More Lessons to Be Learned

Three Months ago – and yes, it has been that long since this whole “Learning Center” debacle began, hard as it may be to believe – I posted a few “lessons” that were being taught to the children of the City of Trenton by Mayor Tony F. Mack’s example:

It’s OK to do things without permission, if you really want to.

It’s OK to do things “regardless of cost.”

In fact, you don’t even have to tell anyone what something is going to cost, anyway. It’s OK to make numbers up as you go along. Who cares if you double your estimates in one week? They’re made up anyway!

When you hold up your right hand and swear to “faithfully execute the law,”  if you cross your fingers on your other hand, it doesn’t count.

You don’t need to ask lawyers for legal advice. In fact, it’s better if you don’t. Just do what you like!

Any budgets and grants that are supposed to be used for specific purposes? Those are just suggestions. Rules and regulations for budgets and grants, especially Federal grants, don’t count for much. Ignore them.

You are not responsible or accountable to anyone for anything. Smile and wave, and you can get away with anything.

Do it all for The Children. Or, at least, just say so. You’ll get away with anything.

Promises? For chumps.

From news stories of the last few days, I can add a few more lessons.

• Fully signed contracts, especially those approved by Council, can be ignored, if they were agreed to by a predecessor you can’t stand.

In 2010, shortly before they left office, Mayor Doug Palmer’s administration signed, and Council ratified, a contract worth $210,000 for a software package to assist the city in seeking and managing outside grants. Whatever the merits of the agreement, it was a valid deal. But the new Administration of Mr. Mack decided it didn’t need the software, and tried to cancel the contract. Too bad, the vendor said. The ink is dry, and you owe the money. Trenton ignored the contract and refused to pay. So now we are being sued for $140,000, plus any court and legal costs when the City loses. The Times picked up on this story over the weekend, but the story broke a month ago in a Trenton Downtowner story by Jim Carlucci. It would be nice for a newspaper to reference when their story is based on earlier reporting by a competitor, but hey, whatever.

Am I being cynical by saying “when” the City loses, not “if?” Perhaps, but this case sounds awfully similar to another case the City did in fact lose. In March the City was found in breach of contract for another deal that the City signed in the waning days of Mayor Palmer, to lease a closed grocery store in the West Ward and convert it to a Municipal Court building. The Mackers stopped paying rent and the landlord sued. Dead to rights, a judge ruled that the City owed nearly $700,000 in back rent and is liable for the entire 20-year term of the lease, which could total nearly $8 Million in total.

$140,000 and $8 Million? A pretty expensive lesson! What’s next?

• The important stuff you want to do is best done without any contracts. Or appropriations. Or authorizations. Or a budget. Spend the money! Who cares?

We see another couple of examples of the cavalier fashion in which the Mack Administration spends taxpayer money. A new article this morning, one of a continuing series in the Time by Alex Zdan, describes two local companies receiving large payments for work that was done for the city without any contracts and without any Council approval in the case of one vendor whose payments exceeded the threshold required for open bidding and council vetting.

The amounts of money paid to these two vendors, totaling under $30,000 for both, is relatively small, but adding in $12,000 for tonight’s National Night Out; $75,000 for last month’s Heritage Days; $17K for a vanity sign; not to mention the ongoing black hole for unauthorized funds that is the Learning Centers project itself, continuing to spend unknown amounts of money without any restraint; and we’re talking some serious money.

The Mack Administration’s MO, therefore, is to ignore duly authorized contracts and obligations; and to conduct ongoing every day business without oversight, approvals, authorizations or budgets.

So those are today’s lessons. Which,come to think of it, are pretty much the same lessons that I was talking about in May. And these are the very same lessons the Mack Administration has been teaching us for over two years now, over and over and over. I think everyone has a pretty good understanding of them by now.

Any questions?