These are my comments at the Board Meeting on February 25th, 2014.
Dear Board,
I wanted to ask you about the snow removal and how it works. I know we have custodians in each school that are responsible for snow removal on sidewalks and such. And then we have Buildings and Ground crews that are coming with pick up trucks with plows in front of them.
What happens on days when schools are closed?
On Wednesday evening, Feb 5th, I saw district vehicles together with Mario Bulfamente trucks plowing and piling up at Ward. Wednesday was a school closing day. Did we give the day off to the B&G employees, just to hire them back on overtime?
I know, we have contracts with two outside contractors Zonzini and Bulfamente for ”Snow Removal Equipment Rental with Operators” for “not to exceed $100,000.” These contractors are supposed to be used “during severe snowstorms when normal standard School district snow removal procedures may be insufficient.”
What are normal standard School district snow removal procedures?
I am asking you, what are the deciding factors as to when our guys with plows in front of their trucks are not sufficient to plow, even if they have, due to school closings, nothing else to do?
How are Zonzini and Bulfamente paid? Do they have to submit invoices per occurrence? How is an occurrence determined? By time spent? By inches of snow? By building? Are their services billed as emergencies, in spite of the advance notice of school closing?
How come our B&G guys are working TOGETHER with the outside contractor?
Who checks they actually worked as long as they said they did? Who signs off on these invoices?
The City of New Rochelle has changed the way they deal with snow removal. They moved away from time and material contracts. They are now having a set formula for actual snow tonnage removed. The districts areas are very easy to survey and set. With actual figures per formula, possibilities to milk the system would be reduced.
Government money is often seen as easy money, because oversight is often lax. Insiders actually call government contracts “Tit Jobs”, because you just have to suck on them. Putting checks and balances in place is necessary to curb corruption.
You, as our elected officials, are the ones that should be putting checks and balances in place. However, the suggestion to observe contract negotiations was voted down. Checking up on our employees was considered “micro-managing”.
We have now GPS on garbage trucks, who reads that data?
We have $305,000 of supplies coming in, who controls inventory?
Robert Cox has uncovered many incidences of where either employees or contractors took advantage of the lack of over sight. These examples, as well as the garbage truck incident of last summer, were dismissed as “isolated incidents”
The district is spending millions of tax payer dollars and even so called “isolated incidences” are corruption and theft of public money that needs to be dealt with and not dismissed.
Maybe it is time to look at them rather as the “tip of the ice berg”
Let’s change that. Let’s put checks and balances into the system. Let’s make sure purchase orders are reasonable and corresponding invoices are of matching amounts. Do not leave approval of all transaction in just one hand, that just lends itself to abuse.
It is in our best interest that the money we spent is going into the education of our kids and NOT anywhere else.
Here is a great article by Topher Forhecz about New York City’s decision to eliminate Styrofoam trays and switch to round plates made of sugar cane byproduct, starting this fall. This initiative is “the first result of the Urban School Food Alliance –- comprised of Miami, Los Angeles, Dallas, Orlando, Chicago and New York City — which formed in 2012 to boost the schools’ purchasing power in the private sector.” Read the 
We Future Cycle 