Hoo Boy! Miss
a week or two and look what happens. The COA director wants more money the
health agent wants more money and more benefits. Hey –
we the taxpayers are broke. End of
story.
I would like
to thank the staff of the 2nd floor at Heywood and the emergency
room staff. Jen F and Catherine thank you. When I got out of the hospital I had to get
some prescriptions filled $758.00 for just 2 of them. How do the seniors on just social security or a pension afford this?
I still have my blueberry money but it’s
getting low.
Tonight at
6:00PM is the personnel board meeting at 690 Patriots Road. I have some
questions for the personnel board. We all know that the policy has “issues”,
needs to be changed and fixed but…. It is what there is to go by for now. Sooo
why is everyone ignoring it and doing what they want? we have people giving
themselves raises and extra time off. I have heard a rumor that the Board of
health is cutting the secretary’s position hours down so there is more money
for the agent. Will this allow the other departments to do the same? Why were
we funding a secretary at 35 to 40 hours in the past if it wasn’t needed? More waste?
Please let’s all go and ask questions. Seems
to me there should be more items on the agenda for tonight like addressing some
of these issues.
I noticed
that the Advisory Board is meeting with the Selectmen on August 27th
to discuss their goals and recommendations that they would like to see adopted.
Well good for them, I think we have a very good advisory board, now lets
support them and listen to them.
What is this
rumor about the concom agent leaving the concom office a mess. I had been saying for years that he
wasn’t doing anything in that office but… no one wanted to listen to me. More money
wasted – when will this stop? As a member of the advisory board said to me - all
these people want to get paid for doing nothing!!!!
Just my
opinions – thanks for reading - Pauly
PS with all this extra money the departments are trying to grab how about we make sure the tax collector gets some extra money for her tax title budget - I heard it cost $1500.00 per page for that full page of people that owe taxes in the Gardner news plus filing fees at the registry of deeds. Heard there is well over $300,000.00
PS with all this extra money the departments are trying to grab how about we make sure the tax collector gets some extra money for her tax title budget - I heard it cost $1500.00 per page for that full page of people that owe taxes in the Gardner news plus filing fees at the registry of deeds. Heard there is well over $300,000.00
Just because someone is in a office for years, does not mean that they are doing their job. Look what happened in Barre,Ma. The woman was the tax collector for years. Every one loved the woman. For some reason, some one noticed things were wrong. Well in digging they asked people whose tax bills and excise bills that looked like they had not been paid for proof of payment. Some had paid in cash, and had no proof of payment. I think I read they collected a million dollars that had not been billed. A real mess, for sure. Who is supposed to look over the shoulder of these guys we pay big money to? As for as the Gardner News, maybe we should take our business to the Telegram. Bev
ReplyDeleteThat story from Barre made the tv news when it broke. I guess they didn't have K&P as town counsel. What's it going to take to get some light on the wrongdoings here? I guess its going to take a citizens petition. Where can we sign it?
DeleteI have a number of signature sheets for the citizens petition to ask the attorney general to investigate 252 Bald rd , the Casella deal, chapter 93 acts of 2000 and the WWTP contract lawsuit.
DeleteWe will need 200 signatures to have the article placed on the special town meeting warrant. I haven't had time to hand out many of the sheets. Give me a call, if you are interested in signing.
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Julie Farrell
Pauly, glad to have you back, we missed you and your blogs. It seems there are some boards that don't think the Town Meeting votes concerned them. How can the BOH give the Director a raise and 4 weeks vacation when others had to take a cut? We need to find out what is going on. Let's all attend tonights meeting of the Advisory Board. They seem to have a handle on things and maybe they can abort this BOH raise and vacation by their meeting with the Selectmen. Tax collector needs to post in the paper all the unpaid taxes by residents in the Gardner News. Maybe then we can get some revenue. That will make Anonymous Sue happy. Also, sorry to hear of Bev's encounter with Mr. Mike. Don't worry about it Bev, he is only part of the recall group.
ReplyDeletePut the delinquent tax payers on the town web site for free, many other towns do it, only publish in the newspaer those that refuse to pay or make any payment plan what so ever. A notice on town web site, an agenda item for the selectmen meeting to inform people of steps being taken for collection of taxes, a change to town bylaw with regards to how much time to have before a license / permit can be refused. Sometimes a notice of the list being published results in taxes being paid but for those that still refuse or can not, then take the step of putting a lien on the property for collection in the future. It is not fair to all those who find a way to pay taxes to allow some to simply ignore the problem, it does not go away simply by not paying and we should not allow it to continue.
ReplyDeleteDoes the tax collector and Treasurer let the departments know who is in arrears? I know the building dept checks. I notice that work is being done on some lots on Hubbardston Rd, maybe a perk test, I think I remember seeing those lots listed in the paper for taxes back a few months. Did they pay up? Jeff can you check on this?
ReplyDeleteDoes anyone know what happen to the tax assesors old green explorer?
ReplyDeleteRiverside Auto had originally donated it to the Police Dept. with the agreement that when the town no longer could use it it was to go back to them (Riverside) So when it was deemed not road worthy Chief Whittaker told the selectmen and the town coordinator that it had to go back to Riverside. it is my understanding that it did - so you all can verify this with Chief Whittakker or Jeff Ritter or Riverside Auto, or the selectmen. NO it did not go to Cosentino Salvage.
ReplyDeleteSue
The personnel board had a very good meeting last night. Jeff did a super job, chairing the meeting. We went through the things that were a conflict between the town by-laws, and the policy that was voted on at town meeting on 5/10/05, and revised section, voted at town meeting on 5/9/06. By doing this, it will make clearer, the descriptions of things like overtime, and raises, vacation time. It was a good meeting as I already said. Getting this cleared up, and the work the advisory board is doing will make a huge difference in how the town is run. I was right about the Board of Health, Jeff looked up the laws that give them alot of power. It is looking like they have the right to give Phil his raise. That does not make it the right thing to do! Mr. Spring checked the ammount of money they get in by permit fees, and it does not even pay for a girl to answer the phone. You have to understand, Mr.Leger works for area towns at the same time he is doing his four days a week for us. I wonder how you can do that? I think the selectmen should call the Bd of Health in for a discussion about their reasons for going against every thing the rest of the departments are doing to get us through this tough time. It would be wise to remember these guys at voting time! We are very fortunate to have Will. Spring and Jeff Bennett working for the town. These men are not afraid to go the extra mile to help the town recover. The reasons we are in this mess are partly because people did not do their jobs for the good of the town. Working to benefit your self, does not cut it. As you can see, that came out in the wash! Oh yes, I almost forgot, there was some talk about regionalizing the Bd.of Health agent, kind of like we did with the dog officer. I think that would be a super idea. Bev.
DeleteThanks for the recap, Bev. Many of us love to know what happens at the meetings we cannot attend. Also, THANK YOU for all the hard work you've done to fix this town. You're a super lady and deserve just as much appreciation as Jeff and Will and everyone else. Keep the info coming!
DeleteWhat about the building inspector he works different towns also, maybe someone should look into him. I mean when is he actually in his office? Does anyone really know?
ReplyDeleteThere are a thousand things that need fixing, it just blows my mind. I know Mr. Ritter has been working long hours, ever since he took this job. There is so much to do. If the town was a dog, it would have died of neglect. I'm not kidding. Who knows about the bldg. insp? Lets hope he is doing his job, what there is to inspect, is beyond me. I think we would be so far ahead if we regionalize all of these kinds of jobs. Time will tell. I can hardly wait for Pauly to come back. Every one check out the citizens4templeton shirts. They have a Paulys templeton watch shirt for sale. Pretty neat. Maybe we will put the G,snoos out of business..BooHoo! Catch you later, Bev.
DeleteBev was that you I seen riding in the oil truck the other day. You looked like you where riding around just like old times? Bet that brought back some memories for you.
ReplyDelete