Cas, you beat me to the post on this.

Yes, by all means let us know how the rally went.

Oh, yeah. It is my understanding that WCTV was going to tape it, and broadcast it (twice I think). I'm going to try and "catch it", but am not real sure when it will air. If you find out when it will, please post "here", and if you want to see it, I'll try and post asap.

PShooter
TAKEBACKWAREHAM

Last edited by PShooter (2009-10-17 15:39:31)

Rip Dinkle here....(que the music Hamm)

I attended the meeting along with several members of Take Back Wareham. The estimated head count was 100. If you are looking for a breakdown of pro and con, I would estimate 75 pro and 25 con.

Mic problems. It is diificult to hear names and what is being said. The moderators read from prepared statments. Seeking honest and open discussion. They are individuals, not a group? One of the individuals is Coach (didn't hear the rest). He gave a shout out to Larry and Larry replied.

First question: Who is footing the bill for this get together?

Westfield first. Dick Heaton gave presentation. All the developers (5 was the total) agree this is good for affordable senior housing. 90% of funding is coming from state/federal grants. Where is the 10% coming from? All plans include detail financial plant. You can view it on the town website. Break down of units/costs.
Needs 2/3 vote. Wait. Based on the opinion statement from K&P, may only need simple majority. The town moderator to decide if simple or 2/3. Uhoh, that's a problem.

here is an interesting note: State owns Agawam Village and is responsible for repairs and restoration. The town did not push state to get AV on the list for funding. Who is responsible for that? This needs to be a priority.

Heaton states that the Westfield project will put Wareham over the 10% quota of 40b. We can refuse any 40b developers after Westfield.

Bob Brady is up to speak. Clear BOS agenda present. Westfield will not meet 40b quota because of regional needs and fluctuation. Bob has questions outside of Westfield, but is cut off by Schneider. He can ask questions during citizens question time outside of Westfield, but now is specific to Westfield.

More discussion on 2/3 votes. Bruce says it's counsel's opinion we need simple majority. John Donahue says he will review it with K&P and make that decision. Bruce says something about lease versus sell and goes on 10 minutes about the previous town votes.

Nancy(?) Slavin asked about cost of services to area. not answered at this point.
another question about sewer taken down Charlotte Furnace road. abutters can tie-in.

More discussion on 2/3 vote.

Question about town's contribution of $500k. Where does this come from and when. Money from Comm Preservation Fund and approx 1.5 years from now. It's to ensure our buy-in.

Dick Paulsen states the FinCom voted Westfield down 5-3. It's leverage. Grants are taxpayers money. Good point. Questions proposed layouts and unit configuration. This is getting good. Tried to get a copy of the proformas, none left. There is only 2 legitimate proposals. The other 3 don't make sense. here we go again! Heaton is agreeing with Paulsen!
Marcia Griswold-former grant writer. If we don't apply for the money, another state or area will. This is our tax dollars and we need to apply for them.

Return to question of why we did not press the state for a fix for agawam village.

At this point, I see a very short time fram for citizen's questions. Selectmen seem to be able to talk forever, but no statements are being allowed by citizens, only questions.

Speaking of statements, Jane Donahue makes one. Didn't hear half of it. Remember this, Dick Heaton VOLUNTEERED to help with affordable housing and assisted living. The key wordl there is volunteer.

Geoff Swett asked questions about business fundamentals. The hiring of a mangement firm for day to day operations. Wareham is ultimately responsible for Westfield. If developer fails, we have to take over!

No one questioned whether Selectmen consulted the 1977 Selectmen about their reasons behind restrictions. Heaton said there is technically no restrictions. Town meeting will make the decision on property.

Very long discussion. I looked around the room and it was down to 50 or less citizens. People were filing out. Saw Coach guy and Larry chatting briefly. Hope there is not fight!

Civil Service is up next. I am being paged so this will probably be my last 10 minutes. Chief say he has experienced no political interference. Strong chief is not responsible to citizens? I am not sure what he means by that. He said he can only offer opinion. He speaks about how hard the police department is working.

I think I have had enough. Not much to come out of this meeting. It looks like Westfield is in for major opposition. With good reason! It is way too iffy. It could end up being a giant drain. Bay Pointe looks more promising to me.

People left very early in the process. One lady walked past me and said, "this is bullshit". I don't know who she was, but she was not impressed.

Robert Slager was front and center, so expect a shining report. Facts are facts. The first Bob Brady meeting had more people. The meeting on Oct 15 had about the same amount. Unless the Selectmen and Moderator have something in their toolbox, Westfield is going down at town meeting. If they try to use a simple majority vote, it will end up in court. Yes, more litigation and legal fees. Westfield won't see a shovel for years if that happens.

Maybe someone else will report on the rest of the meeting.

Rip Dinkley......Good Day!

Paul Shooter was there, but I didn't spot Slager. I guess I've been wrong all the time.....They really are two people  !

Rip Dinkle is the man. The sound system was not good but up to tipical town standards. Who paid for the overtime for the janators to work on a saterday. i said hello to Mr. Slager and was very polite to him but he while he did respond to me and speak for  a min. or two had know Idea who I was. As a result of the poor sound and my bad hearing I can't say what realy went on but is was not open and free to all to speak as it was advertised. Move Wareham Forward with the status Quo was a flop. I hope the whole town gets to see what a farce it was. And it looks like at taxpayers expense. Opening a building with heat electric and staff that should have been closed for the weekend.

I spotted Slager when I arrived. I met a few people who shared their thoughts with me. I probably can thank Slager for printing my name in his newspaper and trying to make me into a villian :) It didn't appear to work. One of our lovely seniors hugged me.

And now....I can say that I look forward to sitting with Coach TP and sharing our thoughts!

We had a great crockpot cook off at the association hall and now I'm going to sit down with the Gnome and relax.

I love it that in Bobo the BOS lackey's glowing report, Janey is quoted as saying people "shopping on-line" was a major complaint selectmen received to launch the computer audit.

"My God!  Someone went on Amazon.com!  Call in the National Guard!  Hello?  Obama?  Yes, it's Wareham!  Someone used a town computer to go on Amazon.com!  Please sent in a peace-keeping force!  Amazon.com on the town computers!  AAAHHHH!!!"

Rip Dinkle here.....(que the music ham)

This reporter received an interesting email this morning from one of our awesome senior citizens who attended the love fest at town hall. She was in favor of Westfield before attending the meeting and now she is not. She said her days of reading a certain newspaper is over and her support for the BOS has disappeared. She is voting no on Westfield and is looking forward to the April election.

Ladies and gentlefellows, the times they are a'changing!


Rip Dinkle.......tune in same time, same bat channel!

I'm sorry, I can't stop laughing at Janey's explanation of the audit.  "Online shopping!  My God, someone went on eBay on a town computer!  Call the Marines!  Call the Coast Guard!"

Well stated, Mature.

No response ?  Your kidding me !  I don't believe it.  With all his managerial qualities ?  No way.

Nora Bicki wrote:

Since we are talking about the computer audit: In December of 2008, the ITA sent a memo/email to department heads telling them to (I'm paraphrasing here) ask the town employees to clear their computers of personal emails as the town's servers were too full.  I faxed a copy of that ITA missive to the Friends' lawyer when the computer audit began. So, instead of the ITA sending a message saying "Hey, stop using the town computers for your own use" he was basically saying it's ok, just don't fill up the town's equipment. Ironic considering. And here is a copy of an email I sent to the ITA with cc's to each of the selectmen on June 22, 2009. You will not be surprised to hear I did not get any response.

Dear Mr. Sanguinet:



Recently in the local tabloid media, either library employees or Susan Pizzolato has been accused of calling the Friends’ and Trustees’ lawyers in regard to the computer audit. Let me make it clear to you that after consulting with Priscilla Porter, the chair of the Board of Trustees, we decided that I would be the only person to contact the lawyers, speaking on behalf of both the Friends and the Trustees.



In fact, I and I alone, phoned the attorneys on Friday, May 29th after you left a memo at the library stating that the computer hard drives would be copied. I happened to be with Ms. Pizzolato when the memo was given to her. She informed me of the content of your memo at which time I contacted Ms. Porter. I then made the call to our attorneys.



Our attorneys then proceeded to contact Atty. Corbo from Kopelman and Paige. Calls and emails to her went unanswered over the holiday weekend. On Tuesday, June 2, the attorneys finally made contact, and by the end of that day, we had reached an agreement regarding the computer audit. The audit at the library began on Wednesday, June 3. Again, let me reiterate, at no time were any library employees involved in the process.



As to the ownership of the computers—the 38 computers currently in use in the library were directly purchased by either the Friends or the Trustees.  As you should know, the procedure for a municipality to accept a gift requires completion of the gifting process, including a vote of acceptance.  The computers were never offered as a gift to the town, and therefore, neither the Board of Selectmen nor Town Meeting voted to accept the computers as a gift.  Consequently, these computers are still owned by the Friends and Trustees, and I believe we had every right to question the computer audit that was to be performed on “town owned” or “town leased” computers as indicated in your memo.



I am sure that you too are concerned when your employees are treated unfairly or when false statements are made about them to the public. So, I thank you for allowing me to set the record straight.



Nora Bicki

Friends of the Wareham Free Library, Inc.

Wareham Computer Audit Letter

PShooter
TAKEBACKWAREHAM

Here is one of the statements that prompted me to write the above email to town officials. The first rag article said an employee called the lawyers. Then, when Susan Pizzolato resigned, he wrote an article stating that she had been the one who called the lawyers. I'm still looking for that quote, but here's the one from the May 30 rag:

"What actually happened is when the audit team showed up at the library, a lawyer was reportedly contacted immediately by a library employee.  A library employee then actually tried to claim that because the computers were donated by money from the former trustees and the Wareham Friends of the Library those computers don’t actually belong to the town. They just belong to the library."

As you can see, the statement is completely false. I did not speak up at the time, and I apologize to the employees, but the litigation was still ongoing, and I did not feel comfortable speaking out.

And to clarify further, we never donated "money." We purchased the computers directly and have those invoices.

Nora,
I appreciate your posts! Facts are facts, and the truth always comes out. Mr. Slager has been proven time after time to be a major contributor to the turmoil in this town. As shown above, what he wrote is a fabrication. Will we see a retraction? Not likely. This is why we must stop the misinformation that is being fed to our citizens. In my opinion, we, the citizens of Wareham, need to get the truth out and educate the voters. Let's send a message at Town Meeting and then finish the job in April in the voter's booth. We won't stand for substandard leadership.

Take Back Wareham.

Online shopping??? What happened to "life changing" consequences and "corruption"?

What a joke that Halifax blogger is.

BREAKING NEWS: A town employee uses a town computer to order a box of Omaha Steaks online!  Fear not, the President has been briefed and the National Security Council has been convened to figure out a way to stop the scourge of online computer shopping!

(I'm sorry, but I'm going to have a field day with this one.)

a bit off subject.... i have a question???
why have jane/john d listed their town email accounts with the wareham community gardens website? just wondering?

Nora Bicki wrote:

Here is one of the statements that prompted me to write the above email to town officials. The first rag article said an employee called the lawyers. Then, when Susan Pizzolato resigned, he wrote an article stating that she had been the one who called the lawyers. I'm still looking for that quote, but here's the one from the May 30 rag:

"What actually happened is when the audit team showed up at the library, a lawyer was reportedly contacted immediately by a library employee.  A library employee then actually tried to claim that because the computers were donated by money from the former trustees and the Wareham Friends of the Library those computers don’t actually belong to the town. They just belong to the library."

As you can see, the statement is completely false. I did not speak up at the time, and I apologize to the employees, but the litigation was still ongoing, and I did not feel comfortable speaking out.

And to clarify further, we never donated "money." We purchased the computers directly and have those invoices.

I found the second article where Susan Pizzolato was "reportedly" blamed for calling the lawyers about the computer audit. It was after this article that I decided I needed to email the selectmen and Sanguinet to tell them the truth so they wouldn't blame employees for something they didn't do. Here is what slager said in the June 18, 2009 rag:

"When the computer audit team entered the Wareham Free Library, Pizzolato reportedly called the attorney representing the former trustees. She reportedly then tried to claim the computers were donated by the Friends of the Wareham Free Library and therefore did not belong to the town."

Remember the FACTS: I and I alone spoke with the Friends (not the Trustees')  lawyer 5 days before the computer audit team ever set foot in the library, that would be the Friday before the Memorial Day weekend. See the email printed above that I sent to the BoS and ITA.

For someone who claims to hold the TRUTH is such high regard, here are two blatant false statements printed in the local tabloid. I don't believe what's written in the STAR or the ENQUIRER either. I guess if you use the word "reportedly" you can write anything you want.

I didn't "reportedly" stop reading the rag on July 4th--I did stop reading it. And my life has been so much better for that. If anyone is still reading it, give it a try--cold turkey--and be done with it.

Here's an idea--let's make Thanksgiving the last day to wean yourselves off if you can't go cold turkey today.

Then think of how much we will all be thankful for, when the rag finally bites the dust.

Molly is right folks. for me the magic day was August 1.

Life is better, and my BP at the doctor's office yesterday was 125/85. Not bad for an old dude with AFib. You see not only is the avoidance of his crapadola good for your mental health, It improves your cardiovascular health, as well. A twofer!

OK, OK, confession is good for the soul, right? There was one peek on day 70, due to the custodian of the health trust fund using his mouthpiece to absolve himself from any and all responsibility for the 1.9 million dollar debacle. Or is it a mere $600,000? Whatver. To me, that was a justifiable viewing, not a backslide; as the custodian appears to chosen to avoid any and all real newspapers, which might actually ask real questions, rather than accepting a prepared script.

To extend Molly's thought about Thanksgiving being the final day of the weaning process, perhaps the process could begin on 10/31/2009. Yes, that's right, in full costume. Barracuda jacket, wrinkled pants, bald spot painted on (if necessary), head slouched forward w/dour demeanor, and bagel in hand. The BoBo brigade! No treats, just tricks!

What could be scarier?

Unfortunately,
I have been skewered repeatedly by the halifax hack. He has to blame someone for his failures, and he has plenty of failures. If there is one thing I learned is this fool wouldn't know a fact if it walked up and slapped him!

The good news is....His has a negative impact on the agenda of the Selectmen. The citizens of this town are much wiser than he anticipated. He does NOT live in Wareham, does NOT own a business in Wareham, and does NOT have a vote at town meeting or the April election. IMO, he is a non-factor.

I might have to call you and be talked down from the ledge, but I will make a very strong effort to dismiss his writings and his ranting from this day forward!

I had cold pizza, so i can go cold turkey....it's a trend.

And another thing, since this thread relates to the Sat meeting...

Did anyone read the puff piece in the wareham courier regarding the meeting. Am I the only one who felt the beating of angel's wings all around as I read it? the only one who felt the euphoria that Aldous Huxley described in "Brave New World" when the populace downed their Soma?

They have been criticized before by me, and they will get zinged again.

Zing? rhymes with: Bing, ding, fling, king, Ming, ping, ring, sing, ting-a-ling, wing. but the one of interest today is BLING.

At the end of last night's BoS meeting, Brenda spoke up and acknowledged the iTA had had a diffuicult time, and had taken a lot of "BLAME". True enuf.

BUT, in the Wareham Courier, the quote used the word "BLING"! Now, I didn't notice the iTA wearing any BLING. Perhaps the reporter was thinking of the BLING that could be scored in cahoots with a Town employee on the Town's computers? Who knows?

And, where was the EDITOR? You know, this explains a lot about BoBo the Halifax HoBO and his approach to editing. After all, he (aka "Rob") was nurtured at the Courier, and clearly honed his (lack of) editing skills right there. Clearly, this bad apple didn't fall far from the tree.

Zing went the Bling of my heart. (very old song).