Buzz is swarming through the halls, as mayor Elliott is seeking access to various offices, so he can check up, when he has time. Meaning, he is bugging staff for 'hard keys' to their offices. Now, some of the City Hall doors are fitted with 'card keys' which have a digital fingerprint, identifying who and when had access. I'm told the snoopy mayor prefers the 'hard keys.' Why? He likes jangley key chains? Or, just wants to come and go without a trace? Dunno.
I realize, as you do, this seems way beyond the bounds of our Charter, as any Lowell Mayor really has no authority to peruse the staffs work, ever, never mind after office hours. Of course, reports of him trying to get into the Auditors office could sympathetically be interpolated as within bounds. Except for the awkward realization that the Auditor works for the Council, as a whole. What I've learned, recently, is the Mayor does not a Council make. So, unless Rodney is gleaning the contents of the Auditors work WITH his peers, he's overestimating his position.
But, the MIS Dept does not report to the Council. However, that didn't stop mayor Elliott from shaking things up with assertions he should have a key. The good news here, the MIS Dept is a sweetheart of C.Mercier. She struggles with teh digits, yo. If the kerfuffle around the City Clerks office, when Rick Johnson departed, is any indication; expect Rita to mother hen the irate staff. This time, though, she probably won't litigate the whole drama on the Council floor and in the Blog of Record. There could be a simmering blood letting in Room 50. For the sake of Unity. ;v)
Or, maybe, the imperious mayor will just chill out? ... .... Who's laughing?! We can hear you, y'know!
I'll tell you who's not. Last week, mayor Elliott crashed the Department Heads meeting. Suffice to say, this meeting is completely outside the authority and oversight of the legislative branch (Council). And, the intrusion by mayor Elliott was deleterious to its routine patterns and function. Or, should I say, his presence put their asses in a knot? Did that really matter? Weren't they all just proof reading each other's résumés? *eyes roll*
Remember, this is the same PR flack that talked glowingly about 'candidate' Belanger in the lead up to the November election. Plus, WCAP endorsed 'candidate' Belanger.
Is it possible to not see this sponsorship for services rendered? Or, services forthcoming?
6 comments:
Note that each of these problems is an ethics problems. So far Elliott has shown the ethical standards of a bully. Not sure why we thought it'd be otherwise.
Whose "we?" You talkin' to me?! :v)
In his very first full Council meeting, mayor Elliott opted to step down from the Chair to tussle with the City Manager. That proved right there, he had no intention of honoring whatever bullshit he puked up to secure 9 votes. #toldyouso
Some people are, apparently, chumps. *sigh*
Just to clarify, the Mayor did not ask for access to MIS, the City Auditor's office, the City Mayor's office, or any other area.
On Tuesday, he legitimately asked me for a key to City Hall. I told him I would get him an access card, since we have slowly been securing the building and offices, and explained that we no longer distribute physical keys. Long story short, he had his access card that afternoon.
Incidentally, we have been slowly rolling out several card readers per year, as we go about securing our offices further. The roll out of card readers for the City Managers office, City Auditors office, and City Clerks office were included in my budget for this fiscal year, and were scheduled for instal during 2014Q1 long ago. Similar implementations have also been scheduled elsewhere in the City and, yes, we have worked with Schools on quotes.
This comment is from the head of Lowell's MIS Dept, Miran Fernandez.
I am squelching Anonymous commenting on this blog. I don't think Miran intended to be anonymous here, as he posted this comment in other local internet venues. Sometimes the commenting dialogue boxes lead us down strange, unfamiliar paths.
As a precaution, it may be advisable, O' Dear Commenter, to simply sign your name in the comment itself.
Miran, thanks for stepping up to tell your side of things.
I verified this story from independent sources, which told the same story for all intents and purposes. Now, the City Hall is a small place and tensions are high. It could be that a small anecdote could get spun out of proportion.
It seems like the seed of the story is verified, by you, but that your telling is divergent from what I printed.
It'll be interesting to see how keenly mayor Elliott's eyes are fixed on the Auditors office.
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