Executives and staff of the Plainfield Municipal Utilities Authority snubbed the public at last night's FOSH-sponsored community forum, despite assurances last May that they would return to provide details for questions that went unanswered at that time.
About fifty attendees reacted with shock at hearing that organizer Pat Turner Kavanaugh had been characterized by a PMUA executive at last Saturday's Environmental Fair as 'a racist' and FOSH as 'those rich white folks up on the hill'.
As residents try to focus on issues and concerns with the PMUA's costs, services and customer relations, such attitudes seem intended to derail civil discourse; attendees, however, were not misled.
(In case any PMUA staff or executives are reading this, the meeting was decidedly not all-white, did not appear to be made up of rich people, and judging from those I knew and others who spoke, represented a cross section of every part of the city. So there.)
Among those in attendance were City Council members Adrian Mapp, Cory Storch, Annie McWilliams and Council President Rashid Burney, as well as Republican mayoral candidate Jim Pivnichny and Assembly candidate 'Bo' Vastine. Mayor Sharon Robinson-Briggs, who promoted the meeting on the city's website (see here) was conspicuous by her absence.
It became clear as attendees spoke that despite working at its customer service issues, the PMUA has a serious problem with giving residents simple, direct answers to their questions and simply in getting back to them. (Since so many of these seem to be recurring questions, one has to wonder why the PMUA simply doesn't post a FAQ -- frequently asked questions -- page to its website.)
Philip Charles and his wife gave an update on the DumpPMUA lawsuit, which was sent to mediation by the court last Friday. A report is due back to Judge Cassidy in October. You can follow along on the DumpPMUA website (see here); there is no mention of the lawsuit on the PMUA website.
Many of the questions and comments focused on the question of transparency in the PMUA's activities and expenses, and complaints that senior staff -- and Executive Director Eric Watson, in particular -- are arrogant and condescending toward the public.
In looking for accountability, speakers focused on the City Council, asking why it doesn't bring the PMUA to heel.
Councilor Storch pointed out that there are some misconceptions about the Council's role, which is limited to giving its advice and consent to the Mayor's annual appointments, and that the real point at which pressure needs to be applied is in the Mayor's selection of nominees.
An activist Board of Commissioners could compel more transparency and accountability from the staff.
(Far from being 'advisory' as stated in yesterday's Courier story, the Board of Commissioners is actually the corporate entity, and ultimately responsible for the actions of the agency's staff, who are mere employees despite attitudes and actions that may convey a different impression. According to STATE STATUTE, the Authority is composed of five members who serve rotating five-year terms, with one appointed each year; and two alternate members who serve two-year terms, with one alternate appointed each year.)
Resident and former Board of Ed member Rasheed Abdul-Haqq asked whether there was any progress on the idea of the PMUA being reabsorbed into the city to bring more accountability and control costs better by reducing duplicative overhead.
Councilor Mapp responded by expanding on the idea, which was a plank in his mayoral campaign, wryly noting that he will not be able to bring any pressure to bear on the situation directly since he does not expect to be mayor in January.
However, he did bring up the possibility that citizens could organize to have a non-binding resolution put on next year's ballot, giving residents a way of expressing themselves on the importance of the matter.
You can be sure such a move would not be welcomed by the Robinson-Briggs administration.
And that possibility may make next year even more interesting.
-- Dan Damon
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4 comments:
Can you imagine the uproar in Plainfield if it was reported that an executive of a public authority had disrespected a citizen by calling her a "black supremacist" and her community "poor black folks down in the 'hood"?
Why isn't the employee who allegedly said this identified and reprimanded?
Where's the media outrage? Where are the church leaders? Where are the community groups?
Maybe the PMUA executive who confronted Pat T K should be profiled in the PMUA newsletter as an positive example to the Plainfield African-American community.
Dan- Your readers should check out Jim Pivnichny's web site for his position under issues. Jim has promised to appointment competent administrators to the PMUA board or dismantle the Authority. See Pivforplainfield.com
12:56 pm -- you're riight, I checked Piv's blog before posting but the expected piece was not yet up. I saw him taking serious notes last night and expected a writeup.
Folks can check it out at
http://pivforplainfield.com/2009/09/16/thoughts-on-the-pmua/
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