Mayor Susan Feiszli's Post-Primary Election Statement

I didn’t become involved in politics because I wanted to “give back to the community”. It was because I was frustrated by the lack of respect and felt intimidated by elected officials and city employees.

No apology or explanation was given nor did they feel like I was owed one. I ran for Alderman to be the voice for those in my Ward who couldn’t be heard.

During my term, I raised questions about how our government operated and was treated with disrespect by elected and appointed officials. I asked questions to employees who were told not to talk to me. Later I learned that they were in fear of losing their jobs if they spoke to me.

The Common Council was kept in the dark and nodded in agreement to answers of questions that didn’t make sense. The Comptrollers Report made that painfully aware to us last year by stating that we lacked oversight of governmental controls.

When I became Mayor, I learned why.

· Backdoor deals and handshakes ran our government. The wealthy had lower assessments while the rest of us made up for it by higher property taxes.

· The IDA/BDC worked with the Mayor and granted tax exempt status without Council approval.

· The Hospital worked with the Mayor and acquired properties like Monopoly, taking them off the tax rolls.

· The Hospital ignored illegal discharge from their groundwater into our Storm Sewer which ended up costing taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars to stop the flooding on West Main Street and avoid a violation from the EPA. The Mayor was aware but refused to recoup this expense from the Hospital and organized golf outings with them instead.

· Department Budgets were unrealistic and misleading to the Council and public. We were told that department budgets were ”bare bones” and had to decide between raising taxes or eliminating a crossing guard. Period.

During that time-

· Employees were abusing City vehicles (that included an elected official’s son) on City time.

· Employees were going to Syracuse to take care of farm work for an ailing administrator on City time.

· A former employee ran a pornographic site and sexually intimidated women co-workers.

· Favoritism was granted to certain Department Heads, excluding others breeding distrust and poor working relationships between departments

· Illegal “agreements” with employees outside of their union contracts were signed by former elected and/or appointed officials.

· Lifetime health insurance benefits with no co-pays for retired employees without Council approval driving costs up by millions of dollars.

· Total lack of oversight of vacations and sick time in some departments that led to extensive abuse.

· Yearly Independent Audits were never submitted to the Council which, if known, would have allowed them to correct the deficiencies.

· Health Insurance Cost for Employees continued to rise without looking at alternative, less expensive policies. Extensions were signed without Council approval.

· Labor negotiations were settled “in house”. This Council recently authorized an outside Labor Attorney to review these agreements. He told us he had never seen such generous and ridiculous agreements that cost taxpayers hundreds of thousands of unnecessary dollars.

· Lack of ANY policies or proceedures for car, computer, gas or cell phone use.

· Employees filled their personal vehicles with gas at the county garage, others took city vehicles home outside of the County, let alone the City.

· Cell phones were a “bonus” for those who didn’t need them and used for personal use.

· During the Comptrollers audit, computers were seized from illicit use.

· Student housing increased in R-1 neighborhoods by issuing illegal CZOs. Now these same landlords are crying that they are being treated “unfairly” trying to gain community sympathy while their assessments are half of other landlords not only with student housing but their personal business.

· Permits were issued on the backs of napkins and deals and contracts were signed with friends and businesses without Planning Commission, ZBA, or Council approval.

· Hard working employees were overlooked for promotion by those who “played” the game or were related to those in power.

My efforts these past two years to make government more accountable, consistent and responsible to the taxpayer has not been easy and cost me an election.

People told me they didn’t know how I kept it together during Council meetings. I knew that my opponent and former Corporation Council were meeting prior to Council meetings with the intentions of planned dysfunction and confusion which I believe was an intentional tactic to give the appearance of poor leadership.

My opponent who won in the Primary is not the same man I knew two years ago and has lost my respect. He has been “groomed” for many months by former elected and appointed officials to be the next Mayor and has taken advantage of people along the way, discarding them when no longer of use.

Emails and discussions have been provided to me that prove former Corporation Council, opponent and two other Councilmen operated behind the scenes to influence employees, other councilmen and chairs of commissions to not approve my appointments.

Even though he states that he wants to use the Comprehensive Plan as a guide for Zoning and Land-use, he repeatedly tried to stop my appointment of the woman who was hired by Thoma Development to write those very sections of the plan.

When running for re-election, my ads were negative. I was angry and worried because the person that you saw running against me was the person I used to know, not the person he had become.

My webpage http://susanforcortlandmayor.com/ shows what CAN be accomplished as an alderman.

If he had listed accomplishments, attended outside functions, workshops, meetings, or even taken care of issues in his own ward it would have been less offending.

If he hadn’t mislead the voters by self appointing himself as Chairman on two Committee that were never approved by Council it would not be so insulting.

If he had worked in a collaborative manner to move the City forward instead of fighting me every step of the way, I would back off gracefully.

His picture in the final ad with former Mayors explains everything and confirms what I’ve been saying.

Their campaigns were also financed by the same wealthy businessmen who I refused to give favors to.

Fighting City Hall is possible, especially if you are well known and have influence in the community, which include the Media and former Mayors who want business to go back as usual.

Mayor Susan Feiszli, Cortland