YOU BE THE JUDGE!!!!! – Part 2

During this year’s School Budget, the Town Council amended the recommendation of the School Department to a much lower figure.  This has caused a great deal of controversy and hard feelings between the school people and the Town Council.  I am going to provide you numerous facts in several articles and let you be the judge as to who caused the problem and was it ethical and done properly.

First, I want to make it very clear as to my position on this matter.  I have stated since the beginning that all budgets have areas that could be cut including the school budget.  I have also stated the method that the Town Council used was not proper.

I believe that I left off with the Town Council denying the people the right to a Special Town meeting.  So the first election came around and the people said “No, Too Low”.  The Town Council turned around and lowered their figures even more.  This shows you how little regards the Town Council has for the wishes of the people.  Apparently, the Town Council does not understand their roll in local government.  They work for the people and not the other way around.  Previous Town Councils have rewritten our Charter stripping the people of their right’s one by one in Charter Changes.  The people elected the Town Council and I hope in November they remind Chairman Pesce of that.  The real ring leaders of this movement are Councilor Metivier and Chairman Pesce.

Next, the Town Council claimed they had to commit taxes because the town was in a financial situation.  The Undesignated Fund is supposed to sustain the town for three months.  Also, the commitment does not have to be to the state until November 1^st or 30 days after the commitment.  Apparently, the Undesignated Fund could not be used.  The Town Council used the same figures they approved for the commitment.  These are the same figures that the Town Attorney denied the petition because they were not legally adopted.  Denying the Special Town meeting because the School Budget was not legally adopted; then turning right around and using the same figures to do the commitment is wrong.  If the Town Council’s amended figures are not good enough to approve the Special Town meeting then they are certainly not good enough for a commitment.  Now the town is locked in on the amended figures.

Think about this for a minute.  For years, the people have been asking the Town Council to reduce our taxes and this year the Council did it; but at what cost?  Mr. Green and the School Department are right in the middle of a multi millions dollar project to construct a gym for the town.  Is it really fair to saddle them with a $600,000.00 (more a half million dollar) at the same time?  The School Department has lost two key components as a result Monica Millhime and Catherine Messier.  These assets are going to be hard to replace.

The following Councilors are the ones doing this to the School Department and then people:  Councilors Pesce; Metivier; Bickford, Brunelle and Crafts.  Councilors Lunt and Garrison both voted against doing this to the School Department.

Our Charter has been gutted so bad that the only option the people have is to vote these people out in November.

What do you call this?

1.      Dirty Politics

2.      Illegal Act

3.      A Dictatorship

Larry Fillmore