LaBella is the new Police Chief!

[Clipper]

Gee, as if we did not know that this had been fixed as of the other day when LaBella "changed his mind" about wanting to be in "the running" for the position!

I love the City of Utica, but how can we drag it out of the doldrums and make it desireable again, when we keep on electing people like Dave Roefaro to office?

I DO see two interesting points in the article though.

Number one is that LaBella will give up his position on the board of legislators. THAT is good for the entire county.

Number two is that the position of safety commissioner is supposedly going to be "eliminated" as a result of this appointment. I certainly hope that "eliminated" means that the position and it's duties will no longer exist, the city will save that salary, and LaBella will be limited to supervising the police department for less than the $70,000+ that he is receiving now.

Russ Brooks must be jumping up and down with the idea that he will no longer be under the thumb of LaBella as safety commissioner. He will have the running of his own department back in his realm of responsibility again, and will answer only to the mayor.(or Angelo,haha)

I am anxiously awaiting the discussion that will be coming both in the media and here on the forum. I can't wait to hear Larry Tanoury Jr.'s take on this also. What does it all mean for the COUNTY taxpayer Larry?

For city citizens and taxpayers, this is just plain disgusting, and a slap in the faces of the the other two candidates who are MUCH MORE QUALIFIED than Dan LaBella. This LaBella probably could not pass a kidney stone, much less a legitimately administered civil service test.

It seems we are right back to the "Rufie" days, and Roefaro is not only an absentee mayor, running the city from a funeral home instead of City Hall, he also has no regard for the wishes of his constituents that elected him. We have a twit that nobody ever heard of prior to Roefaro's election ( his nephew Angelo) running the mayor's office and supervising his staff, and we have a mayor that only stops by to check his mail and have coffee with Angelo a couple times a week.

Hey Rufie ran the city from a beer joint, so I guess Roefaro can run it from a funeral home. I guess the charter doesn't dictate where the mayor's office has to be, haha.

I wonder how the hearse fits into the mayor's reserved parking slot in the city hall garage? Must kinda stick out in the aisle a bit!

[corner]

the salary will be the same as pylmans about 108,000

[Swimmy]

Clipper, this was fixed long before labella changed his mind. They first had to get rid of Pylman, who was not going anywhere. But to get him out, they had to make it miserable for him. How best to do that than create a PSC position that he had to answer to? It was only a matter of time before Pylman secured his ticket out. Then, to avoid making it obvious the move was purely political and not about public safety, labella and roefaro launched a campaign to ensure the public that labella was not going to replace Pylman, especially after news leaked they were planning on eliminating the civil service exam requirement.

It's interesting that labella was allowed to take a civil service exam AFTER everyone else was supposed to. I wish I could have don't that for the bar exam. I was sicker than a dog! But we all knew the only thing keeping labella from his prized position of police chief was that he failed the civil service exam and therefore was precluded from ascending to the position.

A truly vigilant voter would challenge the test results in court and block the appointment. But even roefaro knows, no such person exists. People will bitch about it online and in letters to the editor, but that's it, unfortunately. This area is filled with apathetic people it's pathetic.

People wanted change for the sake of change when they elected roefaro, and that's exactly what they got. It's a little late to complain about it now. I'm sure most of the same people complaining will forget to vote in November or have some other lame brain excuse for allowing roefaro to be re-elected.

[corner]

my sources tell me roefaro wont run again thats why it was important to secure his buddy the civil service protected chiefs position

[denise]

What a slap in the face to Bailey & Williams who were actually intelligent & qualified.

I guess Roefaro is case of "be careful what you wish for".

[Clipper]

I certainly hope that Roefaro is restricted from giving this dumbass a golden parachute like Pylman had. I would hope that he would be retiring on a reasonable civil service retirement like 40% for 20 years and 2% for each year of service after that.

This whole scenario is just plain disgusting and rotten. Bailey and Williams have been dealt a great injustice. If I lived there, I would be in Roefaro's face at the Mar-log and would probably get arrested for harassment or banned from the Mar-log Restaurant before I was done, haha. What a blatant miscarriage of justice for him to be able to get away with such a move, and laugh in the face of the citizens of the city.

Our only hope is that under a different mayor, LaBella may screw up badly enough in his arrogance to get fired, and to be replaced by a QUALIFIED candidate.

Larry, your statement is 100% "spot on", and says it all. No further explanation of your opinion on the subject is necessary. I agree with your observations completely. It IS an all time low, and even outdoes some of the antics seen under past administrations.

Hanna may have been eccentric and perceived to be a little nuts, but Roefaro is just plain corrupt, and so damn arrogant that he doesn't seem to care who knows it. Our next wake up call to Roefaro's corruption will be to watch him advocate for Tom Clark to get a new deal on the bank building taxes and be allowed to take the Stetson Harza building on a similar deal.

His vision goes no farther than the depths of his own wallet, and who can line it with green for him.

[Ralph]

Well, I am sure that this positions salary will be added to his present retirement package, thereby boosting it up where he wants it so that when he finally steps down he will want for nothing.

Probably make more off the job than on it.

I have to side with Larry, you want my opinion it certainly won't be pretty. Makes Rufie look like a candy salesman. This was so blatant that it is hardly a slap at the taxpayers, more like a club to the head.

If this isn't "the wake up call" I don't know what is.

[rodwilson]

What arrogance. I can't believe these stupid bastards actually have the nuts to follow through on this. What a sham.

I wish someone would get the facts straight. I've read that the Civil Service says it's the same test but others say it's a shorter test. In short, shouldn't the fact that he's ineligible to SIT for the City test invalidate the results? AND then all the sudden 1 guy doesn't want the job and another is disqualified? Didn't this happen with a

[rodwilson]

Whoops, not quite sure what happened there.

...Fire Dept promo a few months back? How are these guys eligible until Chubby and Pork Chop decide otherwise? AND they don't say why. Did the guy have a bad shoe shine?

I've gotta imagine there some folks taking a serious look this.

[Swimmy]

Beat me to the punch, I was going to say, I think you somehow deleted half your post.

Anywhooo, the whole thing is bs!

[Clipper]

The sad part is that Williams and Bailey may not dare to stand up to the whole deal for fear of ruining their career if they lose. This is a situation where the civil service commission or attorney general or someone with some punch at a much higher level than the city and county should be stepping in and investigating this abuse of authority and skirting of fair practices. This is a situation where the other two candidates should be given a just resolution to the case without having to file a complaint themselves. It should be a matter of public outcry bringing an investigation at a state or federal level. The mayor should be removed from office, and they both should be jailed for this fraud perpetrated on the city's citizens, and the other two candidates, who are obviously MUCH more qualified to lead the department, and have MUCH more experience and career progression than LaBella. Just seeing LaBella standing at the podium in the OD picture with that smug smile on his face makes me want to puke.

[rodwilson]

This isn't over by a long shot. Cuomo's got to get all over this or people will start questioning his "Local G'vt Reform" stance. The Union's GOTTA be looking at this. And I suspect Williams and Bailey are pursuing their options quietly.

THESE guys have got to go! There's a BIG hole in their scheme somewhere that's going to be exposed. These clowns are not THAT smart. I'm eager to see what shakes out as a result of all the impending FoIL requests.

[Swimmy]

I hope you're right and I'm wrong. But Cuomo has dropped the ball when it came to new hartford, new york mills, whitestown, and utica so far. What makes you think THIS is going to be any different?

[rodwilson]

One can only hope. This is SO "in your face". For them NOT to address it should be criminal!

[wcup102]

My understanding of this deal is that Labella changed his mind once he found out he passed the test. "scuttlebut" around is that there may be a mass exodus from UPD if this is not challenged or reversed. I merely state that for pondering purposes, not to purport rumors, as nothing is confirmed with that "scuttlebut" or grumblings. It does pose an interesting potential circumstance, it wouldn't fall under the Taylor law because they would be leaving. But then again, who can afford to throw away that salary as a UPD cop let alone a job in general unless they have a back up, which I would dare say most don't but they just don't want to work under his regime. I know Bailey and Williams and both are more than qualified for the job, more so than Labella, IMO.