All posts in the topic Mayor Coleman - Please explain (Short link)
Summary
- There are 4 posts — by 4 authors — in this topic.
- Latest post made by Dave Thune at May 09 19:47 UTC
| From | File | Date |
|---|---|---|
| Andrew Hine | St. Paul budget pie chart 2007.jpg | May 09 19:09 UTC |
John Krenik Highland Park, St. Paul, Minnesota May 9, 2008 Mayor Christopher Coleman 390 City Hall 15 W. Kellogg Blvd. Saint Paul, MN 55102 Dear Honorable Mayor Coleman, As printed in the St. Paul Pioneer Press and Minneapolis Star Tribune, it seems that the Department of Public Works for St. Paul has overspent their budget by $4.2 million. This is on top of an already predicted $13.1 million shortfall for the city for the next budget cycle. It was also reported that in light of this gross mismanagement by the Director of Public Works, Bruce Beese who also happens to have an accounting background, that you have rewarded him with a $5,000.00 pay raise to bring his salary to $115,000.00 per year. It is shocking to reward an individual who through his gross mismanagement of his department cost the city of St. Paul $4.2 million. Maintaining our roads is vital to maintaining the health of our city. These are basic city services and by cutting back on basic preventative maintenance for our roads is the wrong way for St. Paul to go. In the end it will be the taxpayers of St. Paul who will pay a higher cost for the planned deferred maintenance of our roads due to this department manager’s gross mismanagement. Mayor Coleman you are clearly sending out the wrong message to other city department managers by rewarding this manager with a $5,000.00 pay raise after he overspent his budget by $4.2 million and this is just plain wrong. What message are you sending to the citizens of St. Paul? It is their money that was wasted. To make up for this $4.2 million shortfall you have recommended to the city council several service reductions across the city. You will also need to take an additional $1.4 million out of the cash reserves for the city to make this amended budget work. This reduction in cash reserves is in addition to the $6 million that you have already used for this years budget cycle. Because of these cuts in citywide services (street maintenance and plowing) due to Mr. Beese’s mismanagement, this will cost taxpayers millions of additional dollars in the future because of this deferred maintenance. This is money our children will have to pay for because of Mr. Beese’s mismanagement and your lack of oversight. Immediate actions: 1. I am calling for the immediate suspension of Public Works Director Bruce Beese without pay and the possible termination of Mr. Beese’s employment for gross mismanagement of his department. 2. I am calling for an immediate investigation as related to the gross mismanagement and misuse of public funds by Mr. Beese. After this investigation is completed and a full review of the actions taken by Mr. Beese is complete, then I recommend possible termination for gross mismanagement of city funds. Keeping this individual employed, as a director of a major city department in light of his gross mismanagement of the people’s tax dollars is appalling. 3. I am also calling for an immediate reversal of Mr. Beese’s pay raise in light of the gross mismanagement of his department. Mr. Beese’s mismanagement has cost the city of St. Paul dearly and our children will be paying for his mismanagement for years to come. Pat Harris, City Council Member from Ward 3 said it best, "You're putting us in the position of doing service reductions because of systemic issues in budgeting and cash flow maintenance." At the city council meeting this last Wednesday, (link: http://stpaul.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?view_id=37&clip_id=800 (Item 51, Resolution 08-472), Council Member Dan Bostrom raised his great concern about the reduction in sealcoating the streets on the new 10-year cycle instead of the current 8-year cycle. The 8-year seal coating cycle was recommended by public works to the city council as preventative maintenance intended to extend the life span of the roadway. Now with a budget shortfall due to Mr. Beese’s gross mismanagement of city funds suddenly experts from public works says this 8-year cycle is now not needed. Why? This change in preventative maintenance does not meet the smell test. Mayor Coleman, I call on you as mayor to be answerable to the taxpayers of St. Paul and take swift action to remedy this public safety issue and budget issue. I also call on you to remove Mr. Beese from the Department of Public Works due to his gross mismanagement of his department. Rewarding Mr. Beese with a $5,000.00 pay increase and keeping him employed after overspending his budget by $4.2 million in city funds is intolerable and this pay raise needs to rescinded immediately. Sincerely, John Krenik Highland Park, St. Paul, Minnesota
John, all I can say is how arrogant! Yes, I know this is part of your long
running campaign for Mayor. But your post and letter to the editor shows you
either don't know anything about running a government or one of its agencies or
your statements are merely political posturing.
I don't know why Public Works is over budget. But I can tell you from what I
know about public works, Specific action is required to maintain
infrastructure. Consider snow plowing. A budget exists. But if we get more
plowable snow then was budgeted the streets still need to be plowed. Thus that
fund operates at a deficit.
John Krenik <<email obscured>> wrote: John Krenik
Highland Park, St. Paul, Minnesota
May 9, 2008
Mayor Christopher Coleman
390 City Hall
15 W. Kellogg Blvd.
Saint Paul, MN 55102
Dear Honorable Mayor Coleman,
As printed in the St. Paul Pioneer Press and Minneapolis Star Tribune, it seems
that the Department of Public Works for St. Paul has overspent their budget by
$4.2 million. This is on top of an already predicted $13.1 million shortfall
for the city for the next budget cycle.
It was also reported that in light of this gross mismanagement by the Director
of Public Works, Bruce Beese who also happens to have an accounting background,
that you have rewarded him with a $5,000.00 pay raise to bring his salary to
$115,000.00 per year. It is shocking to reward an individual who through his
gross mismanagement of his department cost the city of St. Paul $4.2 million.
Maintaining our roads is vital to maintaining the health of our city. These
are basic city services and by cutting back on basic preventative maintenance
for our roads is the wrong way for St. Paul to go. In the end it will be the
taxpayers of St. Paul who will pay a higher cost for the planned deferred
maintenance of our roads due to this department managers gross mismanagement.
Mayor Coleman you are clearly sending out the wrong message to other city
department managers by rewarding this manager with a $5,000.00 pay raise after
he overspent his budget by $4.2 million and this is just plain wrong. What
message are you sending to the citizens of St. Paul? It is their money that
was wasted.
To make up for this $4.2 million shortfall you have recommended to the city
council several service reductions across the city. You will also need to take
an additional $1.4 million out of the cash reserves for the city to make this
amended budget work. This reduction in cash reserves is in addition to the $6
million that you have already used for this years budget cycle. Because of
these cuts in citywide services (street maintenance and plowing) due to Mr.
Beeses mismanagement, this will cost taxpayers millions of additional dollars
in the future because of this deferred maintenance. This is money our children
will have to pay for because of Mr. Beeses mismanagement and your lack of
oversight.
Immediate actions:
1. I am calling for the immediate suspension of Public Works Director Bruce
Beese without pay and the possible termination of Mr. Beeses employment for
gross mismanagement of his department.
2. I am calling for an immediate investigation as related to the gross
mismanagement and misuse of public funds by Mr. Beese. After this
investigation is completed and a full review of the actions taken by Mr. Beese
is complete, then I recommend possible termination for gross mismanagement of
city funds. Keeping this individual employed, as a director of a major city
department in light of his gross mismanagement of the peoples tax dollars is
appalling.
3. I am also calling for an immediate reversal of Mr. Beeses pay raise in light
of the gross mismanagement of his department. Mr. Beeses mismanagement has
cost the city of St. Paul dearly and our children will be paying for his
mismanagement for years to come.
Pat Harris, City Council Member from Ward 3 said it best, "You're putting us in
the position of doing service reductions because of systemic issues in
budgeting and cash flow maintenance." At the city council meeting this last
Wednesday, (link:
http://stpaul.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?view_id=37&clip_id=800 (Item 51,
Resolution 08-472), Council Member Dan Bostrom raised his great concern about
the reduction in sealcoating the streets on the new 10-year cycle instead of
the current 8-year cycle. The 8-year seal coating cycle was recommended by
public works to the city council as preventative maintenance intended to extend
the life span of the roadway. Now with a budget shortfall due to Mr. Beeses
gross mismanagement of city funds suddenly experts from public works says this
8-year cycle is now not needed. Why? This change in preventative maintenance
does not meet the smell test.
Mayor Coleman, I call on you as mayor to be answerable to the taxpayers of St.
Paul and take swift action to remedy this public safety issue and budget issue.
I also call on you to remove Mr. Beese from the Department of Public Works due
to his gross mismanagement of his department. Rewarding Mr. Beese with a
$5,000.00 pay increase and keeping him employed after overspending his budget
by $4.2 million in city funds is intolerable and this pay raise needs to
rescinded immediately.
Sincerely,
John Krenik
Highland Park, St. Paul, Minnesota
John Krenik
Highland Park, St. Paul, Minnesota
Info about John Krenik: http://forums.e-democracy.org/p/johnkrenik
This topic's messages may be viewed at:
http://forums.e-democracy.org/r/topic/2Fxu0i13p3xbLbVye7vjjw
At the pre-Fillmore exhibition last night I picked up this (attached) data from
the very informative Parks & Rec 2007 Annual Report. I was somewhat taken
aback at how big some slices of the City pie are and how small others are.
Does this mean that some things cost so much more than others, or that we value
some things more and so spend more on them? Or is that one in the same, i.e.
do we spend more on the things that we value more? That is, do the size of the
slices simply reflect our value system and the state of our society? Could the
Police slice be half as big if $34million were spent on creating 1,000
non-drug-dealing jobs at $34,000 each?
To put things into mathematical perspective:
$5000 is 0.00291% of the total budget
$5000 is 0.00735% of the Police budget
$5000 is 0.0112% of the Fire & Safety Services budget
$5000 is 0.307% of the Public Works budget
Combined, the Police (39.6%) and Fire (26.1%) budgets account for 65.7% of the
total.
Combined, Parks & Rec (14.1%) and Public Works (0.9%) account for 15.0% of the
total.
Sometimes I get the impression paranoid people won't be happy until the Police
slice is 50%.
My experiences with Public Works have been very good:
gravel alley improvements with one, funny phone call
RSVP street project communications have been clear and concise
consultation at Cullen Park concerning utilities
friendly and useful responses from Director Beese
agreement to meet with 3M to discuss LED lighting/energy savings
incredibly quick resurfacing and restriping of W 7th St
help sorting out "True Blue Tube" semi-tractor truck requirements
installation of "This Alley Under Observation" sign
replanting of Shepard Road trees
excellent snowplowing and street-sweeping
...
Of all the things to nit-pick, a 4.5% raise should be the least of our
concerns. Is this meant to detract attention from the $6000 "accidentally
stolen" by those cops or what?
A Hine
District Nine
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- Name: St. Paul budget pie chart 2007.jpg
- Type: image/pjpeg
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There's no joy at discovering a budget overage, but I must say that the
Public Works Director needs to be judged on the operation of the entire
department - not one situation.
In my experience, the current director's leadership has been stellar in
responding to the community and to providing the service we need to keep the
city's streets, sewers and lighting in shape - especially during the
governor's attempt to divert funding away from the city.
We heard about the problem, the solution and now we move on.
dave
ward two
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