My Name is Paul H Cosentino. I started this Blog in 2011 because of what I believe to be wrongdoings in town government. This Blog is to keep the citizens of Templeton informed. It is also for the citizens of Templeton to post their comments and concerns.
Back in September, 2011, at a selectmen meeting, Shaun Grimley said to me, 'your time is coming, little man" Well, the "green" sheet for fiscal year 2013 shows me that shaun's time is coming to an end, June 30, 2012 along with the con com agent who took too much money in his pay check for 2 years, see minutes of selectmen meeting May 24, 2010, joe Fair of K&P, agent paid outside of grade. That is over and the con com will now have to do some work and that is that. Oh yeah, I'm still here shaun.
Jeff, I was there at that meeting and I remember that statement from Grimley to you. I was shocked at that and if I remember correctly he said it while pointing his index finger at you. I believe it is on video tape. I always said I couldn`t believe he didn`t get arrested for threating you. To me that was more of a threat than saying "Do I have to go postal to get attention" The old saying someone who lives in a glass house sould never throw stones and always watch what you say cause it could come back to bite you in the ass, come into play here don`t you think. LOL
As the old saying goes, "the bigger they are the harder the fall" or "What you do comes back to you."Also "pay back is a bitch" these all apply, some learn lessons the hard way, right Shaun.
You are correct Steve and i did place a statement to that incident in the selectmen folder, to which someone placed a sticky note on it saying "man up you baby", the handwriting was clearly written by a certain selectmen who is not longer on the board. The postal item was something that was made a big deal about to try and make an individual appear to be someone that is just a trouble maker and not to be taken serious, unfortunately for them and fortunately for Templeton, the ploy did not work, in fact everytime "they" tried to make Paul Cosentino sr. look bad, he always ended up looking better than "them" So when shaun grimley got involved in the recallcoming group, which in my opinion, is the group most responsible for the mess Templeton is in now, I think shaun was unknowingly writting his own one way ticket off the town payroll, which in my opinion is a good thing. For too long, there have many people in office that were all about me, me , me and not the town and certainly not to serve the people. Like last nights article on 10 signatures for a citizens petition. First I do not think it is frivolous when a citizen takes time to gather signatures, no matter how many or how few, when a citizen takes the time, they should be able to have a say at their town meeting. If the selectmen did a better job of listening to and helping the taxpayers, when we can, and when we can't, take time to explain why we can not help, for whatever the reason. If we did/do that, I do not think we will have an extrordinary amount of citizens petitions. Politicians should not be making it harder for citizens to participate, especially when I only need 29 signatures to get my name on the ballot for election, but a citizen has to get a hundred just to be heard at their own meeting. Does not make sense to me. Paul Q should take some time to look in the mirror and realize that if he had put the town first back in 2004 and not voted to rehire carol skelton as town coordinator, there were at least two candidates, but the midnight appointment had already been arranged, the town may not have been in the position we find ourselves in now. I say midnight appointment because of another selectman at the time, randy brown was an employee of the water dept and carol skelton husband was randy's boss, Gerald skelton. Any way, there will be no more questions about whether shaun is doing con com work on affordable housing dime or not, which is a good thing for Templeton, in my opinion.
Jeff and Steve i agree. Ive had plenty of dealings with Brown and Skelton and their extended famililes who need jobs or time in to get retirement. I used to always think how nice it was that the Light Enterprise would 'donate' $75,000 or $100,000 of surplus funds to the Town and how they must be doing things right... Then I learned the workings of an Enterprise. That $100,000 donation as we clearly were answered aboit at Town Meeting is their 'partial' tax payment. As Dan Keeney touched upon, while homeowners and businesses taxes have increased four-fold in the last 20 years. That Enterprise Isnt donating out of the goodness of their heart, theyre short-changing us on town owed tax money. No wonder they can keep buying new equipment constantly, they dont pay taxes back in! Here's a good example... I'll go down to the tax collecters office and tell them I'm not paying my property taxes of $2600 this year, then I'll go over to Town Meeting and announce to everyone, I'm writing a check for $650 as a donation to the General Fund to help with everyones taxes. We need to assess what these Enterprises should be paying and collect it.
It is my understanding that the $100,000. given to the town in lieu of taxes is much more than their taxes would be. Am I wrong? What I do not understand is why they are able to pay their employees so much more than other town employees. Whether working of town offices or municipal light it's still the Town of Templeton and the wage scale should be at least close for ALL employees.
The real travesty of the whole budget fiasco is that the positions funded by enterprise funds did not get cut. Those budgets are voted as separate warrant articles. Are those stipends still intact for the elected officials at Light and Water?
Just to clarify one thing. The TLWD dose not have an interprise fund. It has a pilot. And a pilot is different than an interprise fund, like the sewer Dept. has. Under a pilot, the dept dose not pay taxes, but must pay a fee in lieu of taxes. Now to the best of my knowledge the State of Mass. DOR says that the payment in lieu of taxes should be equal or around what the property tax would be if thay were paying taxes. Back in the 80s and 90s they use to give in lieu of taxes, any where from 75k to 125k. You would think now, 20+ years later that it would be more. No other Town Dept has over a million dollars sitting in their bank account. If i`m not correct maybe Sue can explain it better. All in all, they are a lot better off finanicaly than any other Dept. in town. The employees are paid alot more and also have a clothing alowance. What other dept has a clothing allowance? Look at it this way if you want. All the towns departments are one big family and you would think they would help out their family members a little. Just my opion of course
Ok, ill have to read up on pilots. But all in all same idea i guess, the amount they pay or 'donate' as JS made me and others previously believe, hasnt change with time and everyone else's taxes. I dont want to see any town department suffer, but i believe they could still double or almost triple their payment to reflect more accurately what they should be paying and still operate far better off than any other dept.
As stated by chairman dana the builder,The light dept has done extensive upgrades and repairs to the sub station and spent an even 2,000,000.00 this past year alone, and they/we still have as stated by town acct. 1.6 million certified free cash in the account! I for one would like to see the books and see what we are worth! $181,000.00 spent on office furniture and equipment? can be seen in town report!Rent collected from water dept? 35k+,I wonder if they split the electric bill for them like mbj does for rental hall 690 patriots rd!
Yup, and Ive done extensive repairs to my own things, and the Town and the State still seem to want my tax money... I dont see any other businesses, mandated to meet new requirements, saying "well this is all we can give this year for taxes because we had to meet new (building, handicap, electrical, plumbing, DOT, emissions, fire safety, etc) codes." I'd like to see Templeton Furniture, Cumberland Farms, the various restaurants, Athol Savings Bank, Huhtala Oil, Wilson Bus, etc., give that lame excuse and walk away from their obligation. Thats business. I bet all those places and more would love to cry about what they have had to conform to and have someone say its all ok and not to worry, so they can turn around and buy new trucks or equipment, put on an addition, or boost salaries. I think they are outside of Town control and need either to pay accordingly, no questions asked, or dissolve their enterprise like fantasy club.
After looking over the green sheets, and reviewing what was done and who was cut, how is it that the health agent makes/made more than the town coordintor? I'm just a stupid employee but how is that? Not true now with the cuts, but even still, it looks like the town coordintor's position was cut (wages), will Mr. Ritter come back with a pay cut? As a stupid employee, my pay just goes down because of the costs with insurances going up, are we going to get a COLA next year? Something just don't seem right here. We do more work with less money....guess it is just my fustration coming out...sorry...
Back in September, 2011, at a selectmen meeting, Shaun Grimley said to me, 'your time is coming, little man" Well, the "green" sheet for fiscal year 2013 shows me that shaun's time is coming to an end, June 30, 2012 along with the con com agent who took too much money in his pay check for 2 years, see minutes of selectmen meeting May 24, 2010, joe Fair of K&P, agent paid outside of grade. That is over and the con com will now have to do some work and that is that. Oh yeah, I'm still here shaun.
ReplyDeleteJeff, I was there at that meeting and I remember that statement from Grimley to you. I was shocked at that and if I remember correctly he said it while pointing his index finger at you. I believe it is on video tape. I always said I couldn`t believe he didn`t get arrested for threating you. To me that was more of a threat than saying "Do I have to go postal to get attention"
DeleteThe old saying someone who lives in a glass house sould never throw stones and always watch what you say cause it could come back to bite you in the ass, come into play here don`t you think. LOL
Especially if its an Affordable Glass House!
DeleteAs PAULY WOULD SAY IT " GET IT, Affordable Galss House, Shaun!!! GET IT?
DeleteHe he he...
DeleteAs the old saying goes, "the bigger they are the harder the fall" or "What you do comes back to you."Also "pay back is a bitch" these all apply, some learn lessons the hard way, right Shaun.
DeleteYou are correct Steve and i did place a statement to that incident in the selectmen folder, to which someone placed a sticky note on it saying "man up you baby", the handwriting was clearly written by a certain selectmen who is not longer on the board. The postal item was something that was made a big deal about to try and make an individual appear to be someone that is just a trouble maker and not to be taken serious, unfortunately for them and fortunately for Templeton, the ploy did not work, in fact everytime "they" tried to make Paul Cosentino sr. look bad, he always ended up looking better than "them" So when shaun grimley got involved in the recallcoming group, which in my opinion, is the group most responsible for the mess Templeton is in now, I think shaun was unknowingly writting his own one way ticket off the town payroll, which in my opinion is a good thing. For too long, there have many people in office that were all about me, me , me and not the town and certainly not to serve the people. Like last nights article on 10 signatures for a citizens petition. First I do not think it is frivolous when a citizen takes time to gather signatures, no matter how many or how few, when a citizen takes the time, they should be able to have a say at their town meeting. If the selectmen did a better job of listening to and helping the taxpayers, when we can, and when we can't, take time to explain why we can not help, for whatever the reason. If we did/do that, I do not think we will have an extrordinary amount of citizens petitions. Politicians should not be making it harder for citizens to participate, especially when I only need 29 signatures to get my name on the ballot for election, but a citizen has to get a hundred just to be heard at their own meeting. Does not make sense to me. Paul Q should take some time to look in the mirror and realize that if he had put the town first back in 2004 and not voted to rehire carol skelton as town coordinator, there were at least two candidates, but the midnight appointment had already been arranged, the town may not have been in the position we find ourselves in now. I say midnight appointment because of another selectman at the time, randy brown was an employee of the water dept and carol skelton husband was randy's boss, Gerald skelton. Any way, there will be no more questions about whether shaun is doing con com work on affordable housing dime or not, which is a good thing for Templeton, in my opinion.
DeleteJeff and Steve i agree. Ive had plenty of dealings with Brown and Skelton and their extended famililes who need jobs or time in to get retirement. I used to always think how nice it was that the Light Enterprise would 'donate' $75,000 or $100,000 of surplus funds to the Town and how they must be doing things right... Then I learned the workings of an Enterprise. That $100,000 donation as we clearly were answered aboit at Town Meeting is their 'partial' tax payment. As Dan Keeney touched upon, while homeowners and businesses taxes have increased four-fold in the last 20 years. That Enterprise Isnt donating out of the goodness of their heart, theyre short-changing us on town owed tax money. No wonder they can keep buying new equipment constantly, they dont pay taxes back in! Here's a good example... I'll go down to the tax collecters office and tell them I'm not paying my property taxes of $2600 this year, then I'll go over to Town Meeting and announce to everyone, I'm writing a check for $650 as a donation to the General Fund to help with everyones taxes. We need to assess what these Enterprises should be paying and collect it.
ReplyDeleteIt is my understanding that the $100,000. given to the town in lieu of taxes is much more than their taxes would be. Am I wrong? What I do not understand is why they are able to pay their employees so much more than other town employees. Whether working of town offices or municipal light it's still the Town of Templeton and the wage scale should be at least close for ALL employees.
DeleteThe real travesty of the whole budget fiasco is that the positions funded by enterprise funds did not get cut. Those budgets are voted as separate warrant articles. Are those stipends still intact for the elected officials at Light and Water?
ReplyDeleteJust to clarify one thing. The TLWD dose not have an interprise fund. It has a pilot. And a pilot is different than an interprise fund, like the sewer Dept. has. Under a pilot, the dept dose not pay taxes, but must pay a fee in lieu of taxes. Now to the best of my knowledge the State of Mass. DOR says that the payment in lieu of taxes should be equal or around what the property tax would be if thay were paying taxes. Back in the 80s and 90s they use to give in lieu of taxes, any where from 75k to 125k. You would think now, 20+ years later that it would be more. No other Town Dept has over a million dollars sitting in their bank account. If i`m not correct maybe Sue can explain it better.
ReplyDeleteAll in all, they are a lot better off finanicaly than any other Dept. in town. The employees are paid alot more and also have a clothing alowance. What other dept has a clothing allowance? Look at it this way if you want. All the towns departments are one big family and you would think they would help out their family members a little.
Just my opion of course
Ok, ill have to read up on pilots. But all in all same idea i guess, the amount they pay or 'donate' as JS made me and others previously believe, hasnt change with time and everyone else's taxes. I dont want to see any town department suffer, but i believe they could still double or almost triple their payment to reflect more accurately what they should be paying and still operate far better off than any other dept.
ReplyDeleteWHY does the town of Templeton have to pay for electric usage in these tough times when there is 1+ million sitting there waiting for the vultures
ReplyDeleteAs stated by chairman dana the builder,The light dept has done extensive upgrades and repairs to the sub station and spent an even 2,000,000.00 this past year alone, and they/we still have as stated by town acct. 1.6 million certified free cash in the account! I for one would like to see the books and see what we are worth! $181,000.00 spent on office furniture and equipment? can be seen in town report!Rent collected from water dept? 35k+,I wonder if they split the electric bill for them like mbj does for rental hall 690 patriots rd!
ReplyDeleteYup, and Ive done extensive repairs to my own things, and the Town and the State still seem to want my tax money... I dont see any other businesses, mandated to meet new requirements, saying "well this is all we can give this year for taxes because we had to meet new (building, handicap, electrical, plumbing, DOT, emissions, fire safety, etc) codes." I'd like to see Templeton Furniture, Cumberland Farms, the various restaurants, Athol Savings Bank, Huhtala Oil, Wilson Bus, etc., give that lame excuse and walk away from their obligation. Thats business. I bet all those places and more would love to cry about what they have had to conform to and have someone say its all ok and not to worry, so they can turn around and buy new trucks or equipment, put on an addition, or boost salaries. I think they are outside of Town control and need either to pay accordingly, no questions asked, or dissolve their enterprise like fantasy club.
ReplyDeleteAfter looking over the green sheets, and reviewing what was done and who was cut, how is it that the health agent makes/made more than the town coordintor? I'm just a stupid employee but how is that? Not true now with the cuts, but even still, it looks like the town coordintor's position was cut (wages), will Mr. Ritter come back with a pay cut? As a stupid employee, my pay just goes down because of the costs with insurances going up, are we going to get a COLA next year? Something just don't seem right here. We do more work with less money....guess it is just my fustration coming out...sorry...
ReplyDelete