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Posted by Alieoop
on April 11, 2002 at 07:11:55: In Reply to: Promises, promises posted by Show me the money on April 10, 2002 at 13:17:24:
Jersey Journal, 04/11/02 As the men were being lauded by the council, William Gaughan, the Ward D representative who has consistently asked the administration to create a class of 50 new recruits this year, pressed the point once again. "Has the city submitted waivers for hiring 50 new firefighters?" Gaughan asked Business Administrator Carlton McGee, who represents the administration of Mayor Glenn D. Cunningham at council meetings. In response, McGee said there were "a lot of issues that the administration is still grappling with" and said no waivers had been submitted to the state Department of Community Affairs, the agency that must approve all city expenditures. Reached Tuesday, a spokesman for Mayor Glenn D. Cunningham said the city will not request any new firefighters until an independent study can be done on the department's needs. "We're not going to be married to an arbitrary number," said Stan H. Eason, the mayor's spokesman. "We have to assess through an impartial study exactly how many we need." During hearings last month on the city's $352 million fiscal 2002 budget, Gaughan said the department had agreed to move about $200,000 - the initial cost of hiring about 50 firefighters - to spending on personnel that had been appropriated for communications equipment. "Maybe we should at least apply for the waivers," said Gaughan. The mention of savings on communications elicited more political wrangling, as Councilman-at-Large Mariano Vega praised Rep. Robert Menendez, D-Union City, for helping to secure $12 million in federal funding to overhaul police, fire and emergency services communications technology. Menendez has been publicly fighting with Cunningham over control of the county Democratic organization and the battle lines have split the council, with seven lawmakers siding with Menendez and two with Cunningham in the June 4 primary elections for congress, county executive and freeholder. : Glenn promised all the city workers raises. What did we wind up with? Some, no contracts for over eight months now. Cunningham has got nothing for the Police and Fire, claiming that Trenton let him down.
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