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— News and commentary about elsewhere covered by Quincy Quarry News
Cutting costs
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After first trimming $238,750.00 from Mayor Thomas P. Koch’s proposed FY 2027 budget via a number of mid-figure and lower cuts to budget line asks well in excess of actual spending in recent years last week, the new super majority on the Quincy City Council cut a job and a relatively senior one at that at last night’s city council.
The job? The $116,000.00 a year position as the Director of Emergency Management.
Needless to say, the cut did not go well with the Koch Maladministration.
Reasons for the upset, the job had recently been filled by an acting director who is a longtime loyal Koch coat-holder who was recently voted off the Quincy city council and thus in need of a new gig.
Emergencies also happen to first responders
Image via the Los Angeles Times
While there has already been strum and drang out of the maladministration that this job cut was baiting the potential for disaster, there is precedence for the whacking.
Over a dozen years ago in the wake of the Crash of 2009 a but half-time position in charge of coordinating emergency responses that had been filled by a retired Quincy fire chief was eliminated with the secretary to the half-time emergency coordinator given a promotion and a nice pay pop to fill essentially a pair and half of shoes.
At the same time, it was surely but a coincidence that the so-promoted secretary is some manner of aunt of Quincy Mayor Koch.
This time, however, a person with the position of operations manager and holding an appropriate college degree in emergency management will continue to take care of at least most of the tasks overseen by the current soon to out of work acting director that truly need to be addressed will continue to be addressed.
At the same time, there is a complication and which of late similar enough has been common.
“Say what?”
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The previous Director of Emergency Response was fired by Quincy Mayor Thomas Koch shortly after the first of year given allegations of domestic violence, only to see charges dropped yesterday when the purported victim failed to show up in court.
In turn, with the charges dropped, it would appear that the former director can sue for damages for wrongful termination by Quincy Mayor Koch as well as pursue unemployment benefits from the city.as it self-insures for such payouts as opposed to seeing its employees face a cut to their paychecks by the Commonwealth to fund its unemployment insurance fund as do those working in the dreaded private sector.
Unclear at this point, however, is if the pink slipped acting director will be eligible for unemployment benefits when funding for his gig runs out at the end of the fiscal year at the end of next month as he was but in acting and thus temporary status.
I apologize this is long but I hope one city councilor reads this. The Council needs an outside audit and should contact the State Auditor/DOR to find out why no department head should be given millions of dollars to spend as he pleases. Did we learn nothing from the Senior Center?
A police chief who claims they have the authority to freely transfer money between line items without oversight—and treat department allocations as an unregulated “slush fund” that yields no return—violates core principles of municipal finance, bypasses City Council oversight, and jeopardizes transparency.
The primary reasons this approach to budgeting is wrong and legally problematic include:Violation of State and Local Finance Law: Municipalities are governed by strict public finance laws (such as Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 44, Section 33B).
These laws dictate that public funds must be spent exactly as appropriated by the legislative body. Shifting large amounts of money between different operational categories (like moving capital outlay into personnel or overtime) typically requires explicit, public approval from the city council or town meeting, rather than an executive decision by the chief.
Avoidance of Legislative Oversight: City councils approve departmental budgets line-by-line or category-by-category to set public policy priorities. When a chief moves funds at will, they are essentially rewriting the city’s budget behind closed doors. This prevents the council and the public from holding the department accountable for how taxpayer dollars are ultimately utilized.
Budget Deficits and Fiscal Instability:
A budget operates as a legally binding limit. Shifting money in and out of operational lines masks departmental overspending, bypasses reserve fund regulations, and frequently results in budget deficits that the city is ultimately forced to cover with taxpayer dollars.
Circumvention of the General Fund:
By law, unused funds and unspent appropriations at the end of a fiscal year are meant to revert to the city’s General Fund to be reallocated for other vital municipal services (such as schools, roads, or parks), or to lower property taxes. If a department holds onto, hides, or arbitrarily spends every dollar it is allocated instead of returning unspent funds to the General Fund, it starves the broader community of essential resources.
Erosion of Checks and Balances:
Good governance requires a strict division between the executive branch (the police chief and the mayor, who manage the funds) and the legislative branch (the city council, which appropriates the funds). Allowing a chief to spend the budget “as they please” completely destroys this fundamental system of checks and balances.
Say goodbye Dave!
With his vast “emergency management” background McCarthy should have no trouble finding something else he’s eminently not qualified for.
In Quincy, the city payroll functions less like a public workforce and more like Mayor Koch’s personal slush fund — a convenient mechanism to reward loyal donors, well-connected relatives, and, of course, former City Councilors who voted the “right way.” He doesn’t even try to hide the corruption.
We now have enough former Councilors on the city payroll to form a quorum, and enough Koch relatives to host a lively family reunion.
Take David McCarthy’s recent appointment. Like most prized spots in the Koch Club, the position was never posted publicly. Is the Human Resource Officer available for a comment on the posting?
What day exactly was the “interview”? Who served on the committee? What qualifications were even advertised?
In Quincy, the real job requirements are simple: you kissed the right ring, made the right donation, or share the right bloodline or marriage certificate.The previous Director was a wrestling coach. The story of how that job was secured is apparently even funnier.
Meanwhile, the Police and Fire Departments are already top-heavy and perfectly capable of handling Emergency Management. Give the officers an extra hour of that famous “Reading Time” we’ve all heard about so they can flip through the manuals.
Funny how teachers never seem to qualify for “Reading Time” — or the lavish bonuses that come with it. Teachers actually need a legitimate teaching degree to get hired. Police officers, on the other hand, get a permanent 25% pay bump (not just once, but for the rest of their careers and into retirement) simply for having a degree — thanks to contracts Mayor Koch happily signed. And surprise, surprise — guess who gets to cash in on those generous “benefits”?
Scroll down the City payroll and you’ll spot plenty of familiar names. Family. Donors. Loyalists. All happily reaping taxpayer-funded rewards. After all, Koch has to take care of his benefactors and relatives. It’s only taxpayer money, right? Question any of it and you, my friend, are clearly “anti-public safety.”
Councilor Yuan, Councilor Mahoney, Councilor Riley & Councilor Ryan McKee thank you from the Taxpayers. Hire outside Counsel to work with the Attorney General and let’s take our City back.
I recall seeing Dave McCrafty (on a milk carton and not otherwise). He lost because he became invisible to his constituents. He came in like thunder and left like a light sprinkle. A man who was told what to do, a true Koch soldier. He listened to Boner (voted with him 90+%) and drank the Blue Goo. Has anyone seen him lately (outside of the Council request)?
The Council asked McCrafty some tough questions and he had no answers, except some slick “do you know who I am?” What is he hiding? He could not justify his job/daily routine nor his department’s budget (except for is subordinate who actually does the work). How many more fakes are on the Koch payrolls?
Boner is following him out the door. How can we miss them when they won’t go away? His scolding of the new members should not be a public display and it only incites other attacks. He needs to curb his bias. Can someone please tell him that he is not the smartest person in the room. Might be the opposite.
Walker looks very uncomfortable with this body language. He knows where the bodies are buried. He should let his new hair grow long and hide his face. Stealing others notes (e.g., peeking over shoulders), wiping his face by the second and paying for hair. This guy appears to have copied his way through school and ended up abetting the death of the PL. Go figure. In my humble opinion, he is strange. Imagine Koch hired him. Just like Sheets hired Koch. Strange people do strange things.
Now, I ask that we have to investigate the other “Commissioners” who got their $alaries by combining jobs and then giving same “combined jobs” to other Koch Supporters/Consultants (Flynn Flam III/Retirement Package). I think Dave Murphy is doing a good job but his Department has a become a hiding spot for Kochists.
The new city council members are doing their jobs and are entering a driving storm. The devil is in the details with the Koch Klan. I hope the Council stays the course.
Timmons is not serving the City well. He is bias, like Hinds. Is he the City Solicitor or the Mayor’s personal Counsel? His job description needs to be nailed down AND the City Auditor’s. Open the books.
The storm has just begun and McCrafty cannot heft the barriers Tommy needs to install. Hence, he is roadkill, like your car’s suspension given all of the local potholes. I wonder what job they will make up for him next (he needs a few more years on his retirement and sold his soul for this). Is the job at the Kennedy Center still open? McCrafty seems to have early onset Dementia and might fit right in. Blue blood is being spewed everywhere and the Koch pigs are squealing. Break out the popcorn and sodas. Humpty Dumpty is about to fall. Stay tuned!
God Bless this Council.
Lastly, the guy who threatened the new councilors, is a puke. I might meet him outside the next meeting and have a discussion about idle threats. Where were the police? After all, they show for the Quincy Quarry reporters. WTF? Equal representation? Timmons, like Boner, should be censured and both should lose their speaking rights.
NO KINGS, TOMMY.
“It was truly inspiring to see Mayor Koch on television last year, deeply wounded by the Senior Center funding scandal—because if there is one thing our good Mayor stands for, it is the sacred purity of public funds and the absolute rejection of political favoritism.
Listening to him, you would almost forget the Civil Service findings about his son’s police hiring, the unposted jobs for political allies, or the $55,000 state penalty for illegal campaign donations.
But as Tom would surely remind us, those are simply not the values of St. Michael or St. Florian. And honestly, thank heaven for that—because at nearly a million dollars in taxpayer money he used without a vote of the Council, those bronze statues are far too expensive to be tainted by a little local hypocrisy.”
Clint Eastwood claiming the city council election was stolen to which I say, PROPAGANDA
Another speaker complaining the councilors did not explaine how each would handle the pay raises at a city council meeting first and then tell the Patriot Ledger. Yeah because putting it in writing for all to see, where it can be repeatedly read and researched, is a bad thing. Well, maybe for some people it is.
“As long as we’re in the green, we’re not going to go in the red,”
John,
Boner is both innumerate AND color blind
Next? The ‘senior scam and fraud liaison’ for the city’s department of elder services with a $90,000 salary? Even the previous version of the city council and especially Ward 3 Councilor Ian Cain questioned the need for the new position during a presentation by Police Chief Mark Kennedy, whose departmental budget calls for a new senior investigative liaison to focus on scams targeting seniors. That position carries a $105,000 annual salary. And by the way, Koch’s chief of staff, Chris Walker, said the mayor came up with the idea “literally at the last minute” and has a specific person in mind.
Mr. Dough,
Any idea if the first name of mayor’s candidate for the impending QPD senior fraud officer position is Cornelius?
Director of Coastal Resiliency and Sustainability?
A Director of Coastal Resilience in Massachusetts (whether at the state level within the Office of Coastal Zone Management or at the municipal/watershed level) is primarily responsible for strategizing, funding, and implementing climate adaptation plans to protect coastlines from sea-level rise, storm surges, and erosion.
Core Responsibilities, Qualifications, Experience…
Strategic Planning: Leading initiatives like the state’s comprehensive ResilientCoasts Plan, which sets 50-year regional and district strategies across the Commonwealth’s vulnerable coastlines.
Project Management: Designing and overseeing on-the-ground adaptation projects, such as nature-based solutions (e.g., elevated sand dunes, restored salt marshes), roadway elevations, and flood barriers.
Grant Acquisition & Administration: Applying for federal funding (such as NOAA grants) and managing the state’s municipal Coastal Resilience Grant Program to fund local climate vulnerability assessments and infrastructure retrofits.
Policy & Regulatory Updates: Evaluating updates to state building codes, the Massachusetts Environmental Protection Act, and local wetlands regulations to proactively address long-term coastal hazards.
Community Engagement: Facilitating regional collaborations, working with local environmental groups, and engaging the public on flood risks, hazard mitigation, and complex climate adaptation strategies.
As a senior resident of Quincy, I recently watched the discussion around the new Senior Scam Liaison position.
I must point out that many of us seniors are being hit by a far more routine and brazen scam than any Bitcoin scheme— one that arrives like clockwork every quarter in our mailboxes.
The suspect uses official-looking white envelopes boldly printed with “Office of the Tax Collector, City of Quincy.” It’s a recurring fleecing operation that preys on the elderly with disturbing regularity. One would think this warrants more urgent attention than the performative Department Head budget theater we witnessed at the last meeting.
I commend the Council for making some cuts, but let’s be honest: what we really need are serious, sustained reductions and genuine oversight. The smoke being blown from that podium by certain department heads was thick enough to rival the Boston Fire Training Center on Moon Island.
I half-expected the Emergency Management Agency to be activated for a different kind of disaster — the towering piles of bullshit shoveled with such enthusiasm by the department heads at City Council Finance committee meetings.
Can I make a motion? I motion to defund the electricity to the microphone where DiBona sits at the Council Table.
Thank you for your attention to this matter!
I once asked Bill Phelan why he did not get rid of the whole Sheets tribe when he took office. He said they all had families and he could not do that to them. Yet, they showed him their thanks by working behind his back for months while Tommy took a half year off of work, to run for Mayor.
I am told Flynn and a few others supported Tommy financially during his campaign. As such, he owes people — owes them big time.
Also, he is an insane micro manager who’s ego barely fits in all of City Hall. He hand picks every position even down to custodians and cafeteria help.
Now his legacy is in jeopardy and they are fighting for their lives. Keep it up Council. It’s fun to watch Team Koch go nuts. Walker especially. He loves touching his new hair and hides his face, while trying to read over his neighbor’s shoulder. He right hand never stops preening his head. Enjoy watching, better than any comedy on late night TV.
Quin,
You had me at insane.