Lawrence
Mayor Patty Dowling has admitted that she does
not read city contracts. She said that she does
not sign the contracts but has someone (she
doesn’t know who) rubber stamps the
contracts for approval. When the Mayor was asked
by Lawyers for Mae Gaskins why the city attorney
signed and approved the consultant contracts
which she (the mayor) was questioning as
improper, her answer was this “ The city
attorney approves those contracts as to form, not
content.” What that means is that the city
attorneys, according to their boss the mayor, do
not read what the contracts say, they just make
sure all the signatures are in the right place,
and someone dates them properly. Is this any way
to run a city? Is it any way to spend your money?
Good morning members of the Lawrence City
Council, this is your wake up call! Consider
yourself put on notice. After all, the very same
Mayor Dowling who is admitting to improper
spending practices in contractual agreements with
the school system, is the same Mayor Dowling who
submits budgets and spending appropriations to
the council for your approval. Which means, if
the council approves them she is no longer
responsible for what is contained in those
consultant contracts, the council is. How worried
do you think that makes them? Plenty!
So says, City Council vice president Marcos
Devers. He said last week that he plans on
holding everyone accountable on the city side.
“I believe we must be held accountable to
the people and no one is above the law.”
Devers told me in a phone interview. “We
were elected by the people to ask questions and
hold everyone to the same standard. That means
the Mayor, right down to myself, and ever city
worker. That is what I intend to do. There are a
lot of questions to be asked.”
Devers, the first Hispanic to serve as a city
wide Councilor-At-Large, said he, as well as
other councilors, are watching the school
situation with great interest. “I am not
taking any sides,” Devers said, “ but I
am very concerned about the way the city is being
run and how we are spending money. My intention
is to make sure I represent the people who put me
here, not politicians. This is the people’s
money. The people will have answers.” Marcos
Devers, music to my ears!
Devers said other councilors have called for
copies of the city contracts to make sure there
are no abuses. But the councilors have yet to
obtain copies of those city contracts, even
though the freedom of information act demands
such documents be turned over within 30 calendar
days. The person who is spearheading the effort
to review all city contracts is District
“B” City Councilor Julia Silverio. In
her first month on the council she had the
courage to stand up, challenge the
administration, and take responsibility as a
public servant.
District “A” City Councilor Pat
Blanchette echoed Devers concern about contracts
on the city side, he is calling for a management
audit of all city departments. According to the
city charter, the city council must order a
management audit every eight years. A management
audit is to be conducted by the council (not the
Mayor) which consists of performance evaluations,
checks on duplication of services, and checking
the inner workings, efficiency, and
accountability of every city department.
It’s called checks and balances. But this
has never been done in the 14 years of this
charter’s existence.
Councilor Blanchette said he called for the audit
and the issue was referred to the ordinance
sub-committee by Council President Frank Kivell.
Blanchette told me that he understands how
volatile the school situation is, “I’m
not digging for dirt, I’m not looking for
anything in particular, I just want the
information. I need to know where each department
stands. I have to be held accountable too.
That’s my job, I work for the public and I
take this very seriously.”
And he should take it seriously. With the city
comptroller resigning (oh, sorry, retiring) the
Mayor under fire for hiring campaign
contributors, the department of Revenue
conducting audits of their own, an acting
receiver appointed by the state department of
education, and the rest of the commonwealth
watching our every move, any councilor would be
foolish not to take it seriously when a chief
executive states publicly that she has no idea
what she is doing. The housing authority,
community development, police, fire, DPW,
finance, assessors, every department in the city
needs a major overhaul. Not just a financial
audit to see where the money is, but we need to
know who the RRC consultants are and why Billy
and Sullivan consultants are preparing our
budgets. We need to purge community development
of the millions in lawyers we pay them when we
have city attorneys on the payroll. And there is
no better time to start than right now!
Patty Dowling wants to set a standard with Mae
Gaskins? She wants to create a set of guidelines
for spending and consultants? Then let’s do
it across the boar and hold everyone, including
her, to the same standard she wants to hold Mae
Gaskins to. When we hired Patty Dowling she told
us there was a better way. But a better way for
who? Lawyers and consultants? Campaign
contributors and relatives? Who has seen the
better way since Mary Claire Kennedy was thrown
out of office for her witch hunt against Jim
Scully? It never ceases to amaze me when
intelligent people fail to learn from history or
other people’s mistakes. And I will admit to
you that Mary Claire Kennedy was right about one
thing. I remember her ads against Dowling in the
local paper in 1997. They pictured vultures
drooling over the city with a caption reading,
“Don’t let the out of town lawyers and
consultants get a hold of your money!” As
much as it pains me to admit it, (you have no
idea how much) I would be doing you all a grave
disservice if I did not say here in my column
that Mary Claire Kennedy was right.
This mayor doesn’t follow the laws, the
charter, court orders, municipal policies,
ordinances, she didn’t even know how many
contracts Dr. Stafford was working under, and she
signed the contracts! The amount of money being
sucked out of Lawrence under this administration
is staggering. Our city budget is over 158
million dollars every year. Drive around the
city, where is it? Can you find 158 million
dollars worth of improvements? Over the last
three budgets that’s 474 million dollars
pumped into Lawrence and I promise you it
isn’t going to Lawrence people. Yes, the new
council is getting their wake up call bright and
early. It’s time they got up, rolled up
their sleeves, and went to work. Mike Sweeney and
Ralph Carrero have had the courage to do it on
the school side. The council looks like they are
ready to do it on the city side, now all we need
is a new mayor.
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