Important letters from Bob Mitchell

To: Templeton citizens,

You are seeing this on blog face book or email because I seem to be having some problems getting a letter to the editor or even an investigative story written at The Gardner News. Below you will find the open meeting law violation I filed and the two ethics violations I filed. If any citizen has any complaints or issues regarding these I hope you will write back, tweet , blog ,face book or whatever else, because I will try to get it printed one way or another and while I may wish it was on paper that may not always happen. Below is what is being sent by registered mail to our state government, and I hope you will all be interested in how your state government works for you.

March 3, 2012

To: Attorney General Martha Coakley

Re: Open meeting law violation

Dear Mrs. Coakley,

I am making an urgent request that your office begin an immediate investigation of the open meeting law violation/complaint that is enclosed. The situation in Templeton is deteriorating far too fast for any delay, when the FBI is calling Templeton’s Police Dept., warning of possible violence at our Town Meetings. Please see attached Gardner News article of February 29, 2012. “Chief: FBI had urgent concerns”.

Enclosed below and in order, is the original complaint with supporting documentation that was filed at the Town Clerk and Board of Selectmen Offices, and sent to the Gardner News. Also you will find the draft minutes and video of the 2-16-2012 BOS meeting in question. Below that you will find the BOS denial that an open meeting law violation occurred, along with the video of the meeting on 2/29/12. I can only assume the letter/opinion I received was written by K & P. Therefore, I have included below that the memorandum written by Lauren Goldberg of K & P, January 19, 2012, that makes the denial letter nonsensical. See page 2, number 2.

In reviewing the 2/29/12 BOS meeting DVD, you will see Selectman, Chris Stewart, state that my claim “is unjust”. Perhaps that is because Selectman Stewart is unaware of the Bylaws in the Town of Templeton Articles XLIV and XLV regarding the official town web site and the posting of warrants and bylaws in town and that documentation is included straight from the town bylaws manual .

Below that you will find a video of the BOS meeting held 2-27-2012 attached to a sheet of paper entitled evidence of ongoing violations and the need for urgency/expediency from the Attorney General’s office. I believe this tape surely shows that the violations/problems are ongoing and that the present chairman and newly elected selectmen are more concerned about holding a meeting to support their own agenda, than they are with upholding the open meeting laws or even the physical safety of the town’s citizens. This is the evidence in the case in regards to the “letter” and “intent” of the open meeting law postings and I am certainly in hopes you will uphold both.

Beyond the evidence regarding the posting I would like an investigation into the much more serious issue” that this meeting occurred without the citizens of Templeton being properly protected and advised by legal counsel”. Much more of my tax dollar going towards paying legal counsel than goes toward paying the salaries of an uneducated and unadvised BOS and it is legal counsel representation that I expect at a meeting with such serious implications. When the chairman of the board and board members deny having contact with legal counsel and do not provide the advice of said counsel at the 2-16 2012 meeting I believe I have been subject to the most serious and fundamental open meeting law violation of all “taxation without representation”. This is obviously something that should not be allowed to occur anywhere in America and especially not in the very state where it incited the revolution.

In order to move forwards and in an effort to prevent future violations I have also included the two ethics complaints that I have filed regarding the selectmen involved in the 2-16-2012 meeting. I have included these as I am requesting that you investigate the ethics commission’s performance as I sincerely believe that their failure to enforce their own mandate 268A: 29. (Included and highlighted) that require a senior level employee of a municipality be designated and trained as a liaison to the commission is a big part of the reason for this complaint and why future complaints will continue. For this reason I am requesting that you obtain and provide to me as an FOIA request the List of Massachusetts towns that are in compliance and those that are not as I now know that Templeton is not and It is my contention that your office will not be able to keep up with the open meeting law violations until we remedy and prevent the unethical behaviors that create them.

I have sent this letter by registered mail, as I expect acknowledgement of it being received by phone or email within 24 hours, an email detailing what your response to the complaint will be within 48 hours and the FOIA information or denial of said information I requested within 10 days. Please also check your past record of complaints from Templeton as I have been advised by others that I am wasting my time with your office and would certainly like to see a timely, effective and consequential response to all my requests as no one I know in this state wants to be taxed for representation they do not receive.

To: The ethics commission

I am formally filing a conflict of interest complaint against Templeton selectman Robert Columbus for his vote to change town counsel at the February 16 2012 Board of selectman’s meeting held at 690 patriots road Templeton. I believe that Mr. Columbus’s past history of personnel complaints, some still unresolved, and his past use of the town counsel to put forward a petition as a rate payer and tax payer without a vote by the TBOS to do so constitutes a conflict of interest when voting in favor of changing town counsel to Kopleman and Paige. This makes myself and many others in town question if his vote to change law firms to Kopleman and Paige was a conflict of interest as we have no idea if Mr. Columbus’s was voting for K&P in Templeton to resolve his past personal issues.

I am also filing this complaint as I believe Mr. Columbus’s denial that he contacted legal counsel and failure to provide the towns citizens with said advice at the above mentioned meeting, constitutes one of the most serious ethical violations in this country, taxation without representation. Much more of my tax dollar goes for legal advice than for an uneducated opinion from the board of selectmen and it is that representation (legal counsel) that I want at a meeting with such serious implications.

I am asking this commission to access any and all files regarding Mr. Columbus’s past history in the town of Templeton including but not limited to: Personnel complaint records, Selectmen meeting records/videos, and past and present correspondences between Kopleman and Paige and the town of Templeton regarding Mr. Columbus’s personnel complaints and use of town counsel for personal reasons.

I am also asking the commission to investigate your own records to find out when and if Mr. Columbus has passed any ethics training. I am also requesting the name or names of our past and present municipal liaison with the state ethics commission as required by the Conflict of interest laws As amended by c. 194 Acts of 2011 268A;29.

Please contact me forthwith regarding the name of the town’s liaison with your office as I believe this town is now without a liaison and as I further believe that there were multiple violations at the meeting and a number of citizens questioning Mr. Columbus’s past history and conduct. I hope you will investigate this issue as soon as possible in lieu of and in the absence of said trained liaison.

March 1, 2012

To: The ethics commission

I am formally filing a conflict of interest complaint against Templeton selectman Patrick Mullins for his vote to change town counsel at the February 16 2012 Board of selectman’s meeting held at 690 patriots road Templeton. I believe that Mr. Mullins was alleged to be involved in possible misconduct and an investigation in the adjacent town of Winchendon, whose town counsel is Kopleman and Paige, prior to during and now, with his resignation after, his vote to change law firms to Kopleman and Paige was a conflict of interest as we have no idea if MR. Mullins was voting for K&P in Templeton to resolve his issues in Winchendon.

I am asking this commission to access any and all files regarding Mr. Mullins in the town of Winchendon including but not limited to: police files, court records, and correspondence between the Town of Winchendon and Kopleman and Paige regarding Mr. Mullins employment and resignation in that town.

I am also asking the commission to investigate your own records to find out when and if Mr. Mullins has passed any ethics training. I am also requesting the name or names of our past and present municipal liaison with the state ethics commission as required by the Conflict of interest laws As amended by c. 194 Acts of 2011 268A;29.

Please contact me forthwith regarding the name of the town’s liaison with your office as I believe this town is now without a liaison and as I further believe that there were multiple violations at the meeting and a number of citizens questioning Mr. Mullins conduct. I hope you will investigate this issue as soon as possible in lieu of and in the absence of said trained liaison.

Sincerely Yours

Robert C. Mitchell

Citizen volunteer for truth in government