The last week or so has been a quasi-vacation. Quasi in the sense that Friday I left town with my ladies to drive to the beautiful Gulf Coast of Florida for about 10 days of vacation. For them. I came back to Trenton on Monday for a few days of work. I fly down again yesterday afternoon for a few days of real beach-bumming before hitting the road to return to NJ on Tuesday next.
So, even th0ugh there has been a lot of things happening around town, I haven’t had much of a chance to put my two cents in. There is one item, though, I do want to comment on.
There is news out this afternoon that both the Trentonian and Jim Carlucci are seeking information on the 18 hires made by the Mayor’s office since July 1.
Wait a second. Did I read that correctly? 18 people? Hired? At the same time that the City is proceeding to lay off hundreds of employees? How can that be? After layoff notices are filed with the State, hiring is supposed to be frozen, I had thought.
But, according to the article, I’m wrong. Carlucci is described in the article as having been told that, since the positions filled are all “technically aides to the mayor,” they are exempt.
Exempt from the hiring freeze. Exempt, apparently, from having their jobs being publicly described and posted. Exempt from being filled by any of the other hundreds of existing employees who are being laid off.
I hope this story gets some traction.I’d like to know about what roles these “aides” will play; how many are fulltime or part-time slots; how many were posted publicly and open to competitive applications.
It sounds more and more that, in the middle of the devastation that is taking place among our city agency and departments, that this Mayor considers himself Exempt. Exempt from normal, mandated hiring procedures; exempt from considering hiring as his many “aides” those who otherwise will lose their jobs; and exempt from recognizing that hiring a dozen and a half “aides” might be a lame move.