Why is the City Paying Carlos Carballada?

Through an open records request, Rochester for All confirmed former deputy mayor Carlos Carballada is still on the city payroll. On June 30, the city hosted a farewell reception for Carballada. On July 1, he became the “Special Assistant to the Deputy Mayor.” This position is “on-call.”

“Carballada must have been called a lot, as he raked in about $30,000,” said Rochester for All Chairperson Rachel Barnhart. “Why are we paying Carballada when we already have a deputy mayor?”

Carballada’s assistance may be needed because Deputy Mayor Cedric Alexander missed 28 days in his first 25 weeks. Twenty-one of those days appear to have been on personal business. We have a pending open records request to see if Alexander’s pay was docked, because under senior management rules, he did not have the acquired time off. Alexander does not have a personal services contract. His annual salary is $140,000.

On WHAM 1180 today Alexander admitted that Taser paid his expenses when he attended a conference. That’s a violation of city ethics rules, which last year forbade accepting a gift over $25. Accepting such expenses from a city vendor is absolutely forbidden. Taser also awarded Alexander a cocktail hour, where he promoted his book.

“Cedric Alexander’s outside activities appear to not only violate ethics rules, they are costing taxpayers money,” Barnhart said. “We need a full accounting of this arrangement from City Hall and the Ethics Board must weigh in.”