"Public officials held to higher standards" -
Christopher M. Hartwyk, the business administrator of City of Orange Township, New Jersey
January 2, 2020 By Abiodun Giwa
Mayor Dwayne D. Warren of the City of Orange, New Jersey (Courtesy: www.ci.orange.nj.us)
Question: What are your official ethical guidelines as chief ethics officer in the city of Orange?
Answer: Courtesy. Customers service. There is a solution to every problem. And I basically operate with three questions always at forefront of my brain which is what you are being asked to do. Do you have to apply? Do you have the authority to do it? Do you want to do it? And see how it will come out it will come out in the front page of the New York Post. And usually decision making that follows that very brief matrix is something people cannot deal with and ask questions about government you will make better decisions.
Question: How did you address the need to assure Orange residents not to panic over the water situation in the neighboring Newark?
Answer: Do you mean how we react to the water situation? We reacted very simply. We checked on our regulations and practices and procedures. Verify that we are still testing water at the point of consumption. Which is different from testing at the pumping station. If you test at the point of consumption, you are testing at where consumers are drinking. So, we verify our testing procedures. We received testing results to ensure compliance with the state laws and local standards. And we made an announcement to the public to calm them and assure them that the process that we follow through our licensed operator in the process that protect the quality of water.
Question: Can you explain the role of ethical theories in your day -to-day administration of the city?
Answer: You pull from all of them. As a very practical matter, ethical consideration run through all your decision making and should always run through all your decision making. And in very practical consideration, we have budgetary rules that we live with. The operating side of the city government as well as the water utility. I don’t think you can adequately run the process without any of the dynamics that you described. I think you must draw on all of them and based on the situation that you are facing.
Question: What does it mean for people to live beyond their means? Should leaders encourage people to live beyond their means?
Answer: The flipside of Mayor De Blasio. You turn a budget you live within your means. Government has a fiduciary obligation and ethical obligation to spend money. People should afford to pay their taxes. It smacks short for any government to spend more than it can pay for. As a practical matter, such governments don’t last long. It will be out of touch with people’s expectations if you don’t live within your means. There will be consequences whether a household or government. In government and especially and in business, spending beyond your means increases you’re your risk profile in term of the rules and regulations for the entity you are working with. The reason in some certain government entities before you are hired, they have you do financial background check to make sure that you don’t have a lot of risks in your personal financial profile. You always be mindful
Question: Can you give an example of how bad leadership is handled by this administration?
Answer: In a government entity, where you have elected bosses, the ability of a business administrator to limit the bad leadership is somehow limited. You have bad leadership in all elected members throughout the entire country. It tends to be worse in in non-competitive election situations, that it is better in competitive election situations, because the electors have ability to cleanse bad leadership away. In government on daily basis, we try to train people in leadership and management and work with them to be better leaders. You have middle managers and community leaders. And you try to work with them to overcome their shortcomings, improve their leadership skills. And eventually if they don’t improve or make the effort to improve, you go down the path of disciplinary ramp.
Question: Can you comment on the cases of the Mayors of Bogota and Atlantic City and as they reflect on bad leadership?
Answer: The Mayor of Bogota. And the Mayor of Atlantic City. The mayor of Bogota was the one who recently declared bankruptcy. The mayor of Atlantic City stole money from the basketball team, and he said that there is a difference between stealing government money and stealing private money. He hired a lawyer to defend himself that he has the right to steal form the private without any consequence and that he could remain in office for voters to decide his fate. Once he pleaded guilty, he stepped down. It is what the law says. The city did not spend any money in litigation. The mayor had a private lawyer. And what the state attorney general was preparing paper to remove the mayor from office against his refusal to step down after he abused the public trust and violated the doctrine of honest conduct. A public official is held to a higher standard when dealing with public assets than a private person in a corporation. In the case of a public person, you have theft plus official misconduct.
Question: I noticed parking meters were bagged on my way here and the mayor’s compliments to the residents on the bags. Is that how the mayor communicates to residents?
Answer: Every year in the shopping districts during the holidays, we bag meters to encourage people to shop locally. Many municipalities do that. East Orange, West Orange, Millburn, and Newark. And you also see it in other states and not only in New jersey.
Question: It is your ethical responsibility to keep residents safe in and out of their homes. How have you been keeping crime in nearby neighboring cities don’t spill to Orange.
Answer: We employ varieties of strategies to reduce crime including intelligence policing and community policing. We have a cooperative intelligence division that cooperates and shares information with neighboring cities. Whenever there is a crime, we map it and keep track of it. And then we deploy resources accordingly. In the neighborhood, where there is a lot of criminal activities once those resources are present the criminal activities would recede and will pop up somewhere else. So, if you don’t keep posts and surveys and employ resources accordingly, you will push crime but would not stop crime. We also increase manpower. We then institute and grow a public safety camera system in hot spots, all over parks and school areas. We have eyes in all those places. And we keep a very active detective squads and street crime squads. The last that we have added is the traffic enforcement division. People think that traffic enforcement is just a nuisance. Most of the crime that are committed here in Orange are committed by people outside of Orange. And they don’t really care whether they are traveling in illegal vehicles, uninsured vehicle or whether they have no license or not or whether you must stop at stop signs or traffic light. Traffic enforcement ends up being a significant deterrence to criminal activities. If people come here by vehicle and do not abide by the law, they are pulled over to find out if they are here for intended crime and there is possibility of detecting crimes committed on their way here. Manpower. Intelligent policing. Cameras. Technology. We use automated licensing plate readers and technological streaming. We are expanding our camera plan as part of efforts to ensure that the people’s tax money is used for the purpose it is intended for the safety inside their homes and outside their homes. It is part of our ethical responsibilities. When people know they are safe, they will be happy. Safety is the watchword. Children are safe in their schools. Water is safe for drinking and we work to boost commercial activities.
Question: How open and transparent is the city’s management?
Answer: We have maintained openness and transparency at all levels of government. We abide by the open records law. We abide by the open meetings act. We make every effort to put city’s business on a website, especially the financial business of the city. We have financial transparency page on the website. We file a notification for statutory requirement if we have a big project. We do public forums. We recently did two public forums on water improvement. We did on capital improvement and acquisition we wanted. We do public presentations every year on the audit. We do or best practice by having it recorded.
Question: Please brief me on how accountable you are to residents?
Answer: Wait for the elections. If you don’t do the job, you don’t get reelected. If you don’t feel you working for the benefit of the people, you will be accountable on election day. There are lots of things we do to be accountable like the openness and transparency. At the end of the day, the election will show how accountable we are because all the departments and the business administration serv at the pleasure of the mayor. So, if there is a change, because the electorate is unhappy with the manager on the council, you can expect a whole lot of change in the business administration. That is accountability.
Question: How do you respond to a situation where people don’t know the difference between objective responsibility and subjective responsibility?
Answer: So, objective responsibilities are usually covered by job descriptions and communicated expectations. If I have an employee to be confusing whether it is part of their job and ancillary …. collateral part of their job that that usually needs an employee the difference and expectations.
*An interview with Mr. Christopher M. Hartwyk, the business administrator of City of Orange Township, fulfilling requirements for Rutgers University School of Public Affairs and Administration (SPAA) "Administrative Ethics" class for the Fall of 2019.
Answer: Courtesy. Customers service. There is a solution to every problem. And I basically operate with three questions always at forefront of my brain which is what you are being asked to do. Do you have to apply? Do you have the authority to do it? Do you want to do it? And see how it will come out it will come out in the front page of the New York Post. And usually decision making that follows that very brief matrix is something people cannot deal with and ask questions about government you will make better decisions.
Question: How did you address the need to assure Orange residents not to panic over the water situation in the neighboring Newark?
Answer: Do you mean how we react to the water situation? We reacted very simply. We checked on our regulations and practices and procedures. Verify that we are still testing water at the point of consumption. Which is different from testing at the pumping station. If you test at the point of consumption, you are testing at where consumers are drinking. So, we verify our testing procedures. We received testing results to ensure compliance with the state laws and local standards. And we made an announcement to the public to calm them and assure them that the process that we follow through our licensed operator in the process that protect the quality of water.
Question: Can you explain the role of ethical theories in your day -to-day administration of the city?
Answer: You pull from all of them. As a very practical matter, ethical consideration run through all your decision making and should always run through all your decision making. And in very practical consideration, we have budgetary rules that we live with. The operating side of the city government as well as the water utility. I don’t think you can adequately run the process without any of the dynamics that you described. I think you must draw on all of them and based on the situation that you are facing.
Question: What does it mean for people to live beyond their means? Should leaders encourage people to live beyond their means?
Answer: The flipside of Mayor De Blasio. You turn a budget you live within your means. Government has a fiduciary obligation and ethical obligation to spend money. People should afford to pay their taxes. It smacks short for any government to spend more than it can pay for. As a practical matter, such governments don’t last long. It will be out of touch with people’s expectations if you don’t live within your means. There will be consequences whether a household or government. In government and especially and in business, spending beyond your means increases you’re your risk profile in term of the rules and regulations for the entity you are working with. The reason in some certain government entities before you are hired, they have you do financial background check to make sure that you don’t have a lot of risks in your personal financial profile. You always be mindful
Question: Can you give an example of how bad leadership is handled by this administration?
Answer: In a government entity, where you have elected bosses, the ability of a business administrator to limit the bad leadership is somehow limited. You have bad leadership in all elected members throughout the entire country. It tends to be worse in in non-competitive election situations, that it is better in competitive election situations, because the electors have ability to cleanse bad leadership away. In government on daily basis, we try to train people in leadership and management and work with them to be better leaders. You have middle managers and community leaders. And you try to work with them to overcome their shortcomings, improve their leadership skills. And eventually if they don’t improve or make the effort to improve, you go down the path of disciplinary ramp.
Question: Can you comment on the cases of the Mayors of Bogota and Atlantic City and as they reflect on bad leadership?
Answer: The Mayor of Bogota. And the Mayor of Atlantic City. The mayor of Bogota was the one who recently declared bankruptcy. The mayor of Atlantic City stole money from the basketball team, and he said that there is a difference between stealing government money and stealing private money. He hired a lawyer to defend himself that he has the right to steal form the private without any consequence and that he could remain in office for voters to decide his fate. Once he pleaded guilty, he stepped down. It is what the law says. The city did not spend any money in litigation. The mayor had a private lawyer. And what the state attorney general was preparing paper to remove the mayor from office against his refusal to step down after he abused the public trust and violated the doctrine of honest conduct. A public official is held to a higher standard when dealing with public assets than a private person in a corporation. In the case of a public person, you have theft plus official misconduct.
Question: I noticed parking meters were bagged on my way here and the mayor’s compliments to the residents on the bags. Is that how the mayor communicates to residents?
Answer: Every year in the shopping districts during the holidays, we bag meters to encourage people to shop locally. Many municipalities do that. East Orange, West Orange, Millburn, and Newark. And you also see it in other states and not only in New jersey.
Question: It is your ethical responsibility to keep residents safe in and out of their homes. How have you been keeping crime in nearby neighboring cities don’t spill to Orange.
Answer: We employ varieties of strategies to reduce crime including intelligence policing and community policing. We have a cooperative intelligence division that cooperates and shares information with neighboring cities. Whenever there is a crime, we map it and keep track of it. And then we deploy resources accordingly. In the neighborhood, where there is a lot of criminal activities once those resources are present the criminal activities would recede and will pop up somewhere else. So, if you don’t keep posts and surveys and employ resources accordingly, you will push crime but would not stop crime. We also increase manpower. We then institute and grow a public safety camera system in hot spots, all over parks and school areas. We have eyes in all those places. And we keep a very active detective squads and street crime squads. The last that we have added is the traffic enforcement division. People think that traffic enforcement is just a nuisance. Most of the crime that are committed here in Orange are committed by people outside of Orange. And they don’t really care whether they are traveling in illegal vehicles, uninsured vehicle or whether they have no license or not or whether you must stop at stop signs or traffic light. Traffic enforcement ends up being a significant deterrence to criminal activities. If people come here by vehicle and do not abide by the law, they are pulled over to find out if they are here for intended crime and there is possibility of detecting crimes committed on their way here. Manpower. Intelligent policing. Cameras. Technology. We use automated licensing plate readers and technological streaming. We are expanding our camera plan as part of efforts to ensure that the people’s tax money is used for the purpose it is intended for the safety inside their homes and outside their homes. It is part of our ethical responsibilities. When people know they are safe, they will be happy. Safety is the watchword. Children are safe in their schools. Water is safe for drinking and we work to boost commercial activities.
Question: How open and transparent is the city’s management?
Answer: We have maintained openness and transparency at all levels of government. We abide by the open records law. We abide by the open meetings act. We make every effort to put city’s business on a website, especially the financial business of the city. We have financial transparency page on the website. We file a notification for statutory requirement if we have a big project. We do public forums. We recently did two public forums on water improvement. We did on capital improvement and acquisition we wanted. We do public presentations every year on the audit. We do or best practice by having it recorded.
Question: Please brief me on how accountable you are to residents?
Answer: Wait for the elections. If you don’t do the job, you don’t get reelected. If you don’t feel you working for the benefit of the people, you will be accountable on election day. There are lots of things we do to be accountable like the openness and transparency. At the end of the day, the election will show how accountable we are because all the departments and the business administration serv at the pleasure of the mayor. So, if there is a change, because the electorate is unhappy with the manager on the council, you can expect a whole lot of change in the business administration. That is accountability.
Question: How do you respond to a situation where people don’t know the difference between objective responsibility and subjective responsibility?
Answer: So, objective responsibilities are usually covered by job descriptions and communicated expectations. If I have an employee to be confusing whether it is part of their job and ancillary …. collateral part of their job that that usually needs an employee the difference and expectations.
*An interview with Mr. Christopher M. Hartwyk, the business administrator of City of Orange Township, fulfilling requirements for Rutgers University School of Public Affairs and Administration (SPAA) "Administrative Ethics" class for the Fall of 2019.
