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Shh: Maureen Feeney quit last week and didn't tell anybody
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Let's hope that the Boston
Let's hope that the Boston press follows up on Coleman Herman's lead —raised in this Sept. article in the Herald— that the city clerk job be reformed to stop the outrageous practice of letting the city clerk pocket marriage fees that should go to the city coffers. If it must be Maureen Feeney who succeeds Rosaria Salerno (really, guys?) at least strip the job of this blatant cash grab. The $100k salary is bad enough!
Does the newly elected councilor take the seat early
if the incumbent resigns like this?
Interesting question
I think that technically, the council would have to call a special election to fill the remainder of her term, which seems kind of silly, so it looks like half of Dorchester will just be without a district councilor until Jan. 1.
Kinda odd
I have two guesses:
1) Hope this isn't true - but is there a health issue that drove her retirement in the first place and that's acting up?
2) Best guess - She needs a 30 day window prior to the new appointment (and Salerno says she's retiring in February) but she has accrued vacation/sick time that needs to be used up before the clock starts ticking - until that's used up she's technically still on the city payroll.
Need to make a quick smooth transition - it would look bad if Salerno retired without a replacement and nobody except The Zak notices.
vacation/sick time... or early retirement
This sounds like the best explanation.
But maybe she is going to file for retirement, and then try to pull off one of those double-dip retirement packages when she returns to the public payroll.
Sounds like retirement
Sounds like retirement cushioning to me....
What did Feeney do
Seems like a strange move but I don't think it will impact her district all that much. I cannot think of one issue or piece of policy she passed/championed. At least Yancey has the Mattapan library & school.
I'm not going to comment on
I'm not going to comment on what she has or has not done...but as a tax paying resident of District 3...it sucks that we have no one to call on should we have a neighborhood issue..mayor's hotline? JOKE. Dorchester (& a small slice of Mattapan) gets screwed again.
She's done quite a bit for my
She's done quite a bit for my neighborhood, you can Google it yourself. She is out at civic association meetings night after night, week after week, for 17 years.
As for the mayor's hotline, it seems to work pretty reliably for me--they listen and respond. 617-635-4500. Citizens' Connect.
Salerno is being push'd out
i hears salerno is being push'd out cause she don't kiss mumbles ass. feeney loves kissing it! musta be grt to be mayor when you have no one second guessing you... i hears howie carr is looking into it.
Salerno refuses to stop
Salerno refuses to stop taking money to perform weddings using her Clerk offices. I don't care if she got an ethics waver -- if anyone else was operating a private business at their office in City Hall, people would be yelling their heads off. It's wrong. She should have retired when the story came out.
Disgraceful
This is disgraceful. She took an oath to serve, and now is bailing on the city council job so she can slide into the higher-paying clerk postion.
Maureen has been on the city payroll at least since 1984. That is the year Jim Byrne took office as the first District 3 councilor, she worked on his staff. She went to all the neighborhood meetings so he didn't have to. Of course, Jim didn't spend much time at City Hall, either. Wednesday meetings were about it, maybe an occasional budget hearing. Most of his time was devoted to his law practice. When he decided not to run in 1993, she took over.
Rosy Salerno? Isn't she the
Rosy Salerno? Isn't she the former nun?
"Now, let’s turn our attention to Ms. Salerno’s abuse of her office as Justice of the Peace. She performs weddings during her City Clerk work hours, at her Clerk’s office, and pockets the money, about $68000 a year on top of her generous $100,000/yr salary (in other words, she’s getting the mayoral salary she missed out on by failing in her campaign). Leaving aside for the moment the question of whether this money is a City service fee and should go to the City, we should note that the time she spends on marriage ceremonies, at, say, a half hour each, comes to over 14 weeks, during which time she collects pay as a Clerk. We lose 14 weeks of her critically essential Clerk services, while she double-dips. This has been going on for many years. Think about it! That’s over a quarter of the year. She’s working part-time as a City Clerk, and collecting a full salary and soon, a full pension. I wonder if her wedding pay will bump up the calculations for her pension. This City Clerk may not know which laws to obey, but she sure knows which side her bread is buttered on. Both!"
http://nuweb9.neu.edu/firstamendmentcenter/?p=489
Isn't she the former nun?
Correct. "Sister Sunshine" as the late, great Dapper O'Neil called her.
Rosy has been one of the
Rosy has been one of the forgotten people, dug deep into the body politic of the city. Kinda like a bot worm.
Well then...
...easiest way to get rid of her is to cover her breathing hole with bacon... That's how I got rid of a bot-fly maggot.
This whole thing stinks! Open meeting law violation?
First off, I think Salerno was wrong for taking $$ for the weddings she did on city time. That should have went right back into the public coffers.
Whether she is being pushed out for this, who knows - but, she is getting pushed out. Don't believe what they tell you, she is being pushed out, which is why the council didn't renew her term.
However, what is most egregious is Feeney getting this position without any one else being interviewed. What qualifications does she have? Was there a meeting about this? If there was, it was not public, which means it violated the open meeting law.
As Common Cause's Pam Wilmot said, “We need to have - and the law requires - an open process to ensure that the best person gets the job. You can’t just anoint someone for a job.’’
FOI public records. A more responsible City Clerk needed.
The Boston City Clerk and the Assistant City Clerk have failed with regard to FOI Freedom of Information public records, sunshine open public meetings principles of open government. Enunciating principles of transparency isn't the same as actively putting the principles in practices of the Office of the City Clerk and Boston City Council. For example, the original stenographic record of the public meeting of Boston City Council shouldn't be removed from city hall. It should be intact and available. For years it has been taken home by the City Stenographer. Support open government. A more responsible City Clerk is needed
http://anopenbostoncitycouncil.blogspot.com
FOI public records. An open selection process for City Clerk.
Ask your Boston City Councilor for an open selection process for a new Boston City Clerk. Ask candidates for Boston City Clerk, "How will you support FOI Freedom of Information for public records?"
OK, we get it
No need to repeat yourself once a day. Thanks!