The letter left in my mailbox that accompanied the W/S Draft Findings is on UTH for Members Only.

If you do not have a member password you cannot access. The identity of the letter writer is known only to the members. I decided to do this because of a phone call this letter writer received that this person percieved to be threatening. I have received other information from this person and I will release that too over time.

Don’t think I don’t know who is doing all this because I DO!! We will wait until the time is right!!

POTHOLE UPDATE: Last week, I called the Town Hall to inquire about that humongous pothole on the corner of Maple and Highland Avenues. The Public Works told me that it was the Regional Water Authority’s responsibility. I have called Public Works for many years and told them about potholes I feel are dangerous and they have responded positively.

When I called the RWA, they told me that the town had just contacted them suposedly the same day I called. I know that was a bunch of baloney. So finally, after the RWA sent TWO SUPERVISORS to look at a pothole, (how much did that cost us?), they were convinced after yet another phone call to fill in the pothole which I saw them doing this past Saturday. Problem solved.

It is nice to get things done in the community, unlike some people who insist on sitting around and shooting their fat ass mouths off.

Dig this video my BOY FRIDAY!!

99 Problems–Jay Z

The Waterbury Republican American is reporting that a TWO DAY delay in sending out a bid award letter is costing the town $16,500. Apparently, the town needed to replace boilers at Norton School and ACTUALLY went out to bid. What no bid waiver? What a shock!!

The town received six bids, and the lowest bid was from a company that the town has dealt with before: Connecticut Combustion. But because the award letter was sent out two days over the 45 day deadline, Connecticut Combustion counter offered and the price went up. I guess steel prices went up 20 percent in January and that added into the cost increase.

Apparently they still under bid the five other companies by quite a margin. But it is not surprising this happened considering how many bid waivers we hear about in this town!! They probably forgot about the proceedure. To paraphrase a Town Councilor: “Apparently something is wrong here” HELLO!!!

READ MORE HERE

The story is under the “RA Update” box in the middle of the page.

Now another issue is this “back to business” story someone sent me from the Herald regarding Planning and Zoning. “Well, we won’t be dealing with the controversial North End development situation for the time being.”

YOU WON’T? That is all you are going to hear about. You are going to get application after application now that you have opened Pandora’s Box!!

“Now we are back to everyday business.” THAT NORTH END DEVELOPMENT IS GOING TO BE EVERYDAY BUSINESS SOON. Bring your Red Bull.

That North End application was an aberration? No, the aberration was not giving the public all the documents they needed to see!!

Will there be ANOTHER PETITION on an issue that I cannot name right now? There might be. We will have to wait and see. Oh, and the “LETTER” will be released Sunday.

And the biggest blooper of the day: The Board of Education puts on school closings or delays on Channel 16 which is a great community service. Unfortunately that community spirit ended on Thursday, when someone forgot to take off the announcement of a 90 minute school delay that was for Wednesday. My husband said that when he dropped off my son and daughter at the high school, the phone was ringing off the hook.

BREAKING NEWS FROM THE BOARD OF ED MEETING THURSDAY NIGHT!! Apparently when the Board adjourned for an executive session, someone, hopefully not the same person who forgot to change the weather announcement, FORGOT TO TURN THE MICROPHONE OFF. You could hear voices saying something to the effect of “let’s go to the kitchen” I heard someone say “oh him-the skinny one”? You could hear someone talking about a persons medical condition. Something about Hartford Hospital, but the sound was full of static. Now I know what a wiretap feels like. Well I know what one sounds like!! I wonder how I know?

Unfortunately I had to go out so I don’t know if they said anything juicy. But in all fairness, they did not know the microphone was on so even if I heard something, I would not print it.

As of 9:30 p.m., the microphone was still on!!

Oh God did I die and go to journalism heaven??

Many people have called wanting to know more about the Citizens Police Academy. All I can tell you is that you have to sign up and get involved. You can talk all the anonymous trash you want, but if you don’t get involved, you are part of the problem.

I am hoping this experience gives me a better understanding of the functions of the Cheshire Police Department. I want to know as much as possible and I will discuss and ask questions and let them know how I feel. This does bridge a communication and misunderstanding gap I believe. I wonder who they are going to force to do the ride along with me? I can just hear it now!!

Lastly: A read of the story posted on the newsfeed from WSFB:

Cromwell Police Chief Suspended by Police Commission.

Read Why Here.

Now we are gonna bust it!!

HEY FAT BOY!!! by Max A Million

Ok, tonight was the night I attended the first installment of the Citizen’s Police Academy. There was approximately 13 people in attendance and I was happy to see that some of the people attending wanted to bring others with them for next week. The Academy runs for eight weeks Feb. 13th to April 2nd and meets every Wednesday at the Police Department training room from 7 to 9 p.m.

There is still room. Call the CPD and sign up!!

The class was conducted by training Officer Nemphos and Deputy Chief Popovich.

All of the students received a nice binder with a pen and ruler and a syllabus of course events over the next several weeks. Tonight was an introduction. Of course I was disappointed that I was going to have to wait until next Wednesday to meet the Town Manager and our Mayor Matt Hall but I think I can contain myself until then. Oh, the Chief will be in attendance next week also. This week he was at the Town Council meeting. Thank you I am happy to hear that.

The reporter from the Herald is also taking the class which is good, and WFSB will be in attendance next week. This is also a good thing. The Cheshire Police Department needs to reach out to the community and press as much as possible because we really do have a professional police department.

Now I did hear repeated strains of “we are shorthanded” and believe it or not, in a few areas I did agree with Nemphos and Popovich.

After the initial paperwork was completed and a short break of 10 minutes, all of the students got the “tour.” Of course, I already know what the lockup looks like. In fact I know what several area lockups look like, but lets keep it at that. It is so amazing that some people do not know what goes on a a police department at ALL. So this Citizens Police Academy is very very important. It helps build trust between the police and its citizens. Because we really have to be their eyes and ears and we should be because the police cannot be everywhere and it is every citizens obligation to help the police and their community PERIOD.

Now we all toured the evidence room, the booking room, the roll call room; we went out to their heated garage to see the SWAT van that looks sort of like the UPS delivery van without the markings, we saw the inside of the patrol cars; we went to the physical fitness room, but I did not get to see the room with the flat screen televisions Hmm!! I wonder why?

Now one area I want to see more hires is with the dispatch. Apparently the ideal situation is five dispatchers. CPD only has three. That means regular officers have to fill in. That is fine and good, but I don’t think we should be messing around with dispatching. P.S. I used to dispatch years ago, so I know what it involves. That is the lifeblood of any police department.

Now I am not going to get into specifics of how many officers are on during the day or evening for public safety reasons because this website is read by many many people all over the country and the world for that matter. We don’t want to give away our hand here.

But, according to the FBI statistics we are supposed to have I believe 2 officers for every 1000 residents. We have a little under 30,000 residents, so we should have 52 officers. We have 44 I believe now, with retirements. Four new officers, including thank God another woman, have been hired, and Popovich said they are in the academy in Meriden and New Britain. Now I know about FBI statistics, but you know reality is reality. I want to see the manpower in the Evidence Room, the Narcotics Division, and the Dispatch area right away.

I want all of you to know that on Feb. 23rd I will be doing a ride along with the CPD on the midnight shift. I am glad I will be doing this because I love observing and love seeing the police in action.

I have done shadows with the Bridgeport, Easton and Seymour Police Departments when I was a reporter and in one instance, shots were fired when I was with the Bridgeport Police. As I have stated before, I went with the Easton PD and the officer pulled a car over. I am telling you, my heart was in my throat. I had my hand on that radio ready to call the dispatch office, because as harmless or as small of a town as it may seem, you never know who is behind the wheel. My friend Officer DeJoseph of the BPD found this out almost 30 years ago, when he did a motor vehicle stop, turned to walk back to his patrol car and was shot in the back and killed. This was before Bridgeport had its problems. This was unheard of back then. All of Bridgeport was stunned. Police work is not to be taken lightly. But it must be done professionally and openly. That is what I believe.

Now when we were in the Detective room, Detective Bobock was talking about the burglaries they are working on. I told Popovich I would like to see the streets where the burglaries are taking place put into the monthly reports. There is no shame in this. Burglaries happen. This does not mean our police are incompetent. They are not. But, the people have a right to know. We need to know as much information as possible without jeopardizing the case. I know that. We can’t spill all the beans, but at least open the jar. Someone might see something or keep an eye out.

So my first night was very interesting and informative. I look forward to the other sessions especially if I get tasered. I have been pepper sprayed (demonstration only)!! and have ridden in simulated high speed chases on a course with the Riley County Kansas Police Department, so I am familiar with that. The tasering I am not familiar with, but I can take it. So we will see.

Now in other news. My significant other attended the Town Council meeting where one of the items on the agenda was the extension of the Senior Tax Freeze.

And yes, I THOUGHT the senior tax freeze included the disabled, but I guess some of our Town officials must be having a senior moment on that issue. And speaking of “senior moments” did I hear right that the Town Council DID NOT KNOW how much money was budgeted for the senior tax freeze.

Look, I wasn’t born at night people!! Of course they do. Did they over budget this item? Do they really not know what it costs? Answer: of course they do!!

To end: I will be meeting with Bob Ceccolini next week to discuss getting some funding for our pool.

Let’s go to Topix to see the hottest stories from Cheshire and who is saying what!!

Click here

I will post again Wednesday night after I attend my first Citizens Police Academy class.

Now we have many people in Town Government talking about “more accountability” which is a good thing. But, as always, it is watered down. I still do not hear the Democrats or Republicans addressing the real issue: accountability in government for ALL DEPARTMENTS!! I was made aware of the Personnel Committee meeting a few weeks ago. I am not going to run the minutes because they appeared on another blog which is fine.

The question is: do we need a Laison Committee of the Town Council? No we do not.

We need the TOWN COUNCIL TO ASK MORE QUESTIONS OF THE TOWN MANAGER. The Town Council is IN CHARGE OF THIS TOWN. They represent the people who are in charge of this town. One person cannot and should not, as I have stated many many times before and have stated this years and years ago, one person should not be making all the decisions. “Oh some of the employees might feel they cannot come to the Town Manager with their issues” Fine, go to the Town Council, or if that is not satisfactory, the Union Rep or contact an individual Town Council member. P.S.–You can always call Cindy and Derf, as some of you have done in the past. That is the reason my website is called “underground town hall.” Because, people would contact us and tell us their issues.

Why, because some of them said they feared losing their jobs if they spoke out. My husband and another member of the community recently heard that statement again, at Stop and Shop when they were gathering signatures against the proposed lifestyle center.

Someone came up to my husband and said they were afraid to sign because they might lose their job. And a few years ago, another member of the town “staff” said they were at a meeting and told to watch what is said.

This is what I mean. People cannot be afraid to speak their minds in any city or town. This is their right under the constitution. I mean, we are not talking about national security here. One person cannot make all of the decisions. It is not healthy and it is not a democracy. As I have said in the past, I don’t care if my husband was the Town Manager or if I were the Town Manager, I would not want to make all the decisions. We have to designate responsibility. It does not mean the Town Manager we have now is not doing a good job. He is. But just because someone says something, it should not be taken as an affront.

It would be hard to find someone as dedicated as Michael Milone. Now I know a lot of you might differ, but I know Michael Milone cares about his work. He is a workaholic like myself, and if someone says something negative or questions something it is taken very seriously or more on the scale of maybe the person is not performing the job correctly.

That is not the case. No one likes to be criticized. It hurts. But when questions are asked it does not mean something is necessarily wrong.

Cheshire needs to stop worrying about getting on Channel 3 or Channel 8 and start asking the hard questions. Make decisions based on what is right, not what kind of “image” are we going to have. We already saw this type of mindset in action several months ago and what the consequences were didn’t we?

“We want more accountablility” Oh yeah, then Town Council, you should have asked more questions of the Police Department after the Petit Home Invasion. We should have had a roundtable discussion. No, you sit quiet and hope it will go away.

You should have asked about the leaked P and Z orginal (not a copy) document on W/S Development. Why wasn’t this document made available to the public at that Jan. 16th meeting? Please, don’t insult my intelligence with “it was on the table.”

No, you sit quiet.

I am finally seeing some “accountability” thanks to the efforts of Tim Slocum by having the Police and Fire Chiefs go over the monthly reports in front of the Town Council. Now, did that hurt to do that last month. To ask QUESTIONS? No it did not. And guess what, the Towns Bond rating did not go down and it wasn’t breaking news on WFSB. It is part of the accountability process for ALL DEPARTMENTS!!

“Oh, we want this laison committee to the Town Council to report back so we can discuss issues. We want the staff to feel comfortable.” Sounds like just what a Police Commission would do. What is the problem? Why can’t the Public Safety Commission take on this responsiblity? What a joke!!! Mocking responsible and open government. Yes, we want open government as long as it is what we want you to know!! And if you want to know more, we will take care of you!!

I see and know a LOT MORE that the Town Government thinks I know. People love to talk and they talk right out in the public.

We have a decent Town Manager now, but he needs to open up and not be afraid to address all issues. You know what, the average person really doesn’t care. They are so wrapped up in their lives, the worst case scenario would be that they would talk about it for a few days, and then forget about it.

West Hartford is considering getting rid of their Town Manager form of government.

Click to read why

Another issue I rarely hear the Town Council question is all of these bid waivers. “Oh they save money.” Yeah maybe, but what about competition? Letting others in on the action?

Here is a story on Fairfield Board of Education that wanted a bid waiver on a bus contract and was overruled by the Board of Finance–another issue that should be brought up by our Town Council. Like WHY DON’T WE HAVE ONE?

Here is the story from the Ct. Post.

I will be at the Citizens Police Academy starting on Wednesday. And I will update you on my efforts to get the pool some much needed money for improvements.