Government Officials Ignore Residents
Topic: COMMUNITY INTEREST
Government Officials Ignore Residents
By Tammy Duffy
In April 2015, Duffy's Cultural Couture reported on the suboptimal practices of the Hamilton Township government as it pertains to record retention. (http://www.tammyduffy.com/ARTFASHION/index.blog/2353642/hamilton146s-high-tech-filing-system/)
Upon entering the townships document retention area I was stunned at the condition of the room. There was visqueen plastic draped throughout the room clothes pinned to the ceiling. There were puddles of brown water laying within the visqueen. I asked one of the township employees what was the cause of having all this plastic hanging from the ceiling. Their response,” the roof has been leaking for quite some time so we have this up to protect the file cabinets. Last year, I was in the tax office in the municipal building and saw this same dramatic visqueen plastic set up due to the leaking roof.
The room I was in was filled with numerous file cabinets. These file cabinets house important government records. All of the cabinets in this room had this plastic visqueen above them. There were extensive puddles of brown water scattered throughout the visqueen, above the cabinets. Obviously mold growing from the continued wetness. Is this how our government documents should be safeguarded? This is also not an optimal work environment for the employees as well.
Once I finished examining the files in the metal cabinets, I was given numerous old, collapsed boxes to leaf through to evaluate the documents. The boxes are not labeled just stuffed with numerous amounts of paper.
Upon further discussions and follow up with the Hamilton township Clerk, who has been in her position for 35 years we learned that emails just "disappear. All servers just "disappear" when people leave office, no email or digital file was ever saved prior to July 2010, they were all deleted.
In addition, in the past 35 years there has never been a certification (this properly documents what documents or emails have been deleted or sent to the state archive) done ever in the history of Hamilton township in Mercer County. All certifications come through the Hamilton municipal clerk and she has never processed one.
The municipal clerk is well aware of the shenanigans going on with the deletion of files and emails, her own have just disappeared, but nothing has ever been done to rectify the situation or document this behavior is going on.
Governments are bound by law to protect all records; which includes emails. which are in their custody. The law defines the roles laid out in the Annotated Code in an effort to protect records considered essential to the continuing operation of government, guarantee the integrity and preservation of permanent records, ensure the legal admissibility of the permanent record, secure the rights and privileges of citizens, assure public access to the records of government, promote agency legal and fiscal accountability, provide a means to document agency administrative history.
The law also further states that a person may not willfully alter, deface, destroy, remove, or conceal a public record except under proper authority. Exploring the regulations makes it clear that records management is important to the management of your government's responsibilities.
The Division and the State Archivist have adopted regulations to define the character of records of archival quality; determine the quantity of those records; set standards for the development of record retention and disposal schedules; and provide for the periodic transfer to the State Archivist or disposal of records, in accordance with the schedules.
Transparency of government is only possible through records management. Continuity of records is an integral piece of public officials' responsibility to their constituents. Though it may sound challenging, adhering to good records management practices will be beneficial in the long-term. An office with easy and reliable access to its records will operate efficiently.
Yesterday, the Trentonian reported a story, see link below
http://www.trentonian.com/general-news/20151020/hamilton-mayor-kelly-yaedes-tough-ethics-policy-becomes-local-law
I sat on the economic development board for 1.5 years and resigned from the board due to the unprofessional aspects and lack of integrity of the township. The way volunteers were treated was despicable.
We all had to sit through "integrity training" which was actually taught by the townships insurance company. There were NO township officials at the training. Only the workerbees and volunteers (at least at the scheduled training I attended). The HR team from the twp was not in attendance at the training I attended. The was orchestrated by the townships insurance company.
It was clear from the insurance company that after the training that if anyone ignored the training aspects and the township was sued for something an employee/volunteer did, and they were trained on this aspect, that employee/volunteer would not be covered under the townships policy. They would need to hire their own lawyer and the township would not help them in any way.
The integrity policy that the township has does not have the teeth in it as the Mayor touts. It is nothing more than a memo, see link below.
http://www.hamiltonnj.com/qcontent/NewsFeed.aspx?FeedID=1193
This memo which was written by the prior mayor who went to jail. It makes reference to a state policy, but the township does not share this state policy with anyone who is asked to sign this memo. One would think they would have the link directly to the State policy near the memo. This is not the case. Clarity on these types of issues is the only way to ensure everyone understands the policy.
I will share with you an email exchange between myself and the township lawyer. This exchange happened during my tenure on the township economic development board. There are several policies on the state site. Unless the township gives that exact policy to everyone, so everyone clearly understands all the rules, then it's not a policy. The loopholes for the people become large and plentiful for those involved if this is not done. But maybe that is exactly what they want, loopholes.
In the article by the Trentonian they make reference to a statement by the Mayor.
"In a memo dated Feb. 4, 2013, Yaede informed all township employees, including police officers, that “gifts and other things of value that are otherwise permissible to accept may be impermissible if they are used or displayed in an inappropriate manner, such as in a manner that may create an impression of favoritism or endorsement.”
Any government employee worth the honor of holding office or having a government job, knows full well that they cannot take ANY gift EVER. EVER. EVER. EVER. There are no exceptions. They cannot take even a pencil. If you do, you are out of a job, instantly.
This "new" law is not worth paper it is written on if there is no accountability demonstrated to those who break the laws. There is never follow up or accountability given for breaking the law with the current administration. They are running amok. They have a social media policy that their own employees do not follow. There are directors within the township that post inappropriate items constantly. There are no reprecussions for that.
This photo taken in Feb 2014 on Sandalwood Ave in Hamilton, private plowing for twp "people". The road is not plowed, but this resident got a personal plowing.
You will see in this email thread what I asked the township Lawyer about this memo they wanted us to sign. After his response I kept reaching out to him to obtain the full document that they are using as a reference. All the emails went unresponded to from Mr Burbage for this information. This is the typical response from township officials, no response.
There are no teeth in this law, or in the policy. It's another wondercloud of falsehoods created by administration that is as dense as osmium. There is zero transparency in this local government.
Email thread below
On Wednesday, June 11, 2014 4:23 PM, Tammy Duffy <tammy.duffy@yahoo.com> wrote:
LLB,
Thank you for this information. I went to the web and there are several links that go to different documents as it pertains to the Ethics Code for the State of NJ.
I might suggest that whatever document was utilized to create the summary memorandums that were sent to us, be sent to the members of the commissions. Without this no one can sign these documents. This will ensure that there is no confusion on how people were trained and what document was read by the individual. By sending the exact document this also ensures that in the event someone breaks the rules they were informed of ALL of the regulations and the individual cannot say, "I was never told and did not know". The summary memorandum does not cover all the policies that have been developed by the State of NJ.
To compare this, one would never sign a one page summary given to you by a mortgage broker and not read the entire mortgage documentation to ensure you understood and were informed of all the details of the mortgage.
I look forward to receiving the full document or appropriate link.
Kind Regards,
Tammy
Dr. Tammy Anne Duffy
Email:tammy.duffy@yahoo.com
Mobile:646-717-7494
On Wednesday, June 11, 2014 2:54 PM, "LBurbage@hamiltonnj.com" <LBurbage@hamiltonnj.com> wrote:
Dr. Duffy-Loretta forwarded your email concerning the above referenced matter to me for reply. Although there are several references to the Local Government Ethics Law, the term “Local”, actually is referring to the State of N.J. Code. The summary, is just that, a summary of the high points in the state code. The entire document can be found on the N.J. website. Thank you for your questions. LLB
Dr. Tammy Anne Duffy
Email:tammy.duffy@yahoo.com
Mobile:646-717-7494
Loretta,
HI! I have a question
The code of ethics document is an interoffice memo. It is not a representation of the full code of ethics, it appears. In the second paragraph it says, "In summary", which leads me to believe there is a full document somewhere and these are just a few bullets from the document. Do you have the full document that this interoffice memo was created from? It may just be that the words "in summary" need to be removed from the document because it creates the impression that the memo is a summary of a more extensive document.
Once I hear back with confirmation on what the full document looks like and have had the opportunity to read it, I will be happy to sign the documents. The gift and gratuity memo also makes reference to the "Local Govt Ethics Law."
I do not see this on the website ("Local Govt Ethics Law."). I only see the memo as mentioned above on the website.
If Hamilton really wants to have "teeth" in their law they will formally prosecute all the people involved with destroying government records over the years. All of the digital files and email prior to July 2010 have been destroyed. There was no certification done to formally destroy these records. This is against the law, a serious violation of the law. One that should not be ignored.
As you know, Duffy's Cultural Couture has been reporting on the firing range that is located behind American Metro Way. This past weekend 30 dump trucks filled with dirt traveled through the community of Cornell Heights making a delivery. A delivery to the firing range. Upon speaking to the drivers of the trucks we learned the dirt (finest of grade) is being utilized to build add a high velocity component to the existing police range. What is this costing taxpayers? We tried to OPRA this information and the township refused to share it. But, the government is transparent?
In July, 2011, Kevin Schick, Chief - Bureau of Environmental Evaluation & Risk Assessment contacted the township and had extensive discussions with the township on this firing range. He spoke with Richard Williams, Dir of Compliance and Planning. He gave to them two documents that Schick considered the "gold standard" for best management practices (BMPs) at operational firing ranges. The documents are from the ITRC and USEPA. "These BMPs should be considered for their operational police range", Schick said. How much of what was in these documents from the DEP Chief do you think the township of Hamilton has implemented or created a SOP based on those documents? I ask all of you to contact Mr Williams, OPRA the document and make your assessment about how transparent, caring of the community, this current administration is. Once you do that, make your decision on Nov 3rd for the people you feel are honest, caring of the community, and will put teeth into policies that are written.
A final note to report on, the township did away with free permits for senior citizens in the township. What could this program possibly cost the township? But, the township has no issue spending exorbitant amounts of money revamping a firing range and on a 5 person security detail for the current mayor?
Do you feel like you matter as a resident in Hamilton? Do you feel your hard earned tax dollars are being used properly? Do you feel safe? Do you feel that current administration is more concerned with serving themselves vs. serving the residents?
Make your decision on November 3rd.
Posted by tammyduffy
at 7:40 AM EDT
Updated: Thursday, 22 October 2015 9:38 PM EDT