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| Hoboken Police during 2010 Memorial Day Parade |
"First, I want to say, it's a sad day when anyone gets laid off. Regardless of mismanagement, there are people that were given a job, showed up and performed that job to the best of their ability who will now lose that job. As a community, their friends, family need to rally around them to help them find meaningful, needed work.
The Table of Organization for the Police Department grew excessively during the Roberts Administration. This is where the error/mismanagement occurred. I think it's a shame that Civil Service rules allow bumping rights. It's because of bumping rights that those who were over -promoted will be demoted, only to push out someone at the bottom of the organization who has an appropriate level of experience (not overqualified and less likely to be disgruntled).
I would hope those that were over promoted under the Roberts administration who are now being demoted recognize that A) they enjoyed an elevated level of pay while holding a position that the city could have done without B) they have experience at that higher level that no one can take away from them that will be invaluable as people retire and opportunities arise to move up again C) they still have jobs.
The guys at the bottom of the org chart are the victims of poor management. They are going to lose their jobs in the worst recession since the great depression because Roberts allowed the Table of Organization to grow well beyond what we needed.
The Table of Organization for the Police Department grew excessively during the Roberts Administration. This is where the error/mismanagement occurred. I think it's a shame that Civil Service rules allow bumping rights. It's because of bumping rights that those who were over -promoted will be demoted, only to push out someone at the bottom of the organization who has an appropriate level of experience (not overqualified and less likely to be disgruntled).
I would hope those that were over promoted under the Roberts administration who are now being demoted recognize that A) they enjoyed an elevated level of pay while holding a position that the city could have done without B) they have experience at that higher level that no one can take away from them that will be invaluable as people retire and opportunities arise to move up again C) they still have jobs.
The guys at the bottom of the org chart are the victims of poor management. They are going to lose their jobs in the worst recession since the great depression because Roberts allowed the Table of Organization to grow well beyond what we needed.
We need to commend the Mayor, her administration and Council majority for getting this done. The public always wants an administration that is willing to govern even if some of the decisions are tough and this administration and Council did just that.
The audit was clear that we also have too many patrolmen. When the state conducted the audit under the Corzine Administration, many felt that it would be biased towards the unions because of Corzine's reliance on votes from the unions. It will be interesting to see how the HFD goes. It's not being done by the state. The HFD is thought to have been better managed. Will an audit done by a non-government agency have the same level of cuts on a prorata basis? Will it shed some light on whether the Police audit was conservative, aggressive or exactly on par?
I personally will watch the retirements very closely to see if Mayor Zimmer back fills these roles. I don't think we have seen the end of the cuts in the Police Department. Demoted supervisors and letting the dust clear before moving on patrolmen may be a very shrewd move to be less public about cuts and to allow the Department to re-organize, adjust to heavier workloads and go through the catharsis of experiencing the first layoff in history. We, the public, need to make sure it doesn't take too long. Every day that the city is overstaffed, is wasted money. Isn't 10 years of over staffing enough?"
- A Hoboken Journal Reader
My comment: Please not that letters to the Editor represent the opinions of the writer and not necessarily this blog. Feel free to comment below. ◦
