Tripodi Denies Mayor and Council's pleas for Inclusion in Contract Negotiations

Read from the bottom. I asked Tripodi if we should wait for the outcome of Christie's proposed pension and benefits changes and whether or not we should wait for the audits to advise the contract negotiations. She makes it clear that she has been negotiating these contracts long before Zimmer, Christie and the new Councilmembers were in office. Excuse me, but I think she is basically saying she doesn't care for their input despite that they were elected by the public to represent us.

It's pretty clear to me that she is behind the hold up to getting the Police audit from the DCA.  Read NJ.com.  Susan Jacobucci was canned last Tuesday and the new head was hired by Christie. I wonder what the new Director  will think of Tripodi's attitude towards her boss and will of the people. I conjecture that Tripodi was conspiring with Jacobucci to withhold those audits and I think this email shows her true colors.

We need those audits because I have a sinking suspicion that Tripodi's deal is meager at best.

What do you think?  Think Tripodi said something like, "give me a concession on healthcare
(5, 10, 10 - no contributions to premiums, get rid of contract days - keep your terminal pay, keep your ability to accrue vacation towards retirement, keep your unlimited sick time, get 3%+ raises year over year) and I will hide those audits so we can protect you from layoffs?"

It is a matter of debate whether or not Christie's proposed changes will trump current contracts.  Typically, state statute overrides.  I am sure the unions will contest this but it's not a closed matter as she presents it.

When she says, "Everyone has known about the police report for a very long time and it was
agreed upon by all parties that the report would not have any impact on the
negotiations.", was she talking about Mayor Zimmer and the current Council?  It sounds like she is referring to the Roberts/Cammarano administration as if we care what those Corruptocrats think about what we should do. Roberts was inept and Cammarano is going to prison.   After all, they were in when Tripodi got the results of the audit and started the negotiations with Scarinci/Hollenbeck.  Who cares if Roberts and Cammarano agreed along with the unions.  Nice of her to decide to ignore the results of the audit.  How could they not have an impact on the negotiations?

What happened to transparency?  Is the Fiscal Monitor exempt?

from: jtripodi@hobokennj.org
To: donnaantonucci@gmail.com
Fri, Feb 12, 2010 at 10:05 AM

What happens in the State has absolutely nothing to do with the City's
current contract negotiations.  The proposals made by the governor for the
State employees relate to all new hires, not current employees or retirees.

Besides, I began these negotiations long before Mayor Zimmer and the 4 new
council members were elected and long before Governor Christie was elected.

Everyone has known about the police report for a very long time and it was
agreed upon by all parties that the report would not have any impact on the
negotiations.  The results of the report would be handled by other actions
undertaken by the City.


-----Original Message-----
From: Donna Antonucci [mailto:donnaantonucci@gmail.com]
Sent: Wednesday, February 10, 2010 1:01 PM
To: Judy Tripodi
Subject: contract question

Ms. Tripodi,

Given that the state is considering sweeping changes to pension and
healthcare benefits for all public employees that are currently
expected to go through by the end of February, do you not feel it's
prudent to wait for the outcome before pushing through our Police and
Fire contracts?

I don't know if the bills pass, do they supercede what's in a contract
or would the law say "as of the expiration of all contracts the new
law will take effect"?

For example, if the new law says that all employees must contribute to
healthcare premiums up to 1.5% of their incomes and if we signed a
contract the day before, would Hoboken preclude itself from taking
advantage of the new legislation until these contracts expired?  Since
we have expired contracts, wouldn't it be prudent to wait for the
outcome of this most relevant legislation?

Wouldn't it be prudent to wait for the Police audits as well?  Would
that information advise on whether or not the current deal is a good
one or not for Hoboken?

Thank you for your time.

--
Donna Antonucci

Tripodi Denies Mayor and Council's pleas for Inclusion on Contract Negotiations

Read from the bottom. I asked Tripodi if we should wait for the outcome of Christie's proposed pension and benefits changes and whether or not we should wait for the audits to advise the contract negotiations. She makes it clear that she has been negotiating these contracts long before Zimmer, Christie and the new Councilmembers were in office. Excuse me, but I think she is basically saying she doesn't care for their input despite that they were elected by the public to represent us.

It's pretty clear to me that she is behind the hold up to getting the Police audit from the DCA.  Read NJ.com.  Susan Jacobucci was canned last Tuesday and the new head was hired by Christie. I wonder what the new Director  will think of Tripodi's attitude towards her boss and will of the people. I conjecture that Tripodi was conspiring with Jacobucci to withhold those audits and I think this email shows her true colors.

We need those audits because I have a sinking suspicion that Tripodi's deal is meager at best.

What do you think?  Think Tripodi said something like, "give me a concession on healthcare
(5, 10, 10 - no contributions to premiums, get rid of contract days - keep your terminal pay, keep your ability to accrue vacation towards retirement, keep your unlimited sick time, get 3%+ raises year over year) and I will hide those audits so we can protect you from layoffs?"

It is a matter of debate whether or not Christie's proposed changes will trump current contracts.  Typically, state statute overrides.  I am sure the unions will contest this but it's not a closed matter as she presents it.

When she says, "Everyone has known about the police report for a very long time and it was
agreed upon by all parties that the report would not have any impact on the
negotiations.", was she talking about Mayor Zimmer and the current Council?  It sounds like she is referring to the Roberts/Cammarano administration as if we care what those Corruptocrats think about what we should do. Roberts was inept and Cammarano is going to prison.   After all, they were in when Tripodi got the results of the audit and started the negotiations with Scarinci/Hollenbeck.  Who cares if Roberts and Cammarano agreed along with the unions.  Nice of her to decide to ignore the results of the audit.  How could they not have an impact on the negotiations?

What happened to transparency?  Is the Fiscal Monitor exempt?

from: jtripodi@hobokennj.org
To: donnaantonucci@gmail.com
Fri, Feb 12, 2010 at 10:05 AM

What happens in the State has absolutely nothing to do with the City's
current contract negotiations.  The proposals made by the governor for the
State employees relate to all new hires, not current employees or retirees.

Besides, I began these negotiations long before Mayor Zimmer and the 4 new
council members were elected and long before Governor Christie was elected.

Everyone has known about the police report for a very long time and it was
agreed upon by all parties that the report would not have any impact on the
negotiations.  The results of the report would be handled by other actions
undertaken by the City.


-----Original Message-----
From: Donna Antonucci [mailto:donnaantonucci@gmail.com]
Sent: Wednesday, February 10, 2010 1:01 PM
To: Judy Tripodi
Subject: contract question

Ms. Tripodi,

Given that the state is considering sweeping changes to pension and
healthcare benefits for all public employees that are currently
expected to go through by the end of February, do you not feel it's
prudent to wait for the outcome before pushing through our Police and
Fire contracts?

I don't know if the bills pass, do they supercede what's in a contract
or would the law say "as of the expiration of all contracts the new
law will take effect"?

For example, if the new law says that all employees must contribute to
healthcare premiums up to 1.5% of their incomes and if we signed a
contract the day before, would Hoboken preclude itself from taking
advantage of the new legislation until these contracts expired?  Since
we have expired contracts, wouldn't it be prudent to wait for the
outcome of this most relevant legislation?

Wouldn't it be prudent to wait for the Police audits as well?  Would
that information advise on whether or not the current deal is a good
one or not for Hoboken?

Thank you for your time.

--
Donna Antonucci

My Give Back Ideas Shared at the November 5th Board Meeting

Give backs for Fire and Police Contracts (Items that start with an * is applicable for all employees)


1. Eliminate the Police and Fire Chief positions and create one Public Safety Director from the outside. A place to look for qualified candidates could be the US Coast Guard. If there is any year that we can get an outsider it’s this year.

2. Restructure the Police and Fire Department to have more lower level employees and less management. Target at least 15% cut no less than 10% from each department.

3. *Health Insurance for employee only at the town’s expense, where the town pays a partial premium for the employee and doesn’t pay any portion of the premium for the employee’s family. Family members can get insurance thru the town but must pay the full premium.

4. *Tuition reimbursement for batchelors degrees only. Master degrees will be paid for only if they are directly related to the employee’s job and they continue to work for the town for at least 3 years after completion. If they leave voluntarily or are terminated, they must pay back one third of the expense for every year under the 3 years. A note and property lien must be sign and recorded at the onset of taking classes and is released 3 years after completion of a degree. To get approval to pay for a master’s degree , it must be approved by the Mayor and has to be disclosed to the town council. If it’s an employee that works directly for the Mayor it has to be approved by the board.

5. *An employee will lose all rights under his or her contract if they are terminated for cause. This includes but is not limited to receiving payment for unpaid vacation time, termination pay out and pension plan all together. In the event that an employee is under investigation, he/she cannot retire until the matter is resolved. He can be put on suspension without pay and the city has the right to make the employee to pay for full health benefits during this period. If it’s determined that he was terminated for cause, the town will not reimburse him benefits premiums. If it’s determined that the employee was not at fault, the town will pay its portion of benefits premium but not lost pay. If it’s discovered that a retired employee committed a crime against the town including but not limited to: misappropriation of funds, fraud, gross negligence, larceny, etc., while employeed, the town reserves the right to claw pay any retirement payout and pension plan.

6. *Adherence to the expense policy is required by all employees. Violation of the expense policy whether deliberate or out of ignorance of the policy is grounds for immediate dismissal. Receipts with a written justification is required for all expenses. See expense policy for details. The policy is subject to change at any time.


7. *An employee who misrepresents his attendance, e.g., has someone else clock them in and does not show up for work, is grounds for immediate termination. Any employee who assists another in misrepresenting his/her attendance is also subject to immediate termination.

8. *Have a use it or lose it policy when it comes to vacation and sick time, i.e., unused vacation and sick time cannot be rolled from one year to the next unless the employee gets written permission from the mayor. He or she can only carry over two weeks in such special circumstance and the extra weeks must be used by March 30th or it will be forfeited.

9. *Eliminate bumping rights. The town needs to be able to hire people that are qualified for the job at hand. If a role is eliminated and the person in that role happens to be a longstanding employee, the town should not have to bump someone else out of his or her role, where he/she is performing well, to give the employee with more years of service the job.

10. *Reduce cell phones to only those that truly use the phone for business purposes on a daily basis. For a city that has about 500 total employees, I bet you can get it under a dozen. Everyone else uses his/her own phone and submits for reimbursement only those call s made for business use over and above their plan.

11. *No petty cash funds. Everything has to be expensed through the expense policy. If emergency expense are needed issue credit cards with joint and several liability only to those employees who you would expect to have emergency expenses. All others, in that rare occasion, who need to make an emergency expense must use his/her own card. If the expense is too great for that person to put on his/her own card, he/she should ask his manager to find the closest person in the organization with a town credit card to make the expense and have reimbursement come out of the correct operating expense budget.

12. *A budget v. actual analysis must be submitted to the finance director each month with an explanation why the budget was over or under. The finance director must validate the expenses to the expense ledger. These explanations must be submitted and reviewed by the Mayor and must be circulated to the board. If an expense line is over two months in a row, the Public Safety Director must provide a plan on how he/she is going to contain expenses by reducing expenditures of the line in question, reducing activities/expenses from another part of the operating expense budget. The Public Safety Director can move money as needed between the Fire and Police Department budgets.

Other ideas:

1. Sell the SWAT bus and lay off all head count associated with the SWAT Team.
2. Sell the Segways.
3. Cut the discretionary budget all together for at least two years and until at least 50% of the real estate in Hoboken is reassessed for taxes. Don’t bring this spending back unless the town can stay within its approved budget for at least 2 consecutive years. By cutting this budget for two years we can retire out $10MM debt.
4. For the 70 some odd phones that the city has been expensing for non current employees, use the phone bills to discern who is using the phones. Go after reimbursement from those individuals. You can even just try to call the numbers to see who answers. Cancel them immediately if it hasn’t already been