UPDATE: From Briefs, Aug. 31, 2008
Emergency Management office reopened
City officials responded this week to the padlocking of the Office of Emergency Management as reported in last week’s paper. Director of Public Safety Bill Bergin said that the inventory that necessitated the padlocking has been completed and that no investigation is being undertaken, nor was one ever planned. The padlock has been removed and Bergin said the only reason it was on the door in the first place was to ensure that none of Deputy Coordinator Joel Mestre’s personal belongings were misplaced while he was preparing for medical leave. But inventory aside, Bergin said in connection with a separate incident, “There will be disciplinary actions handed down.” He said the separate incident was a “problem” that occurred at a staff meeting shortly after he took over as OEM supervisor. He said, overall, the office was doing fine and that they plan to bring aboard a third deputy, Tom Molta, who heads Hoboken’s Volunteer Ambulance Corp. Beside Mestre and soon Molta, the other deputy coordinator is Patrick Riccardi, who heads the city’s Information Technology department. Bergin also said OEM Coordinator and Police Captain James Fitzsimmons has been “doing a good job with a limited amount or funds and equipment.” Bergin said he plans to reevaluate the compensation for OEM in the near future because there are major discrepancies in pay among the members. Mestre is paid $105,000 – which includes longevity pay – and, at the other end of the pay scale, Molta will be joining as an unpaid volunteer. In the midst of hurricane season, and in a mile-square city that lies directly across the river from the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the city padlocked the door to the city’s Office of Emergency Management (OEM) two weeks ago, and one city official said that there may be an investigation coming up.
Most of those involved with the matter last week declined to give specific answers.
Public Safety Director Bill Bergin said last week that he directed the office on the ground floor of City Hall to be padlocked.
“I wanted a complete inventory done,” Bergin said.
Bergin said that Joel Mestre, the city’s full-time OEM deputy coordinator, was scheduled to be taking a medical leave, so the office was not going to be used.
As far as what comes next for OEM, Bergin said the situation is “up in the air” right now.
Bergin said that commenting any further could interfere with any “disciplinary action” that may need to be taken in the future.
Mestre and the city
However, a few City Hall workers said that they saw Mestre sitting in the hallway of City Hall for some time at the end of the week.
Mestre was among the city officials who joined the Hoboken Police Department on a controversial trip two years ago to Louisiana to give relief in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. Photos of one of the trips that were released to the press have showed police officers letting busty Hooters’ waitresses handle their guns.
Mestre said last week that he was not on any kind of extended leave from his office, but at this time, he can not comment any further on the situation.
George DeStefano, the city’s Chief Financial Officer, said last week that normally, Mestre’s job would fall under the Business Administrator. However, since the city’s business administrator resigned from that position two months ago amidst the city’s budget problems, Mestre now reports to DeStefano.
DeStefano confirmed that Mestre gave him a doctor’s note explaining that he would be out for three days the week the office was padlocked. However, one city administrator claimed last week that there was a memo floating around City Hall saying that Mestre was “AWOL,” or absent without leave.
What does Mestre do?
Another city official said that an investigation is being conducted into the amount and effectiveness of work done by the OEM.
The same official said an analysis of spending and equipment use might be coming.
New York City OEM says Hoboken could see as many as three million evacuees from Manhattan in an emergency.
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Fitzsimmons could not be reached by phone for comment last week.
Residents questioned it
The OEM office is an important one. In each local town, the OEM is responsible for coordinating the efforts of the first responders at the scene of an emergency. They also must educate the public about what to do in an emergency situation.
After various residents questioned the position and who was in charge over the last few years, the city finally granted Fitzsimmons a deputy to assist him in August of 2006. Mestre was hired full-time for the position and made $97,614 last year.
Before that, he was the city’s zoning officer. It is unclear whether the city has ever replaced him in the zoning capacity.
Fitzsimmons receives a $15,770 stipend each year for his work in the OEM, and has one year left on his appointment, which by law is a five-year term.
The OEM office on City Hall’s ground floor was set up in 2003 after the mayor’s conference room was used as a makeshift command center on Sept. 11, 2001.
The city’s OEM website – www.hobokennj.org/oemsite – provides very general information from FEMA and other government agencies on how to react to a disaster.
It does not, however, provide any information specific to Hoboken, and gives no exact details as to planned exit routes from the city.
OEM officials have claimed in the past that they cannot release details of evacuation plans in order to keep that information away from any possible threat.
Two years ago, after Roberts had repeatedly promised to mail information to citizens about what to do if a hurricane hit, the city sent out mailers to the public listing local emergency numbers and providing FEMA information.
New York City’s OEM has said that Hoboken could see as many as three million evacuees from Manhattan in an emergency such as a hurricane.
For questions or comments on this story, e-mail tcarroll@hudsonreporter.com.