OCEAN CITY – Questions were raised and accusations hurled this week at the City Council majority after cell phone records revealed hundreds of minutes of communications between them outside City Hall.
Councilman Doug Cymek, a private investigator by trade, recently underwent an extensive review of the cell phone records of the council majority – Brent Ashley, Jim Hall, Joe Hall and Margaret Pillas. Cymek obtained the records from a resident, who obtained the usage breakdowns from the city under the Freedom of Information Act.
What Cymek discovered was 17 hours of direct communication between the council majority from Nov. 20-Dec. 19, according to city cell phone records. Although Ashley rejected a city cell phone, numerous phone calls were made to and from his home phone.
In this billing cycle, cell phone usage shows Joe Hall used 974 minutes of his plan communicating between himself and Ashley, Jim Hall and Pillas. Pillas used 927 minutes talking among the new majority, while Jim Hall used 709 minutes between Joe Hall, Ashley and Pillas.
Records point to a number of phone conversations on Nov. 29, 2010, the day before a work session when a host of ordinances were introduced calling for major changes to new employee pay and compensations as well as reductions in current employee vacation time as well as an overhaul of the town’s retirement system.
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9 comments:
This kind of backroom, and backstabbing politics is pervasive at all levels and locales of government. National, state, and local: even right here in our own Salisbury, Maryland. Sickening.
What a joke! The "citizen" was past council president Joe Metricic, who worked with Cymeck and the Mayor to get the records, and stir the pot. SOUR GRAPES is right, from the old majority that did the very same thing for the last 4 years. At least the "new" council is trying to get to the bottom of a budget run crazy the last 5 years. Payroll and benefits increased by 61% in that time period.
Obviously 9:11 has not been watching the council meetings very closely. The old majority at least discussed issues prior to the voting which by the way routinely resulted in a unanimous vote. The new majority will not respond to questions from the public nor ask for any input from the minority. They just continue to plow ahead with their own agendas. Something is not right here when they refuse to speak in public as to what is going on. Oh and by the way I was told the Ocean City budget has gone down in excess of EIGHT MILLION DOLLARS in just the last two years did they tell you that? What is up with the 61% increase you are talking about? 9:11 do you live in OC or just speaking to the new majority on a regular basis? In fact I believe you are a member of the new majority and justing hiding behind this blog. The voters do not need alot of words in the media they need to hear constructive discussion of the issues. It is time for the new majority to disclose their master plan so that us lay people will get the big picture. Unfortunately, their big picture appears to be wallet sized and they are apparently winging it since they will not answer questions form the numerous employees and taxpayers which attended one of the recent council meetings.
9:46 Is obviously a union member! Thats right, the budget was reduced by 8 million, but the FY 2010/2011 was still a staggering 24million over 2005, or 45% increase after your 8 million dollar reduction. Hiding behind this blog huh? Al Johnson, Ocean City Maryland. Now whats your name. Would you like my phone number, or e-mail address? This is the first Council that is taking debt and long term liability seriously. Would you also care to revisit the pay scale of the current employees, I am sure SBY News can publish the article from OC Today to really show everyone where "poor" employees stand.
9:46 "answer questions from (not form) the numerous employees and taxpayers which attended one of the recent council meetings" ummmmm lets see, one police captain, two union presidents, one realtor, speaking on behalf of another police officers wife, two other police officers, one public works employee, one past council president, and one crazy man from little Salisbury. Sure seems the RESIDENTS, BUSINESS PEOPLE, and the other 39,000 tax payers seem interested to sit tight and see how this plays out. Subtract the employees and union, you have little desent left.
The last 4 years were exactly the same, it was just Mitricic, The Mayor, and the city manager running the show. Hows it working for ya now?lashoo
17 hours of dialouge, cell phone or otherwise........... heck, the Salisbury Council hasn't spent that much time in 10 years on the issues. Seems thats a good thing, and further shows maybe they have done thier homework
Why is it not appropriate for council members to discuss issues at hand and obtain clear understandings of issues they are going to deal with? You can't very well make informed decisions during the brief council meetings. I think the fact that they spent this time on the phone with eachother, shows that they are doing their homework, and they they aren't just "showing up" for meetings. Other than they maybe should use landlines, what's the problem?
1:29 Yep, for sure! Then that simple Mary Knight would vote for whatever the Mayor told her to. Anyone disgaree?, just go back and look at last years vidio meetings, and voting history. I think it's great the shoe is on the other foot. How many local towns and states have let the employees break the bank, answer? way to many! A proud OC resident.
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