It was just last year that Yenni was challenged by the City
Council to put up an ordinance to end years of illegal auto and cell phone
payments.
After the omnipotent City Attorney claimed they were “reimbursements”
and didn’t need Council approval, the
Yenni Administration reversed course, called them undocumented allowances and
then talked the City Council into calling them what they really were, extra
compensation.
Several Council members publicly gushed about how hard the
Directors in Kenner worked and how they were always on call, in a vain attempt
to justify to the public the $400 per month auto allowances and $150 per month
cell phone payments.
If you are reading this and you have a $150 a month cell
phone plan, please call me. I have some slightly used toll booths from the
Crescent City Connection to sell you.
Now, after fighting vigorously and defending the needs of
his political appointees, Mayor Yenni has now deemed the high auto allowances
are really not as necessary as he claimed just one year ago.
How will the highly paid City of Kenner Directors make it
financially without receiving all of their little monthly bonuses? Will they
need to file for Bankruptcy as at least one City Department Head has or will
they need to moonlight like our previously mentioned omnipotent City Attorney?
Now, before the good folks at 1801 Williams Blvd. jump up
and down and claim that I’m bashing Mayor Yenni let me state for the record
that I’m a fan of recycling. Always have been. I applaud Mayor Yenni for
expanding the recycling program.
But, what I’m not a fan of is the way Mayor Yenni does
things.
First, the auto and cell phone allowances (now deemed
compensation) should never have been given. Forgive me if I believe that, if
you earn $60,000 - 100,000 per year or
more, you should be able to afford $5 a month in gas to drive to and from work.
Kenner is 11 square miles. We’re not talking about commuting to Baton Rouge
daily.
Second, since they are compensation, and these same
Political Appointees also received a 3% raise last year, these allowances just
compounded that raise.
Third, again, since they are compensation, why weren’t they
added to the recipient’s salary on the budget? Could it be that Mayor Yenni
doesn’t really want you to know that the Finance Director earns over $101,000
per year PLUS an additional $4,800 as an auto allowance AND $1,800 as a cell
phone allowance? While it doesn’t look good that the Finance Director for a
city the size of Kenner earns $101,000+, it looks a whole lot worse if it
showed that the Finance Director earned $107,949 plus benefits.
And what about our omnipotent, moon-lighting City Attorney?
He earns $88,326 according to the budget. Of course, adding in the $4,800 auto
allowance and $1,800 cell phone allowance bumps that up to $94,926 a year.
Sounds like a full-time job to me. He must have boundless energy to take on
personal injury cases and rustle up business for his other employer, Mayor
Yenni’s friend and political contributor.
Is it any wonder that they can’t afford a tank of gas to
drive from their house to their offices on Williams Blvd. on the paltry wages
that the City of Kenner pays?
There’s also the question of whether it is even legal for
Mayor Yenni to reduce the auto allowances. I’m sure though that Yenni wouldn’t
make a move without consulting the omnipotent City Attorney. However, since the
allowances were spelled out by a council ordinance, it would seem logical that
they could only be reduced by a council ordinance, right?
But, let’s get back to recycling.
In December of 2011, Mayor Yenni unilaterally extended the
city’s contract with Ramelli for garbage pickup for another five years. The
Mayor didn’t put the contract out for bid, didn’t seek input from the council
or the public, he just did it.
Not only did he extend the contract without council input,
he didn’t even bother to tell the council until he was asked about it 6 months
later when the contract was due to expire.
Had Mayor Yenni been a little proactive and put some thought
into the contract renewal and the negotiations, perhaps he could have had
Ramelli include recycling in their bid. After all, the more recycling that is
done, the less Ramelli will need to pick up from people’s homes, right? That
should reduce Ramelli’s costs and allow them to provide the recycling service
for free or a significantly reduced cost.
According to Councilman Joe Stagni, the City of Slidell
receives garbage pickup and recycling for a lower rate than the City of Kenner.
Slidell’s lower rate and better service might be because they put their
contract out for bid and sought competition.
In an article on Nola.com, Mayor Yenni said, “It’s an
additional service, and we’re not going to the taxpayers and asking them to pay
for it.”
So, I guess that means that, since Ramelli will be picking
up a lot less garbage due to recycling, our trash bills in Kenner will be
reduced accordingly.
I’m sure that’s wishful thinking on my part. Of course, I’m
still waiting for my new Ramelli trash can that was promised to all Kenner
residents when Ramelli signed the original contract 6 years ago.
Until that day comes, my trusty old Waste Management trash
bin, in use since before I heard the words "Hurricane Katrina", will have to do.
Of course, when your friend is the Mayor, it doesn't matter what contracts say or what you promised to get that contract. As long as you're a FOM (Friend of Mike), you're set in YenniVille.
And, only in YenniVille can you claim that something is so vital to
employee retention and morale one day and then reduce it later without a
council ordinance because you want to use the money for something else.
But I guess when you’re the Mayor of YenniVille, you can
make stuff up as you go along and hope that nobody notices. Or that the Council
doesn’t put it up for a voter referendum. Can’t have the Mayor of YenniVille continue coming out on the losing end of voter referendums, now can we?
