Dear friends of Providence,

I wanted to let you know about a story that will be featured in tomorrow’s Providence Sunday Journal in which the City’s former Tax Collector Robert Ceprano and his attorney, Artin Coloian, seek to make a case in the press that his original termination last September was not based on performance.

It is not a pleasant thing to discuss someone’s substandard job performance publicly, but public trust is critical to effective government and these allegations of inappropriate termination need to be addressed openly and immediately.

The Finance Director has forwarded the information below, which is a summary of the factors that led to his official request for the Tax Collector’s resignation on September 15th, 2008:

Upon taking office in October 2007, Finance Director Bruce Miller determined that the Tax Collector’s Office was lagging far behind national, and State of Rhode Island, best practices. Deficiencies included:

* inefficiencies due to poor use or non-use of technology

* internal control gaps that rendered the City vulnerable to error and fraud

* inefficient operational practices

* lack of effective policies and procedures

Finance Director Miller initiated a process to bring the Tax Collector’s office from a level of mediocrity to a level of excellence. This began with a discussion of the deficiencies that Mr. Miller had outlined and his request that a plan be developed to correct them. The Tax Collector repeatedly refused to create the plan or initiate the improvements.

After roughly nine months of working with the Tax Collector to make these improvements, Director Miller saw no improvement in the operations of that office. The Tax Collector’s failure to act was clearly leading to disciplinary procedures against him, so Director Miller sought to pursue an outcome that might avoid termination. In July and August of 2008, several options were discussed:

* Continue as Tax Collector while complying with all the stated expectations, understanding that if expectations were not met then termination would proceed.

* Because the Tax Collector had difficulty meeting the expectations of the Finance Department, perhaps another City department would be more suitable. Reassignment t the Police Department was discussed.

* The Tax Collector could choose to resign. He was interested in this option and a discussion of the conditions regarding this option ensued.

Finally, last September, the Tax Collector agreed to resign. On September 15th, 2008 Director Miller formally asked for his resignation by email.

This unfortunate episode reflects my view that the citizens of Providence have a right to expect something more than the mediocre performance they were getting from the Tax Collector during his tenure. While operating in a nearly complete absence of standards or procedures might have worked under previous administrations, my view is that it is an invitation to precisely the kind of corruption we were burdened with under previous administrations. The Tax Collector’s unwillingness to raise his performance to a level of professionalism that the taxpayers have a right to expect led, regrettably, to his inevitable resignation.

Our efforts to clean up Providence and set things right will continue.

As always, please feel free to contact me with any further questions or concerns.

Sincerely,

David N. Cicilline

Mayor



     The Mayor says you can contact him with question, but if I were you, I wouldn't waste my time.  I doubt you would get an answer.  With that said, I have a problem with David Cicilline's explanation.  He gives a detailed description of how poor Robert Ceprano's performance was as Tax Collector.  Here's my question for David Cicilline: If he was doing such a terrible job, then why wasn't he fired sooner, rather than wait more than 6 years after you were elected Mayor?  I'm sure it had nothing to do with his reluctance to help your campaign contributors get special treatment (or do you and your top aides directly advocate for every citizen with a tax problem?).

     I would also encourage everyone to take a look at the links below.  Today's Providence Journal story discusses Ceprano writing standards for the office, installing new software, and instituting strict guidelines, which seem to be backed up by former Finance Director Alex Prignano.  If this is true, it would undermine Cicilline's reasons for terminating Ceprano.  Finally, were there any regular performance reviews of Mr. Ceprano?  If his performance was as bad as David Ciciliine claims it is, there should be a stack of negative evaluations. 

     I'm patiently waiting for the State Police to conclude their investigation.  I have a feeling there is a lot more we are going to find out about this situation.



David Cicilline's News Letter
http://www.projo.com/ri/providence/content/mayor_02-01-09_7CD5VD7_v3.10dfb1d.html

Robert Ceprano Story
http://www.projo.com/news/content/Ceprano_Speaks_02-01-09_OJD5IR3_v25.3f3a2e0.html

Auditor's Report by KPMG
http://www.projo.com/news/2009/pdf/0123_cicilline_report.pdf