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Secretary Gonzalez in Lawrence |
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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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