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PUBLISHED ON EDITION NO. »
335
  |  4/15/2010
Secretary Gonzalez in Lawrence
Jay Gonzalez, Massachusetts Secretary of Administration and Finance visited Lawrence along with Robert Nunes, of the Department of Revenue and met with Mayor William Lantigua and all city department heads.

At the meeting, held at the Senior Center on Friday, April 9th also participated Lenny Degnan, Mayor’s Chief of Staff, Patrick Blanchette, Interim Economic Development Director and Stephen Lisauskas, of UMass-Boston/ Edward G. Collins Jr. Center for Public Management.

Secretary Gonzalez said that now that the legislation that allowed Lawrence to borrow $35 million to help balance the $24 million deficit is in place, he wanted to come and meet with the mayor and the department heads to tell them that we want to work collaborative with them to find solutions for the crisis the city is facing.

Gonzalez said that the legislation does not impose fiscal controls right away, but allows him (Gonzalez) to provide assistance to the mayor and assured him that the governor is committed to help the city.

According to Gonzalez, an overseer who will work with city officials is to be named within 30 days of the approval of the legislation and that he already has interviewed 10 well qualified candidates but has made no decision. “I want to make sure that we choose the right person,” he said.

The right person, according to Gonzalez, should be a problem solver; somebody that can identify solutions and help implement them. It should be a collaborator not someone that comes here to tell the mayor what to do. “There is a small world of people that meet the high standards I had set for the overseer,” said Gonzalez.

The deficit is real!, responded Gonzalez and Nunes when questioned by the press. According to Nunes, the $24 million deficit was a combination of continue state cuts during the past years aggravated by mismanagement by the past administration.

Stephen Lisauskas, of UMass-Boston/ Edward G. Collins Jr. Center for Public Management who worked with the City of Springfield during their very similar to Lawrence crisis, is actually helping our city. “I wish he (Lisauskas) were the chosen one,” said Lantigua.

After the meeting, Secretary Gonzalez toured the Lawrence Police station where he was able to appreciate the conditions where our men in blue have to perform their daily chores. Secretary Gonzalez left without making any promises to Mayor Lantigua or Chief John J. Romero.

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