Board of Aldermen 05-28-2019 Page 16
| don’t Know the content of what he was referring to, but it was a month-long investigation and you know
| don’t want to debate what it was, | want the report to speak to itself. All | have done with this report is
give 50 copies out to business leaders and members of the community and shared it through e-mail,
without a cover letter. There is nothing to discuss on it. Read it for what it is and that’s it. Let it stand
on its own.
Regarding your issue Ms. Wilshire on personnel, | received an e-mail from Ben Clemons that was very
pointed that what | provided was very incomplete for the accusations | made. Please get the expense
reports, please get the logs, please bring forward the data, show us that what you are talking about is
real. Ok? | didn’t know what to make of that. | mean is that something | am supposed to prove?
Because that’s what | brought tonight; | brought the data that Ben Clemons said “show us, substantiate
what you are doing”. And | think if an Alderman is telling me | need to substantiate, | came here to
substantiate. So | am not certain if you are telling me | can’t, | shouldn’t or | am out of line?
President Wilshire
What | am telling you Ms. Ortolano is this Board does not deal with personnel matters for City
employees.
Ms. Ortolano Well I’m not asking you to deal with it and | am not asking you to reprimand, but | am
asking you to listen.
President Wilshire
We have been listening week after week and we just keep hearing the same thing from you about this
employee. We don’t deal with employee issues in the City, we are not the employer board.
Ms. Ortolano | don’t think you’ve dealt with this week after week with me, the report came out 2 weeks
ago. Really, | didn’t say much about this particular employee. And | addressed any concerns | had with
your administration and Ms. Kleiner. | didn’t come here specifically, the only time | addressed this
individual was on the anti-nepotism policy. Right? | challenge you to find the minutes where I’ve been
in here talking endlessly about this individual. | don’t believe | have.
Ben, you raised the issue regarding Expense Reports. And the interesting issue on Expense Reports is
back in October, | went to Finance and | pulled Expense Reports from 2014 up on Assessors. This is
Assessor became a Commercial Assessor 3 years ago so he took on a different role. So the assessor
he replaced, Commercial Assessor, | pulled his Expense Reports, and looked as his travel mileage
which Commercial Assessors typically travel very low mileage relative to residential because permits,
and properties ...
Alderman Dowd
Can | have a ruling from the Corporation Counsel as to whether this is something the purview over or
should it go to the HR Department and City Hall.
Attorney Bolton
This is General Public Comment, you’ve opened it up to speak on any topic.
Ms. Ortolano | share all this information today, | had an hour long meeting with the Union Leader and an
hour long meeting with the Telegraph. They were both interested in writing reports. And issuing a story
on these issues. So! am sharing it with you because | shared it externally as well. And because | was
asked by an Alderman about this. And | do think it’s relevant and you’d want to hear. | want you to know
| did do my homework. | went and gathered these reports that were commercial assessors. And when |
looked at the Commercial Assessor who left, the mileage travel is very low, 20, 40, 50 miles a month.
