Consultants, Consultants, Consultants!

Here we go again. With City Union contracts set to expire at the end of the year, the Mayor wants to hire a law firm to help with contract negotiations. Unless, I'm mistaken, and I'm usually not, the City budgeted money to retain Dick Mullaney as an advisor to the new City Clerk and to help negotiate the new contracts! Dick has served the City well as Clerk, Budget Director, and as part of the negotiating team in many contracts in the past. So, I guess I'm a little confused, if we have City Attorneys on staff, Dick Mullaney retained as a consultant, and a Mayor as our CEO, why do we need to spend more money on an outside law firm? We all know why, because our Mayor and City Attorneys are incompetent and because some GOP law firm donated money to Maziarz and Tucker and it's time for payback.

My prediction for how the negotiations will go is something like this; The Unions and City Hall have already planned their strategy together as far back as before the November election when the Police and Fire Unions endorsed Tucker. The Mayor will say the Union is demanding too much, the Union will say that the Mayor wants to take too much away, this will go on for months, all the while both sides are exchanging winks. Then, the Mayor will tell us what a great deal he made on our behalf and come out with some b.s. about how bad it could have been. The police and fire unions will get what they want, the department heads union will get what they want, and the guys that really have an affect on our everyday lives will get the short end of the straw.

 http://www.buffalonews.com/city/communities/lockport/article850063.ece

CAN YOU SAY PATRONAGE!

Once again, it appears that another faithful lap dog will get a job at taxpayers' expense. According to the papers, our Mayor is asking the Common Coumcil to create a position to market the City. Hey, I get it, George wants to reward somebody with a nice cushy job! Yeah, what a great idea, create another position at $40-45,000. Oh wait, now factor in benefits, now it's more like $60-70,000! Can't wait to see who's in line for this one! My #1 guess is Heather Peck, my #2 is Jay Krull, they're both labor fakers. 

I have a better idea, because I agree that the NTCC is wasting our money, why not let the real professionals do the job. My choice is hometown favorite The Fitzgerald Group, real marketing professionals. Give them a 4 year contract for $200,000, and have them track the ROI (producing verifiable numbers). If they don't perform, try another firm. No legacy costs, and no problem firing them like we would have with the job creation.

http://www.buffalonews.com/city/communities/lockport/article850063.ece