Will Commissioner Parent Ever Tell the Truth?

At the August 7, 2018 commission meeting, Mr. Parent spoke at length (as usual). He is working on the 2019 budget and warned taxpayers that it will be a tough one. Translation: tax increase. What do you expect? Team Santiago has been giving away taxpayer’s money left and right. (Read the blogs on the Demolition at 109 E. Main Street).  

Mr. Parent also discussed the city’s attorneys. He spoke about the attorneys who have already exhausted their budgets exceeding their contracts and needing an additional $200,000 to make it to the end of the year. Mr. Parent as usual did not accept any of the responsibility but blamed the over runs on others.  Team Santiago chose the out of town attorneys and agreed to the contracts even though they were not the low bids. Mr. Parent as usually distorted the facts and ignored the following:

1.    Fact: Team Santiago hired Doug Long’s law firm which is ethically challenged and  has been fired by other municipalities for a variety of reasons. (See Millville Attorneys: Long and Schroeder blog). Why would you hire this firm? Answer: You owe the firm and are obligated to it because of significant campaign contributions. “Campaign payback”.

2.    Fact: Team Santiago chose to pay the Long and Schroeder law firms $150/hour. Mr. Russell’s bid for 2019 was $110/hour. There were no complaints and nothing but praise for Mr. Russell when he served as solicitor the preceding year. The problem is he didn’t ante up enough in campaign contributions to get the job. “More campaign payback”

3.    Fact: Team Santiago hired James Schroeder for $55,000/year. However, this included limited services. Mr. Schroeder bills extra for services that were normally included; such as questions from City staff.  The point again is why? The answer to that is so that Mr. Schroeder could be paid back for his campaign contributions.

4.    Mr. Parent mentioned what the city had paid Brock Russell. When doing so Mr. Parent compared what Mr. Russell was paid in 3 years to Mr. Schroeder’s one year bill. Furthermore, Mr. Parent failed to mention that Mr. Russell’s bill included tax appeals and affordable housing issues, which are now being done and charged for by Long not Schroeder. To compare figures accurately and honestly, Mr. Parent should have added in Mr. Long’s fees for tax appeals and affordable housing and compared similar time frames. More purposeful deception by Mr. Parent.

5.    Fact: Mr. Parent stated at the commission meeting he would never question an attorney’s bill. That's scary! Mr. Parent, Director of Revenue and Finance, your job is to watch the taxpayer’s money and make sure it is well and properly spent.  Since Mr. Parent is not doing this, who is?(The meeting is available on YouTube using the link on the city’s website).

Ms. Udalovas did question the additional funds for the attorneys and did vote no for all 5 of the resolutions. Thank you for looking out for the taxpayers. However Ms. Udalovas’ suggestions to monitor the high billing are supposed to be already in place. The law requires that the bills be checked before being paid. This is Mr. Parent’s responsibility.

It is time for Mr. Parent and the rest of Team Santiago to accept responsibility for what they are doing. Stop the spin and do your job.