GAZETTE LETTER: HOW THE MAYOR BECAME "FULL TIME", IN HIS OWN WORDS....

My letter on this issue is in the 5/15/14 edition of THE GAZETTE; see below. 

To the editor:

Would you like to know how Mr. Wiegman became a “full-time” mayor eligible for over twenty thousand in tax-payer funded dental and medical benefits?  Here’s how:

In response to a freedom of information request, the village produced a copy of the record made by the mayor that allegedly documents his "full time" hours working for the village.  

Residents should keep in mind that the Mayor has already admitted that his time records were reconstructed based on his personal review of his own calendar several months AFTER the time he reported, and were not based on any kind of contemporaneous time record of actual time spent on village matters on a daily or even weekly basis. 

They were also made at a time when the Mayor knew that he would not qualify for health and dental benefits unless he could show that he worked at least 31.5 hours per week. The “time records” report that for each week between January and September 2013, he spent 7.5 hours reviewing and responding to email correspondence and 2 hours on telephone calls to and from residents and village staff.  No attempt was made to itemize any of the hours he claims to have spent on village business. The mayor also counts his “travel time”.  Indeed he makes this astonishing statement: 

"Travel time is principally driving to and from meetings WITHIN the village (50 hours within this period), to and from meetings outside the village within the county, including EIC, HHRT, WMOA, NWEAC, WMPF, HVGCofC, on behalf of the village (48 hours), and out of the county e.g. NYCOM (18 hours).”

Now ask yourself this: How many other village "employees" are able to self-report their time in this manner? And even if you believe these numbers, how many employees anywhere get to count their commuting time? In the real world, companies pay you once you walk through the door—not for the time it allegedly took you to arrive at the door.

All this, however, matters little to our new “full-time” mayor.  You can see his “time records” here: http://bit.ly/1jr3TIL 

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You may also have an interest in Brian Powers' letter SHAME ON YOU MAYOR WIEGMAN and additional links here http://everythingcroton.blogspot.com/2014/05/shame-on-you-mayor-wiegman-letter-from.html