City Manager Cleans Up Dodge

I heard 980WCAP’s Tedy Panos interview both former Building Commissioner Robert Camacho and City Manager Bernie Lynch on the subject of the LHA debacle. I thought it was somewhat courageous of  Mr. Camacho to come on the radio, but it was also an opportunity to clear the air and come to some sort of closure.

Mr. Camacho said that City Manager Lynch interfered with his job, engaged in political dalliances, pushed the line, took the route of least resistance, gave the City Council incorrect information, gave answers to technical questions he knows nothing about, looked the other way, and so on.

Obviously, we’re never going to process the entire story to everyone’s satisfaction, nor do we need to.

So how did the City Manager respond? “There are people who like the way business was done before.” “Public safety is paramount.” “My job is to direct the Building Commissioner to do his job.”

There’s this little matter of dust emanating from a building being renovated without a permit. The Sun cries “Asbestos” and “Lead Paint”! Really? There were rumors that asbestos was involved. Lead paint may have been involved. However, there’s no evidence that these materials were in the dust.

If I’m a building inspector and I happen upon a building that’s being renovated without a permit and has dust particles emanating out the door. I stop the job myself … call the police if necessary. It’s not that I suspect asbestos or lead paint. Dust control is a big part of any renovation job, as a matter of public safety. It gets in carpets, peoples clothes, hair, lungs, throats. And, if there was a concern about worker safety, why wasn’t OSHA called?

I don’t believe Mr. Camacho suspected asbestos or lead paint, although it would have been easy to investigate from the point he arrived if he had concerns of that sort. In fact, if he suspected such materials to be present, he would have directed that the building immediately be evacuated, sealed and material samples taken to be sent to the lab. Nothing like that happened.

Look, janitors use to go into boiler rooms and pick up pipe lagging material in such poor condition that it fell on the floor, put it in a garbage bag and toss it in the trash. They didn’t realize that just being in the room was hazardous because of asbestos fibers in the air. Pipefitters have died horrible deaths after years of breathing in the most deadly form of asbestos containing material.

Nothing remotely like that happened here. In fact, it wasn’t about asbestos or lead paint. It was about a long standing tradition that let the LHA perform renovations and repairs that require a building permit … without one.

City Manager Lynch is in the final stage of cleaning up the situation, while some people try to kick up a little dust.

The Building Department has a ways to go before it has my complete confidence. My sense is that a Building Commissioner is a czar who knows the building code and knows how to enforce it. No exceptions to the rule here. It’s in the book. Yes, interpretations are necessary every day. But no one is treated any differently than anyone else, because at the end of the day its Safety First and the Building Authority makes the call not the City Manager or the Assistant City Manager!

I’m comfortable that we’re heading in the right direction, at least at the moment. And I congratulate City Manager Lynch for taking a job over 5 years ago that required a major house cleaning, and getting it done. He’s done a great job in that respect. And in the process, he’s accomplished a great deal more. Hopefully, this progress will continue.

He also knows where his shortfalls are, and I think he’ll continue to hone his operation. Why? To make Councilor Rodney Elliot a believer for one thing. I think Councilor Elliot will place his confidence squarely with City Manager Lynch if he proves its deserved. In the meantime, the City Council is going to have to do a little soul searching of its own. I like our chances all around.

Editor’s Note: This post is first in a series that studies relationships involving the City Manager, the City Council, neighborhood groups, citizens of Lowell, stakeholders, Commissions & Boards, and the delegation to the state and federal government. How strong is ‘The Lowell Connection’?

George DeLuca produces ComeToLowell.com

Nuon’s Lawyer confirms he received no Money

In today’s Sun Column Blog Chris Scott has a couple of interesting emails regarding the Kinney/Nuon case.

One from Patrolman Kinney and the other from Councilor Nuon’s Lawyer.

Most Interesting to me was this confirmation by Councilor Nuon’s Lawyer stating the Councilor received NO cash himself as a result of the settlement:

The Court in finding that Mr. Nuon’s rights were violated, could have ordered the defendants to pay more than $100.000 in attorney s’ fees and expenses, in addition to any money damages that may have been awarded by a jury. However, at Mr. Nuon’s request. I agreed to accept a much lower reimbursement of our fees and expenses: $50.000 which represents a reduction by half.

Very truly yours.
Myong Joun

Councilor has plenty of options to get someone to Investigate LHA

Let’s see so far we had the State Inspector General, The Federal Offices of HUD and now the Department of Environmental Protection, The state Department of Public Health and State Department of Labor Standards have all been requested to issue a report on the LHA renovations.

Mostly based on allegations from a disgraced and disgruntled former employee who has admitted on the radio that the renovations were to big for him to deal with, had an inspector fake inspections under his ‘supervision” and has said on air he has no documents but then referred to them and has furnish documents and emails to a council challenger , possibly the Sun and WCAP and maybe even a councilor who appears to be his personal gopher.

These allegations have been carried forward by said gopher who seems to be a bitter, resentful councilor determined to get someone to investigate something to be able to embarrass and find justification to get rid of the Manager.

Don’t be fooled to think that even thought LHA Director Dr. Wallace already has already informed the citizen of Lowell that NO LEAD PAINT OR ASTEBTOS EXISTED, that this councilor will stop bringing in motions when he has so many other Federal Agencies he can turn to.

Several Federal Agencies that could Investigate LHA Issue include:

EPA – Where he has been on the payroll for a long time (except for when he took a job at the Greater Lowell Tech that he didn’t have a required certification for, then was told by the ETHICS Commission he couldn’t collect a City Council and Tech Salary so went back to the EPA) surely if any time dust got into the air the EPA should investigate. Did someone have a coughing spell caused by this dust?

FDA – Maybe some of that dust got into open boxes of Fruit Loops or Coco Puffs and put children in danger. Please get a full report.

IRS – Did all these contractors pay the employees above board and the going rate. Did the LHA pay proper overtime and did the employees report it? Let’s get a report.

Postal Service – Were any Mail Boxes moved or damaged and when residents were relocated were their mailboxes updated correctly. We need to know in case someone missed getting a Birthday Card.

and some lesser known Gov’t Agencies like:

Migratory Bird Conservation Commission – Were any Pigeons disturbed by the noise of the renovations? Did noise and dust force them to find new perches because the windowsills had dust and the noise level was hurting their hearing. Safety of the pigeon is a vital concern for this councilor and the people of Lowell.

Women’s Bureau (Labor Department) – Did the construction crew have a fair amount of women hired?

Arms Control and International Security – Did they report any guns or ammo that could have been found in the walls. Safety is a big concern you know.

Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry – Even if there was no Lead or Asbestos and because Bob Camacho stated for the first time in 4 years that he was ‘concerned” there might be, we should ask this agency to do a full report on any possible toxic substances that could have been there even when the building was first built because why stop going back 4 years when we can go back to the 1938 agreements?

Plus there’s always these Agencies:

Administration for Children and Families (ACF)
Advisory Council on Historic Preservation
Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service
Bureau of the Public Debt
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
Department of Energy (DOE)
Economic Analysis, Bureau of
Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council
Government Ethics, Office of
Healthy Homes and Lead Hazard Control Office
Interagency Alternative Dispute Resolution Working Group
Multifamily Housing Office
Office of Compliance

My Serious question is when will the rest of the City Council have the backbone to stop this never ending vendetta and NOT offer a 2nd to the motions dealing with the LHA Issue? When is enough enough and when will the City Council force this councilor to move on?

YES mistakes were made but they are being fixed, the IG and HUD are on board and the EPA ALREADY has tested and found nothing. Are you going to wait for another 5-10 agencies to chime in before forcing this councilor to stop a witch hunt or are you going to allow him to continue to waste the citizens of Lowell’s time dealing with an issue that is being worked on and one you are getting regular updates on?

PS: Teddy & Mr. Manager, Thank You both for the frequent references this morning but I have one request. If you are going to mention my name so often in your discussion, please plug the Complete BLOG address a couple times more….Thanks