July 24, 2012
Board of
Selectmen
POB 250
Templeton,
MA 01468
Dear Board
Members,
Due to the
fact that the Conservation Agent was again overpaid, I propose that Virginia
Wilder and George Andrews either repay the town the $220.00 that Mr. Koonce was
paid or they recover the money from Mr. Koonce without any cost to the town.
Ms. Wilder as a selectman and Mr. Andrews as chairman of the Conservation
Commission had the duty to verify that the voucher they signed for Mr. Koonce
was correct. They both failed to do this. Therefore, I believe that the best
was to rectify this and prevent any other elected/appointed official from
blindly signing a voucher for the town to pay out money is to have them
reimburse the town the immediately. We need to start holding our elected and
appointed officials accountable and stop saying, oh well it’s too late, he
already got the money!
Sincerely,
Paul H.
Cosentino, Sr.
POB 177
Templeton,
MA 01468
Cc:
Conservation Commission
I dropped this off in person to the selectmen office.
I hope that this letter is successful. If so I would like to send a letter to Mr. Kopelman asking for the thirty million owed the town by that firm for the alleged obstruction of justice in case 02-2424C. Until the town wakes up and I believe it has started to and smells the coffee we will continue to be taken advantage of in every sense of the word.
ReplyDeleteWow, good letter, Pauly!! And yes, it is time for K&P to reimburse us those millions in the 02-242-4C case that Mr. Farrell fought for so long. Talk about a costly obstruction of justice case. Time to get our money back!! Thank you again to all the people who are fighting out there in the frontlines! You are appreciated by many!
DeleteHere's my thoughts and questions...
ReplyDeleteWhen will something be done about all of this?
Two current selectmen and one former selectmen violated the bylaws when they signed a "settlement" with Jeff Ritter. Do we only go after average citizens when they violate bylaws and not town officials.
We have on our current board of Selectmen a member who bullied and harrassed our current Town Coordinator, what do we do? we put her on the Personnel Board.
We have another current member who left his former employer under some "circumstances" for lack of a better word. Can we have an executive session where we the tax payeers can go in one at a time and ask our questions of this person? This needs to be addressed, Does he not realize that the majority of people are ridiculing him in this town.
We had a town planner that ripped of the town big time, kudo's to Kirk M for putting in a time clock and catching her. But again everyone new this was happening but no one addressed it (until Kirk).
We have three former selectmen who bought a building at 252 Baldwinville Rd. Are we just going to let it sit there or are we going to go after these three? Hey Chris S have some back bone and address these issues. Are we going to let these people get back on the Elementary School Building Comm?
We have a Building inspector that leaves his office @ 9:00am, puts in for travel. but no one can reach him after 9:00am. everyone in town knows he is doing wrong but no one will address it.
Interim Chief Bankowski blamed the "selectmen's office" for putting in for him to get paid for the week he was on vacation. I'm sorry but did he think of telling them they made a mistake when he came back? Kudo's to JB for speaking up about this.
We have a treasurer that does seem to be capable in doing the job. She seems to be spending more time fluttering in other offices complaining about everything and running around picking up her kid. On Fridays she has her child in her office "playing" on the town computer. I tried to get in to see her numerous times, notes on doors, not in? When are you selectmen going to address this?
I think the people who want to be on the ESBC should come to the next meeting so we all can ask them questions. After all they are representing the town.
And now the Conservation agent, Pauly has been trying to get attention on this for years and years. Nothing is ever done.
So I guess the message here is .. Get a job in Templeton, or get on a board or committee, rip the town off, then make your flight. Jeff B, Julie and Bob Mitchell have all tried to stop wrong doings where did it get them, Julie & Bob M ..Recalled.
So from here on in, lets run CORY checks on all current and future Employees, Board/Commission/Committee members. Lets look at people carefully who want to be appointed to something. Look at how they have acted in the past not only on past boards/committees but at there jobs etc.
And let's stop ignoring people in this town who are not doing what they were hired (getting paid), elected or appointed to do. Stop letting everything get swept under the rugs!!!!!
a broke taxpayer.
One more I forgot the ACO rumor has it the cats that were left in the shelter here Gardner didn't want and she had to "get rif of them" do we know how this was done? did she find someone to adopt them. some of them had been there for years. yes years. Also there is a dept that there was no accounting or record keeping or accounting of where the employee was. Or where the donations or bottle money went. Just talk to some of the volunteers. Another issue "swept under the Rug" and oh well she's working for Gardner now. Well guess what we are still paying!!!
DeleteA broke taxpayer
As far as I am concerned, anyone working for a hourly wage schould be on the clock. Punch in and punch out when you leave. " Getting lost " during the day is not acceptable. When the treasurer starts whining that she can't get her work done, well it might behove her to stay in her "own" office, let everyone else get their work done, and hire a babysitter for her kid. This is not a place for anyones child. Going to the bank does not seem necessary as there are other girls that go on their way home. I am sure they will do a deposit for her. My sister got a cat from the AC Shelter. while they were there, my brother inlaw felt bad for this little cat. He had been there for a couple of years. He was a runt, kinda ugley, he came home with them and his cellmate. Do you know the runt, Buffy actually started growing, and is doing well. There is the difference between just putting in your time, and really doing your job. When you hear "chatter" about someone and its not good, there is usually a reason. Jean from the highway dept, has made the same comment a couple of times. She said "You took our time away from us." She said that at the Personnel meeting and again at the Selectmans' meeting. This really bothers me. I want everyone to understand, The voters did not vote for a override. If we, {I guess the people who met on that Friday night to try to figure out how to keep the town running with limited funds} had not cut some positions, and then cut the hours on the hourly people, it would have been worse. The only other recourse would have been "eliminating people", then those people would have been really hurt, and the ones who were left behind would have had to pick up the slack. Try to keep this in mind. This was hard to do, we appreciate you all, My thoughts, Bev
DeleteCorrection: The selectmen do not put Larry Bankowski or anyone else in for pay, Larry like any or most dept head fills out a pay sheet stating hours worked any sick time taken for that week, vacation personal days etc and travel or mileage and they sign the sheet and submit it to the selectmen for one signature to be paid. Larry did send an e-mail to nancy Paradise, secretary in BOS office rather than to selectmen about his being off for vacation. Perhaps not every selectmen knew Larry was going or was on vacation because of the way that e-mail was sent, Why did larry not inform the selectmen when he was first appointed interim fire chief that he had planned a vacation a year in advance and simply asked about it then, at least pointed it out? Just another fish in the barrel that needs the water changed and start clean.
DeleteSo at one point, it is believed that all the accruals were actually on employees pay stubs. What happened to that? Why would someone change that feature in town accounting? Who was in power when that change occurred? I bet I can guess correctly. How else would you be able to willy-nilly pay off your cohorts? With that info gone from the paychecks, the books can be cooked. I sure hope that All past accounting is gone over very carefully. Why would our old accountant leave so abruptly? Did he know that slush funds were in use? Did he know that people were being paid for no good reason other than they were “dear friends” of the powers that were? Was he afraid that someone might actually come to him for these answers? Or did he think that if he left no one would bother to look into past practices?
ReplyDeleteThis feeling of “oh well, its only $220. It would cost us too much to go back after it.” is wrong. There is an iceberg in Templeton. We are seeing the tip. This $220 is part of that tip. Baldwin Templeton is right. The rest of the iceberg is worth Millions! It would be worth an investigation to see how big that iceberg really is. Anybody up for some deep sea diving?
I believe there was different process for payroll before the hiring of Scott Sawyer as accountant. I think the payroll was outsourced and cost roughly $20,000/yr for payroll, but that company did have the accruals on the pay stubs.
DeleteI believe when Mr. Sawyer was hired he had his own software "City &town" to do the accounting and the payroll. The City &Town software didn't have a module for accruals. So essentially, accruals have not been properly tracked for quite a few years.
Absolutely right that the $220 is the tip of the iceberg. I believe what Templeton needs is an investigation by the Attorney general's office. Pauly has had one heck of a time getting anywhere with that. I have an idea that even Pauly may approve of which will be the subject of a separate blog.
Blog on!
Julie Farrell
PS. As far as the COA director's request, that request would have placed the BOS in the same position as when the former BOS voted to move the Conservation Agent's step and grade. It was wrong then, it was wrong on Monday to ask to do the same thing for a different department. I am not going to vote to compound an already very flawed Personnel policy.
Three wrongs don't make it right.
I can't believe the COA asking for a raise at this time. They knew when hired what the pay would be. Everyone would like an increase in pay, but until that happens, no raises. Use the money to buy stamps, pay other expenses and put where it needs to be, rather than keep begging the town for more.
DeleteSometimes it is easy to get locked on to a problem that looks small. It is like pulling a weed out of your garden when you have not taken care of this garden for a month. What do you have at the other end of that weed? The whole dam earth! The screw up with the Conservation Agents sick time is the weed. The earth is our town, our government. I'll bet the accountant got out of here as fast as his two feet could move. We need the Att.Generals Office in here. If he is protecting K&P, it is time to say, Man, "I have a job to do!, I can't cover your a--, any longer. These people will not quit. Sorry!" Time for the Atty. Generals office to Sh-- or get off the pot. It is more than the $220. Pauly's upset about, I know that. I am not happy either, but we all respond in different ways. Julie does not deserve any crap from anybody! She has to do right by the whole town, and I give her alot of credit, she is not afraid to make a decision, that is more than what some of the men can do.{Not including you Jeff, you are fearless.} We need a rally in Boston, or Worcester, but first we need a plan---To be continued, after we have a consultation with the rest of the crew. My 2cents worth, Bev.
DeleteYou are right Bev, Julie does not deserve the crap she has been given & taken especially from the recall & ltps groups. I think she knows Pauly is just Beyond frustration. Yet, since I believe she knows people respond in different ways to problems, too, she is an amazingly strong woman & does not take it personally since most of it is not that at all. She is doing her job for the entire town & not just a few. She has more guts & principles than most people I know. Thanks for taking those difficult stands, Julie!
DeleteNone of this is Julie's fault. Thank goodness she's back on the BOS and playing by the rules. I think most of the people's frustrations here are more geared towards the "powers that were" not the powers that be...well, minus 2 people. Julie has our full support no doubt. Its just the building up of frustration sometimes comes out in a big burst. With cooler heads, we certainly know who is looking out for us and who is not.
DeleteSo Eileen is grossly underpaid. There are many in town(escpecially when comparing to light co. rate of pay) underpaid. Did she not know the pay when she started? Maybe it's time to move on to where she is paid what she is worth. Templeton cannot afford to pay anyone (but the light company) what they are worth. All increases in pay need to be done the according to town policy. Thank you Mrs. Farrell. It would have been very easy to okay the request but you stood for what you believed in and that is what this town needs more of.
ReplyDeleteOh,yes me again. Bart and I have been in the flower/vegetable plant business for atleast thirteen years. I have never felt the effects of the economy like this spring/summer. If some of this grant can be used for the elderly, it should be. I think last winters high fuel costs were the frosting on the cake. I think it took any extra people had, now this winter some will scraping the bottom of the barrell. I still say the selectman need to issue a "no pay raise mandate" to everyone, even the Light& water people. I don't give a d--, if the think they are on a different plannet or not! We are in this together, and the only way we will improve things is to stick together. A happy day for me will be when the Lions Club people get their head out of GS ass, and realize we are right and help us get this town on its two feet. Bev.
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