In my
opinion the town powers should put six dump bodies, six plows, six sanders and
six drivers on 252 Baldwinville road building. And that should solve all the highway
problems. Oops in one new loader. Because with the new town hall with all the
bells and air horns when we get a foot of snow all we have to do is wait until
it melts, right Bud? Other words don't do the important things now wait until in
the middle of the winter to buy a truck or loader. By the way what is going to
happen to the loader and truck we are replacing? Is it going to be put next to
that fire truck outback of the highway barn? How about some answers on paper
about where that junk equipment is going? Maybe it's something I could buy to
offset my $150 class III junk license, hee hee. If more information was printed
for the taxpayer in layman's terms, these requests might not be such a big
hassle. Other words don't show a Big Ten wheel dump truck that needs to be
replaced and by a little six wheel 1 ton 3 yard truck to replace it. That is if
you people know what I mean. I get the drift on things as a roundabout
question. Other words if you want to go to Fitchburg from Templeton would you
go to Athol first, then to Greenfield, then to Petersham, then to Fitchburg?
That's what I call a roundabout way. Much like the process of doing business in
Templeton. I know the highway is important so why is it always last? Asked Bud
Chase about the board of selectmens decision on certain requests. I mean on
paper, not in some corner or out in the middle of the field, on paper-maybe he
can smarten up a lot of you taxpayers on decision-making. And he-Bud, gets that
heat, secrets, secrets, secrets, afraid to lose one's job, afraid to speak out,
for fear of retaliation. It's slowing down, but I want it stopped and it will be
stopped, right Bev? And to you Frank, I still agree and we are still working on
it. Right Pete, so vote the why you should not the way others want you to vote,
Thursday. Want me to tell you how. This is only my opinion. Thanks, Pauly
PS To Stevie
B don’t keep lipping off about me put it on paper. That stuff is written by someone
who knows you. When I write things – I sign my name because I can stand up and
be recognized.
Final countdown: bill for the phase 2 ecs evironmental report for 252 baldwinville road is in and signed by two selectmen, wilder and mullins. $13 grand and some change, why the previous owner was not made to do that before Templeton purchased that building is a question that should be answered by say Dennis O'Brien, at the time, chairman of the board of selectmen.
ReplyDeleteI think the bill from ECS was addressed to Gerald Skelton....
DeleteThen maybe Gerald Skelton should pay it. Maybe he could get "stupid" to contribute.
DeleteIt was really K&P that costs us 13K because they did not catch this oversight when reviewing the purchase and sales of this property against their own checklist for buying property for municipal projects. (full 21E needs to be done before purchase) So, they should deduct 13k from their final bill to the town. Its only fair.
DeleteMaybe Scrappy Mullins can take care of the junk trucks. He's unemployed and might need the cash; no pay for his civil duty starting soon! Lock them up if you don't want him to take care of the scrap for the town.
ReplyDeleteWHY would anyone want Stevie B? Barf Barf!!
ReplyDeleteyears ago bud was crying for a new sander saying that the old one was junk and could not be used again ..well he got his new sander and still used the one he bitched about all winter ....well you wounder why he has a hard time getting things he lies to the public and people know we are not stupid ..lol just my opinion
ReplyDeleteMikeC are you talking about the "new" $500.00 sander that was purchased from Madigan? This was in fact was sandblasted, repainted and mounted on the 1979 Mack. It is my understanding this particular purchase and refurbish saved the taxpayer from purchasing a new one for over $12,000? I may be wrong but you can check those facts with the highway depart. Just my opinion...
Deletethe highway dept is not a construction company they are a maintenance dept ..they do not need 10 wheeler dump trucks and all season body's
ReplyDeletethey should be using six wheel dumps with auto transmissions and slide in sanders that way you can do repairs to the slide in units in the summer and if you had a spare slide in unit and one screwed up during a storm just slide another one in and you could get one or two 4 wheel drive ones to do the back roads in town instead of hammering on a pick up you need weight when plowing !!!..just my opinion
If the bill for 252 bald. Rd. was addressed to Mr. Skelton, by all means, someone should have sent it to his home. This was his baby, after all. 13 grand! Oh MY, the original owner did not do it because someone screwed up. OOPS, Who is STUPID now? Rolling right along, I remember seeing a 10 wheeler having a hard time getting up my hill in a snow storm. I don't think a smaller truck would do,in a really big snow storm. You need a truck big enough to hold enough sand. Its a long ride from my house to the highway barn, just to get another load of sand. I would prefer to use a standard shift, I like to shift down when its slippery.{guess I should have been born a boy. But what do I know? Reminds me of the time the guy plowing snow drove the truck off the road into the ditch. {Steve Manty's idea for drainage, a 4ft. ditch down the side of the road.} Well what to do, no cell phone, guess maybe his radio did not work, so the guy shows up at the door, of course ma put the coffee pot on, Stephen shows up and all his guys were in the house drinking coffee. Boy was he mad. Do what ever you feel is right, but atleast go and vote tomorrow,remember, 11-7. my thoughts, Bev.
DeleteThe "new" yellow steel sander was bought for $500.00 used, cleaned up, about 2 thousand was put into it, it looks new from afar and the town should get atleast 5 years out of that old sander. Actually automatice transmissions have come far and are actually great for plowing snow. If you travel route 2 going west, beginning in Fitchburg, near the K-mart plaza, there is a long hill that is 4 lanes wide, 2 lanes, a truck climbing lane and an excell lane for an on ramp. it is a wide stretch of road on a hill, the one truck that is able to push snow all the way over no matter the amount of snow is a big truck with an automatic. Six wheelers are the way to go. Buy a couple of good used all wheel drive trucks for plowing/sanding for when you need them. You can even park them in the summer to get them to last even longer. There is a simple cheap way for this to happen. Selectmen in the past would not go this route. Pickups do double duty, winter and summer. What we should be doing and what citizens should ask for is a plan, at least 5 years out on how to accomplish what needs to be done. It is the managment or lack of, that has gotten the town into the mess and it is a plan and managment that will get us out of it. History shows who was in charge as this mess got larger and larger and history will show who was in charge as it gets better and the taxpayers can judge the results. Please vote today!!!
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ReplyDeletehey movin on where are your comments going??
DeleteColumbus, O'Brien and skelton were all on the 252 committee and all 3 are on elementary building committee, time for taxpayers to tell selectmen to remove them from that as well. All "dear friends" of wilder such as c skelton, Lang, (relative to wilder) should be kept far far away as well. Time to make town clerk liason to ethics as well. Town clerk swears in people and hands out paper work for ethics and open meeting and she is keeper of those records (check mass general laws) so she should be liason so there is no confusion as to where to go for what. Taxpayers, tell the selectmen what you want.
ReplyDeleteTown employees who are not union, what did any of the unions volunteer to give up to help out and what did the light department do to help out?
ReplyDeleteHere's a list of the only employees taking the hit and I hear they want to take some of their benefits too.
DeleteLaurie Wiita - BOH
Phil Leger - BOH
Luanne Royer - Assessors
Sue Byrne - Assessors
Donna Davis - Building Dept
Larry Brandt - Building Dept
Carol Harris - Town Clerk
Karen Gautreau - Asst Town Clerk
Carolee Eaton - Tax Collector
Lynn Scerra - Asst Tax collector
Kate Myers - Selectmen's office
Nancy Paradis - Selectmen's office
Carol Osbourne _ Asst Treasurer
Donna Sans - Police Dept
Jean Fountain - Highway
Please note that alot of these people are the lowest paid people of the town employees.
Just thought you all might want some faces with cuts.
No light dept employees? Water dept? Are they not considered town employees?
DeleteWell, I feel bad that anyone has to take a hit this year. Hopefully, with the help of the new BOS, new Advisory Board, new Personnel Board, new (yet to be hired) Accountant, new School Superintendent, Coordinator Jeff Ritter and many more citizens attending public meetings, we can all work together to FIX town finances and UNDO all the misuse of funds and other worngdoings that got us here today. All need to work together to create a 5 yr plan and stick to it. All need to work together to reevaluate all contracts and agreements with insurance companies and vendors. A better, more respectful, and healthy work environment needs to be a priority. Lets make sure that this town's 250th year of existence is monumental for more than its age.
Thank you to all the town employees who are doing your job for less money. Its been a tough year and the coming year is going to be tough too. Please know you are appreciated and better days will come.
How about supporting your town by voting today. Have you gone yet?
Olive
Was someone working on a deal for the town, to get taxpayers to pay for sewer lines to get close to exit 19 for that project that was suppose to go there. Seem to recall something about a try for public money to pay for sewer lines when that project first began. Could there be ulterior motives involved there again? Just asking
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DeleteMy comment got kind of messed up Saying we have eleven years and a huge bill to prove it, should have gone after the next line, there is no other place for the school, a plain and simple fact. You guys get it. Every one has the right to have a opinion. My sister says she does not think those clients will stay at the Fernald school. Time will tell. Maybe the town can get a grant to pay for the sewer extension , if we need it. I still do not know where we are going to get any of the money for this. That group should have given us more than 60%. I do not think the people understand how broke the town is. Jeff told me he looked at the web sight, and other towns have gotten more. It will all come out in the wash . We have a long way to go. Bev.
ReplyDeleteI agree that the light & water depts. should be included in this if they are going to cut other dept. salaries, especially the people who are already making less. In my opinion, those depts. set themselves apart from everyone else years ago, on their own, while we weren't looking, so to speak. Now we have so many huge problems because of those who breached the public trust!! WHO is making the final decisions on these cuts???
ReplyDeleteTo mike c Your facts are wrong and you are doing a disservice to our town highway dept.I work on the highway dept and serve proudly for Bud Chase. You should come and see with your eyes what is going on,ask us questions and not think that you know whats going on.
ReplyDeleteDave smart
dave this was back 10 plus years ago this was not this year if i came off that way im sorry this is back when i was pushing for a new fire truck in TC .i attended a lot of selectman meetings back then and i know im not wrong !!and i also remember going in the high way barn during some fire dept thing and seeing a sander still full of sand and salt in july..(rust never sleeps) and them sanders were not stainless!!!
Deleteand on the other note the fire dept had a huge problem with preventive maintenance back then and bud told me that there is no preventive maintenance if it breaks we will fix thats is it!!so you buy 250 grand fire truck it needs to be maintained you do not wait till it breaks !!!thats why the high way dept is no longer servicing the fire dept and police dept unless things have changed in the last 2 months just my opinion !!!
and also at work we are putting one of our sanders to pasture . the sander body is still good just the truck under it is gone 30 plus year old sander body still in good shape . thats what preventive maintenance does makes them last !!!
Deletedave and to all the highway guys i am sorry to do disservice to our town highway dept. this was the past and we need to learn from the past so we do not repeat the mistakes that was made . keep up the good work guys !!
Deletemike c
Let me say it again: By law union members at the Light, Water, and Highway Depts cannot be touched because of their contracts. The clerical staff in all of these depts are not union, and by the way, how about the admin assistant at the sewer dept not taking a cut? It looks like Jean (highway)took a cut, why didn't the others in the same position at Light and Water, and Sewer, take a cut? and why aren't they on the same pay scale in the personnel policies as the rest of the non-union employees? This is why morale is so low. It's one thing to take a cut if everyone does, but, so unfair the way it's set up now. I don't know what can be done, but, it needs to be looked into. Some employees are angry at the voters, and rightly so, but, we can't continue to carry the load in taxes either. I hope there will be an effort to bring business into town in the coming year. I heard the project at Patriots Place?? (2A) has gone under. That is really a shame.
ReplyDeleteYes, Checkn, you are right about the union, that is a big part of the problem. Most of the residents don't have anybody protecting their small $23,000.00 (documented by a recent DOR report) average salary per year, if they even have a job anymore. So, I don't think workers can blame the voters for not being able to handle paying for another thing at this time. I also don't think a lot of people have accepted the fact that we are in tough times. Many are so used to getting all they want, any time they want it & can't seem to adjust to reality. (And I am NOT talking about any of the employees who are on the pay-cut list.) How does anyone expect a voter, struggling to the nth degree, to feel sorry for someone who is making more than they are, even with a pay cut?? I understand some employees being angry but, don't be angry with the voters. We are all in the same boat & are struggling just as much, if not more, in many cases. All of us have a right to be angry with the way we have been used, screwed over, lied to, bamboozled, etc, etc by a certain few mentioned previously. They are the ones who mismanaged Our money & put us in dire straights. We trusted them to do the right thing & they didn't over & over, time & again !! Now we are all suffering the consequences of arrogance, greed, bad decisions, selfishness, you name it with these self-entitled people. What a mess we are in & it is Not because of the voters or the community as a whole but the irresponsible actions of a few. I hope to God they have to be accountable for what they have done to all of us & the employees who are now being severely hurt with pay cuts because the "gang" didn't do the right thing for this town, ever!!. Pauly & others have tried for years to shed some "light" on that subject! Anyway, we all have had to take cuts in one form or another. No one likes it. Sorry for the employees who had to take a hit. Most of those really didn't deserve it. There are many others who make much more who should be in that same pool, union or not. All my opinions. Thanks you for sharing yours.
ReplyDelete