Does He or Doesn't He? Actually Report to Work That Is.....

The owner of Pavel Construction, Ray Vella of Elizabeth, is on trial for bribery. According to newspaper reports the contractor is one of several who are being accused of bribing a public official in exchange for contracts to repair homes through the City of Linden's federally-funded neighborhood preservation program.  Vella is charged with mail fraud, providing corrupt payments and obtaining property by fraud. Three other contractors and a former public official have already pleaded guilty and are giving testimony in Vella's trial; his story though interesting is for another day.

Scheduled to testify at this trial in an effort to earn a reduced sentence is Frank Rose, the 53-year old former Linden housing official. Rose's gift to his family last Valentine's Day 2008 was pleading guilty to accepting over $180,000 in corrupt cash payments from five different contractors ensuring them lucrative contracts ranging from $20,000 to $60,000 a job for work totaling $652,448. Rose earned a salary from the city of $90,000 a year working part time. He is said to have put in approximately 25 hours a week but more incredible he didn't live in New Jersey but rather had his home complete with wife and kids in Marco Island, Florida.  Hired by former Mayor John T. Gregorio Rose faces up to 10 years in prison for accepting payoffs from contractors. When the US Attorney's office subpoenaed city records on the improvement program Rose was quoted in the Star Ledger saying "I have no idea what they are looking for." Current Linden Mayor Richard Gerbounka irritated Rose when he demanded that Rose work 35 hours per week, operate out of the program's physical office and report regularly to city hall. Gerbounka explaining his request said about Rose  "he is accountable to no one."  Imagine the nerve of the mayor expecting a public employee to work a regular full time schedule in exchange for his full time salary.

In neighboring Rahway Peter H. Pelissier was appointed to the RVSA in early 2007 as its representative, a position he held until recently while simultaneously earning six figures as the Municipal Business Administrator of the city serving at the direction of the Mayor overseeing the operations of the local government. Pelissier had worked for the City of Rahway prior from 1990 to 2002 than he had gone into retirement briefly. During his retirement he worked for the city as a consultant in the capacity of Executive Director for the Rahway Redevelopment Agency. Interestingly during his retirement and as the Exec Dir. Of the Redevelopment Agency he was living in of all places, the State of Montana. At one point Pelissier is said to have been collecting his pension, a consulting fee from the city and a salary as well. According to 2007 newspaper reports  this prompted state officials to order that he pay back over $300,000 in pension funds.

Closer to home, in fact working mostly from her home by her own admission to a Star Ledger reporter in a March 2006 interview, is a former freeholder and the chairwoman of the Union County Democratic Committee, Charlotte DeFilippo. Charlotte became employed by the County of Union in early 1998 when according to reports  what had been a part-time position for her predecessor surprisingly became full time. DeFilippo of Hillside, who had been the Hillside Town Clerk for 19 years before her retirement in late 1997, currently earns $143,410 according to county payroll information.  DeFilippo though geographically close to the county seat, in Elizabeth, prefers to run the Union County Improvement Authority from her dining room table in Hillside. Certainly a sweet deal the arrangement saves on gas as well as wear and tear on the car, and spares her from having the cold chill of the morning air in the single digits smacking her in the face. Just being able to shuffle around in one's slippers all day with a homemade cocoa in one's hand and petting the household cat with the other is enough to make some folks jealous. Running the Improvement Authority from the house has to be a gargantuan task that would require both superior clerical help and logistical support, which leaves one to speculate about who does it and where is the work actually being performed. As well as raising the questions : is this costing the tax payers extra money and who authorized a satellite office out of Charlotte's private residence? Oh, and BTW was it mentioned that she has made no secret about handling County as well as her Municipal Dem. Committee business from her home as well?

These three public employees have managed to pull off what most people only dream about. Further, judging by their attitudes exhibited when they have appeared in the press; these people seem to think that their work schedules or lack of are something that they are entitled to There are those taxpayers who are outraged merely by the thought that these employees are/were able to call their own shots and work seemingly without oversight of any kind. It would be interesting to read their respective position descriptions to see if there are any requirements regarding the number of hours of required actual work per week or outlining exactly where those hours were expected to be spent. It appears that it is not against the law to have a no show job as long as one's employment contract does not call for one to actually report to a job site where the work is expected to be carried out. These revelations leave financially stressed taxpayers to be suspicious of  public employees currently in the upper tiers of responsibility and compensation wondering which ones are actually required to report to the office daily and which ones are exempt.