Left In Lowell

Arrogance and Stupidity! Enough!

27 Responses to “Arrogance and Stupidity! Enough!”

1. Brian Flaherty Says:
   April 28th, 2010 at 8:17 am

   Just a tiny correction - Mercier isn’t the SC chair - he was for many years but not currently

2. RUDY Says:
   April 28th, 2010 at 8:58 am

   I Hope mr. mercier is at dracut town hall
   when it opens with his resignation in hand.
   then he can go to the SAC CLUB–and ***.

   Edited by mp.

3. Mimi Says:
   April 28th, 2010 at 9:20 am

   Thanks Brian. Made the correction.

   Rudy: I had to edit the personal comment.

4. jdayne Says:
   April 28th, 2010 at 12:33 pm

   Welcome home, Mimi!

   City Manager Lynch is on track setting the clear standard of a “culture of integrity”. Leadership matters, and clarity of communication of values matters. Groups (a city, organization, family, business . . . ) can become complacent and shared standards (such as a culture of integrity) can become more and more abstract. Without overt reinforcement of standards, it is a human tendency to take advantage. This is nationally evident in our tax system of voluntary compliance. Many folks who think of themselves as neither dishonest nor unethical can, when they see or believe that they see co-citizens not complying (chiseling the system at the margin or engaging in out and out cheating), themselves start to game the system and behave in a manner that they never would if a “culture of compliance” was evident, reinforced and truly felt to be shared.

   “Everybody does it” may not, literally, be true and, in fact, few may “do” whatever it is. But once the message of integrity or compliance is assumed but not clearly reinforced by the leaders, standards of behavior slip.

   The best that we citizens of Lowell can do as misbehavior is revealed is to avoid taking that familiar position of a wink and shrug and “but that’s Lowell” and, instead, affirm our standard which is the expectation that we have an elected and employed City Government that acts with integrity, with respect for the public and in the best interest of the community, not self.

   And a little bit of enforcement, of shedding light in the dark corners and of consequences for chiselers helps reinforce the message. A lot.

5. Maggie Says:
   April 28th, 2010 at 1:25 pm

   There are actually 2 people charged. Guess the other one doesn’t have any “famous” relatives. You’d think people would get the message by now.

6. Lynne Says:
   April 28th, 2010 at 2:03 pm

   Sigh…what’s next? Finding out a city employee is downloading porn for 8 hours straight?

   Really, you’d think the message would have been gotten. I really think it’s time to look at all the legacy department heads/supervisors and make sure they “get” the new culture.

   This one was really pretty arrogant. Does Mercier have to forfeit his pension at all if found to have been negligent (which appears to be pretty inevitable)?

   I want my tax dollars back!

7. doc sevrison Says:
   April 28th, 2010 at 2:18 pm

   The second employee has evidence that implicates some supervisors.I hope cm lynch does the right thing here and gets rid of mercier with no deal.The police has the evidence of what was going on there.

8. Lynne Says:
   April 28th, 2010 at 3:57 pm

   If that is true, I’m certain we haven’t heard the last of this. Should be interesting.

   Guess a zebra can’t change its stripes…if a supervisor IS implicated in this, does THAT finally send a message? Or are we right back here with another “legacy” attitude in another six months?

9. doc severison Says:
   April 28th, 2010 at 9:04 pm

   Lynne, this is just the tip of the iceberg.There are pictures of people taking city materials and doing private jobs.I just want to see how they handle the 2nd employee.He has nothing to do with what mercier did.

10. Lynne Says:
    April 29th, 2010 at 8:56 am

    And to be clear, there’s plenty of nepotism and lazy employees using work materials to do personal stuff all over the private sector. But it’s galling when it’s taxpayer money and politics is involved.

    I hope whatever proof they can lay their hands on, they throw the book at these people. It’s shameful.

11. Joe Says:
    April 29th, 2010 at 12:26 pm

    Lynne, the city water building is named after a convicted felon who got arrested while working for the city, did time in jail, got paid vacation time from the city while in jail, and became the head of the department. This is a fact.

12. joe from Lowell Says:
    April 29th, 2010 at 1:28 pm

    I can’t get too worked up about somebody taking a sick day because he’s got spring fever, but gassing up the boat is really bad. Beyond the value of the gas, it indicates a culture where this sort of thing is accepted.

13. Mary Says:
    April 29th, 2010 at 3:24 pm

    Mr. Mercier may not have been employed long enough to receive a pension. He had to have at least 10 years in to be vested. He could add his service at another municipal-county-or state job if he held one previously. I think he may have been employed by the Billerica House of Correction. If he is found to have committed some type of fraud related to his job he can be denied his pension. That is what was done to Register of Probate Buonomo. But I believe he’s appealing that.

14. Maggie Says:
    April 29th, 2010 at 7:13 pm

    Lynne - heard today that city employees are mowing the grass at some condo complex over by the spinners per some agreement with the city in order to get the project built. An ideas on that one or is the guy pulling my leg. ( he is a retired city employee. )

15. nextyearishere Says:
    April 29th, 2010 at 8:20 pm

    Mowing the grass to help get the project built??

    You ought to check out silly rumors before posting them.

16. inside Says:
    April 29th, 2010 at 9:34 pm

    Um, #14. The grass mowing at the park at Lawrence Mills is because the park was built by the state on state owned land and transferred and/or maintained by the city. That’s why the city is mowing there. The two streets that go through the site are also city streets. They’re not mowing the condo complex’s grass but a state/city owned park. You should really do your research before you post dumb stuff like this.

17. Observant One Says:
    April 29th, 2010 at 10:11 pm

    If she didn’t post “dumb stuff like this” you wouldn’t have been motivated to provide us with the facts. And, in the end, that is all that we seek.

18. Kim Says:
    April 30th, 2010 at 12:00 am

    Good thing they are mowing the grass somewhere. Where I live they drive by the park and take a peek from in their truck and never touch it. My husband cleans it because he is annoyed that they just “look” at the trash. They then park their truck at the end of the street, get out, talk for quite a while, smoke some ciggerettes (and leave them there!), and leave when they are “done” working. They had some hard workers a few years ago that kept it beautiful. (one young man would show up and mow and clean everything up) but he was probably one of the ones that got laid off. They will not learn until the message comes from their manager that this culture is not acceptable.

19. Anonymous Says:
    April 30th, 2010 at 6:24 am

    Maggie if you are witnessing this why arent you reporting it to the City Managers Office? Complaining about it on LiL will not get the situation corrected but maybe a call to the CM or an email (with pictures attached!) might. Same for all the rest of the complainers on here. Its an extension of the “broken window theory.” If small things are allowed to become acceptable (parking and smoking and littering) then bigger things are sure to follow (stealing gas for ones car and boat).

20. Lynne Says:
    April 30th, 2010 at 10:38 am

    Anonymous, please pick a nickname to post with. It’s too hard to determine who is speaking and to garner a comment history if you do not fill in the name field.

21. Lynne Says:
    April 30th, 2010 at 10:39 am

    And by “who is speaking” I mean, if three people start posting with the default nickname, we can’t distinguish between them. Not that we will figure out who you are and out you.

    Thanks.

22. Paul@01852 Says:
    April 30th, 2010 at 11:24 am

    My apologies! That was me who posted as “anonymous”!

23. Kim Says:
    April 30th, 2010 at 12:31 pm

    I did post on E-gov too

24. Maggie Says:
    April 30th, 2010 at 3:44 pm

    On the good side folks. I called Wednesday noon about a nasty pothole we hit on Steadman Street that morning. It broke our hubcap, bent the rim and the tire barely made it home. I called a lovely lady at the DPW who made another call and the pothole was fixed by the next morning. # 19 needs to go back and read my post . I asked if what the guy told me was true as I don’t ever go over that way. We got an explanation - and I am satisfied.

25. Kim Says:
    May 1st, 2010 at 10:32 pm

    Whatever happened with the illegal sewer hookup by Kazanjian on Middlesex St? Did this just get brushed to the wayside after the election?

26. K-R-S Says:
    May 1st, 2010 at 11:31 pm

    OMG Kim, love how you tied in the title to this post to your comment! :0)

27. JC Says:
    May 3rd, 2010 at 10:20 am

    While this incident may end up costing Mr. Mercier his city job, his school committee position, bring shame on himself, and embarrassment and pain for his family…any concerned taxpayer also wants to know what Ron can tell us about other incidents of theft, malfeasance etc. concerning his fellow workers, supervisors, and department heads. Are we to believe that this is an isolated, aberrant, singular event?

    Before Mr. Mercier is allowed to make restitution, submit resignations, and simply “go in peace,” he needs to come clean with whatever he knows relative to corruption in city departments. Until that occurs, the possibility of criminal prosecution should not be taken off the table.

    The public has the right to expect fair and honest service from our municipal employees, and the city has the obligation to ensure, to insist, to demand that employees behave ethically and meet the minimum standards of public employment. Certainly, one of those minimum standards is…DO NOT STEAL FROM YOUR EMPLOYER! In this sad case that employer is a municipal department, a city, a government, the public, and this fact makes all the difference! The books on this case should not be closed until every effort has been made to determine the extent of corrupt practices. We must insist that responsible city officials and relevant law enforcement organizations pursue every available logical lead to their conclusion.

    “Actions have consequences,” isn’t it time to fully apply that old chestnut to this case, and any future case of this type?

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