More Concerning Omissions at Last Night's Council Meeting

No-show, mystery man
Shane Bower, from his
days as a HPD officer

When Liz York finished her monthly Youth Department report at last night's Informal Council meeting, chairman Depietro asked the Youth Department Commissioner Maija Reed if she had anything to add.  After Robert Perry finished with his DPW report, chairman Depietro asked the DPW Commissioner Peter Bujanow if he had anything to add.  Both of those commissioners were in attendance in person at the Firehouse.  

But when HPD Chief Ed Moore finished his report, chairman Depietro did not ask the HPD Commissioner if he had anything to add.  Why not?  Because -- are you ready??? -- Shane Bower, the HPD Commissioner, was not in attendance -- neither on Zoom nor in person.  You can't ask him any kind of question if he isn't in the room or on the screen.  

Since, as I reported earlier today, Mr. Depietro offered no opportunities for the public to interact with the department heads, no Hudson resident, including myself, was able ask Ed Moore why the HPD Commissioner was once again not present at a council meeting and how he felt about mystery man Shane's absence.  I also couldn't point out to Ed Moore that the two other city commissioners regularly attend the meetings, sometimes even speaking, while his commissioner is never around.  Not that Ed cares, though.

2 months ago, at February's Informal meeting, Ed Moore of HPD told us that 2 of his investigators were headed to Florida "in a few days" to bring back the bank robber who evaded capture after robbing the Trustco Bank over a year ago.  Nowhere in last month's report did Ed mention the bank robber or the investigator's trip to Florida to bring the guy back to Hudson.  I didn't hear Ed mention anything about the bank robber during the HPD report last night, either.  It's like his investigators never went to Florida.  Or they went there and never came back.  Does Ed know where the bank robber and his investigators are right now?  Was the mission successful?  I was hoping to ask Ed about this topic.

Ed mentioned that one of his Parking Enforcers had resigned recently, a worker named Dave who had been employed for "about a year."  This is the same worker, according to explanations from Ed Moore months ago, who was hired by "word of mouth."  I think it took over a year to find Dave to fill the position.  Last night, Ed said that he was interviewing a few new candidates for the open position and was confident one of them would work out.  What Ed did not mention was how these candidates were found.  

There is nothing on the city's website that has anything to do with employment -- nowhere to see if the city is hiring, what jobs are available, or how to apply for a job at City Hall.  Since City Hall is in temporary quarters, there is no bulletin board where a job opening notice can be posted (as if that were sufficient!).  How does anyone seeking employment, especially a young, unemployed person in Hudson, find out about job openings at City Hall?  They don't.  Unless, perhaps, they are fortunate enough to hear about something by "word of mouth," which is probably Ed Moore's preferred method of hiring parking enforcers, whose average age seems to be around 65 years OLD.  I was hoping to ask Ed how his hiring process works and if he was hoping to hire someone younger or older than the 3 parking officers he has now,  but I couldn't ask him anything.  Nor could any other Hudson resident.

During the DPW report, as is usual, Robert Perry offered pictures of work that had been going on in the previous month.  He showed a picture of one of the so-called stormwater planter trees on Union Street and said his crew had cleaned the planters up for the spring.  What he did not show was the missing tree a half block away at 5th and Union that was run over by a car in March and is now missing.  He didn't bother taking a picture of that, nor did he tell us if DPW plans to replace that tree in the empty planter surrounded by DPW cones and barriers.

This work was not worthy of 
mention by Robert Perry

Mr. Perry also failed to mention the 2 days of work in late March that several of his workers were required to do after the mudslide in the Washington Street lot.  That was the mudslide caused by excessive and unregulated dumping of fill and debris in a sensitive area near a stream.  The work entailed the use of 3 pieces of heavy equipment, and a section of large pipe that was added to the large pipe that had been covered in a few feet of mud.  None of that was worth mentioning or taking pictures of.  

Last year, Mr. Perry never once mentioned the dumping at the lot -- not before it occurred, not during, and not after. And not last night.  It's as if the dumping, the mudslide, and the resulting effort to fix the problem caused by the mudslide never happened.  Last night, no member of the Council asked him about any of this.  In fact, no Council member asked Mr. Perry about anything. And, of course, no one from the public had the opportunity to ask Mr. Perry anything.

My last note on the meeting, having nothing to do with omissions:  On two occasions, Tom Depietro and Council member Margaret Morris showed just how amateurishly these meetings are run.  If you missed it, go to the archived YouTube recording of the meeting to see and hear the absurdity for yourself.  It was embarrassing and childish.  The Council seemed soporific at best, and 5 of the 6 members who attended the meeting will not be seeking reelection in November.