it has been mismanaged, managed illegally, and corruptly, and used as a political backstop for too many years. In these tough economic times, we MUST DEMAND better!
Finally, this year someone complained about the town donation accounts, which for years, have amounted to little more than the chief of police's own personal slush funds, which he has been happy to use to supplement his budgets as he saw fit, and to help out elderly residents in town.
The problem is that these funds have been managed illegally by the town for years. For example;
1.) The Town is REQUIRED, by law, to accept donations in public, but they never have.
2.) The Town is REQUIRED, by the warrant article establishing the accounts, to ONLY withdraw funds after a properly posted public hearing. They have spent money without public disclosure.
3.) The Town is REQUIRED, by law, to post the public hearing in 2 public places, for 7 days prior to the hearing. They have NEVER done this. In some cases they have failed to post the meeting 24 hours in advance, as required by law.
4.) The Town was required, legally, to place all donated funds under the management of the Trustees of the Trust Funds. They didn't until this month after a resident complaint, and the AGO telling them to.
5.) The chief of police has spent money out of those accounts payable to himself!
6.) The chief of police has refused to tell us how many people use the service, until recently, or how many rides they actually give, preferring instead to state some random number that he can not demonstrate.
It is for these reasons, that the selectmen should be using this investigation by the AGO, to get some accountability on this dept.
It should be totally separated from the police dept.,
It should be run for the betterment of the seniors.
No one should be refused the use of this service.
It should never be used as a fall back to excuse the chief's other bad behaviors.
But, as usual in Atkinson, the right, the honorable, the obvious thing to do is the hardest, politically, not because of the people, but because of the chief's ability to misinform, obfuscate, manipulate, and prevaricate, to, the people of Atkinson, particularly the elderly.
Atkinson Town Hall
The Norman Rockwellian picture of Atkinson
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14 comments:
On a different subject...
DOES ANYONE KNOW WHY MORSE AND THE STATE WILL NOT BE AT THE MEETING TONIGHT? My guess is there will be no meeting tonight.
Webmaster speaking - You got ahead of me. Yes the meeting was canceled. Harold Morse backed out. To the best of my knowledge, it has not been rescheduled.
Harold has already canceled one appearance before the BOS. He then ask them to meet in private, which the BOS refused - It is against the law. Tonight was supposed to be another opportunity for Harold to address the BOS, and as we've just seen, backed out at the last moment.
Harold and those interveners who have been recognized by the state will be in a public hearing Tuesday in Concord to be cross examined on written testimony that all have provided. That documentation will be posted on www.just-goaway.com as soon as I can get my hands on it.
you are right! everytime the chief does something that gets him in trouble, we always hear...
"But he does such good work with the elderly"
Thats like saying; "It is ok that the suspect robbed the bank, because he gave it all away to charity"
The good job he does as director of elderly affairs shouldn't excuse the abuses as police chief. Maybe if the depts. were separated, things would be different.
It is time to abolish the elderly affairs department. Maybe Zero the budget lines at town meeting. Maybe put some of the functions in the community center. Maybe some other major changes to accompany these .
What is the financial requirements to get help from elderly affairs?
Do you just get it at a certain age?
I don't mind helping someone that can't afford it but some elderly can and should not be given a free ride.
The only requirement is that you haven't pissed Phil off. If you have, then maybe all the drivers are busy when you call...
As long as Phil is in charge of EA i will not vote for any money to be approved. If the elderly want free rides , then get rid of the Evil-do-r.
I made the trip to the Library tonight and there was no meeting. Canceling by Herr Morse at the last minute is inexcusable. I am too pissed off to say more. I was looking forward to giving him some "advice".
Cancelling was not fair to all of us who wanted to attend. We didnt know it was cancelled until we went there.
What the selectmen should have done, was tell Mr. Morse;
We posted the meeting it is too late to cancel, it would not be fair to everyone else, so the meeting will go ong, I guess HAWC just wont be represented there,
Nice move Harold! Thanks for wasting all of our time!
I can see your attorny must of told you to stay away, and in fairness to us you should of told the selectman long before the last minute.
Webmaster says,
In all fairness, the HAWC discussion should be moved to the earlier topic regard the BOS intervention and this topic revert back to the EA discussion. The meeting notice was put here just so it had a better chance of getting the word out.
Let's not forget the hundred's of THOUSANDs of dollars in increased spending in our police dept. budget that has occurred over the past 4 years that is completely unnecessary. This fact is often forgotten but I would bet the farm that we don't need to spend any more than Hampstead or other small local communities. When you add up the real costs, it gets into big big money over time. Our PD is costing us a fortune in unnecessary costs. Our tax rate would be a lot lower if it were managed properly. Elderly Affairs is a perfect example but is a small cost compared to the bigger problem.
Elderly Affairs is NOT a great service. It discriminates against people, it fraudulently skims money from the Police Dept. budget, it is a front for electioneering, it is endangering residents with reckless drivers, it is duplicating free services available from other groups, it is used to manipulate the seniors, it is used to intimidate people into donating into illegal funds. This service has got to go, Phil Consentino has got to go. I am against this dispicable organization for what it has become and for those who abuse it. This is not a beneficial service and maybe it never was, it is a disgrace to our town right now. I will never vote for ANYTHING for the PD or EA again as long as Phil Consentino is involved.
Article Submission
Final PUC Hearing on HAWC's Request for Loan for Pipeline.
John Wolthers says:
Dear Friends,
Tuesday, November 4, 2008, is the final testimony day regarding Hampstead Area Water Company’s desire to receive MORE THAN A MILLION DOLLAR LOAN ($1,000,000.00) for a twenty (20) year period at 3.44% interest. The LOAN is for the interconnection of Atkinson Town Water with the Town of Hampstead. HAWC has also applied for a full expansion of their franchise to all of Atkinson. I ask that all residents who are concerned about the Public Utility Commission approving the above immediately contact the PUC with your views. A few of the reasons to site would be:
1. Excessive water loss history of HAWC.
2. The interconnection of water flow between Hampstead and Atkinson is against the town ordinance.
3. More than 54% of HAWC’s revenues are paid to HAWC’s related companies without competitive bidding.
4. No town approvals for site or franchise expansion.
If anyone can put this information on the Town TV Channel, it would be helpful.
You can find the complete list of email address to whom you can address your concerns and any other communications at
www.just-goaway.com
Thank you for your support.
John
Webmaster says:
It can be stressed enough how important this hearing is to the people of Atkinson. The citizens will be represent by an able group of people, BUT, the PUC needs to hear from you also. There is power in numbers. Tell the people on the EMAIL list that you are very concerned and that you do not want this pipeline and you do not want HAWC to franchise the whole town. Thank you.
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