COMPTROLLER FIRES HER FIRST DEPUTY

Comptroller Maureen Walker

Mount Vernon Exposed has learned that Comptroller Maureen Walker has fired 1st Deputy Comptroller Thomas Rajala.  A reason has not been provided to Mount Vernon Exposed for Mr. Rajala's dismissal.

Mount Vernon Exposed is investigating this matter and will keep you updated.  

MOUNT VERNON CITY COUNCIL EXPECTED TO SERVE SUBPOENA ON COMPTROLLER FOR FAILING TO TURN OVER FINANCIAL RECORDS

Comptroller Maureen Walker

Sources have told Mount Vernon Exposed that a subpoena is expected to be served on Comptroller Maureen Walker within the next 24 hours.  The subpoena is to be signed by City Council President Yuhanna Edwards.  According to sources, the subpoena is seeking public documents that the Comptroller’s officer is refusing to hand over to the City Council so they can make decisions to adopt the annual estimate. 

Mount Vernon is still healing from a bitter Mayoral election that left the city divided. The candidates that ran for Mayor was; Mayor Ernie, Comptroller Maureen Walker, City Council President Yuhanna Edwards, and former Mayor Clinton Young.  The favorite to win the Democratic primary was Maureen Walker, but then former Mayor Ernie Davis narrowly defeated Walker by a little over 100 votes. 

Today the infighting continues in City Hall and the residents are victims of the ambitious, higher office seeking elected officials. Many in Mount Vernon view Maureen Walker as the “financial watchdog”, but critics of Walker view her as an obstructionist to progress in the City of Mount Vernon. Several taxpayers have slammed the Comptroller in recent weeks to Mount Vernon Exposed saying she has not stepped up for taxpayers and the citizens of Mount Vernon and virtually remained silent on matters of great public interest and even accused the veteran Comptroller of engaging in retaliatory politics to further her political agenda.

This is the second year in a row that the annual budget will be adopted after January 1^st.  Mount Vernon Exposed was in attendance at the City Council meeting last week when a third reading was done of an ordinance authorizing the City of Mount Vernon to override the state mandated 2% tax cap.  Two prior reading of the legislation seeking to override the tax cap failed to win approval.  Some legal experts say that after two attempts the City must stay within the 2% tax cap and cannot have any further votes or readings on the tax cap matter.  Other political insiders are saying the City Council is waiting until Marcus Griffith is sworn in to have another vote on passing a budget exceeding the state mandated 2% tax cap.

Councilman Thomas compared adopting a budget without thoroughly examining financial data in possession of the Comptroller, to purchasing a house without first obtaining a home inspection.  Does current technology allow the Comptroller’s office to comply with Councilman Thomas’ request?  It would be troubling to find out that the City of Mount Vernon does in fact posses the technology to share financial data in the requested medium and the Comptroller is purposely withholding information for political purposes.  Taxpayers cannot afford the petty games and infighting anymore. Taxes are souring, foreclosures are rising, and our infrastructure in crumbling right before our eyes. Low income, tax abated projects, which will destroy Mt Vernon’s tax base, will be built all around Mt Vernon.

Last week during the City Council meeting, Councilman Richard Thomas appeared frustrated with the budget process and informed the public of his many unsuccessful attempts to get basic, public information from the Comptroller’s office in Excel format.  Thomas stated that the data received by the City Council from the Comptroller’s office is on black and white paper and not in electronic format.  Many times data is denied to the Council Thomas said and the Comptroller deems this public information “proprietary”. 

In a statement to Mount Vernon Exposed Thomas said “The City of Mount Vernon’s financial books have been closed for far too long resulting in taxpayers paying among the highest taxes in the State of New York. The time has come to open the books to begin an honest dialogue about how to reduce the crushing tax burden and finally grow our local economy.”

To be continued…

Next issue…. Analog or Digital? Is lack of technology in the Comptroller’s office putting the City of Mount Vernon’s financial health at risk?

  

BREAKING NEWS: REORGANIZATION OF SCHOOL BUILDINGS AND GROUNDS DEPARTMENT

Sources have informed Mt Vernon Exposed, that The Mt Vernon School District is in the process of hiring a Buildings and Grounds Superintendent and assistant. It will be a monumental task to straighten out this horrendous department. We will wait to see who will be chosen for these positions. Hiring a management team is a step in the right direction. Hopefully these are qualified individuals, and not political appointments.

Stay tuned.......

VOTER FRAUD ALLEGED AT SENIOR ASSISTED LIVING FACILITY; TOP CITY OFFICIALS INVOLVED

CITY OF MOUNT VERNON HUMAN RESOURCES COMMISSIONER
JUDY WILLIAMS

THE GREAT LIE

Pass the budget for the children, was the rallying cry of Judith Johnson and her cronies during the 2013 revote of the budget. There is just one problem; the Mount Vernon City School district hasn’t been in the business of educating children since 1996. Millions of dollars were stolen from the district. Stopping the theft of public funds was not an option in bringing the budget down, so a campaign of fear was unleashed by the district, and preached from the pulpit from CEPA churches. “Children will be hurt” was heard all over the city. The same people who had been hurting children for 17 years, were saying,  “don’t hurt the children” to scare the public into approving the budget.

School Superintendent Judith Johnson, Assistant Superintendent of Business Timothy Costello, and School Trustee’s Len Sarver, Francis Wynn, and Elias Goodzeit knew the June 18, 2013 budget revote would be close. School officials resorted to a common voter fraud tactic.

The scene of the crime would be the Wartburg; an assisted living 34-acre assisted living facility located in Mount Vernon off of Lincoln Avenue near the Pelham border. Fabricating absentee ballots at The Wartburg is a tradition in Mount Vernon politics. This closed community is ripe for voter fraud, because the campus is purposely closed to opposition groups. Cheaters have full reign to steal elections. Sources have informed Mount Vernon Exposed, that Judy Williams, currently Commissioner of Human Resources at City Hall and a close   associate to the Mayor, and a Wartburg board member, helped arranged access to people who intended on stealing the election. Residents were coerced to vote yes for the budget, and absentee ballots were fabricated. Federal investigators need to look at the absentee ballots from all school elections for the past 20 years. 

As the votes were being counted at the Board of Education building on the night of the revote, Jeff Yonkers, UFT (United Federation Of Teachers) President, was worried about the outcome. Mount Vernon teachers are the most over paid Teachers in America. Jeff Yonkers wanted the budget vote passed, so he could continue the gravy train for his members. With almost 100% of the votes tallied, the “no” votes to defeat the budget were leading the “yes” votes to pass the budget, by a small margin.

Tim Costello then walked over to a very worried Jeff Yonkers and said “don’t worry, we have The Wartburg absentee ballots”. Mr. Costello knew what he was talking about because out of nowhere the budget was passed overnight, and the absentee ballots at The Wartburg made the difference. Machine votes, and absentee votes citywide were about 50% for, and 50% against the budget. The Wartburg’s absentee ballots were almost 100% “for” passing the budget. It is impossible for this to occur without election fraud and inside help at the Wartburg.

After the budget was passed in Judith Johnson’s favor, a special concert was then held for The Wartburg residents to thank them for their overwhelming help in getting the budget passed. One can come to the conclusion that Judith Johnson owned the Wartburg community dearly. It was also reported that school building workers who helped with the absentee ballot plot were promoted. Once the budget was passed, Judith Johnson went on a spending spree with taxpayer funds. Friends of church and City officials were hired at an alarming rate and as usual, the children were ignored.

Mount Vernon Teachers are one of the highest paid teachers in New York State, yet Mount Vernon Schools perform at the bottom of school districts in New York State. How is this possible? Most teachers employed by the Mount Vernon City School district do not live in the City of Mount Vernon, and therefore, take their money out of the city, leaving homeowners with the burden of paying for Mount Vernon’s awful school system. Where in America can the lowest performing workers, become the highest paid?

Is it too much to ask our teachers to perform better and take less?

With 75% of our middle school children performing below grade level, where is the accountability? Eighty percent of the school budget goes to teacher salaries, benefits, and pensions. Judith Johnson continues to hire and promote teachers outside of Mount Vernon even though qualified people live in Mount Vernon.  By hiring local Mount Vernon talent one would ensure that those hired to work in the community would have a vested interest in the children and taxpayers of Mount Vernon.

The median salary for Mount Vernon teachers is close to $100,000; not inclusive of benefit and pension costs.  Do Mount Vernon teachers understand what their contracts are doing to this city? The suffering is everywhere. Mount Vernon has the highest foreclosure rate in the State of New York. On a daily basis families are being tossed out into the street, because they cannot pay their property taxes. The elderly are constantly faced with the choice of eating, buying medicine, or simply paying their property taxes.

Before being hired into the Mount Vernon School System, all prospective employees should be required to witness the misery that many people in this city go through, each and every day. If the UFT and their members care about the city of Mount Vernon, they should have their members take an across the board 10% salary cut. Maybe charter schools are the answer. Mount Vernon is collapsing under the weight of school taxes.  When it does collapse, everyone loses. Corruption is destroying our schools and the teacher’s contract is bankrupting it.

Mount Vernon Exposed has been repeatedly denied information that was requested under the Freedom of Information Law (Foil). Judith Johnson and Mount Vernon City school district is breaking the law by not releasing this information. Is Ingerman Smith, the law firm hired by the Mount Vernon City School district advising the district to break the law?

Furthermore, is Ingerman Smith, aware of illegal activities occurring throughout the district?  Is it unlawful for a law firm to have knowledge of illegal activities in the school district and not report it? Finally, is attorney Gus Mountanos putting Ingerman Smith in jeopardy of major lawsuits and the loss of their law license?  To be continued………

MOUNT VERNON OFFICIALS TREAT OUR CHILDREN LIKE DOGS

CEPA CONTROLLED
HENRY MAY

CEPA CONTROLLED
DO-NOTHING-ASSISTANT DONNA JACKSON

MOUNT VERNON LEADERS TREAT CHILDREN LIKE DOGS

In 2002, an ex New York State police official, Stanley Glove was hired as a Drug prevention officer. The resolution was 02-102. Mount Vernon Exposed was informed that he was asked to monitor the out of control maintenance workers in the schools. After the termination of the buildings and grounds department, and the hiring of felons by City Hall and the churches, the workers in the schools were dangerous. Mr. Glover was asked to monitor the behavior of maintenance workers. Davis Middle School was where Mr. Glover chose to begin his investigation.

Mr. Glover documented employees who did not report to work. More troubling, workers were observed making daily 10am runs to the liquor store to buy alcohol to bring back to the school building to consume on school premises while children were tucked away in classes learning. Workers got intoxicated while in the same building as our children. These employees were hired and protected by our Black Ministers, and City Hall officials, so the report was buried, and Mr. Glover was not allowed to continue his investigation in the other schools. No disciplinary actions was taken. School Superintendent Judith Johnson wonders why Davis children are out of control. She needs to look no further than the people who work around them.

There has not been supervision of building workers since 2002, when CEPA eliminated the buildings and grounds management. Rogue groups of unsupervised workers are roaming our schools. Some do not bother to show up to work at all, yet are paid and sucking taxpayers dry.  Most of the dangerous workers hired in the past, are still employed by the Mount Vernon City School district.

Cecil H. Parker school is filthy. When the cleaning staff decides to come to work, they have drinking parties. Bottles of beer and alcohol are constantly found inside Parker School. Parker’s staff does not clean the school. Furthermore, the staff doesn’t clean up the beer bottles and alcohol they consume. They leave them around for children to see.  Crews from other schools are brought in to clean Parker School. This is an example of the lack of oversight of workers in our schools.

Another example of the fox watching the hen house is an incident that was brought to light several years ago at Mount Vernon High School.  A maintenance worker had pit bulls running through the halls at night and on weekends. To further add insult to injury, the high school was used to breed dogs. Mount Vernon Exposed was informed that there were two dogfights held at the high school. These incidents were swept under the rug and not reported to authorities because the aunt of the accused was a parishioner at one of CEPA churches. 

Henry May from Mount Vernon is an educator who calls himself a community activist. Mr. May has a longstanding relationship with CEPA, and The UBC, (Black Churches) the two organizations most responsible for destroying Mount Vernon’s School District. Henry May is another member on the Superintendent’s search committee.  Many consider Mr. May an empty suit that does the bidding of the corrupt black pastors and City officials. 

Henry May’s role with The Mount Vernon School district, while scores plummeted, taxes tripled, and an entire generation of children were destroyed, is troubling. Judith Johnson, Elias GooTzeit, and the power brokers of this suffering city, have put Henry May on the Superintendent search committee. Any Superintendent hired from this committee, will be puppets to church leaders and City Hall officials. Children and taxpayers will continue to suffer. 

Henry May’s connections, helped secure a no questions asked $75,000 job for his daughter, Donna Jackson. Jackson would be ushered in to serve as Judith Johnson executive assistant.   Mount Vernon Exposed began an investigation into Donna Jackson after receiving several complaints that Jackson was hired illegally and not in accordance with New York State Civil Service protocols. 

Mount Vernon Exposed requested Ms. Jackson’s resume under the Freedom of Information Law, but the district refuses to release it. Judith Johnson has instructed Alice Patterson, the records access officer for the Mount Vernon City School District and Gus Mountanous, of the law firm Ingerman Smith, LLP, to not release the resume and job application.  Not releasing this public information is in violation of New York State law.  Taxpayers will once again be left holding the bag due to the negligence of the Judith Johnson regime.

The political patronage position awarded Ms. Donna Jackson was never posted and no civil service exam was ever called for.  No other applicants were interviewed. Trustee Elias Goodzeit who has strong ties to church officials, gave Donna Jackson a personal reference on her resume, which is inappropriate and an outright conflict of interest. Federal investigation need to look into the Gootzeit-Mays-Jackson connection to see if any monetary consideration was given or promised to Mr. Gootzeit for his kind gesture of providing Ms. Jackson with a personal reference.  Investigators should also look at all tabs and resolutions voted on by Gootzeit that had anything whatsoever to do with Judith Johnson and Donna Jackson.  Sources have told Mount Vernon Exposed that because Mr. Mays is a member of Grace Baptist Church, the headquarters of CEPA, is the reason his unqualified and inept daughter received her current job.  

Gootzeit, the so-called agent of change should have known that it was a conflict of interest for him to vote on her appointment.  Gootzeit cannot claim ignorance of the law because after all, he is a trained attorney.  Judith Johnson informed the district that Donna Jackson would write grants.  As of today, no grants were written by Ms. Jackson. Sources informed Mount Vernon exposed that Donna Jackson has no idea how to write a grant, and the grant writing claim was only fabricated, to justify her employment and illegally circumventing New York State civil service requirements. 

As you can see, the dots are connecting. The United Black Clergy and City Hall have too much influence in The Mount Vernon School system. Jobs, contracts, and kickbacks are the main goal of these groups. The test scores of Mount Vernon children are horrendous, and these groups are to blame. The Superintendent search committee is a “set up” to hire a Superintendent who has allegiances to these outside forces. To make things worse, Judith Johnson is trying to secure a 5-year contract for the new Superintendent. This will cripple Mount Vernon. Too many board members are being excluded from the process.

A school system is put in place to educate children. Mount Vernon’s school district has failed them miserably, and has become a cesspool full of greedy people stealing from children and taxpayers. I challenge Community Activist, Henry May, and members of the UBC, to explain how student performances have fell so far, almost to the point of no return and why property taxes have skyrocketed to the highest in the nation under their leadership.

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Unfortunately, we have different types of Black Politicians, Church leaders, and Community Activists than we had 40 years ago. Our leaders in the past really cared about our community, and did not exploit those who were vulnerable.  The churches and City Hall should immediately remove themselves from the stranglehold they have on our school district. They should apologize for damaging the lives of so many of our youth. They should compensate the tens of thousands of people who were cheated out of an education. They should repay the taxpayers who funded this fraud. They should also buy back the homes of grandmothers and others who were kicked to the curb because they could not pay their taxes.

This is sure to become a national story.....STAY TUNED........

To be continued……