More City Hall Phone Pranks
Let’s say you have a club that meets every so often to discuss political matters. Let’s also say that sometimes your views clash with city hall.
What would you think if you received a notice from the Department of Permit & Inspection Services Rental Registration Program telling you that you were in violation of 264-4a of the City of Buffalo Charter and Ordinances, and that if you didn’t take action within 5 days you’d be open to an inspection and/or court action and a possible order to vacate all dwelling units involved? Additionally, you could be subject to a $75 fine.
That’s what just happened to the First Amendment Club.
If you received a letter like that, wouldn’t you want to call the number they tell you to call to address this urgent matter?
Sucker! It’s just another example of those whacky tricksters down at city hall, setting up a phone prank like the problematic 311 line.
Check out what happens when you call by clicking here.
I guess that’s one way to encourage people to drive over to city hall and feed those spiffy new parking kiosks.
July 31, 2008
311: A Reverse Prank Call?
City Hall is making all kinds of technological leaps these days. Whether it’s solar powered parking meter kiosks that are expected to increase revenue raised by charging people more effectively to park on its streets, Citistat meetings posted on the city Web site that invariably fail to play correctly, or the awesome 311 Call and Resolution Center—where “One call does it all.”
I gave it a try this morning. I dialed 311 twice and got no ring at all. I then called 851-4890, the alternate, old-fashioned seven-digit number. A voice answered, thanking me for calling 311.
I was told the call “may be monitored and recorded for quality assurance purposes.”
Well, two can play at that game. Here’s a recording of the two minutes and forty-eight seconds I spent dialing 311 twice, 851-4890 once, pressing the number two to speak to an agent, then waiting another minute through some sort of spacey muzak until a busy signal ended the call. I never got to say a word.
I can’t believe I fell for the old reverse prank call trick. Maybe the Jerky Boys are working down at city hall?
But I’m still left to wonder how I’m going to request a new garbage tote. Or finally get that stump removed from in front of my house.
June 23, 2008
Update: Tobe’s Resignation
UPDATE: Here’s Tobe’s statement on his departure:
At the request of Mayor Byron W. Brown, today, I submitted my resignation as Commissioner of the Department of Economic Development Permit and Inspection Services.
Mayor Brown indicated to me on Friday June 20, 2008 that he will be announcing a reorganization of the City government in the near future and that my resignation will facilitate his plans.I am pleased that when I leave City government Buffalo will be more prosperous, better managed, and more optimistic than when I arrived two and a half years ago. We have seen record investment in both the public and private sectors, have acquired and are developing over 400 acres of former brownfields, and have faced and overcome many of the problems of the past that prevented Buffalo from moving forward. I am confident that the improvements in the City are continuing and will be permanent.
It has been an honor to have been associated with the many hard working employees of the City who strive each day to make Buffalo a better place and with the dedicated citizens of Buffalo who volunteer so much to help the City.
I will depart in two weeks and intend to conduct a smooth and professional transition. Deputy Commissioner James Comerford will serve as acting commissioner until Mayor Brown makes a determination about the permanent leadership of the Department.
My wife Susan and I will remain in Buffalo where I will seek new challenges that will allow me to continue working to improve Buffalo and the region.
The mayor still has not released a statement on Tobe’s resignation, which was promised for this afternoon.
Rich Tobe Resigns
At the request of Mayor Byron Brown, Rich Tobe is resigning his post as commissioner of Economic Development, Permits and Inspection Services. According to Brian Meyer at the Buffalo News, Brown asked Tobe to resign on Friday. His last day will be July 4—exactly two weeks notice.
Tobe has earned a reputation as a sharp administrator who did good work with a short staff and a monumental workload. It’s not clear when he began to run afoul of Brown and Deputy Mayor Steve Casey, but the first time I heard of a rift was during the city’s negotiations with the Seneca Gaming Commission over Fulton Street. Tobe had been a part of the city’s negotiating team, we were told, and then was booted off. For Tobe, it’s been downhill with Casey and Brown ever since. Casey, in particular, seemed to single out Tobe and his department for sharp criticism during CitiStat hearings.
Whatever one made of Tobe’s policies and his department generally, he was certainly the most responsive public servant in the Brown administration. He responded to email. His voicemail was set up (seriously, not everyone in City Hall bothers) and he returned phone calls, even to tell you he wasn’t authorized to respond to your questions. In a mayoral administration that keeps a tight lid on communications, Tobe frequently was the only one who would answer questions. Once I introduced him to a friend as “the only person in City Hall who’s allowed to speak with me,” and he responded, “What makes you think I’m allowed to?”
The mayor is supposed to issue a statement this afternoon. Brian Meyer has the story at the News.
May 21, 2008
Mayor’s Impact Team—Preliminary Audit Report
Here’s the text of preliminary audit report of the Mayor’s Impact Team, filed this afternoon by the City Comptroller with the Common Council:
In response to the Council’s request for an immediate audit of the Mayor’s Impact Team, following an incident on April 25, 2008, resulting in the suspension of three city workers, I am filing this preliminary report pending completion of the full audit.
Let me begin by commending the mayor for his swift disciplinary action in the matter in which workers were found to be performing landscaping work during regular working hours at the private property of one of the individuals involved. Such actions are an abuse of the public trust and cannot be tolerated. The mayor’s response is appropriate and sends the right message to the work force and the public. But in this matter, there is more to be done.
What we have found in our preliminary review of the Mayor’s Impact Team is a lack of controls across the board that in effect condones an environment where incidents like the one that allegedly occurred on April 25 can take place. Let me cite a few examples.
A spot check on May 13 at the Impact Team’s headquarters in Shoshone Park found time sheets that had been signed twice for the day, even though the workday was not yet complete. Also at Shoshone Park we discovered poor inventory controls with a lack of proper marking and reliance mostly on the memory of one employee.
We also found areas of concern regarding fuel, a costly item in the current economic environment. Four employees have access to the Fuelmaster system but gas cans can be filled for mowers and gas-powered equipment with no odometer readings, using instead the reading from the truck carrying the equipment. If a gas container can be filled, so can an unregistered vehicle, or at least topped off. Tighter controls are obviously needed.
As to the day in question, April 25, according to MIT officials, members of the Impact Team were absent without leave that afternoon when the work on the private residence took place. The sign-out sheets for that day indicate that two employees including the crew chief, who approved the time sheet, signed out at noon. Another worked signed in and out and later crossed his name out altogether.
After the fact, a slip requesting a day off for that employee appeared in Public Works offices, signed by the crew chief. There are no records to account for the use of city vehicles or equipment.
According to payroll records, an employee was paid for eight hours even though the time sheets reviewed by my auditors indicated less than a full day’s work was done. One employee was credited with a personal day off, but was suspended in relation to the incident. The crew chief was correctly paid for five hours. An adjustment of salaries to reflect the correct number of hours worked is warranted. There is no proof that time sheets were altered or changed, but the fact remains the opportunity was clearly present. Clearly, what is recorded on the time sheets for April 25 does not match what was reported to the timekeeper. Since there seems to have been a practice of pre-signing time sheets, it is uncertain whether an employee worker the time stated on any given day.
We will provide the Council with the complete audit shortly. The need for stronger controls and oversight is evident and should be implemented immediately. I should note the vitally important work performed by the Mayor’s Impact Team and the need to have them continue to provide their services to the community. I’m confident that with the proper controls in place, the Impact Team will become even more valuable as a city resource. We will have more recommendations in the full audit report.
May 8, 2008
Taking the “Public” Out of Public Hearing
Tuesday I ran down to City Hall to catch the 5:30pm public hearing on Mayor Byron Brown’s proposed 2008-2009 budget. This is not a particularly popular pastime, I know; usually only a half dozen or so of the “public” attend and address the Common Council, department heads, etc. to make known their concerns about the city’s spending habits.
I arrived at 5:40 and found every door to City Hall locked. Seriously. This sucks, I thought. Then: But at least its’s fodder for a column.
So I hung around, peering in the door, ringing the bell that surely does not work, waiting for someone to leave. At about 5:45pm I was joined by a news crew from Channel 4. We tried calling people we knew inside, but everyone was gone for the day — or in Council Chambers, attending the “public” hearing that the public was unable to attend, because all the doors were locked.
At about 5:50pm, Inspections, Permits and Economic Development Commissioner Rich Tobe exited the building but let the door close behind him before I could shout out to hold it open. “Sorry, I can’t get back in now,” he said. I told him I was trying to attend a public hearing up in Council Chambers. He agreed that locking the doors on the evening of such a hearing was curious. But not, he thought, unusual.
Nor did Deputy Mayor Steve Casey seem to consider it strange that the doors were locked, as the Channel 4 team and I raced to the elevators at 6pm, when we finally slipped in the door behind an exiting bureaucrat. “Hurry up,” he said, “it’s just about over.”
Right he was: In the absence of any “public” in the public hearing, the Council had rolled two hearings into one and wrapped the whole thing up by 6:10pm. Exactly one person had signed up to speak. Everyone in Council Chambers was on the public payroll.
Afterward, Delaware District Councilmember Mike LoCurto summed up the hearing for me: a whole lot of nothing. He too was unsurprised to learn the doors had been locked. They had been locked during the previous day’s public hearing as well, he said.
