A Good One Just Quit And Another Good One Will Be Retiring Very Soon. Who Is Next? (The Ship Teeters A Bit More!) [With Addendum]

Late last week in the early afternoon, I called HPD to let them know about a traffic situation which I felt warranted their attention. I do this a lot, as you might imagine. (Over the years, HPD has written MANY parking tickets thanks to my calls, even though I get no god damn recompense!  The nerve!).  Not too surprising to me, an HPD dispatcher did not answer the phone.  Instead, once again, it was an actual police officer, a recent trend that should have us all concerned.  Specifically, it was officer Luis Martinez.  In spite of yet another police officer answering the phone at HPD, I was glad to hear Martinez's voice.  Sadly, it turns out that I will likely never hear his voice or see his face again.  No one around Hudson will, either. 

Of all the HPD officers that I have come in contact with over the past 6 or 7 years, including our present chief, I can say without hesitation that Officer Martinez is the best that HPD has had to offer.  That's my opinion, of course.  He is a professional and he is smart.  He is calm, fair and gentle, perhaps even a gentleman. Hudson could use more officers like him.  And he has a great smile.

So, it was a real disappointment to hear Officer Martinez tell me (without me asking) that "today is my last day here, Mr. Huston."  Officer Martinez did not retire last week.  Officer Martinez quit the Hudson Police Department last week, according to him, AFTER  ONE AND A HALF YEARS ON DUTY.  I'm not sure where Martinez came from or where he is headed (he wouldn't say where, other than "let's just say I'm going elsewhere"), but our police force is worse off without him.  Our city is worse off without him and his professionalism.

From the tone of his voice and answers to most of my questions about his departure, my hunch is that Officer Martinez simply was not happy at HPD.  He got the hell out after less than two years on duty.  If at the next informal council meeting Mishanda Franklin bothers to mention that officer Martinez quit (not retired from!) HPD, it will be interesting to see if she offers an explanation (if she knows) as to why her officer decided to leave HPD.  Will she explain his departure as that serious issue plaguing so many police departments in the nation, that Martinez found a job policing in another municipality that offered a higher pay rate than his salary here in Hudson?  That's plausible, but I wouldn't believe it.  I have no doubt that officer Martinez was not happy at HPD, and I wouldn't be surprised if the color of his skin had something to do with his quick departure.  But that's just my hunch.

Over at 520 Warren, we will soon be losing probably the most pleasant and helpful city worker we currently have, perhaps moreso than officer Martinez was, if only because this worker doesn't carry an unconcealed firearm or Taser.  I'm speaking of Tracy Delaney, our long-time head City Clerk, who told me a few months ago that she will be retiring in May of this year AFTER 35 YEARS WORKING IN THE CLERK'S OFFICE, BEING THE HEAD CLERK SINCE 2009.  THIRTY-FIVE YEARS FRIGGIN' YEARS IN ONE IMPORTANT DEPARTMENT!!!  CAN YOU IMAGINE!!??  How many mayors has Tracy seen come and go, and how does Kamal rank among all of them in her estimation?

Say what you will about all the mayors who have come and gone on the second floor, if City Hall has had a face representing it for the past 15 or 35 years, it most definitely has been Tracy Delaney.  Filling her shoes will not be easy, and from the way her two assistants reacted a few months ago when I asked them both if they were interested in taking Tracy's place, the new head City Clerk is going to be someone unfamiliar with the Hudson Clerk's Office and possibly City Hall in general. 

It should be noted that several years ago a mayor approached Tracy and asked her if she would "help out" the one-person Parking Violations Bureau located just outside her office (I believe it was Rick Rector who made the request). Tracy probably didn't get a raise for the much needed "help" she brought to Kim. She also probably felt that saying no to the request from the mayor would not be a good idea for her career and plans for a comfortable retirement. She could have said "No, thank you," but she didn't. Will her replacement be as willing to "help out" the Parking Bureau in its day-to-day work, as well as help with all the big changes to parking matters coming soon that the common council is dealing with, yammering on and on about and struggling with?  Don't count on it!

Another question worth asking is this:  If our dear mayor is aware of Tracy Delaney's upcoming retirement, why does the JOBS page of the city's website still not have a posting for her position to be filled, hopefully taking place in May for a seamless transition so that Tracy can show the next appointed City Clerk the ropes and share her knowledge of everything she's learned over the decades?  The month of May is just around the corner and our mayor is the only person who can appoint city officials.  Someone has to be hired at the Clerk's Office, even if Cherri or Lyric are appointed to replace Tracy as the head City Clerk.  

Is Kamal working hard on this (or hardly working), and if so, how is he handling it?  On fucking Facebook?  Is there no job posting for the head City Clerk position because we have nothing akin to a Human Resources department or even just one person in charge of making sure present and future job openings are posted as soon as possible, especially for a position as critical as the head City Clerk?  Is it because our mayor has no idea what he is doing, even though he has a salary of $75,000?  According to Tracy, every department handles hiring in their own way.  This is ludicrous and needs to end!  Now.  No hiring and firing in secret!

I recently checked the minutes of every informal Common Council meeting since Mishanda Franklin took over for Chief Moore in May of 2023.  I could not find one mention she has made about staffing issues at HPD.  At the June 2023 informal meeting, however, one month after Ed Moore said his farewells to the council and soon after our newly appointed Police Chief gave birth to her child, Lieutenant David Miller stood in for the new mother.  Miller said this to the council: "We have a position for a police officer open, so the exam for civil service is up.  We want to get the word out as much as possible so that people can take this exam and be part of our team."  And since then, nearly two years later?  Nothing!  Did anyone take the exam?  How would we know?

Mishanda talks a lot about HPD's new therapy dog but never lets on about staffing levels, whether levels are down or nothing to be concerned about.  That's really, really strange and it should be a concern to all of us.  This report omission should end.  A mention of staffing levels at HPD, no matter where they stand, should be a part of every monthly HPD report, regardless of which HPD representative reads the report to the council and public!  How about letting us know how morale at the department is, while you're at it?  Have any police officers gotten in trouble recently?  Can we dissolve at least a bit of that blue wall, please, and have a little less opaqueness? 

Everyone paying attention to regional and national news knows that for the past few years all police departments have been finding it difficult to recruit police officers, retain them, and replace those who retire or suddenly leave for greener pastures and higher pay.  But you wouldn't know this by listening to Mishanda Franklins' monthly HPD reports, which usually last under the two-minute mark, often closer to a minute and a half.  It's worth remembering that Kamal Johnson appointed a new Hudson Police Chief in early 2023 who was very, very pregnant.  Our police chief's child is now about 8 months old.  Could another future Hudson cop be on the way?

Officer Luis Martinez told me that he decided to leave HPD "about two weeks ago," so it is quite possible that Mishanda was unaware of her officer's looming departure when she gave her HPD report in early January.  Surely, at this month's meeting, she will mention Maritnez's departure (and any others there have been recently, or are imminent, that we should all know about) AND GIVE AN HONEST ASSESSMENT OF STAFFING AT HPD, won't she?  Isn't it about time for this?  

Has anyone seen this friendly face in an HPD uniform
recently? Tell me have you seen her? (Hired in 2019)

Until recently, I would occasionally see HPD Officer (and Hudson native) Jessica Mausolf in uniform around town, usually in a patrol vehicle, of course.  I'm wondering if she quit sometime in the past year.  If she did quit, we have a much, much deeper and more concerning problem than just staffing issues at HPD.  Someone is not revealing important information which the council and the public need to know about and should not have to ask to be informed about.

Addendum:  An anonymous reader who called me a "dipshit" and told me to "Get a job!", informed HUDseen management that Officer Mausolf is on maternity leave.  I don't know how long that has been the case or how much longer it will last, and neither would any council member or Hudson resident know since this fact has never been mentioned at an informal meeting during any recent HPD reports.  So what if we are down one police officer for 6 months or more?  No one outside of HPD needs to know this!  Enforcing the law in a police uniform while donning a badge, on maternity leave, out with an injury for 6 months (and being paid for each one)...what's the difference?

Are there any other Hudson cops who aren't able to actively enforce the law -- for whatever reason -- that Mishanda Franklin has not notified us about?

HUDseen would have immediately posted the entire comment from the name caller had he or she provided a personal name (first and last) which HUDseen could verify as being accurate. That is because, as of a few months ago, HUDseen's policy is strict: no comments from anonymous readers will be published.  Publishing anonymous comments only leads to uncivil discourse, whether it be in a physical publication or online.  It has no place in respectable journalism, and it never has.  We need less anonymity, opaqueness and divisiveness in our world, not more of it.

Why would a HUDseen reader feel so strongly that HUDseen should  "get a job," do you suppose?  So that HUDseen is not available for them to read anymore?  Or is it so that HUDseen is not available for anyone to read?  I have no doubt that the anonymous commenter and name caller was a city official, and I'm pretty sure I know which one.  I'm just satisfied that he reads HUDseen regularly, which I know he does.