Updated: New Castle County Council Should Focus On Audit Report Findings And Stop The Rush On Proposals

A cross-post from Nancy Willing's Delaware Way FYI -

Heady days over at New Castle County Council. 

The ever-feisty Finance Committee Co-Chair George Smiley continues issuing proposals for which the public is being denied due process, IMO. 

Matters of serious weight are being introduced and voted on in a single day. Public hearings in the afternoon committees and a vote hours later appears to be the new normal. 

Check out Smiley's "Emergency Ordinance" for addiction program support for Tuesday's agenda. Isn't that an abuse of the code? Why is it necessary to shove this initiative through as if it were an emergency and circumvent the regular two week process for consideration of Ordinances? I understand the need for the ordinance, as federal funding has expired for this very worthy program that provides for a staff coordinator's salary and Narcan kits but I do not understand the hurry.

I hope the public starts to object strongly to this new standard where citizens and news media are getting one week's notice for searching out, contemplating and responding to actions of NCC Council. 

Back in November, Mr. Smiley pushed his paranoia about Karen Hartley-Nagle through County Council and to the General Assembly in a single afternoon. 

Next week, the 1:30 p.m. January 8th Finance Committee meeting agenda shows two council employee-related policy issues on track for passage in a single day (and that appear to have been motivated solely to strip Council President authority from council policies)....

R19-017: TO AMEND THE NEW CASTLE COUNTY COUNCIL EMPLOYEE HANDBOOK SECTION 3.8 (“DRUG AND ALCOHOL POLICY”). Introduced by: Mr. Smiley 

R19-012: TO AMEND SECTION 2.5 OF THE NEW CASTLE COUNTY COUNCIL EMPLOYEE HANDBOOK REGARDING OFFERS OF EMPLOYMENT. Introduced by: Mr. Smiley

Unfortunately, it looks like George Smiley will continue to busy himself with ferreting out and striking any mention of the Council President from within the governance structure. 

Smiley's focus on amending employee hiring and drug testing policy this week strikes me as extremely odd considering the ONE MAJOR FINDING of a recent independent audit (read it below) concerns the laxity of oversight over council employees' time and attendance:

In our opinion, adequate internal controls exist in all material respects except for weaknesses in the employee management area. Our audit revealed numerous instances where time and attendance was not properly recorded. We have worked with management to identify areas where control enhancements can be made.

Wouldn't we, the public, rather our electeds address and fix problems already on the table?

Final Draft Council Finance... by on Scribd

Also see:

HERO HELP ADDICTIONASSISTANCE PROGRAM

Updated: NCC Council Should Ask Smiley To Table His Bid To Remove Powers Of NCC Council President Until The Rest Of Us Can Weigh In


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An update from Councilwoman Janet Kilpatrick is posted below. 

I could find no evidence on the county website that a notice of the emergency ordinances was 'advertised' on December 14th and have asked where I can find it:

Just a few responses to your article about Councilman Smiley, as I feel that facts are important.  I've included Councilman Bell on this email as he has also requested to be a co-sponsor. as well as our attorney as he has opined on the justification for the need to run this as an Emergency Ordinance.

Emergency Ordinance  - I am the prime sponsor.  After we learned that the funding would run out on Dec 31, and we heard that the Administration was looking for ways to keep the program alive, I asked if there was a way that Council could assist in keeping the program alive through the end of this Fiscal year - the most important aspects being the coordinator (not a desk job, but a victim contact position) and the nurses under contract (the medical portion of victim contact).  As Mr. Smiley is the Finance Co-chair I consulted with him about the best way to approach this, with the purpose being to match what the Administration funds, up to $50,000.  We advertised this beginning on Dec 14th to give the public as much notice as possible, knowing that we didn't want to wait until the end of the month to make the finances available. 

        I.            EMERGENCY ORDINANCES: EO19-001 - AMEND THE GRANTS BUDGET: APPROPRIATE FUNDING FROM THE NEW CASTLE COUNTY FY2019 COUNCIL CONTINGENCY BUDGET TO THE HERO HELP ADDICTION ASSISTANCE PROGRAM AS ADMINISTERED BY THE DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY. Introduced by: Ms. Kilpatrick, Mr. Smiley Fiscal Note: EO19-002 - AMEND THE FY2019 APPROVED OPERATING BUDGET: REDUCE THE FY2019 NEW CASTLE COUNTY COUNCIL CONTINGENCY BUDGET TO PROVIDE FUNDING FOR THE HERO HELP ADDICTION ASSISTANCE PROGRAM. Introduced by: Ms. Kilpatrick, Mr. Smiley Fiscal Note: Because of the emergency nature of these Ordinances, County Council intends to introduce and consider for approval both Ordinances during the Council Meeting scheduled for January 8, 2019 at 6:30 p.m. in New Castle County Council Chambers.

I had heard that the State was considering giving some grant towards this program (not confirmed) but that their funds could not be used for anything that would allow contact with the victims.  That obviously is not a help to this program and if it is true it could not be voted on until they came back in January.  So either the program continues with no break in service or it stops.  Therefore the decision was pretty easy for me --- if there's a break in service we lose the consistency with the victim.  It's pretty hard to have constant discussions about the opiod crisis and then hinder the programs in place.  Therefore the decision was made, by me, to run an emergency ordinance to assure that the funding is available, and in opposition to your comment that we hope no one notices - I personally hope everyone notices!  The public should know that we are doing everything we can to help keep innovative programs going.  I would hate for the public to think that we sit in meetings and listen to the Public Safety Director, but don't think it's important enough to give from our budget to keep it going through the hard times.   Another Ordinance will be run within the normal timeframe, which will rescind the emergency ordinance and insert a regular Ordinance in its place.

Drug Policy -- During the conversation about the drug policy for subcontractors that Mr. Sheldon introduced and had passed prior to the Holidays, there was discussion about pulling out one group for random testing, and not including everyone.  Mr. Smiley indicated at that time that he felt Mr. Sheldon's ordinance was worthy and that he would continue working on an Ordinance that was more inclusive to Council.  This is that Ordinance.  Any other Ordinance would have to come to us through Purchasing.  The process for the vote on this issue is no different than any other inhouse changes that we have made. Several individuals, including Mr. Smiley, Mr. Sheldon and me, have introduced and passed policy changes.

Personnel Policy - many areas of concern placed before us with that audit, which is now probably 5 years old, have been addressed and are continuing to be addressed.  As each aide works for an individual councilperson who may require them to attend morning meetings, there are times that sign in comes after the regular starting time or there are times when meetings are attended during the day, especially at the end of the day where sign outs might appear earlier than the normal closing time.  We now require more verification for those instances. 

Janet Kilpatrick
3rd District New Castle County Council Member
800 N. French St. - 8th Floor
Wilmington, DE 19801

PLEASE NOTE NEW EMAIL AND WEB SITE ADDRESSES
Janet.Kilpatrick@newcastlede.gov302-395-8343 - work
302-234-1994 - home
www.newcastlede.gov/council