Bloggers at Loggerheads

Uh oh.

The Needler in the Haystack is removing Plaintalker from his roster of links.

Coincidentally, Max Schmid of WBAI just played an episode from the Vic and Sade show called “The Demise of Bernice.”

Scary.

Turmoil is in the air. Or, as the late Ray Blanco used to say when describing Plainfield's peculiarities, "It's in the water."

--Bernice Paglia

Is Hellwig's Year Up?

Last night at the budget non-meeting I mentioned that Police Director Martin Hellwig's one-year acting term was up on March 20. Therefore, some action regarding the role should be taken next Monday. City Administrator Marc Dashield said he believed the term was up on April 20.

At my age, one always fears for signs of memory deterioration, so I looked it up on the blog and, for good measure, in the Courier News online archive to back up my news clip with a hand-written date. On March 21, 2008, Brandon Lausch reported that Public Safety Director Martin Hellwig had been appointed the day before as police director in acting capacity.

So either the mayor jumped the gun or the year is indeed up.

I used the search word "loggerheads" to retrieve the blog post and it also turned up a long-forgotten spat with Dan. Click here and scroll to trudge down memory lane.

The question of "acting" roles also made me realize that Dashield himself is overdue again in his dual role as city administrator and acting director of Administration, Finance, Health and Social Services. And so it goes.

--Bernice Paglia

Are "Acting" Limits Passe?

A few years ago, in one of the Queen City’s classic tugs of war over “acting” appointments of top officials, the City Council approved a 90-day limit on how long a mayoral appointee could serve without council confirmation.

It comes to mind now that the current mayor has named Public Affairs & Safety Director Martin Hellwig as the city’s first civilian police director, replacing the police chief. As Dan Damon points out, the ordinance abolishing the chief’s post has not actually taken effect, for one thing. The other thing is that the ordinance establishing the office of police director allows for an interim appointment of up to one year.

It is also more than 90 days since A. Raiford Daniels vacated the post of director of Administration and Finance, Health and Social Services. City Administrator Marc Dashield is serving as acting department head in addition to being in charge of day-to-day operations of the city. That burden was cited as part of the reason for the delay in passage of the 2008 fiscal year budget.

The point of having separate individuals carrying out major functions is that it contributes toward the checks and balances of government. If all we wanted was a czar or Dear Leader, we wouldn’t need the branches of government nor the structure outlined in the city’s special charter.

The past furor over acting appointments came about when the governing body perceived the mayor’s actions as a ploy to sidestep the “advice and consent” process by which the council has a say in confirming or rejecting mayoral nominees for top posts. There is no such outcry now, but any longtime observer of the city might ask, what has changed? Is it that the new folks don’t know about the time limit or that nobody cares any more?

The net effect is that we have two top officials in dual roles where they essentially report to themselves. The city administrator/department head situation is a lot of work for one person, especially because that department has the most divisions to supervise. The department head/civilian police director combination, at the very least, diminishes objectivity about how the new entity is working out.

Nobody wants to see a return to the days when the mayor and council were always at loggerheads, but are citizens willing to see the governing body pass on enforcing checks and balances? It’s something to think about.

--Bernice Paglia