LETTER: HR consultant: Cicero supervisor is honest politician

To the editor:

I am writing this letter in response to the letter written by Robert D. George published recently. I am not a town of Cicero resident. I am under contract with the town to provide human resources services to the town.

I found out about Mr. George’s letter when a friend called me to inquire about “that corrupt town of Cicero.” My friend is a town of Cicero resident, knows I do business with the town and has a son who was contemplating employment with the town. His son had seen the letter and became leery of considering going to work for an organization that had corruption. My friend’s son took Mr. George’s word for it. I was outraged at that. Please indulge me and let me tell you why.

The town had been an intermittent client of mine until Mark Venesky was elected as town supervisor. When Mark took over, he contacted me, and we had a conversation about his vision for the town. Mark has a business background as a manager with UPS. His goal was to run the town like a business should be run, complying with rules and regulations; treating people fairly; watching the financials; and in the town’s case, ensuring the residents’ best interest was in mind at all times.

One of the things Supervisor Venesky requested me to do was provide ethics training for the ethics board and get their policies in shape. Residents, or anyone, can view those policies on the town’s website.

Supervisor Venesky is not perfect. None of us are. However, I would stake my personal reputation, and the reputation of my business that I have owned for 17 years, on the fact that he is one of the honest politicians. Go ahead and “Google me.” You will not find one flaw in my reputation. And I guarantee that I would never sully it by dealing with people that were not honest, ethical and caring. As I said, Supervisor Venesky is not perfect. He makes mistakes, some days lots of mistakes. However, God bless him and all the hard-working employees of the town of Cicero for doing their best to serve the residents of the town.

Mr. George, other than being an instigator, what have you done for the town residents?

Lastly, let me make this clear. I am submitting this letter in my role of business owner of Strategic Management Solutions, not on behalf of the town of Cicero.