The city's handling of the theft of roughly $10,000 worth of property by Department of Public Works employees should infuriate taxpayers.
How else should they feel when such a brazenly corrupt culture has been allowed to exist for decades, and then once it has started to be uncovered, city officials decide to neatly sweep it away with no accountability on the part of those responsible?
City manager Mark Palesh said the decision to offer amnesty to DPW workers who brought back stolen equipment was made in part to keep good employees around, and to save them and their families embarrassment.
But the workers who engaged in this conduct do deserve to be embarrassed, and any impact on their families is their own fault. Perhaps law enforcement officials are correct that these cases would have been too difficult to prosecute, but that doesn't mean the city has to keep the workers on the payroll.
What the city has done, instead, is to create a major cloud of suspicion over all 60 employees in the department. City officials are not saying exactly how many workers were involved in the stealing, but they've implied that it's fewer than 10. Those remaining 50-plus employees have every right to be disgusted with their employer right now.
Then there's the question of department leadership. DPW Superintendent Jerry DelFavero appears to have the full support of Palesh and other city leaders despite this black eye for this department. They say DelFavero has an impossible job, and that he can't be expected to keep track of what every worker is doing.
But what he should do - and has obviously failed at for the past decade - is to instill a culture of professionalism and respect for taxpayer property.
Because he was not directly involved in these thefts, and because he brings many years of experience and loyalty to the department, DelFavero probably deserves to keep a job with the city. But it should be as a rank-and-file employee.
To truly move forward and win the trust of the people who fund this department, new leadership is required.
City manager Mark Palesh said the decision to offer amnesty to DPW workers who brought back stolen equipment was made in part to keep good employees around, and to save them and their families embarrassment.
But the workers who engaged in this conduct do deserve to be embarrassed, and any impact on their families is their own fault. Perhaps law enforcement officials are correct that these cases would have been too difficult to prosecute, but that doesn't mean the city has to keep the workers on the payroll.
What the city has done, instead, is to create a major cloud of suspicion over all 60 employees in the department. City officials are not saying exactly how many workers were involved in the stealing, but they've implied that it's fewer than 10. Those remaining 50-plus employees have every right to be disgusted with their employer right now.
Then there's the question of department leadership. DPW Superintendent Jerry DelFavero appears to have the full support of Palesh and other city leaders despite this black eye for this department. They say DelFavero has an impossible job, and that he can't be expected to keep track of what every worker is doing.
But what he should do - and has obviously failed at for the past decade - is to instill a culture of professionalism and respect for taxpayer property.
Because he was not directly involved in these thefts, and because he brings many years of experience and loyalty to the department, DelFavero probably deserves to keep a job with the city. But it should be as a rank-and-file employee.
To truly move forward and win the trust of the people who fund this department, new leadership is required.
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Farmer's Gal wrote on Jan 18, 2009 12:41 PM:
"Good employees" don't steal $10,000 worth of equipment from work, so I don't know why they keep saying they decided not to take action in order to keep "good employees."
Jeremy has a very good point about the rest of the employees at DPW -- everyone knows at least some of them are guilty, but no one knows which ones are innocent, which makes any person you know who works for the DPW suspect. DPW is not protecting its GOOD employees, the ones who did NOT steal, by tarnishing their reputations along with their co-workers who deserve to be embarrassed -- they are protecting petty criminals and punishing the innocent by dragging their good names down with the bad. "
Von Pupgass wrote on Jan 11, 2009 6:53 PM:
scouty wrote on Jan 11, 2009 6:15 PM:
Who at your workplace is in charge of keeping score on items that could be pilfered, Such as: paper clips staplers
white-out, ink, rolls of newsprint, aluminum plates, scotch tape , paper towels, pens, pencils, sharpiesand toilet tissue.
Where exactly did you come from(?), and what do you feel gives you the right to single out a responsible, hard working manager and call for his dismissal.
If this is your idea of how to exist in a slowly dying industry (ie: article about lee pub. and their future) and to try to sell your pathetic parakeet liner for a lot more than it' worth, I wish you luck luck with what looks to be a short career in your chosen profession, whatever that is! "
scouty wrote on Jan 11, 2009 5:56 PM:
Do you or one of your subordinates keep track of paper, pens
cd's computer and software programs, ink, newsprint, tools, staplers, white out, paper clips, push pins, calculators, sticky notes, and your snowshovel. I,ll bet your not even from auburn. Auburn is just a stop on your short career with a dying form of communication called a newspaper.
Please go back from where you came and report to us asap about the public works superintendant,as soon as you can. If you think that this kind of
a personal attack against an honest, hard working individual will help sell your pathetic parakeet cage liner, than you might be advised to look at another career more suited to you.
cc: the post standard cayuga editor "
cdarrow001 wrote on Jan 11, 2009 4:26 PM:
bill balyszak wrote on Jan 11, 2009 2:07 PM:
daydreamer wrote on Jan 11, 2009 5:37 AM: