The Dayton Police Department is in a world of hurt. In the next 2 years they are going to lose a lot of their senior staff to the DROP program- and they still haven’t come up with a way to hire new officers.
The department, because they insist on running their own academy (a practice that should be examined for either elimination or growth- if it can start generating revenue) has it’s hands tied thanks to the self-inflicted Department of Justice lawsuit.
Chief Biehl presented a plan to reorganize the department to the city commission last night- shrinking the 5 districts into 3, central plus East and West. How the officers will actually be deployed is not covered in the presentation. I’ve taken the Powerpoint and turned it into a PDF for those that are interested: DPD Org Chart (as of 8-30-10)

With the shrinking force, and shrinking budget- the department is going to have a really hard time staffing for extra enforcement or dealing with illness and vacation times. While the department of old still required sworn officers in many administrative positions (at one point a veteran Sergeant was in charge of the motor pool) those days should be over soon.

Manpower won’t be able to be cut anymore- so if the department is to cut dollars from their budget it’s going to have to be by operating more efficiently. I still believe moving some officers over to 200cc scooters with their 80 mpg fuel efficiency and easy approachability factor is an option for the department to safe some money and improve visibility as well as social interaction in the community.

When Marvin Olinsky retired, his deputy- Charlie Shoemaker took over Five Rivers MetroParks. When Charlie Shoemaker retired, we’re hearing that the organization is doing a national search.

The Dayton Daily News weighs in with its typical “Let the community in” BS- of course, they don’t let the community sit in when they pick their endorsements for office (and get pissed when I publish a podcast of the actual interview)- and they talk about regionalism- but when push comes to shove- they endorse the same old BS.

Here is a snippet from Ellen Belcher’s editorial:

Mr. Shoemaker’s successor has to have thoughts on all these issues and more. And the park district’s three commissioners need to make sure that the public hears the applicants’ pitches. Specifically, the commissioners need to create a committee of stakeholders to help vet candidates. And there need to be opportunities for the public to put questions to the finalists.

via Vet Metro Parks’ new chief publicly | A Matter of Opinion.

Now, let’s see- the board is three people, Irv Bieser, Alan Pippenger and Karen Davis. All three were picked from the community- not from a “National Search.”

For the last four years- the Deputy Director Carrie Scarff has been working as the second in command. If she’s not prepared to step into Charlie’s shoes, why is she still the deputy director?

There are other superstars in this organization, including Nate Arnett- the director of Adventure Central. Surely- someone inside this large and diverse organization is capable of leadership? If not, we should be replacing the board first.

There are very few regional park systems as diverse in programming as Five Rivers Metroparks. Anyone stepping in from out of town would face a steep learning curve. Then there is also the local politics- remember what happened to Bill Estabrook- and how fast did Valerie Lemmie run out of town once her sugar daddy’s days were over? National searches bring opportunists and carpetbaggers- and a steep learning curve. One estimate from someone connected to the organization who is well respected said five years. Can we really afford that?

Five Rivers Metroparks has grown with locally grown talent, into one of the ONLY regional cooperation success stories. Listening to the Dayton Daily News editorial board- or wasting time and money on a national search would be a step backward as well as a slap in the face to the people who have worked hard to grow MetroParks into the success it is.

When can we, the community, vote on the qualifications of Ellen Belcher and the rest of the Editorial Board? Remember, these are the people who endorsed Rhine McLin and Joe Roberts. And, when they’ve hired people after a national search- what happened? Eddie Roth, Leigh Allan, hello? Hypocrites.

The Roly Poly sandwich shop in the old Elder Beerman/Reynolds and Reynolds call center- now Area Agency on Aging – rolled out of their downtown location over the weekend.

The building which is owned and managed by CityWide Development (which means it’s your tax dollars) now only has two ground floor tenants- the CVS which moved from across the Street from CityWide’s main building at the corner of Main and Third (believe it or not- it’s a separate building from the PNC bank building) and the Boston Stoker.

Even the food vendor cart population is down from around 10 in previous years to two or three.

And while the Tea Party Exchange got busted for outsourcing its services, no one has questioned why the Downtown Dayton Partnership has to hire an outside firm to staff its “Ambassadors program”- yep, those people in green shirts aren’t hired by the Partnership directly- they outsource them from: Block By Block out of Louisville KY.

Is this an indication that we should outsource everything? Trash, police, fire, why not even hire a Mayor- it’s a part-time job, maybe we could get someone much better. Dayton Public Schools uses a PR Consultant out of Cleveland too.

If we didn’t have business owners paying a premium tax – the “Special Improvement District” tax- and the city actually provided the services it’s supposed to, maybe businesses could afford to stay in Downtown. Or maybe, they could at least spend their money with a local firm for their “ambassadors.”

Memo to City Of Dayton administrators: Don’t be stupid.

A city of Dayton administrator is the subject of an internal investigation after she allegedly e-mailed a newsletter to employees that featured an off-color joke with Peanuts cartoon character Charlie Brown.

Employees received an e-mail on July 2 from Dynetta Brown-Griffith, the city’s Department of Water Safety administrator, with an attachment regarding safety in the workplace.

The cartoon appears next to a section headlined “Allergy Meds at Work,” which details some allergy medications that might be harmful to use at work.

via Off-color Charlie Brown cartoon has city administrator in hot water.

Questions?

Note- I don’t think this is newsworthy. But, I do believe in keeping you informed. Someone asked what the cartoon was- here it is.

Bad taste for business communications

When the phone goes off in the middle of the night- it’s never a good sign, especially when it says “ALARM”- as in alarm company- not time to wake up.

Those of you who’ve been reading a while, remember the first “violated” post- June 10, 2009. That time, someone kicked in the back door of my house, in broad daylight, and stole a PS3 and a lot of DVDs (a lot to me) and an old computer. I’d just stopped thinking about it of late, even though the back door still bears some scars.

I’m sitting in my office right now- front door wide open at 3 a.m., waiting for Dayton’s finest. It’s across the street from my house, so I’ve never worried too much. Apparently, the punks like to smash and grab- while the alarm is still going. I’m now missing a 20″ white iMac complete, a few keyboards, a 20″ Apple aluminum display (they left the power adapter- so it’s WORTHLESS- ha-ha), a 21″ Dell monitor- an Apple new-style low-profile aluminum keyboard, an Apple mouse, and an Apple-design keyboard with a few keys missing floating around- it looks like someone tripped and fell with one- or dropped it- as keys are all over the deck.

The front door- which was original to the building won’t be going back together again. It’s toast.

They started to take an old style Zero Haliburton case- that was full of extension cords- it’s by the door- I’m hoping that yields the prints the cops need. If they ever get here. Alarm went off at 2:46 a.m.- it’s 3:12 now. The cold air is rushing through the front door- and I’m in shorts and a t-shirt- but, I’m not ready to go home and pull on clothes until the cops arrive.

Graffiti at 100 Bonner, S.U.R.13

I’d tweeted about it- but hadn’t posted- on Saturday morning, we woke up to see graffiti all over the street. Painted across my office windows was: S. 13  U. 13  R. 13 – with the 13’s small in sub-script text- one large letter per window- the last window had 3 small dots. I was relieved that it was on the glass-  cops here- more later. 3:17

3:31 officer is looking down the street- to see if they stashed anything- waiting to come back to pick it up.

Graffiti at the corner of Bonner and Johnson

The graffiti on my windows were actually the cleanest- other tags said things like “F N-word, Go back to the West Side” and “F whites and blacks- Brown power.” Don’t know if it had anything to do with the break ins- but, it was the most recent criminal activity. I’m waiting for an evidence crew to come and get prints. Should be some good ones, if they weren’t wearing gloves.

The mess after burglars left

I’m sort of convinced the messiness of the office was a good thing. Piles of papers were pushed to the floor- the disarray made them miss grabbing some pretty valuable gear. I’m going to start moving it to other, more secure locations. I guess it’s also time to start running video surveillance – I hated the idea, but, it’s pretty easy to do with the computers that have built in web cams (they only grabbed one of them) It’s funny- we were talking about it this morning- thanks to the graffiti- but, didn’t set it up.

Be this the work of drug addicts, or professional thieves, this is the first time in 24 years, that I’ve considered moving, if only for a second. It’s sad, because for the last week, I’ve had the girlfriend and her kids living at the house on a trial basis to see if we should do the full family thing.  Note- another cop car just whizzed by- and the other officer hasn’t come back.  Don’t know if that is a good thing or not. 3:40 a.m.

The cruiser out front, btw, has some kind of license plate sensor cams-

Officer Chad Knedler, one of the heroes and first to respond

3:42 he (officer CA Knedler) came back with a crappy Gateway keyboard missing some keys- not mine- but good start. The other cruiser was on the way to the T-mobile store on Brown- where they broke in and stole the cash drawer and POS system- so I’m not the only business owner sitting, waiting for an e-crew.

The funny thing about stuff like this- is you wake right up the moment you see your door kicked in. Body clocks be damned- the adrenalin kicks in, your energy level is up. I just turned off the reception lights- as long as I’m waiting- with the door wide open, may as well make it look inviting if they have the balls to come back in- now that the cop is gone.

4:23 a.m.- the Dayton PD going after the TMobile break in- caught one of the guys in a Taurus wagon- there were three.

They’ve positively ID’d the Dell Monitor- and see the rest of the gear. The evidence tech (E-tech C A Stiver)  pulled back in as I was screwing a piece of plywood onto the door.

4:30 a.m.- Officer Kneadler stopped back – he was leaving the Tmobile break in- headed by Wendy’s- when he heard an alarm- he headed down to the Cricket store at the corner of Wayne and Clover. Saw the Taurus Wagon with 4 black males in it take off- he went in pursuit- up Riverside- by the time he got to Helena Street- Officer Hastings was also nearby- I’ve been asked to leave out what happened next. I’m not happy about it- or leaving it out, but someone needs to do an investigation on our procedures.

They both turned off on parallel streets- and next thing, the perps had bailed out of the car.

They caught two- and recovered a big screen TV, about 200 cell phones and the equipment stolen from my office.

The good guys won.

The front door kicked in

A few things that come to mind- I always knew my front door was the most vulnerable part of my office security. It’s wood, with a big glass pane from the lock up to the top stile. For “safety” reasons according to the City of Dayton building inspector- I had to take off the double keyed deadbolt and put in a thumb latch- “so no one could be trapped inside during a fire.” I had protested that there are huge windows all around- throw a chair through and go out- no deal. I pointed out that any idiot could break the window- reach in and open the door- no deal.

These punks, kicked through the bottom panels- and reached up to flip the locks. The metal strip I had installed on the jam did its part in reinforcing the door- but the old wood wasn’t strong enough. Had the double keyed deadbolt still been in place, they would have had to use another means to get in- and out.

I can guarantee the new door will be steel- and with a double keyed deadbolt. You hear that Mr. Chief building inspector? (he was the head of inspection then- and is still working for the city I believe- he’s married to a former Mayor’s daughter) I should charge you with the frakkin deductible.

The worst part- is, I’ve lost a day’s productivity. Between the lack of sleep- and cleaning up the mess, this will cost me.

The ambitious serial thieves, will get their day in court. They’ll get sent to crook school at an Ohio Penitentiary and walk out in 18 months or three years. They’ll then have a record (if they didn’t already) and won’t be able to find gainful, meaningful employment for the rest of their lives. We’ll end up paying for this, over and over as they either return to prison, or end up on welfare, or drugs. They’ll have kids- who will be without their father- and will more than likely follow in their footsteps. The cycle doesn’t break very often.

With the biggest prison population of an industrialized country- we’re paying for this. For all the talk of the “socialist” health-care system- we take better care of criminals who are locked up than we do tax-paying working poor. They will have health care, be fed, have a roof over their heads. The same can’t be said for our homeless- and with the foreclosure crisis, the layoffs by industry- high unemployment, there are a lot more people that fall into these categories. The costs of crime cost us all.

I won’t be moving, but I hope I’ve moved you a bit- to think, to consider and hopefully to realize- the historic health care act is one small step toward ending the cycle of crime. Healthy people are less likely to do these kinds of crime, when there is hope- there is a basic security to life- there is that option to live healthy, be productive and be a part of a functioning society.

I need to finish screwing the board into the door- and waiting for the equipment to return. I hope you never have to experience this kind of night. Luckily, no one was hurt (although it wouldn’t bother me a bit if the perps had a few rough falls- even in handcuffs). I still believe that prisons should include back breaking labor- and a payback to society- but, that’s for another post-

g’night- or should I say g’morning.

5:41 Channel 7 has been to get an interview and shots. I shot them shooting me. I’m cleaning up fingerprint dust- nasty. Luckily, I have Las-Stik manufacturing as a client- and have some of their GitUm cloths- the most amazing duster known to man (or at least this man). They pick up the fingerprint dust really well. Also, thanks to my great friend Rahn Keucher (of Rahn’s Artisan Breads in the 2nd Street market) who called and offered bread and assistance and a shoulder.

10:15 am the video is up- may not be done “processing”

Officer Chad Kneadler was back by at 8:45 to tell me I’d have to wait for the detectives to inventory the stolen items.

3:57 PM- with help from Shortwest Rick.

Three men in custody. Mugshots and records on links:

James Jones II Thief

James Jones II, http://www.mont.miamivalleyjails.org/DEFENDANTJAIL.ASPX?CJIS_OR_PARTY_ID=C2130558
MONT-JAIL 1006606 3/23/2010 1 MONT-DMC () BREAKING AND ENTERIN F5 WAITING COURT ACTION *NOT ENTERED* *Not Entered* 0 *Not Entered*
MONT-JAIL 0923568 9/22/2009 1 MONT-MMC 2009CRB01900 CARRYING CONCEALED W M1 GRANTED PRETRIAL RELEASE MESSHAM *Not Entered* 0 RELEASED BY PRE-TRIAL
MONT-JAIL 0832819 11/9/2008 1 MONT-DMC 2008TRD22120 DRIV UNDER SUSP NOT M1 CHARGE CLEARED *NOT ENTERED* TEN PERCENT AND COURT COST 2500 RELEASED BY COURT
MONT-JAIL 0832819 11/9/2008 2 MONT-DMC 2008TRD22120 DEFECTIVE MUFFLER MM CHARGE CLEARED *NOT ENTERED* *Not Entered* 0 RELEASED BY COURT
MONT-JAIL 0828436 9/26/2008 1 MONT-DMC 2008TRD07427 DRIV UNDER SUSP NOT M1 CHARGE CLEARED *NOT ENTERED* TEN PERCENT AND COURT COST 2500 RELEASED BY COURT
MONT-JAIL 0828436 9/26/2008 2 MONT-DMC 2008TRD07427 UNAUTH USE OF PLATES M4 CHARGE CLEARED *NOT ENTERED* *Not Entered* 0 RELEASED BY COURT
MONT-JAIL 0828436 9/26/2008 3 MONT-DMC 2008TRD07427 DISPLAY LICENSE PLAT MM CHARGE CLEARED *NOT ENTERED* *Not Entered* 0 RELEASED BY COURT
MONT-JAIL 0803763 2/4/2008 1 MONT-MOR 2006TRD00508 DUS TR WAITING COURT ACTION ROSENCRANS CASH OR BOND 1462 HOLD DROPPED
MONT-JAIL 0617823 6/26/2006 1 MONT-VMC 2006CRB01562 UNAUTHORIZED USE OF M1 WAITING COURT ACTION HECK TEN PERCENT 2500 RELEASED BY COURT
MONT-JAIL 0617823 6/26/2006 2 MONT-VMC 2006TRD06859 DRIV UNDER FRA,NON-C M1 WAITING COURT ACTION HECK *Not Entered* 0 RELEASED BY COURT

Quwan Lipsey, Thief

Quwan S Lipsey http://www.mont.miamivalleyjails.org/DEFENDANTJAIL.ASPX?CJIS_OR_PARTY_ID=C10583060
JAIL BOOKING # BOOKING DATE # COURT CASE DESCRIPTION DEGREE STATUS JUDGE BAIL TYPE BAIL AMOUNT DISP
MONT-JAIL 1006595 3/23/2010 1 MONT-DMC 2010TRD02991 MUFFLER GAS ENGINE R MM WAITING COURT ACTION *NOT ENTERED* TEN PERCENT 2500 *Not Entered*
MONT-JAIL 1006595 3/23/2010 2 MONT-DMC 2010TRD02991 NO OL EXPIRED LESS T MM WAITING COURT ACTION *NOT ENTERED* *Not Entered* 0 *Not Entered*
MONT-JAIL 1006595 3/23/2010 3 MONT-DMC () OBSTRUCTING OFFICIAL M2 WAITING COURT ACTION *NOT ENTERED* TEN PERCENT 750 *Not Entered*
MONT-JAIL 1006595 3/23/2010 4 MONT-DMC () BREAKING AND ENTERIN F5 WAITING COURT ACTION *NOT ENTERED* *Not Entered* 0 *Not Entered*
MONT-JAIL 0922765 9/12/2009 1 MONT-DMC () RECEIVING STOLEN PRO F4 CHARGE CLEARED *NOT ENTERED* *Not Entered* 0 RELEASED BY DETECTIVE

Davion Lyons: Thief

Davion L Lyons http://www.mont.miamivalleyjails.org/JAILBOOKING.ASPX?CJIS_OR_PARTY_ID=C13186876&JAILBOOKING_ID=11445456
1 MONT-DMC () BREAKING AND ENTERIN F5 WAITING COURT ACTION *NOT ENTERED* *Not Entered* 0 *Not Entered* 03/24/10 01:30 PM
2 MONT-DMC () OBSTRUCTING OFFICIAL M2 WAITING COURT ACTION *NOT ENTERED* TEN PERCENT AND COURT COST 750 *Not Entered* 03/24/10 01:30 PM

Lyons and Lipsey have juvenile arrest records. The detective will be returning my equipment tomorrow.

In yet another piece of odd drama, the Dayton FOP is coming out with both guns blazing. This time, they are protesting the implementation of time clocks for the department, which will probably force the city to pay their members more. Excuse me, yes, you read that right- the head of the union is against a new policy that should guarantee more overtime for more of his members:

Police union President Randy Beane said the time clocks must be a negotiated item in the union’s contract and if implemented, will cost the city “hundreds of thousands of dollars” in overtime.

“We’re tired of taking it from the city on things like this,” Beane said. “We have a lot of dedicated officers who come in early and stay late and don’t claim that time. If the city is going to start tracking it, it is going to cost them. Big time.”

Assistant Police Chief Wanda Smith said federal law prohibits the department from not paying people for the hours they’ve worked. “If Lt. Beane has info that this policy is being violated, he needs to bring it to the chief’s office,” she said.

Smith said the department’s budget will not be impacted. “Officers don’t get to choose when they come to work and just because they show up doesn’t mean they are entitled to get paid.”

Beane said the union plans to file an unfair labor practice charge because the city didn’t negotiate the clocks with the union.

via Police union vows to fight time clocks.

If this sounds strange to you, also realize that in order for most officers to actually work, they have to check in with dispatch (punch in) and check out a cruiser, weapons, ammunition etc. It’s not like they are running around without anyone knowing where they are.

If you trust them with a gun- shouldn’t we be able to trust their time on the clock without a time clock? Or, is there something we don’t know about.

The Time Card that started it all

Now, it just so happens, I have a long history with the issue of keeping time for city employees- and there is a certain group who has been getting paid for working 52 hours each week- when putting in less than 36- and this has been going on for years. The Dayton trash collectors have been working a “make out and quick” schedule- where they finish their route- and they are done for the day. If they come in on Saturday to work a neighborhood alley sweep (to pick up what they missed while running after the trucks all week)- they are paid time and a half for a full 8 hour day- even if they put in less than 5 hours.

It was this issue that I was railing against back in 1996- which caused the City Commission to have one of their secret illegal meetings to discuss ways to limit citizen participation. Apparently- my big time card was a little too easy for people to understand.

It’s only taken 14 years to start accounting for employee time properly in Dayton.

Here’s our conversation on the subject on the Dayton Grassroots Daily Show:

I’m not going to point out the meaningfulness of this change to the city- but, let’s just say that a certain masked man once held up an oversized Waste Collector’s Time Card in front of the City Commission in a galaxy long ago -

From today’s Dayton Daily News:

The Department of Public Works will reduce seasonal and temporary hires. Trash collection on holidays will be eliminated. The change in workflow will save the city about $300,000 in overtime pay.

“We started from scratch in Public Works. We had to rethink everything: staffing, equipment, hours of operation, collection services,” Earley said.

Annual waste collection fees for residents will go from $91 to $113, beginning with April bills. The rate hike will generate $1.3 million annually for the city.

About $30,000 was added in to the Public Works budget to fund 10 neighborhoods clean ups, reduced from 20 in 2009. Also, a proposal to reduce mowing vacant lots from 1.5 times per season to one, won’t happen.

via City leaders warn that Dayton is ’still in volatile times’.

Let’s make things clear- previously we paid “holiday pay” so trash collectors could work 4-6 hours on Thanksgiving and get paid for 8- at a pay rate at or above doubletime- we also did it on Presidents Day, Labor Day, the 4th of July, MLK day etc. The only day they didn’t pick up trash was Christmas- no other jurisdiction is this stupid. But, it’s a nice way to overpay no-skill workers for physical labor. The reason I call them no-skill (other than the drivers who are a little more talented- but not worthy of white collar pay)- is because routinely, citizens of Dayton begged for the opportunity (the above mentioned “neighborhood clean-ups”) to ride around on the same trash trucks to pick up what our “skilled” collectors missed.

The real question with this 25% hike in costs is if we are now at a point where turning in your city dumpster for a private one is a good idea. I think it’s time for whole neighborhoods to start deciding if we still want to pay for trash collectors that leave us with a job to do?

I won’t even start to discuss the pathetic cuts to parks and rec. It’s time to stop pretending to even having programs if you have no one working them. If you have kids- and you go look at what Kettering provides- you’ll see that your higher income tax isn’t buying you much.

If this is the best our city can do, we must start wondering if it’s worth having a city at all?

And here is 4 minutes of Greg and David discussing it (added at 12:25 pm) :

Is it a legal order or not?

City police officers are now prohibited from asking the immigration status of a witness or victim of a crime in hopes it eases fears some ethnic groups have of law enforcement.

Police Chief Richard Biehl issued the executive order to his nearly 390 officers on Dec. 30 telling them, “Citizens must feel free to call for police services without fear of undue repercussions.”

If you have the head of the union questioning the Chief of police in public- without taking it up in the courts, we have a real problem. One way or another- we can’t have two Chiefs and it’s time to stop playing games:

Dayton police union president Randy Beane disagrees with Biehl’s order, saying it circumvents federal law officers are asked to follow regarding illegal immigrants. Beane said some officers disagree with Biehl’s order so strongly they said they are willing to disobey it.

“We believe that anyone in this country should be legal or in the process of becoming legal,” Beane said. “In this age of terrorism it is our duty to make sure someone is legally living in this country.”

via Officers ordered not to ask for immigration status | Dayton area crime.

Personally, I agree with the Chief, it does no good to have crimes unreported for fear of deportation. It’s no different than people fearing calling the police on drug dealers for fear of retribution. If we follow Beane’s logic- all the dopers have to do is start hiring illegal aliens to deal their drugs and no one will ever call. Crime will become the major economic engine in the city of Dayton.

If Beane has a problem he should be filing a grievance and having the courts decide. In the mean time his instructions to officers should be to follow the chief’s decision. Last I checked, Randy Beane isn’t a Supreme Court Justice- and if this is his way of leading officers- he should be be fired with cause.

There is no room for second guessing by the rank and file of a legal binding order. If we need a ruling, it should come from the Courts- not Lord Beane.

It’s time Chief Biehl showed who wears the stars and who wears the bars.

Latest news on the forced intervention by the Department of Justice as distributed by the FOP chairman Randy Beane to the members of the union. This is complex litigation, and it’s not absolute that Beane’s interpretation is entirely correct, but, the reality is, no one knows how you can enforce a ruling that says “If you ever thought of being a Dayton Police Officer” you should be entitled to get a big check from the City if you are a minority.

Here is what Lt. Beane sent out in 2 e-mails:

We received the court decision from Federal Court Judge Rose in regards to the Consent Decree. Judge Rose ruled against us and in favor of the City. What does this mean?

1. Two officers currently on the department who are referred to as “Delayed Hire Claimant” will received $18, 900 each and will have their seniority adjusted to the constructive hire date of May 14, 2007. They will receive retroactive pension credit.

2. Five African Americans who failed the Civil Service test who are referred to as “Priority Hire Appointments” will be hired and given back pay. They will be given seniority ahead of the last two classes that graduated.

The Fire Department must hire 9 “Priority Hire Appointments”

There are several strings attached to our hiring process in the future too numerous to mention.

I am disappointed in the ruling as it relates to our seniority issue. However, I am appreciative to Judge Rose for his quick decision in this matter. This opens the door for the City to immediately start the hiring process, if they want to.

This decision will cost the taxpayers in excess of $450,000.

Number 2:

I have had a few questions posed on the Consent Decree that I will try to answer.

The way I read the decision is that **** and ******* will be moved up on the seniority list so this will affect the current bidding process. However, that is a decision management is going to have to address.

The “Priority Hires” will have to go through the background process and the Academy. My interpretation, and it could be wrong, is that if a Priority Hire does not pass the background, the next lower scoring applicant will be selected until we have 5 that pass the background and can be placed in the Academy.

The entire hiring process has to be reviewed by the Department of Justice and once a test is given, they will review the Eligibility List to determine if the Disparate Impact issue has been resolved. If not, I believe they could invalidate that Eligibility List.

There will be a lot of questions concerning logistically how this process will occur that I just don’t have the answers to. For example, I would assume a Training Officer for these 5 Priority Hires would have to more seniority than the people they are training or the Training Officer would be training the “senior officer”.

Regardless of the pathetic minority hiring process employed by the City of Dayton, the consent decree has been an issue for 20 years- one that has been pushed by Dean Lovelace (who at one time thought that we had to split the city into voting districts so he could get elected, but forgot all about it after he got elected).

I even stuck my foot in my mouth with the unions making an alternative suggestion on how to force integration and change in the safety departments, but you’ll have to search to find that on your own (and it’s on this site somewhere….).

The reality is, Dayton is facing a huge number of forced retirements, but has no mechanism available to hire right now because of this decree.

Thanks Commissioner Lovelace. It’s costing us taxpayers a bunch.

In the Dayton Daily News article of the day about the pay raise for top management controversy “City leaders respond to pay raises” all of a sudden, “the team” – who’ve been touting non-stop their illegal “monthly financial meetings” are now saying it’s all the City Manager’s fault with this pay bump for top management.

Just yesterday at the Baptist ministers’ event, Rhine McLin was bragging how she did the job full time. Today, the $300K in raises “fell under the authority of the City Manager”- and quotes her as saying “with the city manager form of government there are things that are not in our purview- I’m confident, overall, pay among union and nonunion (employees) is equitable and has been professionally manged.”

Yet, 17 people making over $100k, including the City Manager were handed a “step” increase while asking people to take unpaid days off.

What’s more, the commission’s superstar former city manager says “I approved the process we had used historically” from his new job in Greensboro, NC. Anytime you hear past processes as the best justification for current practices you know you have a loser as a leader. He even broke his own pay guidelines for these “premium positions” who are only supposed to get merit increases.

Joey Williams still thinks, after eight years, that “There are ways to look at things we do and make them better” without a record of introducing anything substantively innovative in his tenure. He then goes on to say that they “aren’t passing the buck” which is exactly what they are doing.

If not for Nan Whaley’s penchant for butchering the English language (in one video she talks about problems expounding and expounding as if they suddenly could talk) I would chalk this quote up to the DDN making a typo- but it’s too funny: “the city manager’s job is not only to settle union contracts, it’s also his job to make sure there is parody.” So we can blame him for her last four years of her as a commissioner.

The sad fact is, we’re still suffering from a failure of leadership- instead of proactively working to get our budget and finances in line- we’re dealing with retroactive issues like this. Facing a budget crunch there should have been zero pay raises for anyone (contracted or not) if we are indeed looking at layoffs or unpaid furlough days.

This issue is pretty simple- start acting like a city that has a budget deficit. Revert everyone’s pay back to old levels, the commission takes at least a 5% pay cut, stop handing out taxpayer money to private corporations (they are approving $125K today to two businesses) and start coming up with some innovative ways to deliver services cheaper (moving parking meter enforcement to electric Segways instead of cars that eat gas would be a start for instance).

We’ve seen eight years of McLin and Williams and four of Whaley. I’m still waiting for one sign that things have changed in city hall- are you done waiting? Come pick up a yard sign asap.

The point of belt tightening seems to be lost on the former City Manager and the City Commission. When you are facing a $20 million hole, you don’t give pay raises- of any sort, pre-negotiated or not. It’s called living within your means- it’s called doing the right thing, it’s called avoiding layoffs later.

The unions are right, although, they should have considered eliminating raises as well, because, well, $20 million isn’t something you just find laying around.

The whole finger pointing, denial, and publicity just before the election is embarrassing.

Fasnacht produced a copy of a city personnel policy statement from July 2008 that said managers and executives are only eligible for merit increases.

“There are no designated steps in the salary ranges of executive, management and mid-management group employees,” according to the policy statement.

via Spokesman claims pay hikes are city policy.

And having a city spokesperson who can’t find the policy he’s citing?

Biedenharn said it is the city’s policy to give nonbargaining unit employees compensation similar to what union members receive. Of all 1,578 city employees represented by a bargaining unit, 446 got step increases totaling $762,958, city records show. All 379 managers got the “step equivalent” raises, including several on the job since the early 1980s.

Biedenharn said this policy was set by former City Manager Jim Dinneen around 2004, but he could not produce a public record to document the policy. .ibid

A professional organization doesn’t have these problems. It’s busy working on solving the problem, not arguing about the mistakes it’s made.

Looking over the list of people getting pay raises, I find it insulting that anyone getting paid over $100,000 is getting a raise right now, especially a blanket raise. And, if it’s true that former City Manager Rashad Young got a severance package or raise after announcing he’s leaving, all hope is lost.

And- does anyone else see some oddities in the list?

Wanda Smith, deputy director, police: $1,435.20 ($121,368)

Shelley Dickstein, assistant city manager: $1,414.40 ($121,014.40)

Richard S. Biehl, director of police: $1,393.60 ($117,873.60)

via Dayton officials defend nearly $300,000 in pay hikes for managers, executives.

The Chief makes less than the Deputy Director of Police (who is set to retire in the DROP program). The “Assistant city Manager in charge of “economic development” or “corporate welfare” as I prefer to call it, who spent over $2 million chasing the Kroger that never came got a raise?

And in tomorrows (Oct 28, 2009) Commission meeting, the city is still handing out your tax dollars to private enterprise under the heading of “Neighborhood grants:”

D.     Neighborhood Grants:

7.       Schwind Building Restoration Project, Inc. – Development Agreement – to enhance the built environment and facilitate redevelopment in connection with the Downtown Façade Improvement Program – Office of Economic Development.       $24,425.00

8.       Medwork, LLC – Development Agreement – for the relocation and expansion to the former Delphi office building located at 1435 Cincinnati Street – Office of Economic Development.       $100,000.00

10-28-09 Agenda.pdf (application/pdf Object).

Private companies are now “neighborhoods”- and you wonder what happened to money for neighborhood improvement? It’s time to stop handing your tax dollars to the “friends” of Rhine McLin and Commission. I applaud Bob Schiffler for his work on the Schwind building but giving the man $25K toward this project is just an extra free cherry on a chocolate sundae.

We’re facing serious financial problems in Dayton, yet, City Hall seems to be tackling yesterdays instead of working on tomorrows.

And as a last note to misguided priorities by the commission and the Montgomery County Democratic Party- the Dayton City Commission is endorsing the library levy at tomorrows session, but not Issue 4 for the Metroparks. If they believe in Regionalism, and in “Economic Development” – our Metroparks is one of our few outstanding selling features of our region. They should be supporting it. Correction 9:33 am they endorsed it back on Sept. 9th, 2009 http://www.cityofdayton.org/cco/Commission%20Agendas/2009/09-09-09%20Agenda.pdf

Calling the live television broadcast a debate between Mayor McLin and challenger Gary Leitzell was the first error. The second was actually taking notes, because the questions and the answers are sounding like a broken record. Neither candidate showed any promise of leadership- with the exception of Gary when, near the end, he said it would be his job as mayor to make the City Manager look great and to make the other commissioners look smarter than him. Compare that with the Mayor calling her cohorts shining stars- without acknowledging that we have a city manager form of government for that very reason- shining stars aren’t something we can reach out and touch.

I’d hope that Cox would post the “debate” on YouTube or some other video sharing site, so people can review it.

The room was filled with political party types, a few business people and the rest of the commission sans Dean Lovelace. There were reporters galore as well as publisher Kevin Reilly and editorial hatchet man, Martin Gottlieb. Since Joanne Huist Smith was part of the panel asking questions, it looked like Lynn Hulsey will be penning the story for the DDN.

I would have loved to see rebuttal to questions- and even better yet- at least one opportunity for the candidates to ask each other questions.

Here are the key points that I thought worth mention.

Rhine on more than one occasion thanked, or congratulated the service unions. It’s clear she knows where her bread is buttered. She’s awfully proud that Dayton is capable of taking out other cities trash. So one hand, we’re talking about being a hub for high tech new business- but, our core skill is menial labor.

BTW- her and Gary are now in lock step on Gary’s idea to recruit 1000 new small businesses, instead of chasing large ones. Too bad her last 8 years has shown that she’s doesn’t have a clue about recruiting any business without a handout.

Gary talks about “Enterprise” not “Privatize”- which sounds almost as good as we’ve got “feds, meds and ed’s” in this town (our three non-profit, non-taxpaying bases that are left). However, with budget cuts, and a general perception of incompetence thanks to our current leaderships ineptitude, selling our services is going to be a tough sell until we can sell it to our own citizens first. Gary talks about a customer focus- Rhine talks about her connections- including her great relationship with President Obama (as if we are going to buy that- esp. after she sat on the fence in the primary- where she and Nan were Hillary girls).

I’m amazed that the Mayor can blame NCR leaving on the CEO who never came to Dayton, but she keeps calling them “The NCR” as well as botching other corporate names the same way. “The Care Source,” “The Pacchia” etc.

It’s also not real helpful to say  that our “downtown buildings are antiquated.” Talk about how not to sell downtown. She goes on to say Caresource had to build new- as if Mendelson’s didn’t have the space, or something couldn’t be done with the former Elder Beerman building to accommodate them. Then she turns around and talks about Bob Schiffler with the Kuntz building- which is most certainly both old- and enjoying a renaissance. I have no love for Mike Turner, but, listening to her muddle through this- made me wish he was still here, even though his answers would have been just as vacuous.

Gary thinks everything will be helped by having “coffee and a doughnut” with existing business owners. The mayor proudly says she meets with 50 a year. The real question is how many is the City Manage meeting with? I know Rashad took the Mayor out to a lot of lunches at Coco’s- but, it was just the two of them. Wrong way to do it then, will continue to be wrong again.

In fact, when Rhine won eight years ago- I wrote her a 5 page strategy on how to jump start the city. Funny- I probably should have posted it earlier- so here it is as a pdf. Ideas for Rhine It might be a good measuring stick for what we’ve seen after 8 years of her rule.

On public safety, no real breakthrough ideas from either. The real scary part is what’s going to happen when the senior officers all retire. No one asked the question- and we haven’t heard an answer. You still need cops to run even the red-light cameras. Technology isn’t going to save us- there is no robocop.

Another point of differentiation- Gary talks about merging services with the County- Rhine says there isn’t much overlap. Indicative of how far regionalism will get under her power- no where. If regionalism is your dream- she’s not your candidate.

The schools aren’t the Mayors responsibility, and Gary is getting hammered for home schooling. I think the real issue is that we continue to believe in DPS as is- and that the charters haven’t accomplished much either. Gary is right- parents are an issue. However, we need to strengthen neighborhoods and the connection between schools and parents. The Mayor talked about Siamese twins- the city and the schools, when in fact we have quadruplets or more- with DPS, Charters, Religious schools, and home schooling- all options. How do we get them all working together? Neither had answers. I’ve talked about sportsplex, a central after school tutoring center, enrichment programs at Boonshoft and Wegerzen- but, it will be harder to implement now that we’ve already done our black and white, East and West side rec-plexes thanks to the current administration.

When the mayor closes with mention of 4 city mangers in 8 years, 2 interim, 2 full, it should be an indication that we haven’t had the right formula in place. Two year averages for a City Manager won’t get us where we need to go. I’m not sure the current commission can give us the city manager we neeed- and when you get down to it- that’s the most important key to this whole election.

I’m not declaring a winner between these two tonight. After eight years the Mayor should have better answers and build more confidence. With an opponent so weak, the challenger should look a lot better. For the city to have to choose between only these two- without a primary- we’ve already lost.

But, when it comes down to what to do with a team that’s been losing- the only answer is to try to change it. That’s what I’ve been hearing going door to door. What are your thoughts?

One of the dirty little secrets that the incumbents don’t want to talk about is the world of hurt that our safety forces are about to encounter.

Thanks to a pension plan that began years ago, a whole bunch of our senior staff are all going to retire in droves starting next year. All that institutional knowledge, is going to hang up their holsters and leave us minus a deputy chief, a major, a bunch of lieutenants and practically the whole detective section in the next 2 years.

The DROP plan is described here:

The Deferred Retirement Option Plan (DROP) is an optional benefit that allows eligible police officers and firefighters to accumulate a lump–sum of money for retirement.

via DROP Information – Ohio Police & Fire Pension Fund.

Thanks to our current problems with the Department of Justice, we can’t even hold a civil service test to start the 18 month process to hire new police officers. It’s a good thing the residency rule is no longer in force, which along with opening our department for lateral transfers, will be our only chance at keeping adequate staffing. This may be one of the issues that forces Dayton to the regional discussion table faster. By joining the police department with the Montgomery County Sheriffs department and possibly Trotwood (which both just laid off some officers) we may be able to maintain adequate staffing and resources at a critical time.

Other options include finding ways to move desk jobs over to civilians as much as possible and making sure all officers are on the street at least several days a month from the Chief on down.

It may also be time to start looking at recruiting officers from the military police – offering them options on clusters of homes in tougher neighborhoods, complete with installation of ShotSpotter technology to help take back these neighborhoods. Given a choice between Iraq, Afghanistan and some tough streets in Dayton might take some battle tested people to fight to bring our neighborhoods back.

This should be one of the first issues to be discussed with Tim Riordan, regardless of the election. A plan should have been presented to the public long ago, as these retirement dates have been set in stone for some time.

This would be an excellent question for the Dayton Daily News to ask our Mayoral candidates in the debate tonight. I doubt either have any clue on what to do.

Today the Dayton Daily News ran another article about the City Commission race. However, with their drop in readership, it’s not going to make much of a difference come election day. So far, the TV news has ignored the commission race in it’s entirety- with only a little coverage of the Mayoral.

There is more to my solutions for public safety than just beat responsibility and turning the academy into a profit center, but you’d hardly know from the article. I would take exception with the Chief’s response:

Esrati wants every neighborhood to have a dedicated police officer. Historic South Park, where he lives, shows that concept works.

Biehl said that partnership is successful because Miami Valley Hospital pays for the officer. “We’ve found, on a physiological level, one officer dedicated to a neighborhood promotes engagement and problem solving,” Biehl said. “Is there a private entity in all neighborhoods to underwrite the cost?”

Right there we have a fundamental flaw: that’s what we’re supposed to use our tax dollars for- before we go off and try to buy a neighborhood for Kroger (the Wayne and Wyoming debacle- with several million spent) or through giving grants to private corporations for promised jobs ($125K to BGH Studios).

Had we invested in police- a basic public service, year after year, our neighborhoods would be safer, your investments in homes would be worth more, and our community would be perceived differently.

The second part of our problem is our insistence on only hiring officers who’ve been through our academy. There are many police training academy’s- including one at Sinclair Community College. The cost to test, train and then graduate a small percentage of those officers is a very expensive process.

It’s time to either turn the academy over to Sinclair, run it as a regional training facility, or shut it down and sub-contract the training to Sinclair. In fact, if what Chief Biehl says in today’s paper is correct:

The city will be hard pressed to hold a recruit exam by summer 2010, Biehl said. On average, two sworn officers retire monthly. Biehl estimates it will take 16 months to schedule an exam, then move officers through six months of training. That could leave the department with 32 fewer officers before new recruits are on the job…

“We could go below the 350 (sworn officer) mark by January 2011,” Biehl said. “That could put us at our lowest staffing level in a decade.”…

“Most police departments are looking to send people out the door. I don’t mean retirement. I mean layoff,” Biehl said.

the obvious answer is to start hiring the officers that are laid off in other communities, like Trotwood. These are trained officers, saving us probably $100,000 + per trainee in training costs, and could well help us start solving our minority hiring disability that has plagued this department for years.

Why the taxpayers of Dayton are forced to pay recruits and for their training, when other departments hire people who’ve paid their own way is beyond me. Maybe, if we did it like everyone else- we could also pay our officers more (right now Kettering officers make at least $10k more a year).

Dayton has been doing things the same way and expecting a different result for too long. It’s time to discuss real solutions, like changing our standard operating procedure, if we want to see real change.

]]> http://esrati.com/safety-and-you-and-the-rest-of-the-story/3318/feed/ 49 http://esrati.com/the-monarchy-of-montgomery-county/3293/ http://esrati.com/the-monarchy-of-montgomery-county/3293/#comments Thu, 01 Oct 2009 18:52:02 +0000 David Esrati http://esrati.com/?p=3293

How many “political families” do we have in Dayton that collect tax-dollar supported paychecks? Civil service standards? Whatever. We’ve got a “famiglia” in town that takes care of its workers, it’s called the Montgomery County Democratic Party and its patronage system is what keeps the good “earners” in line.

I can’t do all of this, but, I’m sure with your help, we can start to map out the family tree.

Starting with two of our Dayton City Commissioners:
Nan Whaley who “Served as assistant to Montgomery County Auditor Karl Keith from 2001-2005″ before getting elected to the Commission virtually unopposed (running in a three way against Lorana M. Kelly). Her boyfriend, who became her husband, Sam Braun also works for Karl. There is also a Terry L. Whaley on the city payroll- but, it could be coincidence and no relation.

Matt Joseph, who worked somewhere in the County building in a similar position, has his brother Russel Joseph working for the Dayton Municipal Courts under Montgomery County Democratic Party Chair, Mark Owens. The name Owens is common enough, but inquiring minds want to know if City employees Charlene or Betty are related to Mark just for giggles.

The city employee list also has a bunch of names on it that are the same- and I’m not just talking “Smith” or “Jones”- right next to Mayor McLin is also “Gary S. McLin” and I have no way of telling if he’s related. Of course Rhine got into politics by being appointed to finish her father’s term in the Statehouse- a policy that should have ended when we declared our independence from the British Crown in 1776.

I’m not sure about the two Lovelaces on the City payroll- Dean is the City Commissioner and Richard D. – well someone will have to verify or deny.
The former VP of the Dem Party is Tom Ritchie, with AFSCME, and who sits on the Board of Elections with former Party chair Dennis Lieberman (his wife is Montgomery County Commissioner Debbie Lieberman). The BOE pays that board at least $19k a year to meet a few times per month (I believe these figures are correct). The City of Dayton also employs six Ritchies (not sure they are all related), with at least one we definitely know is related and gets a little extra wiggle room when he screws up. Tom the 3rd works for Karl Ketih too.

There is also the son in law of former Mayor McGee, Michael Cromartie and his wife, Montgomery County Common Pleas Judge Frances McGee Cromartie to add to the long line of Dayton Royalty.

Montgomery County Clerk of Courts run by Greg Brush, who employs his father in law. Greg’s mother in law works for Steve Harsman at the Board of Elections.

The Board of Elections is a parking lot for the party faithful. These nice paying jobs are staffed entirely down party lines, with one of each- Democrat and Republican. The whole place is a yin-yang maze, totally excluding any third party or any kind of local tie breaker opportunities. If you want to see what totally partisan politics looks like- look no further.

Democrat Board of Elections Supervisor Bev King who is a good friend of Rhine, has her son, David working for Karl Keith as well.

Steve Harsman’s son works for Karl Keith, and so does his ex-wife. Karl seems to employ a lot of the party faithful, including the mayor of Vandalia (a part-time job that apparently allows this kind of double dipping) and Loy’s wife works at the BOE and their daughter was a part-timer this summer. Their son also works for Karl Keith.(updated- he no longer works there). The mayor of New Lebanon, Craig Roberts and New Lebanon city councilwoman Glena Madden also work for Karl Keith.

Judy Dodge, Montgomery County Commissioner, has her daughter at the BOE as well. [update after publishing]

Former Ohio Dem Party chair, Paul Tipps has his son Tony at the Board of Elections, his sister works for Jennifer Brunner in the Secretary of State’s office. Tipps is now a lobbyist.

Susan Martin, who is former State Senator Tom Roberts’s sister works at the BOE, and another sister works for Karl, Tom Roberts’s ex-wife Regina Roberts works for the City, and stretching way back, they were caught getting the city to pay to send their daughter to swim camp on the taxpayer’s dime (even though the City had no organized swim teams).

Jefferson Township Trustee Brice Simms has a nephew and daughter working at the Board of Elections too.

Harsman even hired his son’s girlfriend to work for him at the Board of Elections.

Word is State Rep. Clayton Luckie has a whole bunch of people on the public payroll, again hard to verify thanks to name changes by marriage, or aunts, uncles, cousins etc.

Other names that make me go hmmm, are Blackshear as in related to Willis in the County, Dixon as related to Richard Clay who “worked” for the School Board as did his wife while he was mayor (he was caught turning in sick days to the School board while traveling on City Business and only got a slap on the hand).

I’m not a full-time investigative reporter, but considering you have to fill out financial disclosure statements to run for office, shouldn’t you have to fill out a family tree of all the other relatives you have working for the government, just to reveal any possible improprieties?

I don’t mean any harm by exposing these connections, or possible connections, I just feel that the public has a right to know what their tax dollars are being spent on. The City of Dayton is facing some serious hiring challenges in the public safety departments as the DROP program starts to force a lot of veteran police and firemen to retire- and it would be nice to know that you don’t have to be related to a politician to even consider applying for a job.

I’m sure some of these people are absolutely fantastic at what they do, but, I know that there are very few “family” businesses that thrive with second, third and fourth generation leadership. We seem to be full of it in our local government offices.

If you know more- please add in comments. Thank you.

After my break in, and the attempt to break into my office, my neighbor, Larry- told me to start capturing video to my hard drive. I’m not saying if I am, or if I’m not, but Larry sure is.

Last night at 1:15 am- he had an unwelcome visitor. Thanks to some Jack Russell terriers and a video surveillance system, all we have of Larry’s visit is some very good video-here is a frame:

Criminal on your doorstep.

There have been a rash of break-ins in South East. Police are still coming, dusting for prints, taking reports, arresting a few people, who then turn around and walk right back out of jail.

It’s time for a different approach. Do you know this loser? We have a lot more video- his car, him reaching over the gate to unlock it- even him looking up as Larry yelled at him. Even though we know he wasn’t there to sell cookies or popcorn for scouts, he didn’t complete his crime, so we can’t give him time. We can almost be assured though, that if we figure out who he is, we could probably solve some other crimes.

Although I hate the idea of “Big Brother” it’s time to supplement police patrols with security video in large areas. Once an area starts having a problem, deploy a network of surveillance cams and feeds- and wait for the criminals to come again. The system would be portable and easily deployable. Some of it may be operated by the neighborhoods.

It’s time to take our neighborhoods back, and if it’s one video camera at a time, so be it.

Now, just tell us who the loser is in the video for $100, please…