The Town Board will be conducting interviews with candidates for Public Works Commissioner on Tuesday at our work session. We will be interviewing two candidates this week and anticipate interviewing other candidates next week.
If you were conducting the interview what questions would you ask the candidates? What are some of the qualities that you would like our new Commissioner to have?
Last week the Town Board interviewed three highly qualified candidates for Police Chief. The Chief will be stepping down later this year and expressed a desire to work with a Chief-designee for the balance of his tenure. The Chief designee will not receive any additional compensation until he assumes the job of Police Chief. Each of the Police Chief candidates the Board interviewed holds a high ranking position in the Greenburgh Police Department and is familiar with police operations. The Town Board will discuss the interviews on Tuesday and will make a decision on Wednesday or shortly thereafter. What are some of the qualities you'd like to see in our next Police Chief?
60 comments:
For public works------Honesty
I would like to know the answer to this question which gets asked and never answered.
What if someone were do die? What if?
And more to the point in this time of a "financial crisis" in Greenburgh, why does Greenburgh need to maintain a Navy, SWAT, Police EMT, Police Tech Support?
All of these can be, and often are, undertaken by other (if at all needed) outside entities at a lower cost. Don't hire anyone who mouths Kapica's talking trash with a red face: 'having Police EMT is cheaper, you are getting an EMT and Policeman for one salary'. This is and always has been so much bullshit that the Chief should be put to pasture sooner than later. When the officer is acting as an EMT (a lot of time off patrol), he is not out chasing perps. Ditto the SWAT who spend more time in training than functioning as SWAT. All of this "fully loaded" Department is empire building at its worst and Greenburgh taxpayers need a Police Chief willing to take a step back; someone who can end it right now. No one need lose their job; all they need do is return to doing basic, run of the mill police work.
The only thing that Kapica does well is not bow to Feiner; that is, until he is called to investigate someone with friends in high places.
And, please, the Town Board is not supposed to be babes in the woods in this hiring; hiring the Chief of Police is another part of your job as Police Commissioners. Own up to the responsibility or get a note from your doctor why you cannot do your job.
Whereas residents expect you to be knowledgeable as Police Commissioners which means that you don't become active in this role once a half century just to hire a new Chief but are supposed to be already conversant with the responsibilites, not play the PR game of what should we ask?
But your dysfunction as a Town Board is equally apparent in your lack of leadsership in the other job(s) to fill: the DPW
In fact, hiring a head for the DPW, or for that matter first considering whether DPW should be split up, is complex and technical (not just garbage and leaves) and the Town Board, in this instance, should use the services of a Consultant, not residents who might come back with the question: what is your favorite color? Especially when your role model for a DPW Department head was a man that left no organization chart behind and told you all was well at the Library.
Finally, why is the Town, a Town big enough to have EMT, SWAT, a Navy etc. not looking outside the Department. If the Police Department only handled what the Mayberry Police Department handled, I can understand such provincialism. Not meant to take away what I am sure are sterling qualities of the homegrown candidates, I wonder with no rush due to time (Kapica leaving in Fall), why the Town Board is not casting a wider net and limiting the search to clones of Kapica? Hiring a Police Chief to be Police Chief need not require training.
Given that the real inteviews are in Executive Session, what I would really, really, like asked in public:
What would you differently than Kapica?
And, in return for the 2009 $150,000 Police Chief's salar, would you be willing to live in Greenburgh and become a Greenburgh taxpayer?
If the answer is that no one can afford to live here with that income, that suggests that in times of economic trials, Greenburgh will be hosting a lot more criminal activity and that we need a Police Chief nearby to take charge.
I'll be looking for the Town Board (Police Commissioners all) to post the answers to these questions so that residents will know what pulled their chains.
As they say in Court: already asked and answered. I've asked, now where's the answers?
competence.
competence. in dpw head that is.
AND I CAN"T GET UP!
I'd like to see anew police chief who institutes a program to distribute medic alert devices to all Greenburgh seniors and disabled who will be taking out their trash. He should have a hot line maned, 24/7 to answer these alerts when our seniors and disabled fall taking their trash to the curb.
Finally, that ambulance that doubles as a squad car will come in handy.
Why were non-Greenburgh candidates not considered for police chief? It might be beneficial to get some fresh perspective in the leadership.
For the DPW, we need someone with executive management experience, even if in a somewhat different function. Someone with city management experience, not village or township, would be ideal. I assume it's well known that you shouldn't promote from within for the DPW position.
I think it's a great idea if someone from Greenburgh is chosen to be chief.
He lives here ,he pays taxes here and above all he will save the town much money in answering any emergency calls .
He will have less wear and tear on a town vehicle.
A good candidate for this position is Joseph DeCarlo who is a resident of Irvington.
A law should be enacted that police ,firemaen should live in the town where they serve.
How many time do you hear them say I can;t afford to live in Greenburgh but at the same time they make a good living working here and spend their money elsewhere.
A resident of Irvington? Is he the one who is suing the Town about the marine and Swat in the A budget? TOV pays most of police budget. We are tired of supporting villages.
No, the Greenburgh police officer from Irvington who is suing the town is Michael D'Allessio, president of the Greenburgh PBA. But the same point holds. Town police is paid for only by unincorporated Greenburgh. D'Allessio wants only unincorporated to pay for the Greenburgh Navy, even though it serves the Rivertowns and unincorporated Greenburgh is landlocked. D'Alessio likewise wants only unincorporated to pay for the SWAT team, even though the villages benefit. And he certainly doesn't want the villages to pay for EMT, which again is something the villages benefit from. Would DeCarlo, another Irvington resident, feel differently? Maybe -- DeCarlo and D'Allessio have different agendas -- but who trusts the Greenburgh Town Board these days to even ask the question, much less care what the answer is.
D'Allessio is not qualified to be chief. he may live in Greenburgh but he already has shown the public that his only qualification is to oversee the PBA.
Maybe this too is a mistake after listening him speak at a town meeting .
I know I as a police officer in the city would not want him to none the less represent me or be my chief.
Question: is the quality of mercy strained?
We should fire them all and outsource public works. I struggled out before 7 this morning. Took my garbage down my long and icy driveway. Came home tonight from work. Garbage was UNCOLLECETD. Dragged it back in. I guess they figure since most of my neighbors are too old to take out their garbage they dont have to bother to pick up any on my street.
GARBAGE ISNT THE ONLY THING THAT STINKS IN GREENBURGH.
NO ONE should have to pay for the Greenburgh marine unit. It's a silly waste of money.
the blog is pretty quiet.
reason - anon is in albany.
as is a greenburgh reporter.
luck we still have samis.
GO BOB!
I do hope that the courts are in Bob Bernsteins favor.
This is the first step to fight the Greenburgh machine.
Go Bob go. YEEEAHHH
so anon is bob?
you mean the part of the greenburgh machine that edgemont voted for - juettner and sheehanigans?
The new police Chief should drop the marine unit and tech rescue squad. Make all ems personel civilians. He would look like a genius, saving alot of money and putting more cops on patrol.
When was the last time you saw a patrol car in your neighborhood?
Not only Sheehan or Juettner. The chaiman of the board is also included in this machine.
I do not think that only one area voted for this disaster .
The blame goes to all who voted for these three this time arround. The next phase will come later.
if there are no candidates the machine is perpetual.
like old man river, it just keeps rolling (and taxing) along.
New York Specializes in Duplicated Agencies
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LinkedinDiggFacebookMixxYahoo! BuzzPermalinkPublished: November 17, 1992
To the Editor:
Now that the elections are over, it is important that our New York State legislators follow up on promises of change by creating a state constitutional convention. New York's Constitution has been amended many times since 1777, eight times by constitutional conventions, many additional times piecemeal.
If the newly elected State Legislature wants meaningful change, we have to take action to reduce some of the duplication that exists in our state. There are about 10,000 subdivisions in New York State (more than most other states). Many state agencies and departments perform services that are provided by county or local governments. The problem is that the taxpayers are paying for two departments instead of only the one that is needed.
An example: One-third of the Westchester county budget is for the county Department of Social Services. Nearly all the services provided by this department consist of state mandates -- programs forced on the county by the state. The county has no controls over most of these programs. It would make good sense for the State Social Services Department to run all social services programs, eliminating the need for the county department. Why should taxpayers pay for a county Commissioner of Social Services and a State Commissioner when all we need is one?
At the present time each one blames the other for the problems that have yet to be solved.
Perhaps, the State Constitution will decide to abolish county government. More than two-thirds of the county budget in Westchester, for example, consists of state mandates, over which the county has no control. Discretionary programs that the counties provide could be assumed by state or local governments.
The state constitutional convention could look into the subject of term limits (which has been approved in other states), a one-house legislature (to replace the Senate and Assembly), mandates, eliminating the number of government subdivisions and abolishing some unnecessary state agencies. PAUL FEINER Town Supervisor Greenburgh, N.Y., Nov. 4, 1992
2008 update - greenburgh now specializes in duplicative agencies
tdycc and parks and recreation
no candidates is right. this farce will not stop.
Exactly!! Paul has done nothing but create his own layers of duplication within the town. He wants to abolish county government so he can create more & more layers in Greenburgh of which he is king!
We absolutely need term limits. Why haven't we be able to institute a term limit policy?
because the folks of unincorporated greenburgh have foolishly ticked off villagers over minor things instead of building bridges with their neighbors.
when you came to complain, there was no one to join you.
so unincorporated greenburgh - enjoy feiner for another two years and anyone else he cares to run on his slate.
Um ok 12:17.
After today, things might be very different.
Who will come to complain then?
oh and we have just learned that the town is giving free payroll and employee benefit services to the greenburgh library using A budget personnel.
another example of unincorporated greenburgh ripping off the villages.
lets hope the voc (village officals committee) doesnt sit on its hands as it did with the old town hall site and demand that feiner and company (including juettner the liaison from the town board to the gpl) stop this illegal subsidty.
unincorporated greenburgh - land of the free(loaders).
so true - they took land from ardsley too at veteran park.
Have no fear Ardsley! You'll be swimming soon!
It's gunna cost ya though.
time will tell if swim trunks should be packed.
reports on how the argument went should be available later today or at least by friday when heather murray's report is published in the scarsdale inquirer.
in the interim, all eyes are focussed on the theft du jour at the library.
too bad feiner and juettner dont do the right thing and just resign.
we need fresh ideas for all of the town's problems.
So tell the library to use ADP. It costs a minimal amount. Only TDYCC with its myserious payroll shenanigans need payroll help.
that probably not likely. adp is for cookie cutter operations.
also - you need staff to interface with adp.
plus the union staff of the town will not permit the outsourcing.
stop freeloading (at least you know admit it) and pay what you owe the villages.
anyone hear how the argument in the court of appeals went?
its a truism that you cannot win at oral argument (your appellate briefs have to carry the day) but you can lose depending on your answers.
should be interesting. most times people walk away from argument not knowing how it went. you can at best just get a feeling.
The library is a cookie cutter operation. They dont have a lot of turnover and have control over situation. If the villages hadnt allowed TDYCC to get out of hand, payroll wouldnt be a mess.
sure quiet here.
anon please return to feinerstan.
after all, how much more dirt can we dig up on the library?
oops - i just remembered - they stopped drop off service at the hartsdale train station.
real smart when you are about to do some fundraising for white elephant (err library on 119).
I live in Unincorporated Greenburgh, and I don't understand why anyone in a village pays town taxes. Is there some specific service that Greenburgh provides to the villages, or is it like some state mandated fee to support the rural (previously rural in our case) unincorporated areas?
are library employees in a union?
I'm hoping someone will report back from Albany here.
Also, since that darn Scarsdale Inquirer is not available online, could someone be kind enough to post any story here?
Some of us old folks can't get out to get the paper. Just taking the trash to the curb is sucking, what's left of the life we have, out of us.
Thanks Paul.
Needless to say, the first requisite of the new police chief is to "obey the law," unlike the crew that is interviewing him.
If they ask him if he will obey the letter and the spirit of the law,andhe answers YES, he won't get the job. If he says he will "take each case on its face value," meaning some will get away with it while others, less 'important' won't," he shouldn't get the job.
BTW, I keep saying HE, however there are some outstanding FEMALE police chiefs.
As to DPW, that person should be knowledgable about Greenburgh; be able to put a program together that anyone can follow (such that, if for any reason he leaves, the template is there for the #2,3,or 4 to step right in and not miss a beat);he should be conversant with all phases of the various and sundry tasks required of him, i.e. sanitation, sewers, road maintenance etc., and be secure enough to say, "I don't know," or "I don't have the time to do it."Too often, penny wise pound foolish when "managment" ( and I use that loosely) thinks they're saving money by spreading someone so thin the rubber band snaps and the "repair" to fix the "snapped rubberband task screwed up," cost more than the original cost.
On second thought, someone or ones QUALIFIED to interview and subsequently hire the new DPW person, should vault to the top of the list.
Personally, and ,please believe me,as objectively as I can be, there is no one on the board qualified to even ask the right DPW questions. And Kevin is the only one to talk "POLICE" for the chief's position.
SOOOO, I think the Town should outsource the interview and selection process to pros in their respective fields. Those jobs are too important to be left in the hands of tyros.
the new york times put their whole paper (or at least 95%) online and now they are teetering into madoffville
i wish the rivertowns enterprise and the si had some online content but thats not their model.
i assume we will be hearing from anonabob and herb rosenberg soon on how the appeal went.
heather murray from the si was apparently sent by bus to cover the story
dont think there will be a si website soon
goooooo boooooob!
Hal have you heard what the outcome was on the Bernstein law suit.
If you mknow something please comment .We depend on you .
welcome back mr krauss and happy new year
the appeal will most likely be decided by the end of next month - 30-45 days
question - what in the world has juettner done to justify another 4 year term?
see you in the freezer section
I know that what Bob and Herb and Tim Lewis went to Albany for was to present oral arguments.
I don't expect that the Court would applaud any speaker or say good job or wow, you've convinced me.
What the Court will do is decide the appeal and that may take one to two months. So what is everyone expecting to hear today?
The Court, unlike the Town Board, doesn't vote on the spot when new information is substituted.
gooooooooooooooooooo
timmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
forget go bob or go tim or go villages
lets hope the court makes a careful decision that resolves what finneran means or throws out finneran if its illegal.
then lets elect new people in 2009 who will stop the catering to special pleaders that resulted in the idiotic purchase of taxter ridge.
a better idea - breakup the town - its unworkable
how else can you explain 18 years of feiner and juettner?
Rumor has it that the Town Board has already decided. Please be honorable and close / delete this topic.
(I know that I'm asking too much - HONOR?)
we can only hope it's you that die sal hamis
i have to agree with 11:09 time for hal to be under the grass not on top
samis is scoring direct hits on the powers that be.
you can tell what a man is afraid of by what he threatens you with.
samis on the town board - what a great day that will be for a town that has seen better days.
there is so much wrong with greenburgh we need to clone samis!
To all you experts in Emergency Service. What you be saying if the plane crashed in our area and we had no boats for rescue?? Maybe you experts should leave the emergency planning to the emergency services in the Town.
I have to agree with Ed. It really would be beneficial for the Town to hire a professional firm to do a background check on potential DPW candidates. After all appointing someone to lead a 165 person, $25m operation is a big decision. Also they should gather some DPW commissioners from other Towns to help interview.
"What you be saying"
Is this an example of EBONICS? Where did you go to school??????
Is this how you would launch Kapica's Navy in a rescu mission: "You gets in da water and do yo ting!!!!!"
You cant fix stupid. Big deal hope you never need a boat ride
honest, fair, who can keep men and or women working rather than hanging out with nothing to do when they complete picking up garbage by 12noon. Alot of time doing nothing and getting paid. There's more than enough time to pick up garbage from back doors.
you will never get people like we had they were under paid and worked very long hours we as employees saw what they had to do and put up with sorry to see them go i for one will miss them both even the people who got fired liked them after they were let go
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