MAcciard said
Article Submission Please;
I think we can all agree that this is a good program that should be continued, but it needs to be open, transparent, and accountable to both the selectmen, and the budget committee. It is not, and never has been.
Chief said that the elderly affairs dept. had given 1644 rides in 2007! 1644 rides! So I checked the town website for the town budget, and here is what I found out;
The Elderly Affairs Dept. budget for 2007 is: $17,821
included in this is:
Payroll: $15,300
FICA: $ 949
Medicare: $ 222
Vehicle insurance: 0
Gas: $ 1,350
Then I found out that the drivers make approx. $12.50/hr.
Now: $15,300 / $12.50 = 1,224 manhours.
This means that the 1,644 trips the chief CLAIMS have been provided this year averaged no more than 43min. per trip! This includes the driver picking up the car at the police staton where he presumably clocks in.
Then he drives to the residents house and picks them up.
He has to wait for the elderly person to get ready and get themselves into the car.
Then he drives to wherever. Waits for whatever they are doing and repeats the process in reverse.
ALL IN ONLY 43 MINUTES! How is this possible when we hear about the regular trips to Lahey Clinic in Burlington, To Boston, To Parkland in Derry, To Exeter Hospital, etc.
Now lets look at the Gas usage:
$1,350/ $3.50 a gallon= 385 gallons. Police cruisers average AT BEST 15 mpg. 385x 15= 5786 miles able to be driven within the budget.
5786 Miles/ 1644 trips = 3.52 miles average trip distance!
Distance from Police Station to the Holy Angels, without going to anyones house: 3 miles! ONE WAY!
This means a round trip DIRECTLY from the police station to Holy Angels and back is 6 miles!
By the way, There are been 260 weekdays in the year! This means 1644 rides / 260 weekdays= almost 6.32 rides per day! EACH AND EVERY DAY!
Once again chief is hamstrung by his own numbers!
In case you missed it this means SOMETHING DOESN'T ADD UP HERE! Chief always talks about his numbers; how many rides he gives, how many elderly are in the town, but here are the numbers!
FIGURES DON'T LIE!
Now chief likes to tell people that everything about this program is open to public inspection, but that isnt true, HE HAS NEVER GIVEN VERIFIABLE INFORMATION AS TO HOW MANY RESIDENTS USE THE PROGRAM! He guesses for the budget committee. He pulls any old number out for the selectmen. He has never allowed a look at the logs he promised to start keeping in 2005.
Now I dont know anyone who wants to cut or eliminate this program, but the taxpayers DESERVE some accountability about how many people use it, and how often!
Just one man's opinion.
Mark Acciard
Atkinson Town Hall
The Norman Rockwellian picture of Atkinson
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8 comments:
While I am in agreement that a complete separation from the police budget, along with proper accounting needs to be done for the elderly affairs, I also believe that the chief and his wife provide free time to the elderly for transportation. This may be why some of the numbers are off.
The chief's presentation at the selectman's meetings is that of a bully who is out for his own interests, which I am sure is not the image he wants to portray. I feel that he is a wonderful advocate for the elderly.
I hope the chief will follow through with the directives given to him by the state without "blurring up the numbers".
I do not believe that the chief is benefiting in any way financially from running the elderly affairs, but does enjoy the control of that budget.
I am very upset that the town is being brought so much negative publicity for a valuable social service for a vulnerable population.
You have to understand anon 1:10 that the chief has not given the taxpayers of Atkinson the honest and accurate numbers we are asking for. Transparency is all we asking for , along with the AGO . For something that should be easy, is turning out to be a horror show. Shame on the chief for making this what it has turned out to be.
And as for nothing to gain? He has everything to gain for political control over the voters of the elderly population. His control over that pop has kept him from being fired from the selectmans office. His elected selectman have control over the board.
The purpose of this blog can sometimes get confusing. The purpose is what this country was founded on. "Checks and Balances" Without those we are floundering.
There are so many people in town
that do many benevolent things for the Town. This includes the elderly who are some of the best supporters we have.
I for one do not think the problem is money. The problem is some one that wants to control and have the power over the elected officials because he put them in that position for his ego. That is his benefit. His payoff.
A perfect example was evident at the last election when the candidate was introduced at the Elderly Valentine Party as someone who would help the Elderly ..
What's wrong with that is, there's no one in charge that cares about doing things the proper way. Sure the deed was done,the right person was in office, mission accomplished. Hooray!
There is the problem... With the same one person running rough shod over every one that gets in his way. To hell with the Budget Com. or the laws.
The laws of New Hampshire are there for a reason.
This is a problem that the town has to come to grips with and do their job.
The Selectmen could solve this problem in no time at all and start making Atkinson a place to be proud of again. Since 2005 we are the laughing stock of at least Rockingham County if not more.
I am sorry to say I am no longer proud of Atkinson and hope that some day that will change.
To Anon @ 1:10
I do not believe the chief is benefitting financially from elderly affairs either, but the obfuscation, and lack of accountability in the program, does no one any favors.
Ultimately it is a taxpayer funded program, and when the taxpayers pass the budget they have a right to know the true cost of the program, just like any other budget in town.
To anon 1:10 PM
"I do not believe that the chief is benefiting in any way financially from running the elderly affairs, but does enjoy the control of that budget."
He should not have control of that or any budget, he works for the public and owes them every bit of information about where the money goes, who it goes to and where there rest of it comes from.
He wouldn't hide the information if he had nothing to hide. This will continue until we get the information we are due.
Atkinson police fund transfer not as simple as thought
By Meghan Carey
mcarey@eagletribune.com
ATKINSON, N.H. — Residents who have contributed to police Chief Philip Consentino's donation accounts in the past must be part of the next step in legalizing how the funds are handled.
And if those donors have since died, the town will have to petition the court to move the money.
The Charitable Trust Unit of the state attorney general's office has sent three letters to the town regarding Consentino's handling of the police donation accounts and the elderly affairs program. Each letter, including the one received last week, has outlined steps selectmen and Consentino must take to comply with state law.
Selectmen say they were never contacted by Terry Knowles of the Charitable Trust Unit during the three-month inquiry into the donation accounts. They also have not acted on any of the letters from Knowles. They plan to schedule a workshop session to discuss the issues next week.
Consentino has met with Knowles and established a nonprofit organization — ¬¬the Atkinson Police Charitable Fund — to handle the donations and their uses. He set up a board of directors, which has met and elected its officers. But the nonprofit group doesn't have any funding yet.
That's because state law won't allow Consentino to simply transfer the $19,7000 balance of the Atkinson Police Department's Donation/Equipment Fund to the new nonprofit group. Knowles' letter of Aug. 21 outlines how donors must give the town written permission to move their money.
Knowles was on vacation last week and could not be reached for comment.
"Therefore, if the original donor or donors are still living and can be identified, each donor has the legal authority to direct his or her donation be transferred from the custody of the town into the custody of the Atkinson Police Charitable Fund," Knowles wrote. "If the donor makes the decision to transfer the donation, he or she should notify the Town of Atkinson in writing. If the original donor or donors cannot be identified or is now deceased, it will be necessary to file a petition with the probate court seeking permission to transfer that particular donation to the Atkinson Police Charitable Fund."
Consentino says he knew of the regulation all along, and it won't be a problem or require court involvement. He has copies of the "tens of thousands" of donations he has received over the 14 years the elderly affairs program has been in existence.
He said he simply went through that paperwork and created form letters for donors to sign and return.
"I just need enough signatures that equal the amount of money that's in the fund," Consentino said.
In the letters, he included the amount of money they donated and asked them to check that they authorize the transfer, sign and return it. Their sum contributions have totaled more than Consentino can guess, so he said it will be easy to get $19,000 worth of donors to give him authorization.
"I used not even a third of the letters of the checks that were donated to us," he said. "It's not a hard job."
Letters have already started to trickle back to Consentino, and he said he was sure he'd have full permission by the next selectmen's meeting, scheduled for Sept. 8.
Whether Consentino's interpretation that he can get $19,700 worth of authorization from any donors and not the particular donors is accurate, is unclear.
Selectmen did not return numerous phone calls.
The Chief requests his money from the donation account from the selectmen and tells them the purpose for the withdrawal. The vouchers are typically for different amounts and reasons! Yet the Chief still gets the money.
There is no accountability here and now I expect that tht town verify all donations (name and amount) then verify that they signed the money over before he gets one cent.
To take money from a donation account under false pretences is illegal, fraudulent and unethical. If I were on the BOS the first thing I'd do is to get an injunction to prevent anyone from withdrawing money until an audit is performed.
Oh yeah? Who's paying for the stamps and letters? If it's the town, this is STEALING.
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