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Date Posted: Thursday, July23, 06:42:am
Author: Valentine-Herald Record
Subject: call 888-620-1700 to cancel subscription

http://www.recordonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090723/OPINION/907230311

Chaos on council dooms Newburgh for years to come
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Posted: July 23, 2009 - 2:00 AM

If identifying a problem gets Newburgh part of the way to a cure, then Mayor Nicholas Valentine has made a significant contribution with his diagnosis of Councilwoman Christine Bello.

"She has basically set the record of getting rid of more department heads than anyone else in six months," Valentine said.

That's not just his opinion, it's a fact. Now, the other members of the council and the people who live in the city need to make the councilwoman understand just how much damage she has done and why she has to stop.

She did not like the old city manager, Jean-Ann McGrane, and voted to get rid of her in an intemperate move, one that obviously was a violation of the contract. That didn't bother Bello because she didn't like the contract. Courts have ruled that McGrane is on the right track in her bid to get the $350,000 she says the city owes her. Bello doesn't like that either. Instead of cutting its losses, the city will continue to pile up legal fees.

The price the city is paying for what Bello does not like doesn't stop there. The temporary city manager announced this week that he is quitting after Bello launched a personal attack against him at the last meeting, an outburst that was inappropriate and unprofessional but, considering the source, not surprising.

His offense was in not agreeing to renegotiate his contract in public — there must be something about contracts that disturbs the councilwoman — and insisting on being paid. He also differed with Bello about what could and could not be discussed at a public meeting. The only fit subject for public discussion in her opinion is her opinion.

Those, however, are only down payments on the coming crisis. Now, as Valentine pointed out, the city is entering a critical budget cycle shorthanded. Balancing the city's limited revenue against its increasing needs would be difficult with a corps of experienced managers in place, ones with the knowledge that comes from doing the job for a while, to make the right decisions and adjust to deteriorating circumstances.

Instead, Newburgh will have an inexperienced bunch making or guiding crucial decisions, learning on the job. And that assumes that any competent managers would bother to apply to work under these conditions. If this all was a plot, as Valentine said, to bring former New Windsor Supervisor George Meyers in as city manager, it already has failed. Meyers says he is not interested.

Instead, it is almost certain that taxes will go up while services go down as the city struggles to ration its money, hours and personnel. It is inevitable that some city employees will lose their jobs. Potholes will expand, police will scramble to fill patrols, public works crews will handle emergencies first and get to other tasks as time and money allow. Years from now the city will still be dealing with the inevitable hidden costs of municipal chaos, expensive deferred maintenance.

Even if citizens of Newburgh show up at meetings and ask Councilwoman Bello what happened, it won't do any good. You see, it's not her fault. It never is.

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