"Who the New Mayor should fire?"

[northside lurker]

Well, since we'd need to hire from outside the Mahoning Valley/Youngstown MSA anyway, (to find the most qualified candidates) why not ask them to move to the city when they relocate to the area?

[Rick Rowlands]

Westsider, your tax dollars pays the salary of workers who DO WORK ON THE CITY'S BEHALF! Remember that.  You are paying for work that is done while they are on the clock.  When they are not at work you have no damn business telling a free citizen what to do or where to go. Do you not want the best qualified people doing the jobs that your tax money pays for?   Why would you demand that someone have to uproot their family, sell their house and move across an imaginary line just so they can provide their talents to serve the city of Youngstown?   It is ridiculous to demand such, and is an example of the obsolete narrow minded thinking that pervades the Mahoning Valley. 

[northside lurker]

I have no problem with hiring someone who will move to the city after being hired.  But why should my tax dollars pay the salary of someone who is unwilling to live in the city that I call home?  Or, to put it another way, if you're too good to be my neighbor, why should I pay your salary?

[Youngstownshrimp]

I once thought the Defend Youngstown community organizing class were the new generation of brains to change Youngstown.  Now it has been proven that they were brainwashed sheeple and thank the heavens we production types are smacking them down and away.  Remnants of them still sucking at the trough:
1.  MVOC
2. Mahoning County Landbank
3.  YNDC
4.  City Hall
5.  YBI*
*not their production companies, but their heavy public funds.

[Towntalk]

One more thing. As Rick has so wisely pointed out, all the younger people who would be capable of stepping up to the challenges have long since abandoned the city, yet many of these same young people possess the vision needed to bring Youngstown back, yet there are those with not vision who would tell them that they are not welcome unless they move back into the city ... preferably to the west side.
I can understand why the young people are moving out of the city, and don't really blame them, but I'm certain that given the incentive that they would move back, and hopefully McNally will not be bound to fall back on the same old crew, or be bound to confining his search to residents only, because, to be perfectly honest, there are few locals that are capable to bringing Youngstown to the next level.

[Towntalk]

Well said, my friend, but too bad it will fall on deft ears as far as some who will go nameless are concerned.

[Rick Rowlands]

Why would where a person lives be a qualification at all?  I think it would be extremely short sighted to limit applicants to those who live within the city, as many of the qualified candidates will not live in the city.  Many of those incompetent people now working for the city are there because they fit a set of arbitrary requirements that had little to do with their ability to do the job, and the last thing we need is to create another list of arbitrary requirements that increase the likelihood of hiring even more inept and incompetent people. 

It might be a harsh reality to grasp, but most of us who are educated, intelligent and capable have already left the city of Youngstown because 1) we don't want to pay the high tax rates, 2) we don't want to live in a place where we always have to look over our shoulder, 3) we want our children to go to a school actually capable of educating them.  Now if you want to limit your search for employees to people who are not smart enough to flee when they can, then you might as well just keep the same people there now.

[Towntalk]

Seeing's that I have as little to do with City Hall as possable, I simply don't know all the names of all the people that work there, so that is why I can't come up with a particular name. That's why I simply said do a department by department spring cleaning except YPD and YFD, and deposit the results in the nearest dumpster.

[Youngstownshrimp]

Come on people, we need to start taking names and kicking a#s!
I named two and everyone danced around them.

[AllanY2525]

Now THAT is a sterling resume and list of accomplishments.

I think the new mayor should show this to city government employees, and as an exercise they should be
required to write a resume listing their qualifications and achievements during their tenure with the city.

It would be a great way to separate the wheat from the chaff (sp?).  It would also be interesting to see
how each employee's self-evaluation compares to their actual performance history and skill set.

For those who need to be let go,  their resume would already be up to date for their trip out the door.

[Towntalk]

Chief Rod Foley has a great track record as does the Fire Chief, and who would you get to replace either one of them? Name me one officer that lives in the city ... the west side ... who has the qualifications that he possesses. Jay keeps harping that every city employee including the Fire and Police Chief should have to be a city resident, yet he can't name a single person in either department who is qualified to run thge Police and Fire Departments.

John J. O'Neill, Jr.
Chief O'Neill has been the Fire Chief of the City of Youngstown since 1998. You can find his office at Fire Station No. 1 located on the corner of Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd and Belmont Avenue.Chief O'Neill's knowledge and experience makes him an ideal candidate for Fire Chief. Chief O'Neill has almost twenty years of fire experience including 8 years of managing a complex multi-million dollar budget. Chief O'Neill has established a strong record of accomplishments during his career as a firefighter. He has proven himself skillful in labor/management relations. He has also successfully implemented several cost saving measures while helping to maintain the Youngstown Fire Department as one of the best departments in the area. Chief O'Neill and his staff will help ensure that the Youngstown Fire Department will remain among the best prepared, trained and equipped departments in the Valley.

Rod Foley
Rod Foley, a 20 year veteran of the Youngstown Police Department, was sworn in as Chief of Police on September 1, 2011.
Prior to being named Chief, he served as Chief of Detectives, a position he was appointed to in December 2009. While in this capacity, he supervised and directed investigations for both the Detective Bureau and Juvenile Bureau from February 2006 until December 2009. He served as the Youngstown Police Department's Staff Inspector. There, he obtained the rank of Captain in October of 2009. Under this position, he was responsible for all Internal Affairs Investigations, Labor/Management Resolutions, and Public Information Officer.
From May 2003 until February 2006 he was assigned to the position of Vice Squad. Under this capacity, he conducted, supervised and directed investigations involving vice related crimes and controlled substance investigations. During his tenure as Vice Squad Commander, he worked closely with the FBI, DEA, MVLTF and U.S. Attorney's Office. Prior to this position, he was assigned as the Neighborhood Response Unit Commander from 1998 until 2003. There, he earned the rank of Lieutenant in 1999. There, he supervised both burglary and robbery investigations along with special assigned investigations. He was promoted to Detective Sergeant in 1995 where he supervised the Community Oriented Police Services Unit. Prior to supervising the C.O.P.S. Unit, he served in the Patrol Division as a Police Officer from 1991 to 1995.
He is a double graduate from Youngstown State University in 1989 with a Bachelors of Science Degree and in 1995 with a Master's of Science Degree in Criminal Justice. He is also a 2002 FBI National Academy Graduate. He has received numerous awards for outstanding service from the Youngstown Police Department, U.S. Department of Justice, and Ohio Department of Rehabilitation.
Prior to joining the Youngstown Police Department in 1991, he served as a Police Officer in Poland Village, Ohio and an Auxiliary Mahoning County Deputy Sheriff from 1989 to 1991.
Chief Foley is married, and has three children attending Canfield High School.

[AllanY2525]

Fire anyone who has been in the food chain for more than two years, unless they have
the performance history to justify keeping them.  I agree that the Chief of Staff position
is unnecessary - get a Political Science or MBA student from the university to do an
internship working for the mayor's office - a win-win proposal.

[Youngstownshrimp]

Ray Decarlo?

[Towntalk]

KEEP OUR CURRENT FIRE AND POLICE CHIEF'S!!!!!

[iwasthere]

I hope McNally only appoints city residents to head the various departments.  After the State of Ohio nixed local residency rules, many employees fled the city like rats leaving a sinking ship.  I'll just have to wait and see what he does.

I agree but I will not hold my breath on this issue.