Those of you following comments on the budget workshop Monday already know Mayor Fillingame gave out and paid employee raises without first seeking Council approval. This is what the Les Lovers United call “working together” except the City Council did not act the part of rubber stamp.
Personally I was stunned to hear of this latest turn of events and this topic deserves in depth analysis, which it will receive. Along those lines I wanted to get some official reaction so I dialed (407) 824-2900 and asked for State Auditor Pickering but the receptionist denied the State Auditor was in his office. If anyone can help me track Auditor Pickering down, perhaps even another phone number, I’d be much obliged.
Stay tuned.
Good luck, Doug. The line is growing of people OSA is ignoring. Let me clarify. That’s the people who are paying all their salaries up
there, and their benefits and PERS!!!!!
Some representation, huh?
Last night was another example of how little regard he has for the employees or tax payer and even less for the Law. Les and Rafferty can’t go fast enough. Rafferty sat through the whole discussion without comment until forced into the conversation. He definitely represents Les not the Citizens or the Council. I believe this will be a smoking gun after all the tax dollars being spent to right wrongs and educate him because he claimed ignorance of process, then do this. Pickering can’t take a slap in the head like this.
407-WALT-disney HAHAHA no really Doug his cell number is 601-498-8225
Its just about time he makes something happen…..
Let’s post Pickerings cell number and get everyone to start calling, maybe we will get some activity?
Unless the Council starts to step up and make the City Attorney realize who he works for, they are fighting a lost cause. They really need to get some chutzpah !! I am so disappointed in their lack of actions. They are no better than the mayor… Everyone needs to go. This city needs a fresh start from the Mayor, Council and most department Heads, excluding the Police Chief.
I beleive he over stepped himself this time.
The difference in Les and Raul Castro is that Castro is a real Dictator. Les just wants to be one.
It will be interesting Monday night to see the justification for going $22,000 over budget with a shortfall of $289,000 already with 6 months to go in the fiscal year.
This is on top of catching up in some bills to vendors that are from this time last year, Unbudgeted overtime, decreases in gaming and sales tax over last year, and the bulk of ad valorem already collected.
For the Council to approve this would make you wonder how they manage their own finances. Or, doesn’t it matter how you spend the public’s money??!!
You know what’s funny. Bay St Louis can’t even afford to pay Waveland’s pay scale for first responders. Pathetic indeed.
We need a change. Is Wendy still running for mayor?
I wish she would. Then she will find out what it is like outside the Bernie Sanders Ward! She won’t like it.
We need change. Common sense approach. Do what’s best and be prudent. Wendy and Les do not fit this bill. Wendy wants a Natatorium…….go figure? Her and Les are two peas in pod!
Doug,
With regard to the Bay not being able to pay what Waveland pays their first responders, they probably could. But the big bucks may be awarded to the city hall crew that cover for Les in the books. They are more valuable to him for obvious reasons.
The most important difference is Waveland’s previous and current Mayors were first responders themselves. They’ve been in their shoes, and understand what these public servants are worth.
Well with the way the Bay aristocracy turns up their noses at Waveland, you think the City wouldn’t be slacking when it comes to the payscale. It’s a Place Apart indeed.
Indeed, and they all laughed at us when we went belly up.
But the difference is our Mayor inherited his financial nightmare. He had no choice but to do what the state said to clean it up.
Fillingame and his yes men ( and woman) on the Council have to own theirs.
Huge difference. They are content to exist in a facade at the expense of the public rather than bite the bullet and straighten out the mess they’ve created.
Their physical address is Bay St. Louis, but mentally they happily live in LaLa Land!!!!
We need to get this action in place to replace our current leaders and start looking for ones that truly have the interest of the great people in this city first.
This city is in a sink hole and I pity the next person who get elected for the trouble finances he or she will inherit. It will take years to get us back on track.
A petition to change the form of government to a Council- City Manager should start as soon as possible.
It may not be perfect but Council can fire a city manager if they do something illegal.
The Mayor would be a figure head making around $6 to
$8,000 a year. The number of Council may be even less
but you would still have one at large. I think in view of this past year alone with 3 City Clerk’s all quitting, the Voters on the Bsy need to strike while the iron is hot, and it is.
It is a beautiful little city with a lot of potential; just needs good professional management that is not driven by so much opportunistic politics.
One way to save money should start with the city council. 7 employees with Two secretaries? How much does that cost – seems to me one secretary should be able to handle the business of this small department even with the abundance of paperwork they generate. And what city the size of bsl has Seven council people? Is 7 really necessary or could it be reduced?
d.cuevas: ” Is seven ( councilpeople) really necessary or could it be reduced?”
NO, absolutely not !
Snow White had 7 dwarfs so why can’t Lyin’ Lesbo have 7 deaf and dumb and two butt polishers to tend to their special needs (i.e. like checking their numbers addition, when to wipe excessive brown stuff off their nose, when to sign to limit public comment, when to sign to change their vote/diapers, etc.) ?
If you haven’t noticed, BSL has an abundance of overstaffed departments. City Council, Cultural Affairs, Beautification, Parks & Rec, etc., etc. Most of these departments are overstaffed and underutilized; which means that most should be combined into a cohesive city administration that hires qualified people that are able to multi-task. For the salaries paid to many, it is very hard to justify their daily responsibilities. There just isn’t enough infrastructure to support the amount of government we have in the bay. Of course, not being a supporter of big government, I KNOW that sub-contracting many of the jobs to private companies would surely save major money and undeniably shorten the completion time of projects; it’s just the vigilant quest to smother nepotism and “good ole boy” clubs that turns so many away from this strategy.
I’ve left this one alone but times up…. Why does Ms. Filingame Stewart make $15.00
per hour, and our police and firefighters make much LES? Daddy said
you make tooooo much… And LES I can’t believe you just had the balls to walk up to me and say “boy your building looks great”. F U games over and you are going down you three face S.O.B…. AND d.cuevas good questions… WHY is our payroll larger then the entire Pass budget?????
The other employee in the Council Chamber also acts as the Planning and Zoning Commission Clerk.
All 3 cities in the counth have Planning and Zoning Clerks and staff.
It appears as though we are still at “Post-Katrina” staffing levels…..at least nearly. This is the same phenomenon that brought us the additional fire houses we cannot staff, annexed area we cannot provide service to, equipment that is under utilized or not used at all, etc.. BSL is a different place than it was 10-12 years ago; we should be staffed and outfitted accordingly. Our neighbor (Louisiana) has provided a very intimate example of what can happen if you keep spending like you have a FEMA account that gets refilled every month.
Fishbait,
Just out of curiosity, could you tell me how many employees you would eliminate in the Council Chamber Office?
2
But they are by far the department that I would personally chop up. What are we paying our Harbor personnel, beautification personnel, unqualified building inspector(s), etc.? If we are spending so much on contracted services, why is there a need for the large overhead? In my opinion, which you may not agree with, BSL has too many under-qualified, overpaid personnel. I don’t think we have reached the “resort” town status just yet.
The amount of Council Members meets the Law. At least that was Rafferty’s explanation. He has been known to be uninformed. The problem is there are a few that need to be replaced with people that can make hard decisions with the peoples best interest in mind not the politicos.
The current number of council members and ward lines were based off the 2000 Census in 2007. You do the math. Does BSL really need seven council members and two clerks of council? No, but that didn’t stop the counselor from pushing through the new wards and additional council members. However, they did have to make concessions to make sure the minority ward remained virtually unchanged and that situation did drive some of their “decisions” at the time. When folks balked at the addition of two council members, the counselor and council did say they would revisit the new council make-up and number of wards after the 2010 census was released. As everyone already knows, that did not happen. Not that anyone expected it to really happen at the time the counselor and existing council made these assurances. All empty words and promises. Nothing changes. Different year. Same story. There you go, that is why we have a council of seven instead of a council of five.
The counselor is well versed on this issue. His answers depend on what’s in it for him. You will never get a straightforward and honest answer out of him about this subject. That is not what the taxpayer’s pay him for. We support his interests and those of the mayor. He doesn’t work for the citizens even though we pay him. Why the council continues to keep him around is another head scratcher, but hey! Why would we expect anything different at this point?
Reducing the number of council members from seven to five makes sense for a city the size of BSL. However, good luck in getting two of the current council members to give up their seats. Would be interesting to see if any of them would willingly give up their part-time paycheck, full benefits, city paid retirement and power for the greater good.
It took me awhile to think it out…. Les jr was all nattily clad at the the workshop, and why… was he watching daddy???? Jr. must be planning to run in daddies shoes….or did he want to see him going down in flames???? Hummmmmm! From used car salesman to scam insurance agent porn video store grocery boy….Can’t wait for election season!
Fishbait,
If you eliminate 2 employees from the Counvil office, that would leave 0. They only have 2. One is the Counvil Clerk who does the minutes and all other business pertinent to the legislative branch of the Mayor-Council form of government.
The other is the Drputy Clerk who handles Planning and Zoning requests, agendas, minutes,etc.
Who would you suggest handle those responsibilities on a daily basis?
Or, are you talking about the number of Councilmen you would eliminate? They are elected officials, not employees. I asked how many employees you would eliminate when you said the Council was overstaffed.
Ok Lana…..specifically, I would eliminate 1 of the clerks and 1 of the councilmen, councilmen/women, councilpersons, however you want to say it these days; yes, they are elected, but, I believe they are part of what you call the “council chamber office.”
So, 2.
How many members are there in the Planning/Zoning, Beautification, community development and cultural affairs departments?
FB – You should do a public records request for a listing of all employees with pay if you want to know the current number of employees in each department and how much they are paid. It is public information and something the city has to provide you. Not saying it will be cheap or easy to get this info, but by law the city has to provide you this info once it has been officially requested. Best of luck and please keep us posted on your progress.
Council or any elected body is governed by the Department of Justice to determine number of served officials by the population and demographics.
I believe the city would have to completely redistrict and get approval from Justice Department to make sure they have met the federal guidelines.
Very complicated and time consuming process. The city needs to concentrate on more important issues, such as budget and incompetent Mayor and Attorney.
DOJ oversight has since changed. However, agreed. Changing number of wards and number of council members is low on the priority list. But a council of five makes much more sense for a city of BSL’s size.
Les should be run out of office. How he has made it this long is beyond comprehension. Seriously? Everything in those file cabinets, with the exception of HR/benefits and utility customers’ personal info, IS THE PUBLIC’S BUSINESS. Total B.S. How the clowncil hasn’t figured out a way to outsmart him and his reign of terror is stunning. Says so much. SMH
I wonder how the citizens in the Bay would feel about a change of government to a Council/ City Manager with a Mayor who is just a figurehead to cut ribbons and greet visitors.
Diamondhead has this and pays their Msyor $6,000 a year, I think. Definitely under $10,000.
The City Manager would be answerable to Council and if he gets caught ignoring the law or misleading the Council, they can fire him (or her).
The number of Council would be reduced to 4 with one at-large. The Wards would be enlarged to accommodate the reduction in Council members.
Food for thought.
I heard they were going to put combination locks on the cabinets but Charlie couldn’t operate them.
I noticed that quite a few of the folders in the picture related to Building Dept. info. Wonder if any info in the locked cabinets is related to
Building Dept. and if so, why is it locked up?
The auditor from Jackson did say she wanted to look at records going back to 2009?!