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The city has EIGHT (8) assistants to help the new Commissioner of Public Works, Jim Lacarrubba, do the job that was once done by only two (2) people. Wasn't he the best and the brightest? Or was he simply a political friend of the Scott Mandel City Administration who needed a job and now the taxpayers are being ripped off?
A few weeks ago I revealed that the Mandel City Council and the new city Comptroller, Jeff Nogid, was hiring a Deputy Comptroller. This is a new position and was being created during a "hiring freeze." In my blog I questioned why Nogid needed any assistant especially since Nogid was being paid $15,000 more than the previous comptroller and because City Jack Schnirman and the Scott Mandell Administration were singing the praises of Nogid's experience even though he wasn't even a certified public accountant nor a comptroller!
Here we go again. Its been uncovered that another top city official needs serious help doing his job. That’s right, there has been more hirings during the so- called "hiring freeze" that was enacted due to the so-called fiscal "crisis."
It appears that the city's new Public Works Commissioner Jim Lacarrubba needs significant help in his job despite the fact that Jack Schnirman and the Mandel administration said that he was the best and brightest for the position. The city has hired an assistant for Lacarrubba named Doug Cahn.
It was less than a year ago that the Mandel Administration hired Jim Lacarrubba, an old political friend of City Manager Jack Schnirman from Brookhaven. When Lacarrubba was hired, many criticized the hiring as a broken campaign promise because Mandel had pledged to end the practice of hiring "friends and family" to city hall jobs. Lacarrubba's hiring as Commissioner of Public Works also came under harsh criticism when it was revealed that Lacarrubba, unlike the previous commissioner who was fired, was not an engineer and he didn't have a college education or any formal training as an engineer. In addition to the lack of qualifications many were also concerned that the city “dumbed down” the civil service requirements and qualifications for the Lacarrubba's job so that Lacarrubba could be hired and that the hiring was purely political.
In a futile attempt to end the harsh criticism of Lacarrubba's hiring, City Manager Jack Schnirman frantically went into damage control mode and defended the hiring by praising Lacarrubba's “experience.” Schnirman painted Lacarrubba as the perfect person for the job saying, “As a former labor guy and expert manager, this is the work he has done before and were looking for him to do it here in long beach.”
If Laccarubba was so good why does he need yet another assistant? You heard me right...., I said "another". That is because Lacarrubba already has multiple assistants! Kevin Mulligan, the previous Commissioner of Public Works had one deputy one (1) assistant. However, as of today Lacarrubba, the same man the Mandel Administration said had all the right stuff to handle the job, now has (#2) an executive assistant, (#3) A another assistant (Dog Cahn), (#4) a newly created position called “Director of Sewer/Water Operations,” and (#5) yet another newly created position called "Part TIme Superintendent of Street Maintenance." This position was created just a few months ago despite the fact that the city already has a, (#6) Full Time Superintendent of Street Maintenance! And it doesn't stop there! In addition to the SIX (6) assistants listed above, Lacarrubba also hired the daughter of his new "Director of Sewer/Water Operations" Assistant to be another assistant (#7). It has also been revealed that this young lady and her family have made a number of financial contributions to the Long Beach Democrat Club. Furthermore, Lacarrubba has created the poition of "Santitation Inspector" (#8) to the already long list of EIGHT assistants. This employee was moved out of santitation during the summer and into Lacarrubba's office to assist the commissioner. In addition to these eight (8) positions to help Lacarrubba the Mandel Administration also recently gave pay raises and grade changes to other supervisors in Lacarrubba's department!
Keep in mind that all of these hirings and salary increases were done during a "hiring freeze", as well as a time when salaries were supposedly "frozen," and after 25 CSEA employees were laid off, and other employees were fired for budgetary reasons!
So while the Mandel Administration and City Manager Jack Schnirman hired Jim Lacarrubba as the right man for the job, a man who was going to "cut costs", it appears he can’t handle his job. In a Patch article that was printed last year, Schnirman said the following about Lacarrubba’s hiring and experience, "Here in Long Beach we have a variety of outside departments whose projects need to be driven aggressively and under budget, and we need to cut our costs,” Apparently, Jim Lacarrubba may not be all he was touted to be. Why else would he need all of the help from multiple new hires when his predecessor had one assistant?
I have also heard reports that Jim Lacarrubba,and other exempt employees, may have been collecting overtime through FEMA and that these monies are being paid on top of their already high salaries. As an exempt position Lacarruba and others are not supposed to get any overtime, just their salary. Unfortunately, the city has not revealed this informationm to me because they have conveniently either ignored and/or denied all of my Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) requests for this salary imformation. For the taxpayers sake, I hope the reports are not true.
Keep in mind that the Mandel Administration has raised your taxes over 15% this year alone and its your hard earned salary dollars that pay these people to "help" Jim Lacarrubba do a job he is paid handsomely to do!
If Jim Lacarrubba was hired to "bring projects in under budget" and "to cut costs," the taxpayers may need a refund!
FOR THE RECORD- IT APPEARS THAT 6 OUT OF 8 OF THESE POSITIONS WERE CREATED BEFORE HURRICANE SANDY, NOT IN RESPONSE TO IT.
