Take Ownership Of Streetlights, Be Forced to Raise The Budget and Taxes Again!

I came across something yesterday morning that confirmed what I had been told a few weeks ago by the only helpful person in the Mayor's Office regarding the repair of our new LED streetlights, an activity that was non-existent until this week or last.  HUDseen most recently reported on this issue on March 20th.

There was a person high above the street working on a streetlight on Glenwood Boulevard, inside the bucket of a very new-looking bucket truck with a City of Hudson logo on each door.  The truck was idling, as it needs to be when the lift is in use.  I didn't recognize the fellow as a city employee, nor did I see anyone else around working with him.  When he was done working on the light and with two feet on the ground, I asked him if he was a city of Hudson employee.  He told me that he was not, that he was an electrical contractor hired by the city to only fix streetlights because "the city doesn't have an electrician."

Non-city employee using (and driving)
a city vehicle.

"Aren't these lights supposed to last like ten years?" I asked.

"Well, maybe, but this one seems to have had a bad fuse, so I replaced it."

I asked the friendly fellow if the two out lights (one not working and one light and arm completely missing) in the 500 block of Rope Alley were on his list of lights to attend to.  He said that they were, then added, "I can't use this bucket truck to install that arm and light because this bucket is made of metal, so it is a shock hazard.   To prevent being electrocuted, I need to use a truck with a plastic bucket, so the city will probably have to rent one to get that missing light taken care of."

Can you believe this bullshit from Rob Perry?

I thanked him for his time and headed for the back entrance of Oakdale Park for a walk.  Before I entered the park, I turned around to see the electrical contractor -- a person not employed by the city -- climbing into the driver's seat of the bucket truck.  Seconds later, the city vehicle pulled into the traffic lane and proceeded down Glenwood Boulevard headed into the city and likely to another broken LED streetlight that was installed by National Grid late last summer, about 7 months ago.

Is DPW paying this guy by the hour or 
for each light that he repairs?  How much 
will his services cost the city?

Rob Perry gave the keys to a very expensive city vehicle (which was likely purchased for the sole purpose of repairing broken streetlights) to a person not employed by his department nor any city department.  This is the act of an absolute fool.  (Apparently, the electrician is a retired DPW employee!)

Rob The $123,000 Slob On Zoom Perry has never once mentioned at a meeting anything about DPW having to contract with an electrician to fix our streetlights; purchase a bucket truck for the sole purpose of reaching the top of National Grid's utility poles (which are getting taller); allowing a non-city employee to drive that truck and operate that bucket; or, renting a plastic bucket truck to replace lights and arms that have gone missing (stolen!).  Why would he bother mentioning any of this?

It appears that when National Grid handed over all their streetlights to the city last summer, our DPW Superintendent did not have an electrician on staff to fix broken (or missing) streetlights; didn't own a bucket truck to do the job; and had no plan to deal with fixing the lights.  All Perry has had to say about broken streetlights in the past 7 months was this: "Email me the address and the pole number."  This was in response to Dewan Sarowar's question during January's council meeting, well before Perry was forced to contract with an electrician/streetlight repairman to fix and replace our newly acquired streetlights.  Dewan had asked our Zoom Superintendent, "Hey, Rob, the streetlights... when it's out, who should we call?"

It's reassuring to know that the common council and the DPW Superintendent are working so well together and that the city's plan to save money and electricity by owning the LED streetlights is working out just as planned, isn't it?

"Hey, Rob, when streetlights are MISSING, 
who should we call?"

Any guesses on how many more months it will take to replace the missing/stolen streetlight and arm that never made it to the top of the pole in the dark 500 block of Rope Alley east of Dodge?  Will it happen this year?  I doubt it. Does Kamal Johnson care how long it will take, if it ever happens?  I doubt that, too. 

This bag of hardware, associated with the missing arm and light that National Grid had also left attached to the bottom of the pole but was subsequently stolen (at least according to Rob Perry), has been taped to the bottom of the pole for several months.  This is yet another huge red flag indicating that Rob Perry simply can't attend to everything that is expected of him.  Or he just won't bother because he doesn't want to.

Speaking of Rob Perry, I just received a list of the salaries of all city employees.   Last year he took home $123,000.  He is no longer our $117,000 DPW Chief Slob.