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Kalin’s (add your own caption) Picture of the Day 1/6

Posted 06 January 2009 † Kalin § Pic/Cap of the Day ‡ Comments (1) ° Tagged:

Rumor Mongering By The Morning Journal?

PD:

A Cleveland Clinic spokeswoman dismissed a Morning Journal report that the hospital is interested in buying Midway Mall in Elyria.

“We are not in any discussions whatsoever about Midway Mall,” said Heather Phillips, assistant director for media relations at the Clinic.

The Morning Journal reported Sunday that troubled Midway Mall might close, in an article based largely on comment from unidentified mall employees. The newspaper attributed its report about the Clinic’s interest in the mall to an unidentified employee at the Macy’s department store.

Update at 1 p.m.: I just talked to Susan Godorov, vice president of marketing for Centro Properties Group, which owns and manages Midway Mall. She said “The mall is not closing. There is no basis of truth in that article.”

Dismissed a Morning Journal report. No basis of truth.

Pretty strong words. How did this get to print? I’ll email Mr. Skoch.

Posted 05 January 2009 † Roman § Lorain § Media § Tom Skoch/Morning Journal ‡ Comments (2) °

The mayor does have bigger problems than an employee manual, it’s…

According to an article from December 10th, 2008 in the Morning Journal, Lorain has some financial problems. As much as I can see this is a major problem, what could be more troubling is

Mayor Anthony Krasienko said Mantini had not yet shared these numbers with him.

That would explain why the mayor replied when asked at a December council meeting if there would be any employee lay-offs next year when asked by another council member, which was only three weeks away.

Recently I was emailed an invitation to ask our mayor a question. Council asked the mayor on September 2nd about an employee manual, and he related he was working on one and it fell under his responsibilities. Seeing that it appears that the mayor has more important things like umm, you know, more important stuff than finishing something he said he was going to do, why is he wasting time taking more questions?

I myself do not understand why if an employee was tasked with completing a SIMPLE TASK like an employee manual, why hasn’t it been done in one hundred and twenty-some days and counting. Then again, if the administration isn’t getting constant updates about our cities financial picture at the end of the fiscal year, I guess that next year’s budget hasn’t entered into the picture yet.

Yes, our city may have more important issues than an employee manual at hand.

On a brighter note, the administration compiled an activity guide for last year that had a coloring contest.

Posted 05 January 2009 † Brian Hazelett § City Council § Lorain § commentary ‡ Comments (3) ° Tagged: , , ,

THE END OF GLOBAL WARMING — SEA ICE THE SAME AS 1979

Global Warming cultists and con-artists who claim that shrinking sea ice is irrefutable proof of Global Warming are in for a rude shock:

Thanks to a rapid rebound in recent months, global sea ice levels now equal those seen 29 years ago, when the year 1979 also drew to a close.

Ice levels had been tracking lower throughout much of 2008, but rapidly recovered in the last quarter. In fact, the rate of increase from September onward is the fastest rate of change on record, either upwards or downwards.

Indeed, the proof against the great Global Warming hoax is now so strong that even Green Liberals at the Huffington Post are changing their tune:

Mr. Gore has stated, regarding climate change, that “the science is in.” Well, he is absolutely right about that, except for one tiny thing. It is the biggest whopper ever sold to the public in the history of humankind.

Thankfully, this reckoning with reality is coming before the Obama Administration enacts absurd new environmental regulations like the “cow tax“:

The ANPR, released early this year, would give the EPA the authority to regulate greenhouse gas for not only greenhouse gas from manmade sources like transportation and industry, but also “stationary” sources which would include livestock.

The New York Farm Bureau assigned a price tag to the cost of greenhouse gas regulation by the EPA in a release last month.

“The tax for dairy cows could be $175 per cow, and $87.50 per head of beef cattle. The tax on hogs would upwards of $20 per hog,” the release said. “Any operation with more than 25 dairy cows, 50 beef cattle or 200 hogs would have to obtain permits.”

Posted 05 January 2009 † Bruce Batista § Environment ‡ Comments (2) ° Tagged: , ,

The Back Story

This is a hypothetical letter from a business owner to his employees.

To All of My Valued Employees,

There have been some rumblings around the office about the future of this company and, more specifically, your job. As you know, the economy has changed for the worse and presents many challenges. However, the good news is this:

Continue Reading »

Posted 05 January 2009 † Ladalang § Politics ‡ Comments (2) °

WOM Voter Survey

I’m always wondering what the readers of the WoM are really like so I wanted to give them the opportunity to tell us.  The survey is anonymous and will give us a peek into the ideologies of our readers and contributors.  it’s only 1o questions long but I think the results will be very interesting.  There are no right or wrong answers and everyone is invited to take part.  I will post the results in a few weeks.  Have Fun and thanks!

Click Here to Take the Survey

Posted 04 January 2009 † Ladalang § WoM Poll ‡ Comments (10) ° Tagged:

Kalin’s (add your own caption) Picture of the Day 1/4

power

Posted 04 January 2009 † Kalin § Pic/Cap of the Day ‡ Comments (5) ° Tagged:

Kalin’s (add your own caption) Picture of the Day 1/3

Posted 03 January 2009 † Kalin § Pic/Cap of the Day ‡ Comments (7) ° Tagged:

Economics of having an Employee Manual

This information comes from an article that I googled, and this is from the very first article I read.

An employee handbook is a valuable communications tool that sets forth an organization’s personnel policies, procedures, practices, and benefits. Written policies and procedures help reduce employee misunderstandings about what is expected of them. They also promote the consistent application of policies from department to department. An employee handbook is an excellent tool for orienting new employees, and it is a useful resource for long standing employees who inevitably have questions or need additional information about organizational policies.

Public financial managers are finding that personnel matters are consuming more and more of their time. These managers can save time and frustration by familiarizing themselves with their employee handbooks. Where such handbooks do not exist, finance officers can take the lead in encouraging their development. This article identifies the types of information that should be included in an employee handbook, so as to help those jurisdictions that are in the process of either developing a new handbook or improving an existing one.” (emphasis mine)

Points have been raised about the difficulties dealing with the various unions as a reason why this is taking so long.

This article tells us what to do.

“If the organization has union employees, there should be a statement indicating that where information presented in the employee handbook conflicts with an expressed or explicit provision of the collective bargaining agreement, the collective bargaining agreement is controlling.”

We know that the last several audits have told us that we NEED AN EMPLOYEE MANUAL.

Is having an employee manual going to make our city better all by itself? I will leave that question for you to ponder, but please be aware of this, employee manuals have as much to do about economics as they are about people.

Does our city need to deal with its “economics”?

Posted 03 January 2009 † Brian Hazelett § Lorain § Lorain Politics § commentary ‡ Comments (16) ° Tagged: , ,

Words to Live by

Now who said them and when?

“I have spent most of my life as a Democrat. I recently have seen fit to follow another course. I believe that the issues confronting us cross party lines. Now, one side in this campaign has been telling us that the issues of this election are the maintenance of peace and prosperity. The line has been used, “We’ve never had it so good.”

Continue Reading »

Posted 02 January 2009 † Ladalang § Tribute ‡ Comments (2) °

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