How Upside Down is Hudson City Hall? Just Read The Code (Carefully) and Walk The Sidewalks (Carefully)!

Soon after posting yesterday's pictorial showing Luizzi's code violation sidewalk work on and adjacent to lower Warren Street, I read through chapter 266 of the city code titled Streets And Sidewalks to see which city official or officials are responsible for making sure that contractors and homeowners construct sidewalks properly and with the correct materials.  The information therein shows how easily things can (and do) get screwed up and how no one inside City Hall takes responsibility for mistakes in sidewalk construction and unsafe sidewalks that homeowners ignore for years and decades.  The situation we find ourselves in regarding city sidewalks is embarrassing and beyond concerning, and it should not be an issue in the year 2025. 

There are 19 sections in chapter 266. Of the 6 sections related to sidewalks, THE COMMISSIONER OF PUBLIC WORKS (my caps and bold) is mentioned 9 times. THE SUPERINTENDENT OF PUBLIC WORKS, a well salaried, full-time hired city employee, is not mentioned once.  The present Commissioner of Public Works is Tyler Kritzman, having replaced Jason Foster several months ago after he bowed out of the position after about 9 months (and is now running for a seat on the council representing the third ward).  Tyler (indeed, all 3 city commissioners) does not have an office in City Hall or anywhere else in town, nor is he a paid city employee.  He is a volunteer appointed by the mayor and, as far as I can tell so far, a worthy one.  Tyler, like his predecessor, is a member of the Public Works Board, whose sole purpose seems to be implementing and overseeing the ambitious sidewalk replacement project known as the Sidewalk Improvement District, or SID.  The contact information for the DPW Commissioner (not easily) found on the city's website includes an email with the City of Hudson domain and a phone number that is the main number to the DPW offices on the second floor of City Hall where Tyler Kritzman and DPW Superintendent Rob Perry can never be found.  There is no way to leave a voicemail message for either one of these city officials (go ahead, give it a try!).  Getting Mr. Kritzman on that phone line would, I think, be next to impossible.

While two house renovations drag on on
North 5th, a long expanse of the sidewalk
 has been made of stones for the past several months.

Asphalt replaced concrete about two years 
ago, something our DPW Commissioner
should have dealt with long ago.  Has anyone told
the property owner to fix this ugly code violation?

In the remaining 13 sections of chapter 266 of the City Code, all having to do with streets, THE COMMISSIONER OF PUBLIC WORKS is mentioned 15 times. THE SUPERINTENDENT OF PUBLIC WORKS is not mentioned once. It is as if the City of Hudson has no DPW Superintendent, only a DPW Commissioner, one who is not employed by the City of Hudson and doesn't even have a city-issued vehicle, office, desk, computer or phone of their own.  This is the ideal formula for getting nothing accomplished.  If Hudson City Hall were a business, it would have filed for bankruptcy years ago.

When a situation like this goes ignored by a
city for years, there is something horribly 
wrong with accountability, responsibility,
and the chain of command, right up top to
the mayor's office!

I spoke to a former DPW Commissioner recently, one who served alongside Rob Perry's predecessor.  He said this to me:  "I was ostensibly DPW Superintendent Charlie Butterworth's boss."  Almost two decades later, that flawed, comical and unrecognized hierarchy still exists on paper.  Yesterday, today and tomorrow, Tyler Kritzman is supposed to be Rob Perry's boss.  Mr. Perry would likely have a good laugh if someone were to remind him of this.  And it's entirely possible that Mr. Kritzman is not aware of it.

The number to the cellphone Rob Perry is holding to his 
ear is not found on the city's website or anywhere else except 
 here on HUDseen:  518-965-5235

(Tom F., this one's for you!)