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DPW matters
I'm in the process of working on a story about the effects the city's adopted 2009 budget will have on various city department for this weekend. I don't want to give away too much ahead of time, but I don't think it will surprise anyone to learn that DPW will almost definitely see layoffs, primarily among part-time employees.
Yesterday, while taking me on a tour of the DPW garage and related facilities, Commissioner Skip Scirocco said he would probably have to lay off about 12 part-time employees. Of course, it all depends on how harsh the winter is, and how much the department has to spend on overtime for plow drivers.
In other news, I've recently recieved a number of comments on the blog about an ongoing Department of Labor Investigation into DPW. I asked Scirocco if there was a labor investigation in his department, and he said that there was not. I don't believe that Scirocco would lie to me, and since I've only heard about the investigation anonymous posters here, I'm happy to take his word for it.
I have also been in touch with the Department of Labor for some time. Unfortunately, they have a policy of neither confirming nor denying investigations by the wages and hours division, the one that would most likely undertake such an investigation. So, no hard evidence to be had on that front either. If anyone out there reading has credible evidence of an investigation in DPW or any other city department, and would like to talk to me about, feel free to send me an email or call.
Yesterday, while taking me on a tour of the DPW garage and related facilities, Commissioner Skip Scirocco said he would probably have to lay off about 12 part-time employees. Of course, it all depends on how harsh the winter is, and how much the department has to spend on overtime for plow drivers.
In other news, I've recently recieved a number of comments on the blog about an ongoing Department of Labor Investigation into DPW. I asked Scirocco if there was a labor investigation in his department, and he said that there was not. I don't believe that Scirocco would lie to me, and since I've only heard about the investigation anonymous posters here, I'm happy to take his word for it.
I have also been in touch with the Department of Labor for some time. Unfortunately, they have a policy of neither confirming nor denying investigations by the wages and hours division, the one that would most likely undertake such an investigation. So, no hard evidence to be had on that front either. If anyone out there reading has credible evidence of an investigation in DPW or any other city department, and would like to talk to me about, feel free to send me an email or call.
posted by The Saratogian City Desk at
5:36 PM
8 Comments:
As far as matters to the dpw goes you smart ass we be the last to know...keep riding that freakin .bike and flying those kites,scirocco is and has always used you....human resources of nys is investigating dpw....why don't you ask under the freedom of information act the names of the forty or so employees who have already been questioned by the state...you afraid of the truth bernstien? Must be..... you don't seek it
anon 5:41:
Here's how it goes: some one posts on my blog that the Federal Department of Labor is investigating DPW. So, the next time I see the commissioner I ask him if the Department of Labor is investigating DPW. He says "no," because that agency is not.
The next day, I'm able to ascertain -- through an anonymous source who is able to differentiate between governmental agencies -- that the New York State Division of Human Rights is investigating DPW. Of course, investigations by that department are kept strictly confidential, so a FOIL request such as the one you suggest would almost certainly be denied.
Like it or not, that's the truth.
If this is really such a big deal, perhaps some of the 40 DPW employees who have been interviewed by the division of human rights would like to come forward and discuss with me the nature of the investigation. Should that happen, I'm all ears.
You might also be interested to know that there is no agency called "human resources of NYS."
Link to article here: http://www.saratogian.com/articles/2008/12/12/news/doc4941c7e83b10e826855368.txt
Mark Scirocco said: this group never let facts get in their way. One of Tommy's boy made a complaint, we'll see what comes of it.
Your job is to report the news...not to be sciroocos campaign manager...seeing how there's only 100 employees chances are by the process of elimination you'll find one very quickly...and do your interveiw...but you won't do that.. because that would be work, and besides you might find skippy is lying to you...his boy works for dpw totally unsupervised why's that? Why does a partime laborer drive his pick up?Dpw is in turmoil.Why doesn't scirocco take responseability for his departments $100,000 deficit? He can't manage and you're lazy.Lets get this out in the open Andy...no more back deals...your newspaper cryed out for more openess...Come on andy open it up, quit protecting scirooco and his punks and drunks.
What state agency is investigateing DPW?,AND WHY.
anon 6:06: If I've said it once, I've said it one thousand times. If anyone within DPW has credible complaints or evidence that "DPW is in turmoil," please get in touch with me.
Since the only people I ever hear from are anonymous complainants such as yourself, I have to infer that you've got some kind of axe to grind.
Also, if you would take a moment to read what I've written about the topic, you would know that Scirocco explained the deficit in his department as due to increased energy prices. I'm sorry if you don't like that explanation, but you can't accuse me of not asking.
anon 9:01:
Read your newspaper. As I've explained several times now, including in my comment above, the investigation is by the New York State Division of Human Rights. The reasons for the investigation are not known publicly, because those involved in the investigation are not permitted to discuss the details of the complaint. However, it's safe to infer that someone working in DPW registered some kind of complaint against the department or an employee or a working condition. We will know more when the division makes a judgment in a month or so.
Andy, Maybe you can tell us why a DPW truck parks in a 2 hour spot for hours on end and why someone would leave it running. Who could the truck be assigned to? Maybe you can also tell us why a remote starter would have been installed on a city vehicle?
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