social, or law enforcement work. So, to me, this appointment would be troublesome in any case.  As is the statement from the mayor that Mr. Toto is appointed immediately “on an interim basis subject to council approval but will start right away in a paid role.” As I recall, we had some problems with Mr. Colicelli when invoices of his were paid for work done without Council approval. I would think doing this again with Mr. Toto is a bad idea.

However, this may be the kiss of death for this nomination: today’s Trentonian article states that Mr. Toto “will keep his day job as  as a compliance investigator for the federal Housing and Urban Development Agency.”

On the website of the US Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs (OJP)- the agency that provides the grant funding that pays for our YouthStat program – the Financial Guide for grant applicants and recipients, has a section titled “Part III – Chapter 16: Unallowable Costs” describing what costs are not allowed under Federal grant guidelines. Here’s the money quote:

COMPENSATION OF FEDERAL EMPLOYEES

Salary payments, consulting fees, or other remuneration of full-time Federal employees are unallowable costs.

If Mr. Toto intends to keep his day job with HUD, he can’t work as a contractor for Trenton under this grant. Looks pretty clear to me (UPDATE:  if, Mr. Toto is a fulltime employee. Even if he is not, it needs to be very clear in writing from the US  that his federal employment will not be at issue, and that payments to him will not be disallowed).

So, if this is the case, why this announcement?  Did the Mayor, and his staff, and Mr. Toto, not think that Mr. Toto’s status as a full-time Federal employee might not be a problem? Are we getting a waiver to allow Mr. Toto to work for us in his spare time? Did the right people not know the grant guidelines?

This announcement came out late Friday night, at a time when news often gets dumped at the end of the week when fewer people are paying attention. I hope people pay attention to this.

It seems to me that the Mayor and his Office have all spoken a good deal about the grant Writers hired for the Administration. Seems to me they should hire a few Readers.