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Trifecta of Miseries

It’s been a week since my last post, but not for any lack of material. It’s been a busy work week, which does tend to concentrate the mind. But over the last seven days, there are three stories that are worth a few words before too much more time passes.  They are separated tales, but connected by the common theme of how the current Administration of Mayor Tony F. Mack continues to lurch dangerously and incompetently through the business of governing this city. Taken together, they make a trifecta of miserable news. This Administration is blithely wasting millions of taxpayer dollars, alienating current and potential grantees, and – as has been its particular hallmark – throwing talented, experienced public servants overboard in favor of, well, sometimes nothing else, but Just Because.

Let’s start with that last story, because it is the freshest. In a story in yesterday’s Times, Matt Fair revealed that financial consultant David Rousseau, who had essentially served as the city’s Finance Director for about a year, is leaving at the end of this week when his latest contract expires. At a time when the city’s finances are still in disarray, and with several senior positions such as city Business Administrator still open and unfilled, losing Mr. Rousseau comes at a bad time. I don’t know the gentleman, but many who do say generally good things. As a former New Jersey state treasurer, he certainly represented one of the few senior officials in the Mack Administration with significant relevant experience for his job.

I don’t know why Mr. Rousseau is leaving, but I did find this quote from Lisa Ryan, spokesperson for the state Department of Community Affairs to be quote revealing: “We are troubled by the mayor’s tendency to fire people in critical positions first and figure out solutions later.”

You and me both, Ms. Ryan. You and me, both! In fact, you could take that quote and chisel it in stone on some wall down at East State Street. That sounds about as pithy and succinct an epitaph on the Tony Mack Era as we are ever likely to get.

The Mayor’s tendency to act without thinking is continuing to play itself out in other arenas. Last week we read that Superior Court Judge Paul Innes ordered the city to pay a private developer $684,000, money the developer is owed to date for back rent and legal fees in connection with a West Ward shopping center lease for an aborted Municipal Court center Mayor Mack abruptly canceled soon after taking office in the summer of 2010. This  whopping sum should be only considered a down payment: the Judge had previously held the City to be liable for the full amount of the original 20-year deal, a total of – wait for it $7,900,000. And that figure may be much higher, once attorney fees and demolition costs already paid by the developer – which the city may be liable for – are factored in. Yikes.

I’ve said before that this Court deal at the Hermitage Avenue Westside Plaza, signed by Doug Palmer in the last weeks of his Administration, was probably a bad deal. Mr. Mack’s instinct in this case was actually the right one.But there are ways to back out of a deal, and ways not to. The owner of the shopping center told the Times in July 2010 that he was open to negotiation at that time, but filed suit after the city started to deadbeat on the signed lease. But that window of opportunity apparently closed when the City unilaterally broke the lease.

From these accounts of the judge’s rulings, it seems that the City is dead to rights on this, and on the hook for the next 18 years unless a post-court deal can be worked out with the developer. City spokesperson Lauren Ira whistled past the graveyard when she said “We will continue to explore the best solution for the issues presented in this case, whether in court or elsewhere. “ Umm, I really wouldn’t expect the courts to be all that hospitable a place for the City to catch a break, if I were you, Ms. Ira.

Most troubling of the three recent stories is this tale that broke on Sunday. Matt Fair reported in the Times that nearly $1.8 Million in costs incurred on street repair and reconstruction projects city-wide may be ineligible for reimbursement by the Federal Government because the City did not abide by the terms of the funding contract. Violations of the specifications and terms of the grants including failures in project oversight and inspections, as well as reporting requirements. The City is scrambling, with the aid of the State Department of Transportation, to look for alternate funding to cover those costs. In the meantime, our taxpayers may be on the hook for another whopping sum, close to $2 Million. Not to mention that several of the small-business contractors who performed the work are struggling to keep their companies afloat while they await payment from the City of hundreds of thousands of dollars.

This last story is extremely troubling on many levels. Since the City of Trenton can pay for so little of its operations on its own, we are overly dependent on outside funding and contracts to provide the funds. Grants for police, fire, streets and much, much more are Trenton’s life blood. If mismanagement of these contracts is widespread, what other costs will not be reimbursed? How many more contracts will be disallowed? How much more money will we be on the hook for?

We don’t know. That’s the really scary part. The Times article mentions that the City received the notices of grant ineligibility on the street grants from the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) in July and August of 2011, but they have only been made public now. That’s 7 and 8 months ago! How many other notices have we received, in writing or as warnings? We have COPS grants, SAFER money, and CDBG funds, part of the alphabet soup of government funding. Are any of these at risk? It would be nice to know.

In last week’s State of the City Address – a speech, by the way, in which the Mayor prided his Administration on being “open and transparent,” none of this was mentioned, despite the information being eight months old – Mr. Mack spoke at great length about the various grants and contracts in the works, and how they were going to fund his plans for the City’s future. There was a noticeable lack of much talk about private investments or development, or any plans that the City has for making Trenton a more hospitable place for people to move to and invest their money. Seems to me that if you put all your eggs in the Grants and Contracts basket, you shouldn’t go out of your way to jeopardize those eggs. But that is just the path we are now on.

Take together, these three stories in one week provide a few more brushstrokes in a portrait of an Administration already pretty well drawn. Tony Mack and his Administration are ruining this city. Costing us millions of dollars, and almost as much in whatever Good Will may residually remain among those state and federal agencies who keep us afloat. They are causing the severe distress of several of the small businesses unlucky enough to have chosen to work with us, and probably scaring away all the others! They continue to drive away talented people, with no one lined up to replace them.

This has been going on for close to two years now. There’s no reason in the world to think this will change. Mack! What is he good for? Absolutely Nothing!

4 comments to Trifecta of Miseries

  • Robert Chilson

    I loved that song “War! What is it good for? Absolutely nothing!”

    We need Weird Al to do a parody song for the 2014 election.

  • Lunary

    Personally, I like busty work weeks. Never tire of them.

  • Don Wallar

    Kevin, your even-handed analysis spotlights the Mayor’s defects. I wish there was a solution -any solution. But it seems we are destined to suffer until at least 2014. And maybe longer. After all the same folks still vote. And the same non-voters still don’t vote.
    Keep on keeping on.