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I put in a FOIA request for "All documents relating to the employment of temporary staff as part of the city's response to Covid-19."
This thread is about what I got back.
https://www.muckrock.com/foi/somerville-8/temporary-staff-for-covid-response-104434/
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This thread is about what I got back.
https://www.muckrock.com/foi/somerville-8/temporary-staff-for-covid-response-104434/
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I asked:
"Please specifically include all documents related to Omar Boukili and Tim Snyder's work with the city in 2020. Please also include documents for all other individuals who are working for the city under any similar conditions or arrangements."
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"Please specifically include all documents related to Omar Boukili and Tim Snyder's work with the city in 2020. Please also include documents for all other individuals who are working for the city under any similar conditions or arrangements."
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I was specific:
"Documents of interest include, but are not limited to:
* Emails, letters and notes exchanged during the negotiation of the terms of employment
* Formal offer letters, contracts, statements of work, and services agreements"
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"Documents of interest include, but are not limited to:
* Emails, letters and notes exchanged during the negotiation of the terms of employment
* Formal offer letters, contracts, statements of work, and services agreements"
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"* Invoices, timesheets, work reports, and other documentation of effort.
* Performance reviews or any documentation of the quality of the work."
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* Performance reviews or any documentation of the quality of the work."
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Basically, I was looking to understand (a) who we've brought on and (b) the process that we followed.
The responses were underwhelming - 56 PDF files in a ZIP archive covering five individuals.
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The responses were underwhelming - 56 PDF files in a ZIP archive covering five individuals.
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The documents talk about five individuals:
Omar Boukili - Incident Commander for COVID 19
Tim Snyder - Deputy Incident Commander
Three temporary 311-operators, one of whom declined a job offer, and one of whom quit with weeks of starting.
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Omar Boukili - Incident Commander for COVID 19
Tim Snyder - Deputy Incident Commander
Three temporary 311-operators, one of whom declined a job offer, and one of whom quit with weeks of starting.
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Omar and Tim are both former city employees.
Tim was the Mayor's "intergovernmental affairs director" from FY17 through FY19.
Omar was an advisor to the Mayor from 2010 until he ran for Alderman in 2017, was defeated by Jesse Clingan, and went to work in Revere.
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Tim was the Mayor's "intergovernmental affairs director" from FY17 through FY19.
Omar was an advisor to the Mayor from 2010 until he ran for Alderman in 2017, was defeated by Jesse Clingan, and went to work in Revere.
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Omar started in mid-March, and Tim started in mid-June.
The VAST majority of those 56 PDFs is an extended back and forth among the staff about whether they were eligible for full retirements benefits (yes, yes, yes they are was the consistent instruction from above).
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The VAST majority of those 56 PDFs is an extended back and forth among the staff about whether they were eligible for full retirements benefits (yes, yes, yes they are was the consistent instruction from above).
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The temporary 311 operators were offered $18/hr for 19 hours per week with no benefits.
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None of the documents I received constitute a job description, list of duties, or anything similar.
I did ask for that specifically, so I have to believe that it just doesn't exist.
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I did ask for that specifically, so I have to believe that it just doesn't exist.
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There were also no documents in the response showing evidence of supervision whatsoever over Omar and Tim in these roles.
This is not to say that they're doing anything except the highest caliber, most necessary work.
Just that nobody's writing about it.
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This is not to say that they're doing anything except the highest caliber, most necessary work.
Just that nobody's writing about it.
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When the COVID started to hit the fan, the Mayor reached out to two former advisors and got them in the tent at $100k-plus apiece with no documentation, negotiation, or silliness like asking the city council's say-so.
Again, not saying it's wrong, just that it's opaque.
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Again, not saying it's wrong, just that it's opaque.
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Meanwhile we bring in hourly people at -just- under the threshold for where we would have to offer benefits.
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Here's the org chart that the Mayor shared on Thursday for "incident command." There are Omar and Tim at the top of it.
https://twitter.com/somershade1/status/1339738829289304065
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https://twitter.com/somershade1/status/1339738829289304065
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As with my other thread today, I really have nowhere else to go with this other than to say that we would probably do better, as a city, with a lot more transparency and accountability and just a smidge less cronyism.
15/15
15/15
Actually, you know what? I'm not done. Do you remember how we had to FIGHT and NEGOTIATE and HAGGLE and PUSH BACK to get two other temporary employees on the payroll?
You know who I'm talking about, right?
https://www.wickedlocal.com/story/somerville-journal/2020/11/25/somerville-city-council-hires-staff-develop-police-oversight/6420285002/
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You know who I'm talking about, right?
https://www.wickedlocal.com/story/somerville-journal/2020/11/25/somerville-city-council-hires-staff-develop-police-oversight/6420285002/
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The contrast is -jarring- though both situations are "emergencies."
So yeah, Mayor Joe, there's my call to action: Where's our incident commander and $200k plus in well connected staff to lead our response to structural violence and police brutality?
17/17
So yeah, Mayor Joe, there's my call to action: Where's our incident commander and $200k plus in well connected staff to lead our response to structural violence and police brutality?
17/17
Hell, where’s the incident commander - an experienced mid level manager with the ability to cut across departmental lines - for pedestrian safety, for the climate crisis, for housing, or our various other ‘crises?’
I declare the org chart for incident response to be an ‘octopus of accountability.’
Here’s the one throat to choke for this critical thing.
Where’s my Omar for housing?
Here’s the one throat to choke for this critical thing.
Where’s my Omar for housing?
