As was printed in Cleary’s Notebook recently, the voter turnout in November was poor. The turnout in the city council meetings is also poor. After reviewing the minutes, it
appears that if anyone wishes to speak to the council, it has been two people at most. The response to the questions asked is usually “we’ll look into that.”
To keep the residents of Gloucester City informed as best as possible, Cleary’s Notebook has reviewed the minutes of the council meetings from January 2022 to December 2022.
Since monthly reports from the police and fire departments are unavailable to the citizens, the minutes were scanned to see what the two departments were telling city council.
January 20 caucus …No written reports submitted to the council by the fire, police, water, court, housing, or the public work departments
February 17 caucus
POLICE – No written report was submitted to the council by the police, water, court, or the public work departments
FIRE DEPARTMENT- Ambulance 127 Training Hours 59 Inspections 117
March 15 caucus
POLICE- No written report submitted to the council by the police, water, court, housing, or the public work departments
FIRE DEPT. -Ambulance 120 Training Hours 112 Inspections 92
April 21 caucus
POLICE – No written report submitted to the council by the police, water, court, housing, or the public work departments
FIRE DEPARTMENT- Ambulance 132 Training Hours 136 Inspections none
May 19 caucus
POLICE – Hiring a Class 3 Officer; no written report was submitted to the council by the police, water, court, housing, or the public work departments
FIRE DEPT. -Ambulance 128 Training Hours 258 Inspections 130
June 16 caucus
POLICE – Town Watch Start-Up, No written report was submitted to the council by police, water, court, housing, or the public work departments
FIRE DEPT. -Ambulance 127 Training Hours 63 Inspections 204
July 21 caucus
No written report was submitted to the council by the police, water, court, housing, or the public work departments
August 18 caucus
POLICE- Active shooter Training, No written report submitted to the council police, water, court, housing, or the public work departments
FIRE DEPT. Ambulance 116 Training Hours 187 Inspections none
September 15 caucus
No written report was submitted to the council by the police, fire department, water department, housing, court, or public works.
FIRE DEPT.-Ambulance 108 Training Hours 223 Inspections 157 Fire 2 – no injuries
No reports after September 2022
Years ago, City Department Heads would submit a monthly report to the mayor and council containing a detailed account of what their department did over the past month. For example, the information from the police would list the number of traffic tickets issued, the number of crimes investigated, and other pertinent facts. The fire department listed the number of calls answered, the number of mutual aide calls, ambulance calls, etc. The Housing Office listed the number of construction permits issued and the value of those projects. The municipal court would record the amount of money collected in fines. The information released kept the public informed about how their tax dollars were being spent.
We asked Municipal Clerk Vanessa Little when the department heads stopped releasing that information. She said those reports have never been issued as long as she has been in charge.
“I’m not aware of it being a requirement that each department must submit a report. I took office as City Clerk in 2019, and since then, each department head reports to Caucus monthly. It varies with some departments giving a report or speaking verbally.”
Why not make the department heads submit a monthly report in writing and publish that information on the City website? Residents have A Right to Know. After all, they are paying the bills to run this city.
A summary of the case against fireman Christopher Oliver was released by CNBNews last week. On one page of the document, a city official mentions how damaging the information about this incident will be to the Fire Department if the public ever gets wind of what has been occurring at Fire Headquarters. After reading that statement, one is left with the question, what else has our city officials hidden from you and me? Below is a copy of those department reports, published in the Gloucester City News and released monthly to the public regularly decades ago.
Read the news clipping. The answer to what else is being hidden from the public by the mayor and council is self-evident.
COLUMNIST NOTE: William E. Cleary Sr., Editor, contributed to this column.
