Salisbury News has learned that Public Works Director has reassigned a City employee from the WWTP to the water department as an assistant supervisor. She is fully aware that this position requires a 3 year degree and this person does not have a degree.
The water department has a perfectly qualified person to fill the open spot but since she seems to have serious problems with anyone who doesn't kiss her toes she has spitefully hired someone who will instead.
The state requires the City to have qualified personnel but Teresa Gardner doesn't seem to care. Probably because no one was aware of it until now.
Salisbury News broke the original story about the Waste Water Treatment Plant, (WWTP) several years ago and while we had hoped things would change under this new Mayor, clearly that isn't the case.
What does it say when you work hard to get an education to qualify for such a position and then the leaders in the City ignore the law and hire someone else simply because they like the other person better.
We have heard numerous complaints about this Teresa Gardner both by city employees and professional business people. If I were the Mayor or Mrs. Gardner, I'd be making very sure a "qualified" person sits in that position before the state gets involved.
Or, you can simply ignore us and see what happens in the long run, just like Tilghman did with the WWTP. You remember, "we're 99.9% compliant with the MDE". NOT!
DelMarVa's Premier Source for News, Opinion, Analysis, and Human Interest Contact Publisher Joe Albero at alberobutzo@wmconnect.com or 410-430-5349
58 comments:
Your like an old bass my grandfather like to catch every weekend at his farm when I was a kid. He would say, " Boy, it does not matter what bait you use, if he is hungry, he will bite". You are too funny Albero.
I thought Salisbury had award winning water? The mayor has said this several times. Was he lying? If not, why not promote people inside the department who made the water award winning? Oh yea, because of Gardner...
So the WWTP has generated how many fines? And they want to transfer that leadership to our water department?!?! You know, not everybody fishes on the Wicomico, but we all have to drink the water! What are they thinking?
Why would anyone take a person in leadership from a failing department (WWTP) and place them in the water department? You people realize we do have to drink that stuff?
"The state requires the City to have qualified personnel but Teresa Gardner doesn't seem to care. Probably because no one was aware of it until now."
Which State? She lives in Delaware so I am sure she doesn't have any knowledge about State requirements.
If I remember correctly she was hire without any public works credentials.
She worked at DelCot doing roads. Somehow that qualified her to take over a division with roads (which are terrible and not being addressed), water, wastewater, trash, the city park, the zoo, an automobile garage (where they do work on all city vehicles), traffic department, utilities, etc... she has been a total disaster. I hope you are able to do something about this if you win Joe. I am married to a long time city employee and I know the general public has a dim view of city workers, but there are many that do their jobs. My husband sees public works as a great way to serve the public. Gardner has killed morale. She is the reason all of the walking bridges are closed in the park. Look into that one as well. Also, she is the target of several employee grievences from several departments. Why don't you get your friends on council to look into that? Finally, are you aware that the city now has a closed door policy from human resources? Employees are forbidden from dropping by to address things with the hr person. They must first get approval from hr, who forwards the request to Gardner. So if you have a complaint about her there is nowhere to turn.
Bahahahahaha!! Teresa will be steaming mad about this post. I am so happy not to work for her any more.
She is an awful PW Director. Things are great if she likes you but if she doesn't, you had better watch out. She even screams and yells at grown men. The mayor doesn't have the backbone to do anything about it despite numerous complaints against Ms. Gardner.
The same thing went on while Gordy and Hoppes were running the fire department, then the clown brought in Jeff Simspon who couldn't qualify to be a pimple on a real firefighters ass. Ireton brought in Simpson because the entire fire department did not want Hoppes to be the fire chief. Now Simpson is gone and Ireton is trying to force Hoppes in as the appointed fire chief. Ireton didn't want him in the first place and now he knows the council doesn't want him so he is trying to ram Hoppes down their throats. Hoppes isn't qualified to run a small shift much less an entire fire department. Gardner, Hoppes, Duncan, Pick and Chambers need to go packing with Jim Ireton.
Thank god you are covering this! Frankly I am surprised people haven't come to you sooner. Just walk around the second floor of the gov office building sometime Joe. When you hear the yelling you'll know you are close to Gardner. I've seen her just snap on people. And no, it's not the same as her just being assertive. She is trying to micromanage, which again, can be fine. But she is trying to micro manage areas where she obviously has little to zero knowledge.
I guess that is why the city is still paying an outside engineer to run the wwtp.
Whoops! Did I just tell you that?
That's right people, your tax dollars are people outside people to run the wwtp because your Mayors pick of public works director hasn't a clue and has so stunk up the place that anyone with any idea of coming in to help is now hearing about all of the drama and is still away. While I give her credit for getting rid of some dead wood (which was sorely needed) she has also run off very talented people who actually gave a care about the city and the people in it.
Ok this is way off topic but it does have to do with Salisbury. We were headed down Eastern Shore drive today and noticed all these new trees that have been planted. Everyone with a green bag on it to keep it watered. All I kept thinking was what a waste of money. Some of the trees already looked half dead. I didn't see a need to even have the trees there. It was not long ago they had trees planted that close to the road on Beaglin Park that they took down because they were growing into the roadway. They spent a boat load of money on all those trees plus the bags to go on them and in 5-10 years they will be cutting them down because the buses and large trucks will be hitting the branches. This does not take into account that they are going crack all those sidewalks as their roots spread and get bigger. What a waste. They wasted money on trees, the green bags, all the time and money that will be spent trimming them and eventually to cut them down and repair the sidewalks. Does anyone think into the future anymore or is it just live for today.
741, spot on! Look at beaglin Park Drive from Civic Ave to Bennett school southbound! LOL!
I believe she also put in as supervisor of the WWTP a man who has no wastewater license. This woman is a menace to this city and because of this article she will be looking for heads in the depts. mentioned. It's a shame they have to go to work every day and wonder if they'll have a job by the end of the day!
5:34 hit it. I would guess the person who was given the position at the wtp in some way kissed her butt when she would go to the wwtp. I don't blame them, but we should expect more out of the director of public works.
7:41, have your facts correct, the trees and bags were donated by an individual, but true the city has to keep the bags watered. You must not drive down Eastern Shore Dr. too often, the trees have been there several yrs.
Also, the next time that she speaks in public regarding either the WTP or the WWTP listen to the way that she says the word "water", I may be wrong but I don't believe that there is a 'er' sound before the 't' -- she always says "werter". You'll see, I heard it all the time and it drove me nuts.
I know for a fact every city employee is looking for a new job because of this woman! Who will make sure there is safe water to drink & the wastewater meets state laws when everyone is gone? Who will fix all the broken lines this winter and do everything else when everyone is gone? The City pays nothing anyhow and soon they will have no one left and no one will take a job here when plants 100 miles away pay over double what Salisbury does.
It's come down to lose all your qualified workers as about 75% of city jobs require state licenses that are NOT easy to come by or run this nut job of a public works director (who I'm sure has no such licenses and is not qualified for this job) out of town!
Anonymous 5:30 said:
"Finally, are you aware that the city now has a closed door policy from human resources? Employees are forbidden from dropping by to address things with the human resources person. They must first get approval from hr, who forwards the request to Gardner. So if you have a complaint about her there is nowhere to turn."
This is the honest to God truth and has to be against the law. City Employees dare not say anything against Gardner or they will lose their jobs. This bitch thinks she is God!
Also true in an earlier post...the wwtp employees do not run the wastewater plant; there is a firm of engineers in there running it and also a security guard on all shifts that stays with the "operators". I guess maybe they have much more problems than people really know and now she is going to ruin the water the city drinks?
People need to step up and stop this in its tracks!
I'd like to see Ireton drink a glass of water from the Salisbury WWTP, like Rick Pollitt did years ago from Fruitland's WWTP.
Joe,
This article needs to be bumped to the top of the page and kept on page 1; people need to know how their city is being run by the mayor and public works director. Once it hits page 2 it becomes ancient history and will soon be just another forgotten story.
Joe Albero for Mayor!
This article does need to be bumped. I don't know if all the workers caught it on Friday as some took off for the after holiday weekend. It would be great if this was high on the page on Monday. Joe, I think this is a winnable issue for you. Normally, when you run things like this at least some people will come to the accused rescue and state good things about them, but I highly doubt you blocked anything coming in that was good about this woman. She is totally unprofessional, gives the city a worse image, does not know how to treat others and on top of it all can't even do the job that she has 20+ years experience in- the roads! IF she cannot give us better roads after working at Deldot, then how do you think she is doing with trash pick up, water, wastewater, etc... when that contractor finally stops actually running the wwtp then you could be in for a giant mess! She can't run it. She scared off anyone who had any idea of running it. One poster says the current leadership lacks credentials! What the hell is going on? Keep digging Joe. Otherwise the taxpayers of this city are surely going to pay even more for the dumb actions of the people trusted with running the city.
8:16 I doubt that the wwtp supervisor is unlicensed as that is a serious state code violation and I believe might be federal also. If true that would be why the outside engineer is in charge of daily logs on MDE requirements and he is licensed in MD
8:16 I doubt that the wwtp supervisor is unlicensed as that is a serious state code violation and I believe might be federal also. If true that would be why the outside engineer is in charge of daily logs on MDE requirements and he is licensed in MD
It makes alot of workers sick how her and Howard Landon praise each other.
It is absolutely true that public works employees are not allowed to go directly to hr with issues. It has to be cleared with Teresa first. Someone needs to stop this evil woman because she is being allowed to do whatever she damn well pleases.
Joe please put this post back to the top on Monday.
@5:30 - I work for the city. There is no closed door policy at all. People are free to come and go as they please.
Anonymous Anonymous said...
@5:30 - I work for the city. There is no closed door policy at all. People are free to come and go as they please.
July 7, 2012 10:24 PM
THATS A LIE AND YOU KNOW IT!!!
I work for the city and yes indeed Teresa Gardner has reprimanded people for going to hr without her prior knowledge. This is a fact.
Everyone in PW walks on egg shells around Teresa for fear of pissing her off and losing their job. This is a very uncomfortable situation for many. I know of at least one grievance against her and there would be many more except for the fact that there are few jobs available on the shore and she will make sure to push you out the door if you ever go against her. This is why so many talented people have resigned from the city and many more will follow as soon as they can secure other work.
It is absolutely true that employees cannot just drop by hr. They may make this claim, but ever since Lisa left hr has been in turmoil. Somehow Gardner has intimidated hr (who is not under her in the organization) to do her bidding. Unless you plan on taking a grievance all the way there is no reason to confide in hr. They are totally shills for Gardner. Your comment or complaint will be on T's desk before you have left the building. This is a breeding ground for retaliation claims and will one day bite the city in the wallet via lawsuit.
Did you catch the fish? LOL
oh they say there is an open door policy in HR -
its just that they don't tell you that everything that is said supposedly in confidence is reported directly to to the Public Works director. if you want to protect your job and sanity don't go to HR!
What good is it for the taxpayers to fund a human resources department if it is not being used in the way it is intended?
If I was a city employee, I'd be going to talk to an attorney myself if this is true.
city HR dept. is a joke ever since Lisa left. Nothing is confidential in there.....
The city hr department is a joke. They are understaffed and constantly serving demanding dept heads such as Gardner.
Joe you really should visit city hr and talk to the director.
We can not ignore the problem an unlicensed wwtp operator in an assistant superintendent position of the wtp is scary my kids drink salisbury water an hate to think an perfectly great lic operator with 15 years at salis wtp bumped from the position because of Teresa politics gonna make a great quality product bad an why ?
This post really should be at the top.
Please put this back up top so city workers and the Mayors office can see it!
she is a bitch
Even though I never worked for TG she was one of the most highly motivating reasons for my departing the City back in late March. I've had three non-meeting encounters with her and never were any of them nice. I know of other higher level employee's that have tried to "make amends" and extend the olive branch only to be shutdown by this "woman".
I hear that there is no Mr. Gardener, she retained her maiden name and since there are no little "gardeners" running around she has no understanding or tolerance of people who do. All of this lends to her character I suppose.
Let me add to the on going conversation about Mrs Gardner. I am the spouse of a former public works employee who has first hand knowledge of what a piese of crap this person is. I have been working for 35 years and I must say I have never seen a person with so little people skills and her lack of professional skills is beyound comprehension. I really think she has a mental condition that she hides her flaws by verbally assaulting employess and then writing you up for defending yourself and the work you do. It's also true that HR is not there for the employess and what you say to them in confidentiality get's passed right to the department heads. So all you poor people that still have to put up with this brutal work environment, be careful who you talk to. Because no one I mean no one is allowed to speak one word of criticism against TG. It's a sad place to work.
To the person who mentioned the "love affair" (not literally of course) between Ms. Gardener and Howard Landon, you are right on with the assessment. I think that they get along so well because Mr. Landon is an Ass as well. He is lacking very much in people skills so they make a great couple.
i am a current city employee and i can tell you first hand she is horrible ! very unwilling to work with other departments and would rather pave a road then give her employees a raise !
Howard Landing is another guy that has gotta go! Long time employee, cool to drink with at Don's (back in the day), but an insufferable donkey at work.
Anonymous 1:55
Sorry for the spelling but I get ticked off when I think of TG.
when i encounter this person we speak of teresa gardner - well, she is so evil, unprofessional. i don't think she has a compassionate bone in her body. there will not be any decent employees left in public works if this women keeps getting away with all she is doing. she is giving some employees no choice to leave or if they stay they will actually be risking their health to work in such stressful conditions. as far as hr is concerned, this dept. does not keep anything confidential. it is so sad, you can't even trust them with health related issues. this city is a terrible place to work.
Someone mentioned MDE should be involved. Maybe its is time that they get involved. What this women is doing is going against the law. Guess she thinks she can play with all our lives. Hello people someone should give them a call. She really needs to be investigated for the good of us all.
I was told by someone that works for the city that she said she will fire anyone she catches posting on this subject!
This is still the U.S.A. isn't it?
I would like to know exactly why TG is no longer with Deldot? Can anyone shed some light on that?
This post should be back at the top. I had to hunt for a while to find it.
Gee. Why are none of these comments in tg's favor? Makes you go hmmm.
She will find a way to fire you or mentally beat you down so bad for your own sanity you have to leave. John Pick has had the opportunity to do something about her and he turns his back on doing what's right everytime. I agree this post should be posted back to the top. To many good people have been bullied and had there lives turned updside down by this witch.
I know for a fact she is trying to run off a committed long time employee by making this persons life a living hell. Teresa too many people know exactly how you operate. You will not continue to get away with it.
Pick and Ireton have now sat through MULTIPLE GRIEVANCES related to TG and have done nothing. Some of these were filed by multiple department heads!!! They don't care!
Please bump this Joe!
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