Irene shut down City Controller's office Monday
After Hurricane Irene blew through Philadelphia over the weekend, city government was open for business yesterday, with one exception - the City Controller’s office.
Irene shut down City Controller's office Monday
Catherine Lucey
After Hurricane Irene blew through Philadelphia over the weekend, city government was open for business yesterday, with one exception - the City Controller’s office.
Employees in the Controller’s office were given a paid day off after Controller Alan Butkovitz decided he was concerned about the safety of his staff getting to work in the aftermath of the storm.
“There’s a lot of people who come to this office by rail. I have someone in a wheelchair. My thought was simply, I was worried about everyone getting there safe,” Butkovitz said. “The information that was coming out Sunday night and Monday morning was extremely fragmentary. Our decision had to be made by 6 AM (Monday).”
The cost of this day off to the city? $26,079, according to the Controller’s payroll calculations. But Butkovitz said that was worth it to not have an injury or an accident on his hands.
“Perhaps my sense on where to draw the line on risk benefit is much more than every other office in the city,” Butkovitz said. “I did not want anyone I’m responsible for to die or be in serious trouble.”
This is inexcusable..........They all need to be assessed a vacation day....Butkovitz has no credibility as a public watchdog, if he thought something like this was remotely acceptable.....Couldn't they travel in from the suburbs on the R-5 ?— willll- No rails were running that day. And there is no longer an R-5 or any other R designation for the commuter trains. I commend Butkovitz for his actions, especially as telecommuting was out of the question for those of us that lost electricity and/or phone service. — gb
- Does he have the authority to do that? Probably does the same thing every time a snowflake falls in the winter, as well. Gets him great Christmas presents from the office.— Wilhelm Von Humboldt
- Sounds like he has the resume for the vacant school supt position— Dante8222
- I wish Irene shut Butkovitz's piehole.— uandwhosearmy
- Travel in from the suburbs? They are all supposed to live in the City and the Controller is one of the offices that traditionally enforce that residency rule. So if his staff is riding in on the R5 from the suburbs, he's got a bigger problem.— sloweddie
- I guess the cat is out of the bag now, Al. I also thought CITY RESIDENCE was a requirement for City government employement????— Dadair1
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David Gambacorta spent a small eternity writing about cops, drug dealers and serial killers. Now he’s writing about power and politics – which sometimes reminds him of the old crime beat. He joined the Daily News in 2005. And yes, he knows you’re not quite sure how to pronounce his last name. E-mail tips to gambacd@phillynews.com
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Jan Ransom, a native New Yorker, joined the Daily News in 2010 after graduating from Howard University. She has since written about the difficulty of filing police complaints, tax deadbeats and life after violent home invasions. She joined the Daily News City Hall Bureau in 2011 and has plunged headfirst into reporting on administration budget battles and City Council shenanigans. E-mail tips to ransomj@phillynews.com
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Sean Collins Walsh is from Bucks County and went to Northwestern University. He joined the Daily News copy desk in 2012 and now covers the Nutter administration. Before that, he interned at papers including The New York Times, The Dallas Morning News and The Seattle Times. E-mail tips to walshSE@phillynews.com
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