Atkinson Reporter: And you thought Atkinson had problems?... Check out Windsor!

Friday, March 28

And you thought Atkinson had problems?... Check out Windsor!

This is reported on the CNHT website;

Ed Naile's At It Again. From www.nhinsider.com

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Thursday We Got A Call From A Reporter And...
I spent five and a half hours Friday with the Windsor Coalition of Taxpayers and a visiting Boston Globe reporter who is interested in what a pure democracy looks like when it goes awry. That is definitely Windsor.

We showed the Globe reporter, with document after document, how, depending on who you are in that town, property taxes don’t have to be paid. This problem goes back to 2000, according to the Windsor town father’s own admissions, as well as NH Department of Revenue records. CNHT knows it goes back farther than that. We have been working on this and other bizarre municipal nightmares there since 2006. We made two successful trips to Superior Court – so far.

Speaking of dates.

It appears the Windsor Tax Collector was working in longhand, on scrap paper, without a calculator or receipts, and with a schedule derived from the ancient Mayan Calendar which ends in 2012. The town finances in Windsor have collapsed three years early.

After all the history, data, statutes, folklore and chocolate chip cookies were evenly distributed and digested among our group, the Globe reporter casually mentioned to us that she stopped by the Windsor Town hall (30’ x40’ capacity 50 odd souls) and saw a note on the door. She copied it down. It said, roughly:

“There will be a meeting of the Windsor Selectmen March 21, at 7 pm to have the Town Attorney contact the NH Attorney General’s Office with the town audit.”

WHAT!

It looked like the Windsor Selectmen were about to hold an emergency meeting on a Friday evening to pack up the supposed audit, more like a Polaroid snapshot, of the town tax records to take to the Dept. of Rev. Admin. and the AG – ASAP! About time.

But was this true? The only way to find out was to GO to the emergency meeting. So off went the key members of the WCNHT and THE GLOBE REPORTER (you can’t make this stuff up).

The Selectmen shuffled into the two car garage sized town hall, along with a few local pals who must have been tipped with a phone call. You might call it “immoral moral support.”

Our guys were there – with a video camera and reporter for this unpublished, except for a note on the door emergency meeting. You would think they expected no one would find out. Imagine their surprise when they asked the young lady whom they have never met what she was doing at their emergency! She tells them she works for the Globe!

Now for the rest of this story I should really sell tickets.

Apparently the Windsor Village Idiot was at this emergency meeting Friday. Remember him? He was the one quoted in the Union Leader, Tuesday last week, front page, above the fold, saying this is how we do business in Windsor, meaning, we use the tax system and our majority vote to take advantage our neighbors. And there was the usual blather about how long his relatives have lived in the area. Fine, I get that all the time. But we surmise the AG has waited long enough for Windsor to get off the tax crapper and this comment may have been a catalyst for some long awaited state action.

Here is the exciting part of our adventure.

Our story trails off with Mr. Idiot telling the reporter he wants an interview.

Now all we do is wait for that to happen. (with big smiles of course)

We also wait to see if the State of New Hampshire Department of Revenue will actually do something about a town that refuses to keep tax records for at least ten, probably twenty years. They could order an audit.

We wait for the AG to sit some of these Bozo’s down and get a statement as to what is going on, where all the money collected went, and how much is not collected.

And we wait for the Globe photographer to come get the pictures they want for the Windsor story.

Smile!

Posted on Saturday, March 22, 2008 at 10:17PM by Ed Naile | 11 Comments
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Reader Comments (11)
Next time you talk to that Globe reporter, ask her where she got the story idea for Windsor. If she and her paper have no integrity, you can be sure the story won't either.
March 24, 2008 | Anonymous
Excellent post, Ed. I guess this shows the downside of local control- sometimes the locals shouldn't be trusted.

In my town, the elected clerk/tax collector couldn't figure out how to use the tax software, so she simply made up the numbers she reported. Luckily for us, she sometimes reported too much, sometimes too little, so it pretty much evened out when the state audit was done.
March 24, 2008 | Mike Emm
Readers:

If for one nanosecond the STATE had done its job going back to 2000 when the DRA first started writing letters to Windsor about their lack of financial accountability and failure to file Municipal Services forms this could have been avoided.

If crooked public officials in municipalities were PROSECUTED once in a while instead of being given a free pass this would happen much less often.

CNHT had to work a full year, two superior court cases, one battle after another with town counsel, a total lack of a trustworthy press, and small group of activists brave enough to take the heat from neighbors to get this far.

Kelly Ayotte, our illustrious AG, may want to look like a hero coming to the rescue of beleagured taxpayers but the opposite is true.

The STATE dropped the ball and is untrustworthy at all levels from the top down until you find a good state employee in a department to work with. They are rare.

And these are the people that want a broad based tax to pay for more state government?

Imagine trying to root out and fix a situation like this at the STATE level!

The Gold Dome would be like giant cat litter box, cover, cover, cover, and never empty.
March 24, 2008 | Ed Naile
I guess it's just MOnday morning and not enough caffein, but both comments make no sense.

1) How can where a story idea comes from affect the integrity? Not that I am defending the integrity of a news source that is owned by the NYT becaseu both the Blobe and Times years ago to be bastions of journalism integrity.

2) Even if the State did this, a local entity would have to provide inputs. I'm Without keen eyed local people looking at this the problem would still be unknown. Pushing to further to the state would further hide it.
March 24, 2008 | dave
Dave:

We HAVE keen eyed locals but it is a town meeting form of government subject to intimidation and personel vendettas. So you need brave taxpayers to step in, as we have in Windsor.

We won two court cases so far. We are contemplating a new one aimed at the state should they fail to move forward.

It would be nice to see a new crop of selectmen in Windsor but that will not happen as the non-taxpaying crowd has the votes to win every time. We would suggest OUR guys NOT take ANY office as they will be hounded relentlessly at every meeting and by the local papers. Remember, the local papers LOVE these types of public officials and protect them.

Hence you need state help to effect change and get things back on track.

The DRA has statutory authority to aduit Windsor, compell witnesses to testify, collect any taxes over three years late, and to prosecute criminal action IF there was any.

CNHT went as far as possible without state help. Our expertese is in NOW being able to shine a light on this in a much broader way than back before the internet and our talk radio program.

I beleve the people we worked with in Windsor will tell you we said from the start THIS was how to procede. And they took our advice at each step.

Now we have to teach the town attorney that he represents the WHOLE town not just the crowd not keeping books, a part of this stroy we have been hankering to get on with from the start.
March 24, 2008 | Ed Naile
Good work Ed!

I remember a friend telling me the story of when a town treasurer (his mom, one state over) had a nervous breakdown and started randomly hiding uncashed tax payments in drawers around their house. By the time the family realized what was going on it was a catastrophe.
Sometimes you don't even need greed or conspiracy to cause things to screw up... it just happens. And covering it all up and sweeping it under the rug just makes it worse. There are times when everything is NOT Okay, even though the people themselves aren't bad people.
Ed is right to be vigilant.
March 24, 2008 | H
H:

When I became the head selectman in here in Deering after the NHMA employee/selectwoman left office, her hand picked secretary compressed and deleted everything on our computer and was gone five days before town meeting - the first I would be in charge of.

The townies managed to place the blame that and made up stuff on me. Fine, I understand that. This is how direct democracy works - the biggest liar wins.

But I went to the DRA for help and they let me hang. Joan Gerrard? was the DRA rep. for Deering back then.

Had I had one tiny bit of help, or even a letter from the state saying what happened I would not be running a statewide organization now.

I realized back then it was inaction by the State that leads to this type of municipal mismanagement.

And now in a roundabout way I am back to haunt them.

Should have stepped up to the plate in 1999, hey DRA?

Windsor isn't the only town we are working in.

Here is the great part. The Windsor guys have offered to help us in other towns.
March 24, 2008 | Ed Naile

WOW, Illegal meetings? Improper fiscal dealings? Selectmen putting their own agendas before the good of the town? Maybe Atkinson's selectmen for the last three years TRAINED THERE!

3 comments:

Hacktivista said...: Rowley BOS takes an eye for an eye. Where's the humanity here? Where's the equal treatment for all residents?

From the Eagle Tribune 3/29/2008

Cronyism charged in case of dog death sentence

By Lynne Hendricks
Correspondent

ROWLEY — Charges of cronyism are being leveled against selectmen for ordering the death of a newcomer's dog after it killed a lifetime resident's pet goat.

Selectmen are denying it, with one calling the charges "garbage."

The five-member Board of Selectmen ordered that Michael Passanisi's 6-year-old black Labrador retriever mix, Niko, be euthanized for killing neighbor Richard Lebel's goat, Miss Daisy, in February. The dog was to be killed next week, but the Passanisis have appealed the decision to Newburyport District Court, where it will be heard April 24.

The motion made by Selectman Richard Cummings to euthanize Niko was seconded by longtime resident Selectman Jack Cook, who stated that the Lebels being lifelong residents was a deciding factor in his decision.

"The Lebels have been there many years," Cook said at the meeting. "I'm gonna take sides with them."

Susan St. Marie is a neighbor of the Lebels and Passanisis, and she said she is angered about what she claims are different rules for longtime residents in cases like this — rules that reward Richard and Melissa Lebel for being "townies" and penalize newcomers like Passanisi, who moved to town three months ago. She thinks the dog would have been treated differently if he were owned by her neighbor Louise Mahaffey, a fifth generation Rowley resident.

"If it was Louise's dog, no one would dare say a thing," St. Marie said. "I know that for a fact."

In a letter sent to The Daily News, St. Marie added "Mike Passanisi didn't have a chance at a fair hearing."

Selectman Dave Petersen vigorously denies cronyism played a part in his decision, calling accusations like that "garbage." He said as far as he can recall, the evening of the dog hearing was the first time he'd ever laid eyes on Richard and Melissa Lebel.

"I have no personal interest in the case, whether it's old people or new people," Petersen said.

Cummings has similarly indicated he does not know the Lebels, and Cook and Selectman Stuart Dalzell did not return calls to The Daily News seeking comment.

One of the key issues that has polarized opinions is the evidence tying the dog to the killing of the goat. Niko was found in the pen with the Lebels' three goats, all three of which had puncture wounds to their throats, and at least two were covered in blood. Richard Lebel has said that Passanisi admitted to him that his dog killed one of his goats, but Passanisi has since said that he found no blood on his dog.

Passanisi has argued that his dog has never shown a killing instinct, but Lebel has brought up evidence that shows the dog had attacked other pets in Salem.

Selectmen Vice Chairman Thomas Moses is worried about the appearance of preferential treatment, although he stressed he'd been out sick the night of the hearing and didn't want to judge his colleagues unfairly.

"I don't want to criticize the process because I wasn't there," he said.

He's not ruling out the possibility, though, because he said he's witnessed other cases of preferential treatment afforded to longtime Rowley residents.

"We have a responsibility to each resident, no matter how long they've been in town," he said. "We have a responsibility to speak for them. If that's the case, it makes me angry. I've seen it happen a million different ways. It's subtle."

He said witnessing cronyism is one of the primary reasons he decided to run for public office in the first place.

"It's one of the reasons I ran," Moses said. "I've seen the problems. I've seen discrimination of new people, and I don't think it's right."

While he sees no problem with the board coming down on different sides of town issues, he was surprised that all four selectmen chose the harshest of punishment over more moderate choices like permanent restraint, muzzling and requiring Passanisi to build a fence.

At the first meeting with the board, Passanisi told the selectmen he would be willing to move to spare Niko's life, and at a follow-up hearing Passanisi informed the board he'd purchased more than $600 worth of fencing and had begun installing it around his property in the hope they'd reconsider their ruling.

"It sounded like this guy was willing to try anything," Moses said. "He was willing to compensate the owner of the goat. Who knows whether that would have worked or not, but I don't believe in 'one strike, you're out.'"

Moses argued a judge will see Passinisi as a "reasonable" person. And when the judge asks him what corrective measures the town required him to take, the rashness of the board's decision will become evident.

"He's going to overturn it," Moses said. "We're going to take up valuable time in court to come to a decision that we as selectmen could have come to on our own. The taxpayers pay for it."; March 29, 2008 at 6:58 PM
MAcciard said...: Publius please accept this as an article submission

TRANSPARENCY IN GOVERNMENT!

Charlie Arlinghaus: State spending could be more transparent right now

By CHARLES M. ARLINGHAUS

Union Leader Wednesday, Mar. 26, 2008

NEW HAMPSHIRE should become more like Alaska. Alaska's governor has created a simple and transparent online database to view the details of any government expenditure of more than $1,000. The complete transparency of every detail of government makes government accountable and responsible, is supported by politicians of every ideology, and would eliminate corruption issues that are an increasing feature of our daily news coverage.

New Hampshire's tiniest town has little in common with Alaska. The financial books of the town of Windsor were closed to the public until the Windsor Coalition of Taxpayers sued to open them to the public. The next steps were all too familiar to residents of other towns. Investigators then found financial irregularities and money that has yet to be accounted for. An investigative audit led to the town's records being turned over to the Attorney General.

But with modern technology, none of this should ever happen. A transparency movement is spreading across the country to open the doors of government. Many transparency initiatives were started by executive order, as in Alaska. But increasingly, lawmakers and local officials are passing laws and ordinances to make transparency Web sites permanent.

In towns and state agencies in New Hampshire, taxpayers are often forced to wait for an audit to know how much money was spent and whether it's all accounted for. The first step to transparency is simply posting the town or agency's check register online.

Right away, any taxpayer can look and see every dollar spent and to whom it was paid. The new Alaska database isn't much more complicated than that. It's an Excel spreadsheet organized by payee, department and type of expense.

In transparency, getting started is just as important as designing the perfect system. Alaska's administrative commissioner admitted that the system isn't perfect,"but we wanted to get something out there to get started."

This is a stark contrast to New Hampshire's perfect-or-nothing approach. We've waited more than 14 months for something as simple as monthly updates of total state spending. We could have updates today, but officials have decided to wait until the state has one glorious new computer system for everyone's report to look identical.

Today in New Hampshire, citizens have access to spending data when a newspaper files a right-to-know request for specific information and decides to publish its findings. This information should be readily available to anyone who wants to know what government is doing.

In the town of Windsor, we are told that "at least $43,000 in collected tax money could not be accounted for." If a simple spreadsheet of the town's check register were posted online, we would have known earlier. The register would have shown every taxpayer who cared to look the amount of each deposit and every check written or cash withdrawal.

Obviously very few taxpayers would take the time to scrutinize every jot and title of the town's spending. But a few watchdogs would and we would all benefit from their scrutiny. Anyone who wished could balance the town's checkbooks and complain if $4 of interest or $400 of miscellaneous expenses were left out.

The comptroller of Texas operates one of the best online portals to examine state spending in the country. She describes citizens as partners in their own government: "We're giving Texans easy access to information useful in deciding whether tax dollars are being spent in a responsible manner."

A fully transparent government will include a complete searchable database of every single expenditure and every state contract. It is a significant undertaking, but, like Alaska, we can start with something less than an ideal system.

Individual departments can behave like an individual town. A state agency can easily start by placing online a spreadsheet of each check, along with monthly totals of expenses compared to the budget.

The first steps will require no new computer equipment, no new software, and do not require an agency to do anything it isn't already doing. It merely requires the agency to show us.

Transparent, accountable government is spreading across the country. New Hampshire has always been proud of an open government close to the people. There's no reason that the state of Alaska should be more open than the town of Windsor or the state of New Hampshire. Like Alaska, we should do something to get started.

Charles M. Arlinghaus is president of the Josiah Bartlett Center for Public Policy, a free-market think tank in Concord.

For those who missed it this has been one of the overriding problems in Atkinson over the last three years, as well.; March 31, 2008 at 4:28 PM
White Hat said...: Please post my letter to the Selectmen in an appropriate location.

GDB

Gary D. Brownfield
19 Chase Island Rd.
Atkinson, NH 03811

Office of the Selectmen
Town of Atkinson
21 Academy Rd.
Atkinson, NH 03811

To: Mr. Paul Sullivan, Chairman of the Board of Selectmen
Re: Direct request to meet with Selectmen re Gary Brownfield V. The Town of Atkinson - Docket No. 22931-06PT

TIME \@ "dddd, MMMM dd, yyyy" Tuesday, April 01, 2008

This letter constitutes my second attempt to secure a meeting with Paul Sullivan, Chairman of the Atkinson Board of Selectmen regarding Docket No. 22931-06PT.

Sirs, I am currently in receipt of a letter from Mr. Rod Wood dated March 21, 2008, in response to the above BTLA Docket number. It appears the Board seeks to avoid its legal responsibility to meet with me . . . as assessors . . . as ordered by the court. (Please review the COURT ORDER enclosed that is addressed to you directly and exclusively.)

It is a fact that I have met repeatedly with Mr. Wood in an attempt to solve the continuing assessing problems allowed within the Town of Atkinson by the subcontractor known as Purvis and Associates. I have no desire to continue to waste my time, by being directed back to Mr. Wood in this matter. Mr. Wood has “SIGNED OFF WITH NO ADJUSTMENT” regarding my property. However, I have every confidence I will settle my appeal positively if you, Mr. Sullivan, will step up and do your job as an elected town assessor and meet with me. If you review the facts regarding my property PERSONALLY, as you are ordered to do by the Board of Tax and Land Appeal, it will become patently obvious that I deserve the tax reductions for which I appeal and that Mr. Wood has made serious errors and repeated omissions regarding my property and its value.

Accordingly, I request a letter directly from you, as to the Board’s intent to meet with me and my representatives within the week. I look forward to hearing from you and resolving our issues.

Sincerely,

Gary D. Brownfield

ATTACHMENT 1: Enclosed copy of the COURT ORDER - Gary Brownfield V. The Town of Atkinson, dated March 18, 2008

Copy to:

Anne M. Stelmach
The Board of Tax and Land Appeals
Gov. Hugh J. Gallen State Office Park
107 Pleasant Street
Concord, NH 03301

Kelly Ayotte
Attorney General
State of New Hampshire
33 Capital St.
Concord, NH 03301-6397

Director: Property Appraisal Division
NH Department Of Revenue Administration
57 Regional Drive
Concord, NH 03301; April 1, 2008 at 3:59 PM

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.

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. "