Finance Committee — 02/02/2022 Page 10
Also | think we should address eventually the policy on COVID sick leave. | did get some financial numbers that | couldn’t
fully understand that showed about $133,000 went into paying for employees that got ill and didn’t have to use their sick
time because they were vaccinated. As you know, | think I’ve expressed that | think that policy was a mistake and we
should follow up on that and determine what impact that had on vaccination and what the overall costs are going to be
because $133K for just over really a month of sick time | think is pretty enormous.
I'd like to ask that Mr. Mayor you tighten the reins on City Hall and you try to get employees particularly managers back to
work in the building. | think this COVID remote work has been going on too long and there is a lot of management that
isn’t here for like a year. Sue Lovering is rarely in. Lisa Fauteux is rarely in. The finance office is rarely in. Usually if you
ask somebody if they're in, they'll tell you they don’t even know. They don’t know if they’re in or out. They don’t know if
they’re working at home or they’re here. Go run around City Hall and see if you can find them. | mean to me it’s like the
love boat in here and | think we’ve got to tighten it up a lot. | think citizens deserve to have their employees working in the
building and | think it’s time to get back to that and not allowing very long work from home programs particularly for upper
management.
Also I’m concerned about the barrier issue. | think that that’s been pushed away from the public view and eye that it was
supposed to be set up. We had this crisis mode in December. I’ve been given some insight information that it’s being
developed and worked on internally but nobody on the outside knows anything about it. | got very incomplete barrier data
in my Right to Know request. It looks like all of the surveys that were talked about for months really nobody actually saw
them or knew what they looked like. It was just random information that was put out there. | still think there’s a lot of
frustration on that.
Finally...
Alderman Comeau
30 seconds
Laurie Ortolano
...| received an e-mail today from the Clerk’s office that | think is very disturbing and you know Mr. Mayor | responded with
an e-mail to a nonprofit organization over a very hostile response | had received from an Executive Director and the
Executive Director is no longer working in that position. That was a month ago and | feel the e-mail | got today is equally
as horrendous. It would be up to you to respond and | know that you’re not going to do that. This is ridiculous was what
written here and beyond out of line. Thank you.
Mayor Donchess
Well it is not accurate that these people aren't working or not in City Hall. Sue Lovering is here all the time. Lisa Fauteux
does not work in City Hall. She works at Public Works.
Laurie Ortolano
She’s never here.
Mayor Donchess
She’s rarely in City Hall but she’s at Public Works and | forget who else you mentioned. John Griffin — he was ill for a little
while but he’s always here.
Laurie Ortolano
You're very wrong on that. You don’t know where your people are.
Mayor Donchess
And you do?
Laurie Ortolano
Ido. | come and | ask. Thank you.
