NEW ROCHELLE, NY — City Manager Charles B. Strome issued a statement Thursday regarding an exclusive investigation by Talk of the Sound last week into allegations that city workers were literally sleeping on the job. The report, along with a video, was published Tuesday.
“The incident you have reported with Public Works staff is under investigation by Commissioner Tergis,” said Strome. “All such allegations are taken very seriously.”
UPDATE: The two City workers have been given a 30 day suspension.
Strome took issue with one aspect of the report.
At 12:40 p.m., I received a call from Kathy Reilly. She stated that she could not find Crescent on a City map, proposed that the truck I had seen was a Thruway Authority truck (they are yellow) and insisted it was not possible to go east from Grove Avenue on Charles Street. At one point she stated “you’re not giving me good…” before trailing off. I believe she was saying “You’re not giving me good directions”.
I believe the purpose of her call was to establish a future claim that the City was not able to verify the information in my initial report because there had been a delay due to my supposed failure to accurately describe the location. This would then be followed by a later call to say that by the time the City got there to verify my information there was no one at the location. In fact, by the time she called Truck #3 was already gone. I suspect that Kathy Reilly directly or indirectly got word to the driver of Truck #3 to leave the area.
Strome denied that Kathy Reilly, his assistant, would “deliberately or inadvertently alter or mitigate that situation” and that any conclusion to the effect was erroneous.
Talk of the Sound stands by our story.
Residents will have an opportunity to here from Mr. Tergis directly at a “Coffee and Conversation” event on Friday, February 15th at 9:30am at the New Rochelle Public Library Meeting Room. The meeting is sponsored by the New Rochelle League of Women Voters.
The original report and video is here: Ever Wonder Why It’s February and New Rochelle Has Still Not Picked Up Your Christmas Tree?
Sanitation
It’s no secret that our sanitation department works a half day most of the time yet gets paid for a full day. They start their routes as early as possible and run them quickly so they can be done by lunchtime or early afternoon. Yet, instead of investigating waste, our council has the gaul to more than double (63%) boat winter storage rates against its NR residents at the municipal marina. The same place where you can see some of these sanitation workers going fishing during the summer by early afternoon and still getting paid for an 8 hour day. City Hall & sanitation, all crooks!
I have complained to Lou
I have complained to Lou Trangucci about this. The sanitation workers rush through their routes so they can get home early while still on the clock. They throw garbage pails all over the place, drive up and down one way streets the wrong way, and speed through town. This is a disgrace. We the taxpayers are paying to have these people on the job 8 hours a day and we are not getting it. The state attorney general should look into this.