Memos at Random


	A potpourri of miscellaneous news SCRIBBLED IN A REPORTER'S NOTEBOOK

Councilman Jea Street said he plans to seek an increase in the county's proposed $214.5 million budget to provide money to hire more police officers and paramedics.

He was not specific about by how much he'd like to see the proposed authorized strengths -- about 360 and 100, respectively -- grow, but questioned "how we can deal with all the new development and redevelopment with the same number of people." He received immediate support from some of his colleagues. "We have an obligation to the citizens of the county not only to fill [vacant] positions in a timely manner but to increase the [authorized] number," said William Bell. Karen Venezky asked Street to work out details in collaboration with the executive administration.

The discussion came on Apr. 11 at the first in a series of Council hearings on County Executive Christopher Coons's operating and capital budget requests. The actual budget ordinances are scheduled to be introduced at Council's Apr. 12 session. Police chief David McAlister said that several things are being done to increase the number of officers on the street. Between now and October, for instance, every one in an administrative position will spend two weeks on patrol duty. He promised "fully staffed walking patrols in high crime areas" and a continued presence of mounted police in communities.

Longer range, McAlister said, a strategic plan has been commissioned to relate police strength with population and determine whether it meets national standards.

FIRING: Joseph Freebery said he was "shocked" by his firing and intends to sue county government. He said he was summoned to the office of County Executive Christopher Coons late in the afternoon on Apr. 6 and told he had an immediate choice -- retire, resign or be terminated. "I had no idea it was coming," he said. Freebery, who was general manager of the Department of Special Services, had 22½ years of service as a county employee and had worked under seven county executives. "All my [job performance] evaluations were either 'good' or 'outstanding'." he told Delaforum.

Now 58, he said he intended to continue working for the county until he reached the traditional retirement age of 65. A resignation, he added, would ostensibly indicate that his departure was voluntary. He said he has retained a lawyer and intends to challenge his ouster as a violation of the merit system and on the grounds that the law enacted by the General Assembly to remove civil service protection from managers is unconstitutional. "They told me they were unhappy with my performance, [but] there was never any [prior] discussion about that. ... It was all political," he said. (CLICK HERE to read previous Delaforum article.)

DETAILS PROVIDED: Selection of Robert Wasserman to be county auditor was unanimous, according to Council president Paul Clark. Penrose Hollins abstained from the 10-to-zero vote by Council's personnel committee. Wasserman's starting salary will be $86,957. The vote to hire James Boyle as policy director was seven-to-three. John Cartier, Hollins and Timothy Sheldon voted for the other candidate and Jea Street abstained. Boyle will be paid $64,888. Applicants for the job were identified only as 'Candidate A' and 'Candidate B'. William Tansey and Karen Venezky did not attend the meeting on Apr. 4. (CLICK HERE to read previous Delaforum article.)

Joseph Freebery was "relieved of his duties" as general manager of the county Department of Special Services.

Chief administrative officer David Singleton confirmed that the firing happened on Apr. 6, but no public announcement was made before Delaforum inquired. The brother of former chief administrative officer Sherry Freebery apparently was the first member of the previous county administration's top management to lose his or her job involuntarily. Although the General Assembly took away general managers' civil service protection, Singleton said County Executive Christopher Coons "chose to work with Mr. Freebery for several months, but ultimately decided that a change in leadership was needed."

Richard Przywara, Coons's chief of staff, was appointed to head the department in an acting capacity until a new general manager is hired. Although the General Assembly enacted legislation restoring the executive's power to appoint and fire top managers at will soon after Coons took office in January, Singleton said the vacancy will be advertised and "we will welcome applications from interested candidates." Special services is the county's public works agency. Joseph Freebery could not be reached for comment as this article was being prepared.

County Council president Paul Clark disclosed in a publicity 'release' that Robert Wasserman has been hired as county auditor.

As Delaforum previously reported, the hiring of a replacement for Robert Hicks, whom County Council had fired for undisclosed reasons, was done anonymously after the selection was made by Council's personnel committee behind closed doors. Hicks declined comment. Also hired, using the same procedure, was James Boyle to be Council's policy director. The moves evidently complete staffing of the expanded Council, which took office in November. The 'release' did not disclose either the salaries of those hired nor the vote on their selection. All Council committees include all 13 members of Council.

According to the 'release', issued by Allison Levine, public information officer in the County Executive Christopher Coons's office, Wasserbach, who until now was Wilmington city auditor, has had 20 years of experience as an internal auditor. Before taking the city government position after running unsuccessfully for election as state auditor he worked for Wilmington Trust bank. Boyle has been housing finance administrator for the Delaware State Housing Authority. He previously worked for Delaware Trust and for the county. (CLICK HERE to read previous Delafourm article.)

County Executive Christopher Coons directed county officials and employees to cooperate withthe U.S. attorney during the continuing investigation of the previous administration.

In a memorandum circulated among county offices, Coons said Colm Connolly had requested cooperation during the continuing investigation and prosecution of former Executive Thomas Gordon and administrative officer Sherry Freebery, who are under federal indictment on several corruption charges. They are expected to be brought to trial next autumn. "In response to that request and in the interests of justice, I ask that New Castle County employees fulfill their civic duty and cooperate fully if contacted by the Department of Justice," Coons wrote in the memo.

Coons said his administration has reversed the policy of the former one and will not require employees to notify their supervisors or the county law department before submitting to an interview by the U.S. attorney's staff or Federal Bureau of Investigation agents "during the course of this particular investigation." However, he said, they may consult with a department attorney or seek information from the department and-or the executive office whenever they desire. "Any retaliation against any employee will not be tolerated," he wrote.

EMERGENCY PLAN: A 'working group' has been convened to update a comprehensive plan to assure continuity in county government in the event of a major disaster, Joseph Leonetti, coordinator of emergency management, told County Council's public safety committee. He said such a plan was drafted after the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon building in 2001, but " it went by the wayside." Only "tweaking it a little bit" is required to revive it and put it into force to comply with a directive from the new county administration, he said.

Given the present climate relative to 'homeland' security, it is unthinkable for "a county our size ... with the number of people we have not to have an emergency operations center" properly equipped and ready to be put into immediate use, Leonetti told the committee on Apr. 5. Key county officials would gather at police headquarters in Minquadale, but lack of space there would hamper their functioning effectively, he said. However, he added, that situation "will be addressed" when the new headquarters facility is built.

NEW DIRECTOR APPOINTED: "Anybody with his level of expertise is welcome on the team," county police chief David McAlister said after chief administrative officer David Singleton announced at a meeting of Council's public safety committee that County Executive Christopher Coons had appointed former Wilmington police chief Guy Sapp to be director of public safety. McAlister, who formerly was in charge of all the county's public safety functions, will now report to Sapp. In addition to police, the functions include the paramedic service and 9-1-1 communications.

Sapp retired as Wilmington chief in 1993 after serving on that force for 22 years. Since 2000 he has been on the staff of Family Court. The county directorship was established by County Council while Coons was its president, but not filled by former County Executive Thomas Gordon. Also announced on Apr. 5 was Coons's nomination of Yvonne Gordon, a manager with M.B.N.A. America Bank, to be chief procurement officer. Her appointment requires confirmation by Council; Sapp's does not. Singleton said their salaries have not yet been determined.

PERK RELINQUISHED: County Executive Christopher Coons has given up his reserved curbside parking spot in front of the Redding Building. It has been converted into a metered handicapped-parking space. Coons, who lives in Wilmington, alternates between his office in the downtown building, which county government shares with city government, and the county building in New Castle Corporate Commons, spending a greater portion of his time at the suburban site. Wilmington Mayor James Baker, whose only office is downtown, still has his parking spot.

HUSH HUSH: Councilman Timothy Sheldon confirmed that Council's personnel committee hired an auditor and a policy director, but, following recent practice, would not say who they are. "Let them tell their [present] bosses first," he said. On Apr.4, the committee during a closed executive interviewed applicants who literally came in through the back door. They were discretely escorted to an alternate entrance to Council's conference room instead of passing through the public lobby. Meanwhile, controversially fired former auditor Robert Hicks reportedly has landed a job in the private sector. (CLICK HERE to read previous Delaforum article.)

GAS PLANT REJECTED: After a marathon public hearing, the Coastal Zone Industrial Control Board voted unanimously to uphold natural resources secretary John Hughes's ruling that the pier at the natural gas plant which B.P. America wants to build in Logan Township, N.J., would violate Delaware's Coastal Zone Act. The decision is the latest in a series of regulatory steps required before the facility to convert natural gas transported by tankers in liquid form back into gas for sale to utility companies which would sent it by pipelines to customers throughout the middle Atlantic region can be built.

Company officials argued that Hughes erred in ruling that the pier extending into the Delaware River and thereby coming into the state's jurisdiction would be a new bulk transfer facility banned by the environmental law and not an adjunct to an otherwise legal manufacturing operation. A spokesman said later that a court appeal is among "further options for moving the project forward." Lauren Segal, B.P.'s project director, testified that importing gas is necessary to satisfy rapidly rising demand in this country for an environmentally preferable fuel and that the site is the best in the region for doing so. (CLICK HERE to read previous Delaforum article.)

NO HABLAMOS MUCHO: Delaware is the nation's fourth least linguistically diverse state, according tothe U.S. English Foundation, a Washington-based organization promoting use of a common language -- English -- in America. Only in Vermont, Wyoming and South Dakota is another tongue the primary means of communication in a smaller proportion of households. In a just-published report, the foundation said English is the primary language of 84.6% of Delawareans. That compares to 56.1% in California, the most diverse state. In both cases, Spanish is the runner-up at 4.4% and 23.9%, respectively.

Working from U.S. Census data, the foundation discovered that Delawaeans listed 66 of the 322 languages spoken in this country as primary. Of those, 10 were put down as such by more than 1,000 people. Following Spanish were French, German, Chinese, Italian, Polish, Korean, Tagalog and Creole in that order. Delaware ranked highest of any state in the number of Lettish speakers as a percentage of population, second in Estonian and Asian Indian, and third in Telugu. Nationally, Spanish is by far the most common first language after English. Fastest rising in that regard are Chinese and Arabic.