Who is ultimately in charge of Trenton’s budget? Trenton voters, that is who.
Let’s say each Trenton voter reading this owned a corporation with close to a quarter-billion-dollar annual operating budget.
Let’s say each owner (you) needed to hire individuals to manage and shepherd that money to make sure it was spent wisely, legally, and with the most impact/return per dollar spent. See my December 2021 post on the inventory of city-owned vehicles or my December 2021 post on overtime abuse at Trenton Waterworks or a January 2022 post on ordinance enforcement or a March 2022 post on investing in parks and recreation or even my July 2022 post on investing in our downtown for examples of impact/return on dollars spent to understand what I mean.
- Would you hire someone with no apparent opinions on anything or that appears to have handlers that plot their every word and move?
- Would you hire someone with questionable ethics and chronic ongoing ethical issues?
- Would you rehire someone who held the position in the past and was completely unimpressive?
- Would you hire the person that sits next to you in church just because you see them there each week?
- Would you hire someone from the block just because you know them from there or know their family?
- Would you hire the person that seems to burn every bridge they cross?
- Would you hire the person that has the best dance parties because you have so much fun at those?
- Would you hire a person just because you have seen hundreds of photos of them around town at cookouts, giveaways, and random events organized by other people?
- Would you hire someone who thinks they are entitled to the job?
- Would you hire someone who has just appeared out of nowhere and thinks they know best?
- Would you hire someone because they have the best t-shirts and swag?
The answer is no. You would not. Never in a million years would you do any of that. If you were in charge of almost a quarter-billion-dollar a-year annual budget – and ultimately you are because you are choosing the people who will make decisions on that money–you would remove emotion from the equation and make your decision on who you believe will get the best return those dollars.
This isn’t personal, this is business. This is a quarter-billion-dollar-budget per year business that directly impacts your life and almost 100,000 other lives.
You would hire someone that knows the job best. Remember…this is YOUR corporation, and it isn’t personal. It is business.
You decide how it runs. Choose wisely.
Michael Ranallo
Trenton City Council At-Large Candidate
