How lovely. Is there something Lou Rosamilia and his administration does not want the public to know about?
This is not a personnel matter. What it is, is a matter of dollars and cents -- yours and mine -- and the quality of services to be rendered. That is something that needs more public discussion, not an after-the fact comment. Especially not from an administration that has stumbled and bumbled its way through other contract negotiations and budgeting, landing us under the fiscal microscope of state government once again.
At one point it appeared as if Troy City Council members would find several possibilities on their menu. Now, however, it turns out there apparently is only one choice, since, according to a report in the Times Union, the Rosamilia administration "ended its conversation with the City of Albany about teaming up for emergency communications after reaching an agreement with the county on Friday, officials said."
Translation: Rather than having competing possibilities for 911 dispatching services to consider, we have the "choice" of the one County Executive Kathy Jimino says is being distributed to legislative bodies for consideration. And it is one the administration doesn't want to talk about publicly. That makes me nervous, since this is the first time in 20 years the city could have had a choice to consider.
I encourage the City Council to forget about their Republican and Democrat labels and work collectively to publicly discuss the potential contract rather than rubber stamp it. Given some of the machinations that have gone on under the current administration, it is imperative that all commitments the city makes undergo the most careful scrutiny before the fact.
What we do know is that eight months ago the County proposed raising its 911 dispatching fee for Troy by an astounding 75.5%, to a half-million dollars in 2015. Calls for Troy's ambulance, fire and police services make up about 40% of the county dispatch center's business, which comes out to about 53,600 calls a year.
Using those numbers, the County was trying to hike the cost to Troy taxpayers from $5.32 to $9.33 per call.
Is that number part of the contract now under consideration? Although we do know the city wasn't thrilled with that proposal back in April, we don't know what wound up in the proposed contract.
Am I making a big deal out of nothing? Again, who knows? Until someone makes details of the proposed new contract public -- and, bear in mind it is only proposed even though it is being presented as the only choice -- and gets some input from beyond the halls of government we can only ask questions.
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