Sunday, July 8, 2012

More shady dealings in Winchester

More shady dealings in Winchester
Once again “due process” trumps truth.
I’m referring to the recent dispute over Winchester’s legal budget limits, and the court decree to allow selectmen to spend more.
In a document submitted to the court by the selectmen’s attorney, and the attorney he reportedly picked for the newly elected budget committee, a statement is made that there was a dispute between the two bodies over how to fund the water and sewer departments.
As with all half-truths, that was a lie.

The original dispute was over how much to fund the departments. The selectmen didn’t want budget cuts, so, in a move never before attempted, they pulled water and sewer entirely from the operating budget and added warrant articles for them, thus overriding the budget committee’s legal authority to determine amounts.

The second lie, by implication, is that both parties involved in the original dispute agreed to the settlement.

Make no mistake, the selectmen’s attorney is very cagey. He did not sue the (2011) budget committee as individuals, but sued a generic budget committee as a body. That means the people who responded to the suit are not the same people who voted to cut budgets, but instead are a group comprised of a “new majority” that supports higher spending.

Members of this new majority may not have known the truth about the original dispute, or they may have chosen to ignore it for personal or political reasons.

Those who knew the truth and chose to vote with them to submit the lie to the court have no excuse.

In my experience as a selectman, I learned that state officials routinely accept false statements on documents as long as they are approved by a majority of the elected body. I expect the same is true for judges.
I also learned that the majority of the select board had little regard for the truth when it related to a pet project or employee. I often refused to sign documents containing false statements, for which I was frequently ridiculed as being an “obstructionist.” I’ll make no apologies for refusing to lie.

 If you don’t demand integrity from your elected officials, and “officers of the court,” you can count on nothing but more of the same in the future.

SUSAN M. NEWELL
3 Old Chesterfield Road
Winchester

16 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thanks Susan, no wonder the voters in Winchester are the laughing stock of the state.

Anonymous said...

Suzan
Why was the budget committee cutting the budget of water and sewer that is paid for by user fees?
Why didnt they stick to their guns on the school budget.

Anonymous said...

Because half the stuff suggested in the school budget were illegal cuts. Instead they cut the school budget by 750,000. The postings for the school are still not filled. Talk about laughing stock, try hiring people for all those SAU positions without benefits. I heard a tech person applied and wanted twice what the last tech guy made. Also the minimum degree is a masters plus 5 years experience. Know any people?

Double Taxation said...

Some of us who pay the sewer and water rates would like those departments to be fiscally responsible too. Our properties pay not only for the service, but higher taxes due to higher assements, because of availability.The property taxes raised from the availability assessment doesn't go to run the departments. It goes into the general fund as property taxes. Doesn't anyone remember the fast move the town made to make your property more taxable about three years ago? This increased revenue should go into the s/w funds, not the slush funds.It's akin to people that don't have children, having to pay the education tax. To make a long story short, that amount of money being spent for any reason , should come under bc scrutiny. We have good water, and sewer facilities, but someone needs to monitor the costs.

Anonymous said...

as far as the SAU positions go they will be filled. The unemployment rate at this moment is high for all jobs from digging ditches to executive positions. Someone out there will need these jobs. Even people with masters degrees are sitting in the unemployment line. A job is a job even if its not a overpaying cushy job.

Over Taxed said...

Don't forget, Selectman Gardner suggested that most of us were too stupid to get it, and if we went along with what the selectmen wanted, with the OK of the towns lawyer, that the water and sewer fees would go down. Now the same selectmen makes a motion to increase the base rate by $20, that's $10 more than the Dept. Head asked for. Of course water and sewer needs to be funded and if the board hadn't played there underhanded game we wouldn't even be talking about it. As for the schools, I'm for giving new board the time to do there job.

Anonymous said...

There is no need for a masters degree. Some of the best techies dion't even have four-year college degrees. It is an absolute myth that the more college and graduate credits you have, the more competent you are. The school board should drop the requirement, unless there is some UNION rule that requires it (to inflate salaries).

All these kids that are deep in debt to fund their liberal arts college degrees are finding they can't get jobs. It isn't just the economy, it's the fact that they don't have skills that are valuable to the market.

The country needs people who can do things, not people that think useless social and cultural classes somehow entitle them to a $60,000+/year job.

I'll bet the techies with masters degrees really know how to milk a job. I'm not convinced that makes them QUALIFIED nerds. (And I use the term nerd with the deepest respect.)

Anonymous said...

Where are these people? If everyone is so hard up on finding a job then why isn't anyone applying? Hmmmm. To the person above, If you know qualified techies then send them in the direction of the school to apply.

Anonymous said...

July 10, 2012 4:36 PM
How do you know no one has applied???
are you a school board member???

Anonymous said...

To the poster at 5:34 let's hope that we can find a retired person who is willing to work for this district. I think that if you think about it the pay is not the issue or the hours. It is the lack of insurance. Obviously you have had a bad experience with educated people. The thing that the advanced degree insures is knowledge of content. This means that the person has taken some form of assessment to prove knowledge. Please remember that those of us with advanced degrees have had to work very hard to get them. Frankly, it is not my fault that you have this attitude toward an educated person.

Quot of the day said...

We cant spend ourselves out of our education problems. Give the new school board a chance.

Future Needs said...

Recently, a list was published that placed in order , the states with the best business climate. New Hampshire was #40. One of the criteria used to assess this, was a well trained work force available to do the job. NH, fell down on that job. Guess the education system here, hasn't produced the right results. The schools here need to re-group their focus on becoming a prosperous environment for our citizens. Fun type education isn't cutting the mustard with employers. They need well educated, trained , motivated, employees to fill the ranks. Expensive sped perks like rock climbing, kayaking , and fun field trips aren't worth much on a resume. Educators need to be re-educated. With the right programs,locals could apply for tech jobs, and not have to seach outside to fill them.

Anonymous said...

What....you don't think there are Techies or administrators in the un-employment line? Turn on the TV and watch the news.

Anonymous said...

One of the problems with our society is that most educators have never been outside the government education system, from kindergarten to, in some case, Ph. D. The problem with that is that most of them think alike and think they are smarter than people who are educated in private schools, home schooled, or self-educated. It becomes more clear every day that the ones they are fooling the most are themselves and their students, who also tend to have a grossly over-inflated assessment of their own knowledge and worth in the real-world marketplace.

Anonymous said...

9;51PM--You hit the nail on the head, all the education in the world doesn't replace common sense.

Anonymous said...

Writing really great 50-page lesson plans full of basically meaningless jargon does not equate to being able to actually convey knowledge to someone else. It's nothing but robotic repetition of whatever the latest education speak is being promoted.

From someone who has been there, done that

Some of the most under-informed people I have met, with regard to history and current events, are teachers. But they know all about global warming and a bunch of other nonsense not supported by FACTS, no matter how emotionally appealing polar bears falling out of the sky are.

It's not their fault. It's all they have ever known or learned from government controlled curriculums, programs, and awards of

Free the children and give them opportunity to learn, not be "trained."