County workers were put into a legal bind when they were told they had to go to work on Dec. 26, even if their jobs were unrelated to storm cleanup efforts.
Richard McCormack, in the public session of the Jan. 13 meeting of the Hudson County Freeholders, asked why workers were required to come to work when the state had already declared a state of emergency.
He said the buses were not operating, the trains were not operating, and some non-emergency workers were given tickets for trying to drive their private vehicles to places of employment.
“While I do not agree with keeping the county open that day, I understand the logic behind the administration’s decision.” – Bill O’Dea
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McCormack, a worker in the Welfare Department, said the remaining option was to walk, and although he walked from the West Side of Jersey City to county offices during a storm last winter, he chose to stay home this time – and was forced to use a vacation day.
“What about people who did not have vacation days left?” McCormack asked, saying as a representative of the union he was opposed to having workers use a sick day.
Freeholder Bill O’Dea, who said he had to hitch a ride with an emergency vehicle to get to the county annex building, reported the logic behind the county administration’s keeping the county open on that day.
“It’s all about finances,” O’Dea said. “While I do not agree with keeping the county open that day, I understand the logic behind the administration’s decision.”
If the administration closed the county down, every worker who had to report to work to clear the streets and other operations would be paid overtime, even for their normal shift. Employees on vacation during that time would receive a vacation day credit because the county technically was not open for business.
County homeless programs cut by almost $1 million
Federal funding used to help bolster the county’s homelessness relief programs was cut by $917,000, Hudson County Freeholders learned as a result of questions asked in the public comment period at the Jan. 13 meeting.
Carol Ann Wilson, director of social services for the county, said the county homelessness programs had three funding streams in 2009 to support various programs – a Social Block Grant from the state Division of Youth and Family Services, funding from the state Department of Human Services, and federal stimulus funds. This year, the county did not receive the federal money.
Freeholder Chairman Bill O’Dea said this was news the freeholders had not been informed of and urged that a resolution be drawn up and federal legislators contacted to urge the federal government to restore the funding.
Wilson said federal legislators have already been contacted about the matter. The cuts will not have a significant impact on the three shelters located in Hudson County or the transportation network the county provides to help find shelter for the homeless during extreme weather conditions, such as the Dec. 26 snowstorm. The greatest impact will be on the prevention and case management programs, which are designed to provide longer-term solutions, such as doing things to keep people from becoming homeless or finding permanent housing for those who are homeless, O’Dea said.
Tire low on air – don’t use the county garage
Freeholders clashed over the establishing of a rigid policy that would prohibit workers from parking their cars inside county facilities after a worker at a garage filed a complaint, saying that the manager of his department allegedly had work done in a county repair shop.
Jorge Guerrero claims he was fired as county mechanic on Nov. 4 after he allegedly tried to file the complaint, alleging that his boss’s, Division Chief Ann Iannicco, Cadillac Escalade was up on the hydraulic lift at the Duncan Avenue county repair facility on Oct. 26 – suggesting work allegedly being done on a private vehicle, which is a violation of county policy.
“I tried to file the complaint before Nov. 4 when they fired me, but I couldn’t get anyone to take it,” Guerrero told The Hudson Reporter.
County officials said that Guerrero had been fired for failing to report to anger management classes, and that he had also refused to cooperate in an investigation of a garage incident.
Guerrero, who has since produced photos of Iannicco’s vehicle on the lift, is currently disputing his termination, and claims the firing was related to his complaint.
An investigation by County Attorney Donato Batista, however, said the car was brought into the shop to be parked by one of the workers, and that the worker, seeing a low tire pressure warning light on, decided to put the car on the lift and fill the tires for Iannicco.
O’Dea said a new policy is being adopted that would prohibit private vehicles from being parked in county garages.
Freeholder Jeff Dublin – normally a close ally of O’Dea – questioned the severity of the policy, saying that if someone needed air in their tire, they should be able to get it filled in the garage.
O’Dea said this was a slippery slope and that if one thing is allowed now, then other abuses might follow.
Freeholder Al Ciffelli sided with Dublin, saying that common sense should prevail and that the policy should not be so rigid.
O’Dea said if a worker at the garage filled out a report about an emergency repair, such as the filling of a leaky tire, he had no problem with that. He simply does not want such things to be done in secret.
One precaution against future possible abuses will be the installation of cameras in the county garage, he said.
In a somewhat related matter, the administration reported that costs of gas for county vehicles rose by 45 cents from December 2009 to December 2010.
New building for Hudson County Schools of Technology
The new Hudson County Schools of Technology building planned to be constructed in the southern part of Secaucus will cost just under $200 million, according to Schools Superintendent Frank Gargulo, who gave a detailed report to the Freeholder Committee this week.
Gargulo said state funding could cover as much as 70 percent of the cost of construction if the criteria for aid remains the same as it is today.
The state would pay about $126 million of the total construction cost.
The impact on local taxpayers could be reduced significantly more if the county gets a good price on the sale of land for the two existing campus sites in Jersey City and North Bergen.
“I can’t say how much we will receive,” Gargulo told the Freeholders at the Jan. 13 meeting. “But it should be substantial.”
He said he hoped the sale would cover the remaining $74 million.
The county would seek other funding sources, said Freeholder Chairman Bill O’Dea, before it would bond to cover the remaining costs.
One caveat to getting the vote from the freeholders for the project would require the school to establish a satellite school in Jersey City.
Al Sullivan may be reached at asullivan@hudsonreporter.com.