Larry Slagle took a 3.55% pay raise as a member of Massillon City Council this year.
It was automatic. It was unvoted.
The elected officials get a raise every year.
It is automatic. It is unvoted.
The city workers received a pay freeze, and a reduction of benefits.
27 lost their jobs because of the horrific state of our city's finances.
The city workers, at least those not in a union, were ordered by council, including Larry Slagle who voted in the affirmative, to pay 15% of their health care premiums.
We believe city workers, just like workers in the private sector, should pay part of their health care.
We do recognize this results in a decrease of their take home pay, and is essentially a pay cut.
This pay cut was supported by Larry Slagle, who took a raise for himself.
He froze the pay and cut the benefits of the worker bees.
And took a raise for himself.
And he is not ashamed.
“(We) have been told we should be ashamed because we have not given back our pay raises,” Slagle said at the close of Monday’s council meeting. “First of all, I’m not ashamed of that at all" (The Independent, May 9, 2012).
Last year's Larry Slagle vowed to examine the ordinance that gives members of city council automatic, unvoted pay raises for life.
"In 2011, Slagle vowed that he would examine the 1995 ordinance that establishes the pay-raise mechanism for the 14 city employees, which includes council, its president, the auditor, treasurer, law director and mayor" (The Independent, May 9, 2012).
And after thoroughly researching the issue, Councilman Slagle decided the elected officials of Massillon were "dramatically underpaid."
The members of Massillon City Council make $7,823 dollars per year for this part time job.
In North Canton, they make $4,800 per year.
In Louisville, they make $3,000 per year
Regardless, we agree people are not getting rich serving on council.
We do, however, take exception to the "we deserve more" argument on several fronts;
Firstly, Slagle knew what the salary was when he ran for the office and was elected all of six months ago.
We assume no one forced Mr. Slagle to run, and that he did so of his own free will.
Secondly, we challenge Mr. Slagle to find another governmental body where the elected officials get an annual, unvoted pay raise every year, for life.
Annual. Unvoted. Pay raise for life.
Good Luck!
Thirdly, being on council is a part time job.
$7,823 dollars for 52 Monday night meetings.
That's $150 dollars per meeting.
A part time job.
We ask this question. If annual, unvoted pay raises for life is such a fine idea, why not give the worker bees what you got?
This solution would end any and all labor strife within Massillon City government forever.
Give the workers the same annual, unvoted pay raise for life deal that you have.
No more contract negotiations.
No more bargaining.
No labor-management impasses ever.
Give them the same raises you get.
Instead of a pay freeze this year, they would get your 3.55% raise.
No you say?
Then you are a hypocrite.
What's good for the goose should be good for the gander.
And if you can't see the absurdity of freezing, cutting, and laying off the workers while you yourself take a pay increase, then your grasp on reality is tenuous at best.
Either treat everyone the same, or repeal the automatic raises.
Be consistent.
We realize you aren't getting rich on $7,823 dollars a year.
But you chose to do this, and this is not your full-time vocation.
Under your watch, 27 people just lost their full-time vocation.
And guess what?
It isn't anyone else's fault that you got your hand caught in the cookie jar.
It's on you.
And when you and your colleagues were "showin' tough love," and "cuttin' to the bone," it is disingenuous that you impose sacrifice on others while you take a pay increase for yourself, regardless of the amount.
No, you are not getting rich doing the job.
But your decision to take the raise, under the present financial circumstances facing the city was your choice.
And if you are "not ashamed" to take the raise, then you should not be angry when it is pointed out that you took the raise.
You did.
You took it.
You made a choice.
You knew the ramifications.
Accept the responsibility and quit looking for scapegoats.
If you have an issue with anyone, it is with the man in the mirror, and with no one else.
Thursday, May 10, 2012
Thursday, May 3, 2012
It's Not Over Until I Say it's Over!
If you look up good sportsmanship in the dictionary, the one thing you can be absolutely sure of that won't appear is a picture of our beloved 6 term, 24 year, former mayor for life, the extraordinary one, Frank Cicchinelli.
When he lost the Democratic primary one year ago today, he decided not to be a statesman, and quietly leave the stage.
The first thing he did was to go about assessing blame for his loss. And the stories about who was truly responsible are well travelled.
The guilty include;
The Independent newspaper - they were "anti-Cicchinelli" and were out to get him, despite the fact they endorsed him for a seventh term.
The Massillon Tiger Football Boosters - they could have done more to support one of their own.
The Carpetbaggers - those "anti-Cicchinelli" mayor haters who don't even live here. Remember the 'line in the sand?'
The people of Tuslaw - they worked against Frank for no good reason. We know he tried to annex the entire Tuslaw school system, but those people were making a mountain out of a mole hill.
Jackson Township Trustee John Pizzino - Mayor Cicchinelli's cousin. Cicchinelli demanded that Pizzino run against Massillon Clerk of Courts Johnnie Maier. Pizzino said no.
The no good voters - They forgot about all the good work our beloved mayor selflessly performed, solely for the good of the city.
The guilty did not include;
Himself.
None of it was his fault.
None of it.
Not the deplorable condition of our parks
Not the Legends of Massillon Golf Course debacle
Not the Arena swindle
Not the Hampton Inn sweetheart deal
Not the 59 Duncan Place scam
Not the overspending
Not the mismanagement
None of it.
To say he did not leave with grace and dignity is a vast understatement of biblical proportions.
In his last 8 months, he spent money he did not have.
He hired people he really could not afford.
He made sure his street was "one of the five worst streets in the city," in order to get it repaved.
With the help of City Auditor Jayne Ferrero, he left the new mayor with almost 3 million dollars of unpaid bills.
He set the city up for an extraordinary crash.
But it wouldn't happen on his watch.
This would be someone else's problem.
But he isn't finished.
Cicchinelli is not done.
He is still involved.
Working behind the scenes.
Working through his former loyalists.
Because it's not over until he says it is.
Multiple Massillon Review faithful readers have communicated the story of how just last week, our former mayor called our current fire chief and screamed at him. Cicchinelli took the fire chief to task for allowing "those people" to close Fire Station No. 3 on Wales Road.
Fire Station No. 3.
The building department deemed it's condition to be "deplorable."
The Fire Department understood why it was closed.
“We understand why the city closed it — the health concerns,” said firefighter Perkowski, of the International Association of Firefighters Local 251 (The Independent, April 28, 2012).
It needed to be closed because 'someone' didn't take care of it... for 24 years.
Uh, Mr. Cicchinelli? You aren't the fire chief's boss anymore.
And whether you believe it, or not, and we realize you won't, you are the person with the most responsibility for 27 people losing their jobs this week.
Perhaps you should contemplate this fact as you continue to "work behind the scenes."
And, as a point of correction.
It's over.
When he lost the Democratic primary one year ago today, he decided not to be a statesman, and quietly leave the stage.
The first thing he did was to go about assessing blame for his loss. And the stories about who was truly responsible are well travelled.
The guilty include;
The Independent newspaper - they were "anti-Cicchinelli" and were out to get him, despite the fact they endorsed him for a seventh term.
The Massillon Tiger Football Boosters - they could have done more to support one of their own.
The Carpetbaggers - those "anti-Cicchinelli" mayor haters who don't even live here. Remember the 'line in the sand?'
The people of Tuslaw - they worked against Frank for no good reason. We know he tried to annex the entire Tuslaw school system, but those people were making a mountain out of a mole hill.
Jackson Township Trustee John Pizzino - Mayor Cicchinelli's cousin. Cicchinelli demanded that Pizzino run against Massillon Clerk of Courts Johnnie Maier. Pizzino said no.
The no good voters - They forgot about all the good work our beloved mayor selflessly performed, solely for the good of the city.
The guilty did not include;
Himself.
None of it was his fault.
None of it.
Not the deplorable condition of our parks
Not the Legends of Massillon Golf Course debacle
Not the Arena swindle
Not the Hampton Inn sweetheart deal
Not the 59 Duncan Place scam
Not the overspending
Not the mismanagement
None of it.
To say he did not leave with grace and dignity is a vast understatement of biblical proportions.
In his last 8 months, he spent money he did not have.
He hired people he really could not afford.
He made sure his street was "one of the five worst streets in the city," in order to get it repaved.
With the help of City Auditor Jayne Ferrero, he left the new mayor with almost 3 million dollars of unpaid bills.
He set the city up for an extraordinary crash.
But it wouldn't happen on his watch.
This would be someone else's problem.
But he isn't finished.
Cicchinelli is not done.
He is still involved.
Working behind the scenes.
Working through his former loyalists.
Because it's not over until he says it is.
Multiple Massillon Review faithful readers have communicated the story of how just last week, our former mayor called our current fire chief and screamed at him. Cicchinelli took the fire chief to task for allowing "those people" to close Fire Station No. 3 on Wales Road.
Fire Station No. 3.
The building department deemed it's condition to be "deplorable."
The Fire Department understood why it was closed.
“We understand why the city closed it — the health concerns,” said firefighter Perkowski, of the International Association of Firefighters Local 251 (The Independent, April 28, 2012).
It needed to be closed because 'someone' didn't take care of it... for 24 years.
Uh, Mr. Cicchinelli? You aren't the fire chief's boss anymore.
And whether you believe it, or not, and we realize you won't, you are the person with the most responsibility for 27 people losing their jobs this week.
Perhaps you should contemplate this fact as you continue to "work behind the scenes."
And, as a point of correction.
It's over.
So Much for Tough Love
"She (Catazaro-Perry) is going to have to make cuts, make consolidations. She’s going to have to do some tough love.” (Massillon City Auditor Jayne Ferrero, The Independent, January 20, 2012).
In Auditor Jayne Ferrero's world, it is clearly evident that 'tough love' applies only to the city's worker bees, and not to herself. Ferrero took her 3.55% pay raise., costing our cash strapped city $1,890 dollars.
Independent reporter Matthew Rink lays out who took the raises and who didn't;
http://www.indeonline.com/newsnow/x1018078992/Amid-layoffs-elected-officials-take-automatic-raises?zc_p=0
Kudos to the Republicans
All 5 Republican members of city council returned their pay raises. This included the four new Republican members of city council;
Sarita Cunningham Hedderly, Ward 1
Nancy Halter, Ward 2
Ed Lewis, Ward 6
Milan Chovin, At Large
Perhaps the aforementioned will remind their leader, Councilman Donnie Peters, of his January promise to repeal the automatic, unvoted, annual pay raise for life legislation.
Stergios understands
(Law Director Perry) Stergios said he understands the argument that forfeiting the raise is a symbolic gesture during difficult economic times (The Independent, May 3, 2012).
He understands the argument. He's just keeping the money.
In Auditor Jayne Ferrero's world, it is clearly evident that 'tough love' applies only to the city's worker bees, and not to herself. Ferrero took her 3.55% pay raise., costing our cash strapped city $1,890 dollars.
Independent reporter Matthew Rink lays out who took the raises and who didn't;
http://www.indeonline.com/newsnow/x1018078992/Amid-layoffs-elected-officials-take-automatic-raises?zc_p=0
Kudos to the Republicans
All 5 Republican members of city council returned their pay raises. This included the four new Republican members of city council;
Sarita Cunningham Hedderly, Ward 1
Nancy Halter, Ward 2
Ed Lewis, Ward 6
Milan Chovin, At Large
Perhaps the aforementioned will remind their leader, Councilman Donnie Peters, of his January promise to repeal the automatic, unvoted, annual pay raise for life legislation.
Stergios understands
(Law Director Perry) Stergios said he understands the argument that forfeiting the raise is a symbolic gesture during difficult economic times (The Independent, May 3, 2012).
He understands the argument. He's just keeping the money.
Wednesday, May 2, 2012
The Answers Are Coming
According to one of our faithful readers, the Independent newspaper will be running a story tomorrow detailing which elected officials "showed tough love," "cut it to the bone," and returned their unvoted, annual pay raise.
We will also be learning which elected officials took their unvoted, annual pay raise while the worker bees took cuts, freezes, and layoffs.
Hopefully they all had the common sense and basic decency to not take a raise this year.
We are fairly confident that is not the case.
We will also be learning which elected officials took their unvoted, annual pay raise while the worker bees took cuts, freezes, and layoffs.
Hopefully they all had the common sense and basic decency to not take a raise this year.
We are fairly confident that is not the case.
Shared Sacrifice
Massillon City Council didn't have much to say on Monday when 27 city employees lost their jobs.
These job losses, these families who will suffer as a result, are the human faces attached to the rhetoric of "show tough love," or "cut it to the bone," mantra which has been extraordinarily easy for some members of our city government to trumpet to the local newspaper.
Massillon's finances are a mess.
Our prior mayor spent money like a drunken sailor on shore leave.
Money he didn't have.
And the Auditor had no inclination to put the brakes on as he did it.
Now, while city council has cut benefits for the workers, froze employee salaries, and cheerleaded the "cut to the bone" bombast, they themselves received a 3.55% pay increase.
While others were losing their jobs, through no fault of their own, those in charge got a raise.
Last January, the Independent reported that Mayor Catazaro-Perry, Councilman Donnie Peters, Councilman Ed Lewis, and Councilwoman Nancy Halter returned the annual unvoted pay raise.
We are left wondering if anyone else returned their raise.
We are curious to know who is so brazen to accept a pay raise for themselves while the employees who work for them lose their jobs.
We really are curious.
And are asking our faithful readers for help.
We want names.
If someone knows who took the raises, and who returned them, please drop us an email.
The community deserves to know.
The Massillon Review Hypocrisy Early Warning System is on high alert.
These job losses, these families who will suffer as a result, are the human faces attached to the rhetoric of "show tough love," or "cut it to the bone," mantra which has been extraordinarily easy for some members of our city government to trumpet to the local newspaper.
Massillon's finances are a mess.
Our prior mayor spent money like a drunken sailor on shore leave.
Money he didn't have.
And the Auditor had no inclination to put the brakes on as he did it.
Now, while city council has cut benefits for the workers, froze employee salaries, and cheerleaded the "cut to the bone" bombast, they themselves received a 3.55% pay increase.
While others were losing their jobs, through no fault of their own, those in charge got a raise.
Last January, the Independent reported that Mayor Catazaro-Perry, Councilman Donnie Peters, Councilman Ed Lewis, and Councilwoman Nancy Halter returned the annual unvoted pay raise.
We are left wondering if anyone else returned their raise.
We are curious to know who is so brazen to accept a pay raise for themselves while the employees who work for them lose their jobs.
We really are curious.
And are asking our faithful readers for help.
We want names.
If someone knows who took the raises, and who returned them, please drop us an email.
The community deserves to know.
The Massillon Review Hypocrisy Early Warning System is on high alert.
Tuesday, May 1, 2012
Gas Bag
Our beloved city is broke. Left in the wake of the gross mismanagement and reckless spending of our once and future mayor, The Extraordinary One, King Francis the Temporarily displaced.
Yesterday, it was announced that 27 employees are being laid off.
The tragic result of years of fiscal malfeasance.
The chickens coming home to roost.
But the news isn't all bad.
As our faithful readers know, our elected officials get an annual, unvoted pay raise every year.
Seems hypocritical to lay people off, "taking food away from their children," while taking a pay raise for yourself.
But Massillon had a champion!
The Republican Leader of Massillon City Council, President Pro Tem, and Finance Committee Chairman, Donnie Peters was going to put a stop to this unsavory practice.
“I’m going to try to repeal it (the pay raise ordinance),” said Peters, the ranking Republican and Council president pro tem. “Everyone says it doesn’t make it (pay-raise issue) political. Well, make it political” (The Independent, January 27, 2012).
January 27th.
According to our crack Massillon Review research team, that was 95 DAYS AGO.
95 days ago.
And in that 95 days, the city's worker bees took pay freezes, benefit cuts, and 27 of them just lost their job.
But fear not, Massillon.
Donnie Peters is on the job.
And has done absolutely nothing to keep his promise.
Nothing.
Now, we understand the former Mayor's Loyal Enforcer won't permit him, but we don't see where he has even bothered to try.
An empty promise.
More hot air.
One more political gas bag.
Yesterday, it was announced that 27 employees are being laid off.
The tragic result of years of fiscal malfeasance.
The chickens coming home to roost.
But the news isn't all bad.
As our faithful readers know, our elected officials get an annual, unvoted pay raise every year.
Seems hypocritical to lay people off, "taking food away from their children," while taking a pay raise for yourself.
But Massillon had a champion!
The Republican Leader of Massillon City Council, President Pro Tem, and Finance Committee Chairman, Donnie Peters was going to put a stop to this unsavory practice.
“I’m going to try to repeal it (the pay raise ordinance),” said Peters, the ranking Republican and Council president pro tem. “Everyone says it doesn’t make it (pay-raise issue) political. Well, make it political” (The Independent, January 27, 2012).
January 27th.
According to our crack Massillon Review research team, that was 95 DAYS AGO.
95 days ago.
And in that 95 days, the city's worker bees took pay freezes, benefit cuts, and 27 of them just lost their job.
But fear not, Massillon.
Donnie Peters is on the job.
And has done absolutely nothing to keep his promise.
Nothing.
Now, we understand the former Mayor's Loyal Enforcer won't permit him, but we don't see where he has even bothered to try.
An empty promise.
More hot air.
One more political gas bag.
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