Mr.(oh, we can only hope) Sapia, is quoted in the Eagle-Tribune today as stating that in regards to citizen petitioned warrant articles that we must consider the motivations of the petitioner!
Well, Mr. Sapia, the warrant article in question, one to eliminate the position of Town Administrator, replacing it with a selectmen's clerk, was signed by 106 petitioners! Evidently Mr. Sapia's evident clairvoyance extends to the goals and motivations of all 106 petitioners!
Try this one on for size, Jack, This will blow your mind....
MAYBE, these 106 RESIDENTS are sick and tired of seeing what was a genuine desire to help our town become more efficient deteriorate into a body of FOUR selectmen, one of which was hired not elected. MAYBE, we are sick and tired of going into OUR town hall to request information, and being treated as if we are an inconvenience, we never get that from Linda and Rose by the way, MAYBE we are sick of hearing how rude our hired gun is to the women who work in town hall, MAYBE we are sick of seeing the selectmen complain about the actions and inactions of our town administrator, yet fail miserably to exercise ANY supervisory authority, and reprimand or counsel him. Come to think of it, MAYBE we are sick of seeing our selectmen over-supervise ELECTED OFFICIALS, like the town clerk and the road agent, over which they, by law, have NO, AND LITTLE AUTHORITY, and under-supervise people who mistreat resident regularly, like our town administrator, and police chief. Maybe we are just sick of selectmen who try to do everyone elses jobs, while neglecting their own.
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ATKINSON's Vietnam HONOR ROLL as VOTED and PASSED by 2005 Town Meeting and re-approved at Special Town Meeting Sept. 12
EDITORIAL-
A voice of compassion, an example of fairness and reasonable government.
One who believes in the strength and comfort you, your children and your family can draw from good government leadership.
A person who knows Atkinson is our home -- our most important possession that must be preserved and protected through fair taxes and sound community planning and where our children must be safe to grow to become a new generation of leaders.
One who knows that the citizens of Atkinson are all neighbors with her leadership to be dedicated and responsive to all.
One who believes that when those from Atkinson have served our nation and honors are deserved, those honors must be given.
In Valerie Tobin, we now have a leader we know we can entrust with these responsibilities because they are part of her character.
It is our honor to endorse Valerie for election to Atkinson’s Board of Selectmen.
Just a note for those who wish to count the deer.
In January 08 this blog had 16,000 hits and 1,500 unique visitors (for the month).
In 2007 this blog had over 100,000 hits and 5,750 unique visitors (for the year).
In 2007 this blog had over 100,000 hits and 5,750 unique visitors (for the year).
EDITORIAL-
"I offer nothing more than simple facts, plain arguments, and common sense . . ." [TP, 1776]
We take no small measure of umbrage at such a hostile official act against this BLOG’s patron. Therefore, a timely Editorial comment is both appropriate and necessary.
Discussion of Atkinson’s financial direction, from any viewpoint, is fundamental and encouraged and we will always attempt to limit and correct errors.
However, Righteous indignation towards purported error of such inconsequential nature is not appropriate.
The ENTIRE car deal is problematic. If it was caused by poor judgement, improper exercise of authority, neglect or mistake or even specious reasoning, this will never trump the facts that the entire questionable transaction started and ended within a very small circle of confidants.
We find the entire circumstances surrounding the disposition of the police Cruiser highly irregular at the least and the "explanations" somewhat trifling and exhaustive of our intellect.
Mr. Consentino: It’s time to go. Being Chief of Atkinson’s Police Department is NOT a birthright. That is a fabled legend of yesteryear.
Historically in Atkinson, police chief appointments were made "under the hand of the selectmen" for terms of one year at a time, as was also the case in the beginning of Mr. Consentino’s assorted and discontinuous stream of appointments to this position.
Your only remaining credential established on a claim of indispensability has faded.
So time is neigh. Plan a graceful exit, Clean out your desk, Accept the gratitude and tearful sentiments from some. We plan no editorial recriminations. It is time. Thank you for your service, We wish you a long and happy retirement. Bon Voyage.
LETTER
"To All Atkinson Residents,
I am writing to ask for your help. A member of the Atkinson Police Department needs our help. I am here to ask for your help in Corporal John Lapham's fight for his life. As you are aware, John has been diagnosed with Leukemia. He has been once again hospitalized with an infection that is threatening his life. He is one of the bravest people that I have ever met. He has never asked of anything from the residents of the town. Now is our chance to step up and help both him and his family out. As everyone is aware John has been out of work for a few months. His family has been busy helping John to get better. He needs our help, and I am hoping that this town can step up to the plate and help. From the moment that I met John, I have admired him. He does alot, but never asks for anything in return. He has helped so many people in this town. I for one am one of those people. Please help him.
There is a fund set-up in his name at TDBanknorth in Plaistow. Any amount will help John, while he is out of work. It would be great if this town could help ease a burden off his wife.
Thank You
Also if anyone would like to send a card, please address it to:
John Lapham
c/o Dana-Farber/Brigham and Women's Cancer Ctr.
Inpatient mail
75 Francis Street
Boston, MA 02115
United States
Please show Corporal John Lapham, that this community can stand up and show our support to those in need. I for one, miss John and can not wait until he can get better and return to work. Please show him that we support him. "
14 comments:
Put it on the ballot. If he (McCallister) gets nixed so be it, but if not please stop the complaining.
I didnt sign the petition but agree we need to eliminate the position. I am unsure if it is this particular BOS or what but Jack defers to Russ and asks for him to interject asks people to work with Russ on issues( example Linda Jette). I think a clerk to keep the BOS organized is what we need not a 4th selectmen.
AS for Jack, watch or attend the BOS meetings, after Phil speaks, Sapia explains to the board what Phil said and what he means. Phil is sitting right there and Sapia is explaining it..
Town Administrator McAllister is quoted in the paper as saying he is looking forward to town meeting, because he is going to "demand respect"!
Could someone please explain to Mr. McAllister that he has no busiiness speaking at town meeting as he is not a resident.
The warrant article is about the position, not him personally. And he clearly has a conflict in whether or not we need the position.
What ever happened with the thinking of changing from three to five members on the board of selectmen? It would be better to have five members and eliminate the "stacked deck" appearance of the present three members that everyone seems to be wanting to throw out of office . Five members would be best for a fuller representation of the towns citizens and voters.
Anonymous 8:59 PM is correct.
Mr. McAllister is not a town resident and, as such, may not speak at Deliberative Session -- unless the townspeople present vote to allow him to speak.
A non-resident speaking at the Deliberative Session part of a Town Meeting is a special privilege that neither the selectmen nor the Moderator, may give. Only the assembled townspeople BY A MAJORITY VOTE, may allow a non-resident to speak.
As I understand it, Mr. McAllister is not even mentioned by name in the warrant article petition.
Finally, as a non-resident who does not pay Atkinson taxes, Mr. McAllister has no business telling Atkinson taxpayers at Deliberative Session how they should spend their tax money or how they should vote on any issue.
Perhaps Mr McAllister has had enough will all these non-sensical right-to-know requests. I believe he can't possibly do his job when he is being run in circles getting information which is frequently irrelevant to anything and anyone. The cost to the town for this non-sense will probably add up too more than his salary. I feel it started out as a fact finding mission and has now turned into a ball busting situation. I am not saying its wrong to gather information but to run him in circles is not right. I am not a McAllister supporter as I have had to deal with him on a few occaisions. He is clearly not a people person but he has a job to do and we have given him a new direction spending every moment of his time on task for FREQUENTLY useless information. This does not always help the cause and sometimes hurts the town and it's people. Maybe Leon and his associates should pay for ink, paper and electricity if the requests have no revelance to
the common goal!
Mr. McAllister says he wants to "demand some respect" publicly. Well, since he brought up the subject, let’s talk about respect. I believe there are three kinds of respect; owed, demanded and earned.
Owed Respect is not about you (I’m talking generally here). It’s about how you treat others. In a civil society, when you’re one in a position of authority, you do not belittle people in public. You do not tell lies about them. You don’t shout at them. You don’t gossip about them. You respect their right to have an opinion other than yours. You give them the right to have their say. It’s basically about the Golden Rule. It boils down to being nice to others, no matter how much they may upset you. My company recently had an incident where a company representative publicly humiliated a “MAJOR” customer with an extreme act of pettiness. Needless to say, that person is no longer employed with us. One of the nice things about the private sector; you can take action quickly in cases like this.
Demanded Respect. The phrase, “Respect the office, if not the man” is an example of Demanded Respect. Demanded Respect is asked by people who think respect is due them because of who they are or the position they hold. Examples could be the rich like Leona Helmsley (the queen of mean). Could come from the power they hold over you, the degree they can intimidate you, the damage they could do to you (and this could include violence), and more (add your own examples here). The Godfather comes to mind. The problem with this kind of respect is that it stands on shaky ground, as I will discuss below.
Earned Respect. This is the most difficult to obtain, but by far the most important. One gains earned respect demonstrating integrity, honesty, working hard, being knowledgeable but not arrogant, acknowledging others contributions, not showing off, lying, you get the idea. One of the guiding principles of the CEO of a former employer was that every employee should “Always Do the Right Thing” and he truly meant it. He earned my respect.
Now, how do you lose respect? Quite easily, actually. I’m reminded of the true or false quiz’s the primary instructor in my major gave us. If you knew the answer, and answered correctly, you got a point. If you did not know the answer and left if blank, you lost nothing. If you guessed wrong, you got -2. I remember the first quiz; a guy got a -27. Point is, respect is easier lost than gained, and it’s yours to lose. You lose by not doing the things under Earned Respect. You lose points for doing something even if you know it’s wrong. You lose for being lazy, lying, not taking responsibility, blaming mistakes on others, berating others, pettiness, being irresponsible, you get the idea. Lose too many points and respect turns into contempt.
Mr. McAllister demands respect. Demanding that someone bring their own generator to Town Hall in order to exercise their legal right: That’s the kind of pettiness that loses lots of points and ends up becoming folklore.
The Tribune article on the town clerc from Salem retiring says alot. It dissapoints me that it
was painted that Linda was forced out because of the actions from her superiors. Clearly she was acting in her own interests to protect her health benefits as any sane person would do. This blog made it appear that she was forced out when clearly that was not the case. I have made many posts to this blog and I usually support and agree with most but this was clearly twisted mis-information. There is enough dirt out there that we don't have to make it up.
Publius: Article Submission
AND THE ISSUE IS?
Why do people try to discredit those who speak out or ask questions about the practices and decisions by our town officials? These personal attacks do nothing for the level of discourse in this town. If people have factual information to add to the conversation, that is welcomed. But please stick to facts. Slanderous attacks do nothing but make everyone look bad. Have we sunk so low that we can't openly and honestly discuss issues affecting our town? Do we have to be so far entrenched in our positions that it is impossible for us to consider others perspectives?
The discussion is about issues. Not personalities or people.
There seems to be a pattern of people making claims that someone has a "vendetta" or they're being "vindictive" or have a "personal conflict" or question a motive saying "Is it personal in nature?" Those being attacked get defensive, voices get louder and the whole message is lost and everyone suffers.
This is no way to communicate. I would ask us all to pay close attention to the negative, personal attack kind of behavior and stick to the issues. We have much to fix in this town and we can only make progress when we raise the level of discourse and discuss the issues.
THE ISSUE IS.....discussing the issue, not the people.
As to the comments about Linda, unfortunately the actions described here actually happened that way. Ask people who work in the town hall if you know any well enough
PLEASE PUBLISH AS AN ARTICLE
THE TIME IS NOW – WE HAVE THE POWER
It is no secret that our town government is broken. It is no secret that many many many residents are now up in arms for change. It is no secret how or who brought the town to its knees. It is no secret that we the people have the power to change these things and move forward.
1. REPLACE JACK-remove this bullying egomaniac. No longer allow him to have a voice. Support one candidate and don’t split the vote.
2. RETIRE PHIL-He can no longer intimidate, bully or harass on an official level if he is put out to pasture where he belongs.
3. REMOVE RUSS-Demand that the Board of Selectmen replaces him. The Selectmen need an office that supports them with knowledge, skill and background, which is sadly lacking today. The present warrant article only puts the town from the frying pan into the fire.
4. REPLACE FRANK-someone any one run for moderator. To think that he continually tries to orchestrate OUR deliberative session so that he can get home for supper is beyond ridiculous. This is the resident’s only opportunity to be a voice, whether 5 people or 500 people show up…..we have the right to deliberate.
TAKE A STAND
Deliberate February 2nd
Vote March 11th
I look forward to the meeting. As of now, I have no idea what the petitioned articles are. Have heard a bunch were submitted, but have not seen them published or posted anywhere. An informative meeting might be quite helpful, and I'd just as soon know ahead of time what all the fuss is, rather than drag out Deliberative Session for a few extra hours.
To Anon Jan. 18th 6:32,
I have to agree with you..I am not a fan of his either. but I do agree with your statement 100 percent.
THE ISSUE IS....the position of Town Administrator was sold to the town as one that would "pay for itself" by obtaining grants to improve the town.
If anyone knows of any grants that this position generated, I would like to know. My understanding is this has turned out to be a very bad investment for the taxpayers. We are not getting our money's worth, plain and simple. You can whine about him having to respond to RTK requests (which is part of his job). Bottom line: Show me the money. If there is none or if there is very little, why should we keep funding this position?
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