 |
| Art Said I'm not Lazy I'm Just Laissez-Faire |
Hey Art the Buck Stops Here! The City Manager is paid to run our City. If it slipped through the cracks, if Woods, Cosmo, and Gebo are not doing their jobs the buck stops with Art. It appear he had a very laissez-faire approach, never following up with his department heads and allowing procrastination and avoidance prevail.
With the City Council Split on Art's outcome, and a possible payout for wrongful termination, we may just wait until the beginning of the year and not renew his contract (I think it is up next year).
Journal Article Split
35 comments:
The bad news is that the contract is open ended. Sorry to disappoint. You will never get rid of Art until he decides to go. After all, why would you want to get rid of a man who can't read his emails? A man who thinks doing a good deed for a cheese plant is good city business? A man who can't do internet research and consequently gets sucked into a townhouse scam from a sham developer? A man who has the audacity to let the AP pick up a story that he's bringing 200 (fantasy) jobs downtown?
Sorry. Art's here to stay. Any success he's had owes to grant monies he didn't attract, but we won't be getting rid of him any time soon.
But success is a relative term in a city that lost 10% of its population in the past decade. A city that can't collect your garbage. A city whose public vehicles are driving around with garbage bags over the windows. That's right, CEO. When you pare services to the bone and have lots of grant revenues to work with, you can fool morons Skamperle and Vaugh into thinking you're doing a world-class job.
So sad for our city. Hopefully he won't sell out any more nice people like the Wades during the rest of his miserable tenure.
928 I almost totally agree with your thinking.. I just want to add this. No matter what hes done or will do he had the support of Bill Nelson and his stooges. How many time issues were brought up by Morley or Shollette that the Mayor or one of his stooges used the words we cant micro-manage.. Then the fools in Ogdensburg re-elect this idiot for four more years.
Everyone calls Sciorra a liar but Nelson is the real liar in this case...
It was Justin who did the research to discredit Art's American Communities deal, and like him or not, Justin was the one who got the all the grant funds flowing. Talk to people around the state, he is held in high esteem by his colleagues at all levels of government.
Anon 5:18 Justin did a great job, moving money around you must live on Knox stree. $87K in rehab, then sell it to the city for $51K.
The only reason he came forward, was because he was going to fired. They wanted him gone, so he was ready to take down the whole lot.
6:38
None of which cost the City a dime. It's a grant program. You may not like the politics or the philosophy. You may think other homes were better candidates for the program.
But Woods attracted the monies. Art didn't. Art was aware of Knox Street, and too dumb and stubborn to bring in the Council when he had the chance. His defenders say that he directed Woods and Cosmo to do things over the course of 30 months. As the CEO, however, it is is obligation and his prerogative to ensure that the situation gets taken care of before it hits the paper. If the CEO can't compel his employees to follow policy for 30 months, he's not much of a CEO. Not to mention the painfully moronic things he said to Chris Robbins.
Art's role in the process was taking advantage of the ignorance of the morons on City Council, telling them that Justin "moved" grant funding without authorization. This claim is specious on its face. Grant monies can't be "moved." The granting agency reimburses money only after it's spent.
To bad citizens of Ogdensburg. You are expecting the great white hope of a new council to take care of Uncle art. They will all fall in line like good little puppets. The puppet master will be uncle Art. He will spoon feed them just like he did the present council donkeys.
Only in Ogdensburg is such a great saying for such a city loaded with sheep.
Merry Christmas Art. You will continue to screw the residents of Ogdensburg.
Lets all raise our hands like wayne when he stood up for our library. By the way Wayne did you check first with Fred Bean before you raise your hands?
Wow, you are all idiots. Read The Journal's website right now and see how Uncle Artie's relationship with the city is going.
Yes, 12:45
Uncle Art is preparing the legal foundation he needs to keep his grip on power. What a sad little turd of a CEO. His "rights" have been violated? Christ almighty, how do you think the Wades feel, you pompous stuffed shirt? Go negotiate us some more fantasy jobs and town homes and get that cheese plant up and humming again and you can talk about your "rights" being violated.
What a crybaby.
One simple question folks.. Whos to fault for Arts mistakes>>>?
Listen to the news tonight!!!Arts preparing a suit against the city? And Skamperle and Vaugn are still backing him. These two clowns and Art need to take a hike! I sure hope some one is helping us as a city! Screw these two dopes!!
Boy Blunders support there Uncle Art. So much for Dan and Nick supporting the taxpayers . They work for the manager and always have ? Why ?????
1013,, You have got things a little mixed up.. Nelson and his supporters have always supported Art and given him their blessings. Morley has wanted to fire him for years.. He has become a babbling blithering idiot about the idea of firing someone... Dont get me wrong. Mike has always been an idiot but now hes added fuel to his rage..
For me personally I think the lying to councilors and taxpayers constitutes severance and no other reasons were necessary. Now with Morleys making this personal, and Nelsons re-election bid using this as a platform for votes its got the city between a rock and a hard place.
This report shows Art didnt do that many other things wrong but in fact exonerated him of the most serious charges. Woods should have been fired and Cosmo right along with him. Gebo should have been terminated as council for the city and not considered by Nelson for part time judge period.
Now the city attorney Silver must defend the city but how convenient for him to have to protect the people like Morley and Nelson and Woods who will be named personally. Actually he probably will have to rescuse himself again.
Any boy blunders here are named in the lawsuit...
NYSCOM might also consider appointing someone else as its head as this man Nelson will only reflect badly on all of them and their municipalities.
Interesting read, Mr. Dolengy. The CEO can't handle a personnel matter, even given 30 months before it hits press. He can't seek help from council or inform...perhaps because he's too busy reviving the cheese plant and starting up his veterans business incubator on state land...or maybe because he doesn't want their oversight of two contracts administered by the same firm. Basically, he thinks he can ride it out.
When, however, the paper finally gets wind of it, he makes a series of idiotic statements that portray the city a negative light. Regardless of responsibility, in other words, he failed to contain the story and instead turned it into an issue that soiled the city's good name...that's why we lost out on grant monies this year. After a few years of raking in the awards, the state now saw that the city is solely in the hands of a flailing administrator whose only concern is self-preservation.
The guy has been a joke for years. Almost had American Communities Inc smiling all the way to th bank. He failed his first big press test by disregarding the first lesson of Media 101: wait to make a statement until you've considered the range of possible externalities. In his haste to get rid of Woods publicly (which may well have been justified), he walked straight into a situation where he made all partis, not just Woods, look horrible. And unfortunately for him, his charge as CEO is to make the city look good.
At least now we have no new grant monies so Art will have a smaller portfolio of responsibility as he pursues his undignifiied lawsuit.
The real sad part is that the City will pay for all of the Attorneys, Nelson's, Morley's, Wood's, and Scorria's. Art will win this lawsuit as well. Wait until you see the bill once this is over. Great way to put Ogdensburg on the map
I have never heard of a lawsuit won because the principles disliked each other. Morley hasn't been totally professional, and neither has Nelson (he's a pretty seamy guy). But Art doesn't have special "rights" that insulate him from politics or from people disliking him. If anything, he should thank his stars that people didn't laugh him out of town when he announced that 200 jobs were coming because a man had invented a system that powered nuclear submarines with car ignitions.
Art was on his way to being fired 3 years ago, just like he was in Horseheads. Then he was chased out of Michagain, landing in Ogdensburg w a 40,000/yr raise. Justin saved Art's job here by brining in all the grants, convinving people he must know what he's doing because look at all the money his administration was getting.
The Journal finally got the story right today. Look at all 3 articles and the story is this: For whatever reason, Art lied about what Justin was doing and the State has discredited Art's allegations. Justin said he did everything according to state regs and the state confirmed this. Now Art is saying his rights were violated? What a joke. What about Justin's? This guy moved here, worked his ass off, for the most part did things the right way, and he gets chased out of town w/out being paid even his vacation time. Art signed an agreement to pay him and not say anything negative, whose rights have really been violated?
But unfortunately, the biggest loser is the City and its citizens. Andrea is a smart young woman, but she's not ready to take over so in addition to not getting new grants b/c of the neg press, the city is left without anyone that understands how all these programs work and fit together.
The real tradgedy here is how unavoidable this all was. If Art wanted to fire Justin, he should have just done it. The CEO didn't need any approval and shouldn't have been discussing his personnel decisions w Council anyway. That's been Art's biigest flaw as a manager, he's a coward and afraid to make executive decisions and stand by them
1:19 is right. This was completely avoidable. Art had 2 options to end this and show leadership.
1) Lie,blame Justin and fire him, end of story.
2) Don't lie, say this is what we did and this is why, but if Council wants us to handle it differently, these are your options.
Either way, there's no scandal and Art shows he's on top of things, but instead, we get this mess dragging on for nearly 6 months!
115.. What planet are you from. JUstin Woods was insubordinate period.. What other world are you allowed to continuosly disregard your superviors directions...
If he though Art was all that wrong he should have gone directly to the council... Nope.. Couldnt because the council backed Art.. Remember cant micro=manage..
I dont care what any state agency says. The buck stops here. The managers orders were disregarded in a very arrogant way by Woods and Cosmo.
Speaking of Cosmo whats been done in regards to his insubordination?
Mr Dolegney it isnt friend.. Ms. will do for you. Your spelling could also improve
1:19
"cowardly" is the perfect word. It goes hand in hand with his blustery arrogance. In any real company, this guy would have told to hit the bricks long, long ago. Here, he's been able to hold on for so long by making dopey alliances two of the saddest excuses for public servants I've ever seen, Skamp and Vaugh. But now he's lost the mayor who propped him up, and Woods, who brought him grant monies (even if he was quite arrogant, too).
So all that's left is for the pig to try to wrest a settlement. That's what you get when you play in the mud for too long.
4:05 the situation was complicated. Sciorra didn't get it.
Woods explained why a lease would open the city to liabilities. Sciorra never pulled a trigger, never made an executive decision. Just kept saying vaguely that he wanted things done. But he's not a manager and he's not smart so he didn't do the blindingly obvious thing: tell people upfront what was happening, why it was happening, and give them the opportunity to review and comment. He also felt indebted to Woods for a while since he owed his continued employment to Woods and his grants.
A real manager would bring all contracts through Council (not squirrel them through the Growth Fund back door), make tough decisions, have the courage to make difficult recommendations publicly and transparently, back them up with research and facts, and then defer to Council if they disagreed. Whether or not Woods was insubordinate, Art's secretive approach made the story much bigger than it had to be and then he made it worse by saying horrifically stupid things to Chris Robbins.
A good manager would never have let this story see the light of day. He would have expeditiously dealt with a so-called insubordinate. A halfway competent manager would have devised a media strategy that put the City's interests first. Our ignoramus of a manager instead chose to air dirty laundry loudly and stupidly. The result: programs that were being run well will receive no new monies.
Now we don't have to argue about the economics of spending SOMEBODY ELSE'S money to clean up blighted properties. Now we won't have to worry if STATE money is being used to help poor people. Before all this, we could have debated whether we could make STATE money go farther. But now we have no money. All because Art's sole executive decision was to go public as messily as possible.
4:14 is right, Sciorra knows he is going to be fired Monday - for cause and with out severance. He is trying to create leverage so he gets his 50k severance - which he gets lump sum, then he can ride unemployment right into retirement.
Sciorra and his microphones (aka Vaugh and Skamp) keep saying Woods was insubordinate, but haven't provided any evidence to back up their allegations. Everything Woods said has checked out or verified, first by the Wades and now by the state.
Bottom line. Art was an incompetant manager and admitted liar. Its time for him to go.
1:15 - you are on the mark in what you have to say, but the city is fortunate to have Augustine on board, unless Uncle Art has screwed up that relationship. Those folks seem to understand how all of these programs work and fit together. After all, they are responsible for administering the programs that just received a gold star from the State.
Augustine has done a great job for the City. Woods brought Augustine on board and developed the plan to straighten out all the housing program finances that were messed up going back 15+ yrs. Remember, the housing program was suspended when Woods arrived and they cleaned up all the old problems over the past 2 yrs
The buck has to stop with Art. He is the City Manager, I have to agree with the blog. Art had the power to fire Woods, it was his responsibility to follow up on leases and nothing was done.
First of all the Augustine Group took 163 thousand for admin costs for just one grant. When the Augustine Group gave their meet and greet Jen Stevenson became a cheerleader for them and took over the meeting answering all of the questions put to Mr. O'Neil. It was a joke.
One question was asked at this meeting: If a contractor bids a rehab cost for $40,000. and he only spends $20,000. what happens to the extra $20,000. The answer given at the meeting was the contractor keeps the extra $20,000Another fine example of a company, with Uncle Art approval, abusing grant money for Ogdensburg.
Take a look at 2 Grove st. There is no driveway, no sidewalk, and no way to gain access to this house, without crossing over private property. You can walk up a hill onto the porch. This again is a product of Art Sciorra's fine management skills. You put $50,000 into a house valued at $21,000.
Art Sciorra and his friends should be run out of town. And if Mr. Cosmo had knowledge of this type of wrong doing he should also be fired at the same time.
I totally agree with the last author and Poly.. Manager must go but Cosmo needs to go also and anyone else involved.. We need an honest overview done on grants and our charter needs a major overhaul in the area of responsibility..
I want to say this and please dont take this wrong... Just a few weeks ago council decided not to serve eviction notices of the tenants of Knox St. We cant kick them out at Xmas was the cry..
The firing of the manager dosnt set well with me or many others at christmas time.. They have dragged this out for this long another month wont matter now...
dear santa,all i want for christ mas is to be free of art and his management style.at the ery least he should be put on admin. leave till this shit storm blows over.
10:12 - Hard to believe that 163K went for administration of one grant. Everything I have heard about these grants is that administration is limited to a percentage, usually in the single digits.
How is it that Jen Stevenson was a cheerleader for the Augustine group? It would seem that she would be the opposite. She is on the board of the County Housing Council that has seen Augustine take many of their clients.
Yes, 10:12 is mixing things up. The state would be happy to clarify their finding of no adverse findings or irregularities if you call up. They'll also let you know that instability explains the decision not to offer funding this time around. Woods requested the state examination. Interesting to see how Art will claim his rights have been violated when Woods has provided documentation for everything he has said...and refrained from making personal comments.
Jen Stevenson has been in bed with the Augustine Group because she has received several benefits concerning her business. She should have never been elected to the city council. She owes to many favors to the Augusinte group. If you do not believe this statement feel free to contact her at her business and ask her about her assoication with this group.
The senerio given above for what to do with excess grant money is true.. Any contractor bids include their labor and they get that money left over. It their bid is too low then I asssume they are stuck with the shortage.
The problem with these groups is that they are supposed to inspect the work and assure its done, done on time, done correctly without corners cut and to assure its safe. They say they do but they dont do it consistantly nor right.
I know from fact that the County agency dosnt inspect as they say. They give the bids to whomever they want not the low bid as it should be.. They also tell you what you will fix up to get their money. You have no choice...
Mike Morley was correct in stating the council should control any of this that goes on in the city.
Post a Comment