In reliance upon Steve Noble's assurances, the Junior League incurred substantial expenses as part of the effort to rejuvenate the playground at Forsyth Park. Unfortunately, as you will note when you read the attached documents, Steve Noble failed to follow proper regulations for this grant, failed to administer the grant, and frankly failed to do his job. (You may have to enlarge the pictures to read them properly)
The bills incurred by the Junior League are now in collections. Yet, Steve Noble is taking credit on social media for the grant. Fortunately, as is also noted in the attached documents, Mayor Gallo was able to speak with the vendors and get them to hold off any collection efforts. He has assured the Junior League that they will be reimbursed as promised by the city.
However, it remains to be seen if this can be done using the grants. Due to the failure of Steve Noble to properly administer the grants, it is possible that that city taxpayers have to pick up the tab.
This is not the only instance of dereliction of duty. The attached documents show yet more.
The city received correspondence from Maria Laza complaining that the Community Garden has been without water for 2 years. Apparently, Steve Noble was supposed to follow up with Judy Hansen of the Water Department, but failed to do so.
There is also a problem with the grant request to extend the Beach Pavilion. Also, due to a failure of Steve Noble to contact Mr. Schupp, the head of DPW, the project is unnecessarily delayed and the city may be on the hook financially once again.
Mayor Gallo, as noted on the final document, has suspended Steve Noble's administration of grants and ordered all documents turned over to Corporation Counsel, the City Purchasing Agent, and the City Comptroller. I hope the city is not on the hook for more money due to ineptness.
These documents show gross incompetence with city taxpayers likely being the victims. I write this article with a somewhat heavy heart, I have known Steve Noble's uncle and aunt for many years. They have been friends with my mother and late father for over 30 years. I consider both of them to be good, honest people. I take no pleasure in writing this article about their nephew knowing the effect it will have upon them.
However, when someone runs for Mayor, particularly as a current city official, their competence and work performance is an issue for public scrutiny, especially if said failure to do the job correctly is costing or could cost the taxpayers money, Thus, notwithstanding my respect for Steve's aunt and uncle, I must report this gross incompetence.
If I had won the election for Mayor and was currently sitting in the Mayor's chair, I would seriously consider whether or not to terminate Mr. Noble from his job. The documentary evidence suggests that he is spending his time running for Mayor instead of doing his job.
11 comments:
The other question here is why you have an exclusive on something that the Freeman and the Kingston Times had last week and chose to ignore. The letter was sent as a communication to the common council and all communications go to the media. They chose to ignore it because it does not fit into their agenda which is to use the Gallo hatred to sell newspapers. They time the dissemination of news to maximize controversy. Watch, they will release the story in conjunction with the convention to make it appear that this is about Shayne lashing out at his opponent rather than a disturbing and glaring example of why Steve Noble is way over his head.
Why isn't this front page in the Freeman, it would be if Gallo was the one being negligent
I accidentally deleted a long and very good post. My apologies. Please resubmit.
I most certainly agree with 12:29 posting. we all know that the Freeman (Tony Adamis) is tilted towards the left and anything anti gallo. What ever happened to "Just the Facts"? Now we have to have an opinion rendered by the reporter? Just report the news . Definitely see why this story is being withheld until after democratic convention. Not good for Steve Noble and his "gentlemanly" campaign.
I have no information on whether the Freeman is investigating. I do know that 2 other newspapers are taking a look.
I agree with Mr.Cahill's statement of this being gross incompetence. We had a wonderful organization who organized the building of Kinderland and who expected in turn for grant money to offset the costs .While this is a great project for citizens and visitors I have to voice concern on how this project will be made whole with taxpayer money if the grant at this late date cannot be resurrected. We have some major repairs in this city that need to be done (sinkhole and traffic signalization, etc)and to pass this cost on to taxpayers can be burdensome. Even a slight increase in taxes can push some homeowners out of their houses. How can this candidate even think of running for Mayor when he cannot manage to administer a grant and dispense the funds in a timely manner. Where was his focus? In the private sector he would have been fired! Shown the door immediately. why do we keep these slackers on city hall payroll? I have to really question Steve Noble's credentials for managing a multi million dollar budget for the city when he could not complete and follow up with grants that are still waiting for further attention. I enlarged the screen for the outstanding grants and they add up to quite a hefty amount. There are few" do-overs" when you are running a city. A mayor doesn't really have the luxury of only focusing on one issue at a time. A lot of" irons in the fire" need to be addressed on a regular basis. I just don't see it in the candidate Steve Noble.
The unfortunate reality is the local reporting of a fundraising house party (held in the Town of Ulster) got front page coverage and was deemed "news worthy" while this mayoral want-a-be can't perform his duties as an "experienced grant writer" which, by the way, he got a hefty promotion and grade change for doesn't get consideration. The public should know the kid is a fraud and his campaign has been nothing more than lies. What is even more disgraceful is the fact that Uncle Jim blamed the Mayor's late brother, T.R. for Steve's incompetence. How low do you go Jim to try to protect family members? When does it all stop? I can't wait to see the back of all of them...
I accidentally deleted a long and very good post. My apologies. Please resubmit.
I see the Freeman has picked up a portion of this story.
UNBELIEVABLE! Thank you for reporting on this........................good grief.
Now, when will anyone pay attention to the fact that this city will not pay any attention to an ongoing safety hazard with the placement of a speed bump at Penn Court and Flatbush Avenue, that was reported to the city clerk's office in late September, 2014 and violates basic standards of professional road engineers?
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