So, at the last Council meeting the Council approved (by a 6-2 bipartisan vote) hiring an independent auditor to crawl through the books and see what up. The Council approved $19,000 for the auditor (slightly less than a good aluminum siding job on a $2,750 square foot house). Ya' gets what you pays for.
Anywho, the Council did not submit the resolution for the auditor to the mayor for his signature or veto within five days. The Council says, "don't have to, none of your business." The Mayor says, "uh-huh."
As usual, Council President Mantello relies upon her own, unique reading of the Charter. To wit:
§ C-56 Executive approval.
Except as otherwise provided by this Charter, every local law, ordinance and resolution adopted by the City Council, including the budget and except for resolutions establishing rules, regulations or other matters pertaining solely to the conduct of the Council's own procedures or appointments, shall be submitted within five City business days after passage to the Mayor for his/her approval. Within 10 City business days after receipt of the original enactment as passed by the City Council, the Mayor shall take action approving or vetoing the same.
A. Approval. If approved by the Mayor, the original document shall be endorsed by the Mayor on the original document and shall be returned to the City Clerk within the ten-day period set forth above.
Mantello argues (supposedly after consulting with lawyers) that since the Council is hiring the auditor the resolution does not need to be sent to the mayor. Essentially, the hiring pertains solely to the conduct of the of the Council's own procedures or appointments.
While we concede that a third grader could interpret C-56 in that facile way, Mantello should find different lawyers.
The easy hit is that the auditor will be hired to review the city's books, not the Council's books. This is not a hire that pertains solely to the Council. More fundamental is that the language of the section clearly allows the Council to make it's own rules governing its own conduct. For instance, if approved by a majority, the Council could pass a resolution that each Council meeting can only begin once everyone rubs Councilman McGrath's head with Astroglide (unless such a rule already exists as we suspect it does). Much to his relief, that rule would not need the mayor's signature.
According to C-56, the Council need not send their appointments (ie. clerk) to the mayor. What is a council appointment? The Charter sets forth who (or is it whom) the Council can appoint. They are the appointments the Council can make (hence, Council appointments). The independent auditor is not a Council appointment. The Charter does not give the Council authority to appoint an auditor (like it does a clerk and deputy clerk). The auditor is an outside consultant who is hired, not appointed. Mantello is dead wrong and she either does not know it or does not care.
The irony is, the mayor will not veto the resolution because the veto would be overridden. However, based on the Charter, the resolution is dead and will need to be passed again by the Council. That is, unless Madden roles over.
Pat, you need to stop the Queen now. It will only get worse if you enable her.
36 comments:
And last week you were praising the council for this move. You've lost your edge or should I say you've lost Bill Dunne. RV time Democratus. It's over.
Funny how Carzilla's last couple of press releases were sent out during normal working hours. This raises the question; why is she allowed to do Troy City business while she's supposedly working for the Senate?????? Is this an allowable practice????
You know the charter is written in pencil, right?
I don't see Demo's argument as being that persuasive, although I am not a lawyer. I see such an audit as well within the Council's realm, although I agree those questioning the need/value of ANOTHER audit have a point. The only value I can see is if the focus of the audit was to ascertain what items can be cut,and how city contracts should be amended to facilitate additional reductions.
Only 3 months in and she is already out of control. Are we surprised?
There are no contracts. They have all expired. And no, I'm not a firefighter or cop.
It's been a couple days now that we haven't heard from the lazy boy group down at the hero hut on 6th ave. They love to talk about fires for a few days after one. They love to tell everyone how heroic they are but they never mention all the training we pay for them. Over payed for to long.
So? By law they all work under the terms of the expired contracts until a new agreement is reached. So Phana's point is valid. It's not like the city can just start negotiations from scratch.
Enough of the hijacking every comments section to promote your personal anti-Troy Fire agenda.
We get that you don't like them, and it's starting to get annoying.
Quiet fatso! We're trying to answer our 11000 calls!
Carmella interpretation of this section is wrong. It is a tenant of statutory construction that when a word goes undefined you look to the statute's use of the word. Here, that would mean that appointment would be defined as the appointments the charter gives to the council. The auditor is not an appointment. The council simply wants to retain a consultant. Carm may want to bend on this because I think the author is correct. Passing 6-2 would make a veto useless.
Or better yet, since there is an election for council next year, perhaps we should wait and let the voters decide. The next council can choose to hire an auditor or not. Isn't that GOP logic.
Not that we don't like them we can't afford the toys and overtime. Enough is enough.
Three questions:
(1) Why not simply have the state come in and take an oversight of the books?
(2) Where is the panel that the Mayor assembled to provide their economic report and their recommendations?
(3) What is being done to collect the $1,000,000 + in unpaid fines, tickets, water bills, etc. that Carmella brought out in the campaign?
(4) where the fuck was I the last four years while the democrats blew through all our money?
Mantello has a track record of misinterpreting and/or disregarding statutory language. Visit google scholar, select New York Court opinions and search "Mantello" and "Troy". Seems no judge ever agrees with her.
Considering what other agencies pay out in salaries and OT for public safety Troy is a bargain. They are the laughing stock as far as compensation is concerned.
With all the time on your hands maybe you should try doing something constructive instead of obsessing on Mrs. Mantello.
Council President Mantello has been running for Mayor of Troy for over 2 decades now. If anyone believes that she plans to work with Mayor Madden in a bipartisan manner for the good of Troy then they are living in a dream world.
I don't think it's "obsessing on Mrs. Mantello". I think it's stating fact.
Perhaps a certain perferred burg developer will buy dunnes house and squeeze 15 town homes on it
Please, let this be her final hoo-rah. DRAFT MCGRATH
Playing on the brown greens at Frear? Did I win?
Does any you peeps EVER notice our council member working hard to bring a city back...I give our girls and guys lots a credit.does any thank them? I know a few of them and they Rock!! Some could run for mayor someday..Kimmy or the other lady.they showed they coukd do it.you go girlfriends!!!
Why all the hostility? Fatass?
the unintelligent call names when they have nothing to add to a conversation.
When Carmzilla or Shitunjian are called out in this group it's because we're obsessed with them. Yet Shitunjian is the same ass clown on here every day obsessing about Bill Dunne, Coop and McGrath? Harry the hypocrite
4:10, you call names every day. The fact you choose to not use capital letters makes it easy for us to point out your obsessions. You couldn't carry Cooper or McGraths jocks. But keep obsessing and keep chasing Sloppy 2nds
Why carry the jock of a wannabe and a coat-tail rider? Think again
Go away Cooper, you clearly do nothing but obsess over Harry!
I thought we were talking about Mark McGrath. No one cares about Kevin McGrath, hes long gone
No one cares about Cooper either!
8:41, I know you can't be naive enough to think that Randy is the only person who comments negatively about Tut and his henchmen.Or maybe you are that dumb! Randy speaks the truth and you guys hate him for it! What does that say about your gang? Nothing good!
Commenting in 3rd person again I see...
Again, not Randy! I hope you're in therapy with a good Dr. I will say a little prayer for you and pray you get better. You must lead a sad, sad life!
I lead a sad life, haha that's funny, your the one on a blog defending Cooper or like I said speaking in 3rd person, that's to me is a sad sad life.
The girls no the city.live her and raised there family here.what better people to help with heading city in right direction.
Post a Comment