Annapolis Capital Punishment

Just in case you have not been following the mayor's revitalized blog, she ended her last piece with the following:

"At 6 am on Saturday morning I received a phone call from a city bus driver who began work on July 16 but had not been paid. What should she do? She couldn’t buy gas to get to work or pay the baby sitter and now this new job would be threatened. I advised her on action to take on Monday. What would you do? "

It's been almost a week and nobody--not a single person has commented. Doesn't anybody care what Ellen O has to say? What would you do?

Here's what I would do. First off, tell the employee not to call at 6 o'clock on a Saturday morning. Then, if I were mayor I would call the director of transportation and the director of human resources and the director of finance. After all, they are appointed by and work for Ellen O-yes? Of course, if we had a city manager form of government, the city manager would be responsible and the mayor would be the one to make sure the employee was satisfied by asking the city manager to handle it. But who screwed up? Is there not a lag time between starting work and getting the first paycheck? Why was Ellen O even telling us this story--because she wanted to let us know that she takes calls at 6 am on Saturdays? That transportation department, that mismanaged, inefficient den of ineptitude headed up by an overpaid, uncaring 25-year -plus city employee whose department managed to rack up nearly half a million bucks in overtime last year is a big problem Ellen O. What did you tell her to do????

Well--you asked what would we do if any of us were mayor? The first thing I'd do is hire a real city manager and give him or her the responsibility to handle this stuff--but for now, it's your fault if an employee is not getting paid. I think we should all be calling you and your transportation director up at 6 am to complain that the air conditioners on the buses don't work, that the police station is not yet finished, that our taxes keep going up, that the Market House cost us millions, that you keep misspending OUR money.....well, you did ask us what we think, did you not? Every time we tell you, you whine about us being impolite or uncivil. Ahhh, life in The Emerald City.....

www.ellenmoyer.blogspot.com/

Please send comments, subscribe, share with your friends, and support our sponsors.