Monica...We're Just Not That Into You

"A good politician is quite as unthinkable as an honest burglar" - Henry Louis Mencken

Another great profile in courage in the Village of Johnson City has been trustee Monica Silas. She has quietly supported every over-reaching, bullying tactic Mayor Hannon has proposed. She supported the unwarranted discipline of fire fighters and police officers without limitation. She has supported the runaway spending on lawyers pursuing fruitless appeals and delay tactics. She has sat by while village Policemen remain out of contract for over 5 years without any plan for funding their pay increases. Most damaging, she led the charge in rejecting every concession offered by the fire fighters.

Fire Starter has learned that the Jonson City fire fighters proposed a giveback of pay raises that would have kept the 6 laid off fire fighters on the job and protecting the Village and still saved the village about $482,000 per year. Fire Starter has been told that the fire fighters made just such an offer in April of 2009 and were rebuffed by the Village Board. Leading the charge was Trustee Silas with dismissive statements such as “we’re beyond that” and “it’s not enough”. The power felt by the bully can certainly be intoxicating!

So let’s add it up. Rejected annually recurring savings of $482,000. Over $250,000 in legal fees in the past year and no end in sight. It has been reported that if the laid off fire fighters were brought back today, they would be owed in excess of $350,000 in pay and benefits (and that number gets bigger daily). Trustee Silas’ arrogance has cost the Village over $1,000,000 in the last year alone and the meter continues to run! And this does not even include the wasted money on the Joint Fire Administrator and Joint Police Chief noted in prior posts.

Had Trustee Silas and her fellow Board members been governing in the "public interest" rather than pursuing enemies, the Village residents could have received a tax cut for fiscal year 2010-2011. Instead, like her mentor Mayor Hannon, when going after enemies, no price is too high (so long as the taxpayers are footing the bill!).

And now we learn that Trustee Silas thinks she has done such a wonderful job that she deserves another term. She believes the public can be fooled again. Fire Starter believes “we’re beyond that”. Fire Starter suggests that Trustee Silas should quit while the taxpayers still have anything left in their pockets. Two more years of this sort of “leadership” would clearly bankrupt the Village. And maybe that’s her point.