I have a list or several “good-news” stories I’ve been meaning to post, and planned to get one in today. But some days I’m like the cat owner who opens the front door to pick up the newspaper and finds that his feline friend has deposited, yet another, dead mouse on his doorstep.
In this analogy, the dead mouse is another example of the gross mismanagement of our city. The Tribune hasn’t covered it, so let me recap it for you.
Earlier this month, Trumbull County Children’s Services planted more than 1600 purple pinwheels on the lawn at Warren City Hall in honor of the victims of child abuse. Presumably, this was done with the knowledge and consent of Doug and Enzo.
The next day, according to the city’s Department of Human Resources, Celestino Divieste, an operations department employee, and Enzo’s uncle, simply mowed them down rather than removing them before cutting the grass at city hall. (Please see the “photoshop artist’s interpretation” of the actual event, above.)
The pinwheels cost more than $1600 — although one has to assume this didn’t do the mower any good either. According to a report on WFMJ, in a pre-disciplinary hearing, Divieste was ordered to pay restitution or face a three day suspension. One or the other. Not both.
The act itself is so moronic it really requires no comment. However, what the act says about the way the city is run speaks volumes; especially in light of the recent incident in which a Water Department employee, the son of the former director, was caught urinating in the coffee cup of a coworker.
These brazen, disrespectful acts show that “connected” city employees have little fear that unprofessional, socially unacceptable behavior, that would be grounds for dismissal almost anywhere else, will be punished with more than a three day unpaid vacation here. They assume that because they have relatives in charge of the city that they will be protected. They don’t care about the people of the city they serve because no one holds them to a standard in which the citizens needs are to be respected.
Most city employees are hard working people trying to do a good job, and there’s nothing wrong, in my view, with hiring a few relatives and friends; it’s a small town and that is inevitable. But please, show a little gratitude. You’d think these people would try not to make their relations look bad. You’d think their relations would make the effort to keep them in line.
But, no. This is Warren.
[Correction: An earlier version of this post overstated the value of the pinwheels. We regret the error.]