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Tuesday, May 8, 2012

Wynn defends himself on treatment of Queen City Baseball League


Last night's QCBL appearance echoed that of 2010 (above)
except that the City has lost all credibility.
 
When he finally deigned to make an appearance at Monday's Plainfield City Council meeting, Parks and Recreation Director Dave Wynn defended himself on the treatment of the Queen City Baseball League (QCBL) by saying he was unaware of its existence, causing the room to erupt in a buzz and chuckles.

I think it was Marx (Karl, not Groucho) who said things repeat themselves -- the first time as tragedy and the second time as farce, and that is what appears to be happening (see here).

Though the inconvenience for the QCBL organizers is real, and a repetition of roadblocks thrown up by Wynn (acting on behalf of Mayor Robinson-Briggs, who has never contravened him) in prior years, he came across this time around as the buffoon, very much a farce, and with his principal defender being a paid seasonal worker, Roland Muhammad.

Mr. Muhammad himself is coming under scrutiny over several questions.

First there is the fact that he is a seasonal employee, limited by law to a maximum of six months employment per year. There are questions of whether that limitation has been abused by Director Wynn, whether or not under direct orders from Mayor Robinson-Briggs.

Secondly, QCBL speakers reported that Mr. Muhammad attempted to throw one of its T-Ball (ages 4-6) teams off a practice field at Hubbard School.

This should open a whole can of worms for the Recreation Division, since school grounds and facilities are not City properties, and there is no reason to believe that the City can control their use -- apart from any permission the Recreation Division has from the Board of Ed. I am given to understand that Mr. Wynn has been tardy in submitting his own requests to the Board of Ed for use of school grounds and facilities.

Then there is the question of who delegated Mr. Muhammad to be Mr. Wynn's 'enforcer'. City Administrator Eric Berry said Monday that he was unaware Mr. Muhammad was even a city employee.

Mr. Berry owes it to himself and to Plainfield taxpayers to familiarize himself with the ins and outs of the employee roster to prevent even the appearance of abuse of the public trust and purse. For example, once the Administration became aware of Monday's agenda containing a discussion item on the QCBL issue, Mr. Wynn should have been told by his superiors that his presence was expected at the Council meeting as a matter of course rather than Mr. Berry having to scurry out to the hall to try and reach Wynn on his cellphone when things had reached the boiling point.

And secondly, if Mr. Berry had known of Mr. Muhammad's employment there could have been appropriate clarification of the policy of employees addressing the Council so that Mr. Muhammad's role was fully disclosed and not falsely cloaked as merely an 'interested citizen' as he has portrayed himself in the past.

Wynn's laughable attempt to pretend the Queen City Baseball League was an entity unknown to him ought to undermine any credibility he has on the issue of fair treatment of the independent league.

Councilors Mapp and McWilliams were quite right to focus attention on Mayor Robinson-Briggs, who with a single word could be the adult in the room and enforce fair play all around.

The Council is in hopes that Robinson-Briggs will appear next Monday and do just that. I am not so hopeful. Dare we hope that the woman who stomps her way through City Hall shouting 'I am the f***ing mayor!' is in any way interested in being reasonable?

Citizens have their own way of responding to such abusiveness. As one QCBL speaker confided to a member of the audience, 'and to think I voted for her -- twice -- but I won't make that mistake again'.



-- Dan Damon [follow]

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5 comments:

Bob said...

I want to know why Wynn is still in charge of the city's recreation. I already know that answer, Shady Sharonda. Sharon is out of here and Wynn should be out now. He is a joke and not in the job for the kids, but for serving the F*****g mayor, who seldom shows any of the Christian virtues she confesses in public while at city hall. I think we've all had enough to this mayor and her stooges.

Anonymous said...

Do I understand that the citizens who pay for the playground, pay Wynn and the mayor's salary and pay Mohammad his seasonal salary are not allowed to use the grounds they help to keep up?

People of Plainfield, please get a spine and vote these people out!!!!

Anonymous said...

Councilwoman Greaves asked why they couldn't get along? Why doesn't she ask wynn why he won't leave QCBL alone? Councilwoman Rivers got up in arms when Pres. Mapp wouldn't let muhammad speak when he gave the floor to QCBL. Why has she never gotten up in arms with how wynn treats this baseball league. Councilman Reid was surprisingly quiet. He was the one who hoped there would be no issues with the baseball league at the budget hearing. None of these 3 asked wynn why he was being so mean when he was stumbling and bumbling at the table. How do you sleep at night when you know you allow wrong doing against children?

Anonymous said...

I don;t live in Plainfield but love reading your blog. Even I knew about the QCBL so how could Mr. Wynn not know abou it.

Gotta love Plainfield - makes my day reading of your town and with not getting the comics in the paper anymore, it is an excellent replacement.

Anonymous said...

Plainfield will only be able to get rid of Wynn when they get rid of the Mayor, so I hope that all you parents, uncles, aunts, cousins, friends of the children that are members of the QCBL will go out to the polls and vote out the Mayor and vote in a Mayor that will immediately clean house of all these so called employees that refuse to work for the betterment of this city to follow their own agenda of I DO WHAT I WANT WHEN I WANT BECAUSE MY COHORT IS THE F*&*ING MAYOR OF THIS CITY AND WE ONLY WORK FOR THE BETTERMENT OF OUR POCKETS.