In Which We Find Neither Accountability or Fiscal Sensibility in the Wilmington City Council — AGAIN

Tonight, the Wilmington City Council will vote on an amendment to the budget to add more management staff to the WPD. They will do that without having any hearings, with little notice to the public and without Bud Freel (the Finance Chair) in attendance. Councilman Freel is one of the few points of fiscal accountability (heck of any accountability) in the City Council and doing this without him available (guess Council President Gregory did not offer Bud first class tickets to come back to vote) and without a good public airing is good government malpractice. But then, we are talking about a group of people who aren’t much interested in good government — or, frankly, in representing their constituents. Here is what is being voted on:

This Ordinance is being presented by the Administration for City Council’s review and approval. If approved, Council would be amending the Fiscal Year 2016 General Operating Budget to fund four positions for the Wilmington Police Department, three of which were recommended by the Wilmington Public Safety Strategies Commission. The positions are two Police Inspectors, a Chief Information Officer and a Communications Director. The Ordinance would fund the $827,000 needed for the new positions by reducing FY 2016 police overtime funding by $400,000 and reducing the projected FY 2016 budget surplus by $427,000. The Ordinance also increases the authorized strength of the WPD by two positions for a total of 322 police officer positions.

The WPSSC did not recommend these positions. it recommended a Deputy Chief Position who would be responsible for formulating and implementing a comprehensive safety strategy for the city. Reducing that to Inspector pretty much makes this into a think tank position — with someone who will have no authority to implement anything outside of the people who report to him. Of course. the Chief insists that all of the Inspectors will work and play well together, even though they do not now. Which is a serious management problem. And this City Council is taking them at their word that this will somehow magically work. Even so — the WPD could hire these Inspectors from outside of the department. But they plan to promote from within — which further extends the status quo — and makes sure that the the $827K cost is much closer to $1M when you count in the pension costs. Which are NOT in the $827K. Got that? The City Council has made one step in the right direction in asking the WPD to fund a portion of these positions from the presumed savings the WPD would have in their overtime budget. But Theo Gregory makes this MUCH worse by asking the Council to fund the rest from a surplus that has yet to materialize.

What’s wrong with this picture?

I’ll add to this that the Mayor and the Chief’s response to the WPSSC has been to pretty much declare victory and try to turn the page — getting as much money from Wilmington taxpayers as they can. There’s no accountability whatsoever in their response — and really, if you look at this closely, you’ll note that they claim to have already done much of what the WPSSC has called for. Even though there is still a rash of killing and shootings and even though there is no way for anyone to be able to measure whether they’ve made real progress here and even though the WPD still claims to need more money to have more management to oversee what he claims is already implemented. Yet here we are, with the Wilmington City Council ready to endorse the Chief’s vaporware AND ready to give them more money for it.

This mess gets even better — this is the City Council’s official announcement of its endorsement of the vaporware and its intent to spend money that does not exist. But check this out:

Wilmington City Council President Theo Gregory said today that he has emphasized to the Williams Administration the need for greater public accountability as well as improved collaboration regarding the findings of a State crime commission. Gregory said he discussed those subjects in recent meetings with Administration officials regarding a budget amendment that the Mayor is asking Council to consider.

This goes on to say that Council will recommend some accountability scheme, but if they are serious about getting any cooperation here, they’d get this process down and in writing before they take a vote to approve the positions or the money. Otherwise, they’ve badly played their cards here and is what I expect will happen. Much like how badly they played their cards over the Commission report for the first WPD budget. Clarifying and amending 18 of the Administration’s responses to the WPSSC report don’t mean much unless the public can see them — and that means that you will likely not see much from the Administration once they get their approvals. But go read the whole thing. It is a masterpiece of promises that are broken right now — because you’ll never see any of this accountability once the positions are approved and funded. And notice that this Council won’t go as far to tell the Administration that if there is no surplus or their overtime efficiencies are not achieved — they can’t count on the Council to bail them out. Right? And why is Gregory concerned about getting Council votes for this mess? That is the administration’s problem, not his.

I don’t mind telling you that I’m always angry at just how cavalier both the Administration and City Council is about the safety of the citizens of Wilmington. But just throwing in the towel right now seems like suicide — at a time when Chemours is very loudly reconsidering its location in Wilmington, there is no one in charge down at French St at all invested in even making it LOOK like this city could rationally manage itself.

If you live in Wilmington, please call or email your Councilmember and the At Large members to tell them to vote NO on this boondoggle. Tell them to get something real from the WPD in terms of a commitment to change and better leadership. This is (I think) the 1st and 2nd reading of this, so there is time for this Council to be more deliberate, to get WAY more public input and to build in some real commitments from the City. But call or write now and keep calling and writing. And while you are at it — if you know anyone in the city who would be a great upgrade from anyone in this current crowd of Councilpeople, let me know. Seriously. These people need a serious challenge if they are just going to be invested in the usual incompetence here.