By Halcyon03, unverified — Wed, 12/22/2010 - 06:38
A quote from the article: "She told Barker that it was only supposed to be town officials and it was unfair that Roberts was invited but not the other members of the committee, Peter Cloutier and police Chief Ernest Steward, she said."
So, Barker is going to stack the deck with Roberts and no one is doing anything about it? All the article has is a quote from the interim Town Manager? Where is the rest of the Board on this? Why didn't Flagg step in??
By Halcyon03, unverified — Sat, 12/11/2010 - 10:19
There needed to be an engine and ladder truck on standby? The taxpayers need to pay for this when there was no report of there being a fire there or even smoke?
If the place needs to be evacuated, that's fine, but you don't need to make a spectacle about it when it's Friday afternoon and there's not many people there.
Does the engine and ladder truck still need to be on "standby" until the alarm is repaired? You know, just in case...
By Halcyon03, unverified — Thu, 09/16/2010 - 05:03
Yet again, the few will decide for the many. How many people will be able to come to the office hours when they are during the normal workday (when everyone else is working)? Sure, there's an evening meeting but a 2 hour meeting compared to "8 hours" during the day? Come on. And we ALL know that the only people who are going to meet with the town manager are the extremists-- both for and against it.
If the town manager really wants to know what the people want, he should be spending those office hours trying to sample a much larger portion of the town. The amount of people who get out of the house to vote is unfortunately small (so the people going into the office will be small). And while phone calls and letters are nice, not everyone will do it.
Also: where's the oversight? Based on the article, it sounds like it’s just the town manager collecting opinions by himself. These phone calls, letters, forum posts and "one-on-one's" are they going to be reported? Will the Board get to see the raw data or only what the Town Manager wants in his report?
The nitpicking is important because the town isn't trying to decide if it needs to get rid of a plow truck. The town is deciding on an issue DIRECTLY relating to public safety. Just read the paper over the past few months. Criminal activity in Livermore Falls isn't small potatoes and the strength and quality of the police department is critical to keeping officers and the public safe.
The town manager needs to seriously consider a way to gather a large portion of opinions and ideas from the town to be even come close to giving the Board an accurate Town Sentiment.
By Halcyon03, unverified — Thu, 10/08/2009 - 10:33
I agree with MeinMaine, people with grudges need to move on. Officers typically deal with 5% of the population 95% of the time (which is interestingly around 200 people for Monmouth). As far as Taxpoor: how many complaints do they receive? The size of the town is completely irrelevant if they need to answer dozens of complaints a day. It's always interesting when voters try to remove emergency services because of monetary issues. It has been an economically slow time and, seemingly, a criminally slow one too. As soon as crime swings back around, Monmouth citizens will be looking at their police force (or lack thereof) and complaining that the officers aren't doing their jobs. Monmouth needs to get the lead out and vote the police budget in.
Halcyon03's Comments
A quote from the article:
A quote from the article: "She told Barker that it was only supposed to be town officials and it was unfair that Roberts was invited but not the other members of the committee, Peter Cloutier and police Chief Ernest Steward, she said."
So, Barker is going to stack the deck with Roberts and no one is doing anything about it? All the article has is a quote from the interim Town Manager? Where is the rest of the Board on this? Why didn't Flagg step in??
Nothing like a good ol' boy network...
There needed to be an engine
There needed to be an engine and ladder truck on standby? The taxpayers need to pay for this when there was no report of there being a fire there or even smoke?
If the place needs to be evacuated, that's fine, but you don't need to make a spectacle about it when it's Friday afternoon and there's not many people there.
Does the engine and ladder truck still need to be on "standby" until the alarm is repaired? You know, just in case...
The Police Chief is on a
The Police Chief is on a "special project?" Who is he kidding? This "project" couldn't be completed during normal work hours?
Where is the Board of Selectmen? They (and the Town) are being made fools of with the town manager's antics.
Yet again, the few will
Yet again, the few will decide for the many. How many people will be able to come to the office hours when they are during the normal workday (when everyone else is working)? Sure, there's an evening meeting but a 2 hour meeting compared to "8 hours" during the day? Come on. And we ALL know that the only people who are going to meet with the town manager are the extremists-- both for and against it.
If the town manager really wants to know what the people want, he should be spending those office hours trying to sample a much larger portion of the town. The amount of people who get out of the house to vote is unfortunately small (so the people going into the office will be small). And while phone calls and letters are nice, not everyone will do it.
Also: where's the oversight? Based on the article, it sounds like it’s just the town manager collecting opinions by himself. These phone calls, letters, forum posts and "one-on-one's" are they going to be reported? Will the Board get to see the raw data or only what the Town Manager wants in his report?
The nitpicking is important because the town isn't trying to decide if it needs to get rid of a plow truck. The town is deciding on an issue DIRECTLY relating to public safety. Just read the paper over the past few months. Criminal activity in Livermore Falls isn't small potatoes and the strength and quality of the police department is critical to keeping officers and the public safe.
The town manager needs to seriously consider a way to gather a large portion of opinions and ideas from the town to be even come close to giving the Board an accurate Town Sentiment.
I agree with MeinMaine,
I agree with MeinMaine, people with grudges need to move on. Officers typically deal with 5% of the population 95% of the time (which is interestingly around 200 people for Monmouth). As far as Taxpoor: how many complaints do they receive? The size of the town is completely irrelevant if they need to answer dozens of complaints a day. It's always interesting when voters try to remove emergency services because of monetary issues. It has been an economically slow time and, seemingly, a criminally slow one too. As soon as crime swings back around, Monmouth citizens will be looking at their police force (or lack thereof) and complaining that the officers aren't doing their jobs. Monmouth needs to get the lead out and vote the police budget in.