Monthly archives: March 2008

 

 

More on the Budget

  • By: Cindy

I did not get a chance to go to the first public hearing on the 08-09 budget but my significant other did. As of 9 p.m., the hot air continued.

So while we are not listening because it is boring, here is a rundown of my favorite department’s fleet of vehicles that was handed out by the Police Chief Monday night.

Now again, I do not have a scanner, but maybe I will be given one from Elim Park. You never know.

Now there are 29 vehicles which make up the Police Departments fleet; nine belong to the Patrol Division; four in traffic; six in Investigation seven in Administration and three in the Utility Division.

PATROL DIVISION:

2008 Ford Expedition-year purchased 2008-total miles-1093.90

2007 Ford Crown Victoria-year purchased-2007-total miles-22,444.00-2007 miles-18,486.oo

2006 Ford Crown Victoria-year purchased-2006-total miles-49,272.00-2007 miles-26,894.00

2005 Ford Crown Victoria-year purchased-2005-total miles-68,726.00-2007 miles-22,474.00.

2007 Ford Crown Victoria-year purchased-2007-total miles-9,876.oo-2007 miles-5,705.00.

2008 Ford Crown Victoria-year purchased-2007-total miles-13,041.00-2007 miles-7,927.00

2006 Ford Crown Victoria-year purchased-2006-total miles-45,504.00-2007 miles-24,834.00.

2006 Ford Crown Victoria-year purchased-2006-total miles-54,069.00-2007 miles-30,817.00.

2003 Ford Crown Victoria-year purchased-2003 used for Traffic-total miles 49,096.00-2007 miles 14,411.00

Ok that is it for tonight with the cars. I will run the rest of the list Wednesday.

But, before I go, let’s see what my people in the Bridgeport Police Department did in 2007 with their fleet of police cars.

Click Here

Many of you are wondering if the town really did have a gas use policy in place or did they scramble. I don’t know. As the Police Chief stated Monday night, there comes a point where you have to place your trust in the people that work with you.

That is all well and good, but we do need regulations. Please read Upton Sinclair’s “The Jungle” which entails the nasty undertakings of our food industry before the USDA.

Some people say it is getting back to the old ways, but believe me, it is not. We cannot rely on people to police themselves, what is this Lord of the Flies? Human nature–it won’t happen.

Now I know many of you are upset with the education budget with nearly the entire budget taking up teacher salaries. All well and good, but all I can say to you out there is that you must remember, one of the biggest, if not the biggest employer in the United States is WALMART!!

You don’t think the gas prices and the high foreclosure rates are not trickling down to you here in Cheshire–THINK AGAIN!!! I wonder who is going to be paying these salaries, not that I am against making good money, I am not!!! But who will be able to pay for this in the next several years? Will you be willing to shoulder most of the tax burden? Probably not.

 

Hallelujah!!

  • By: Cindy
I'm tired of listening to you talking in rhymes
Twisting round to make me think you're straight down the line
All you do to me is talk talk
Talk
 talk talk talk
Talk Talk-"Talk Talk"

EDITOR’S NOTE: THIS POST FIRST RAN ON MARCH 17,2008 AFTER THE POLICE DEPARTMENT BUDGET WORKSHOP WHEN THE ISSUE OF MUNICIPAL GAS USAGE FIRST APPEARED. AS YOU KNOW, MY SPOUSE ASKED FOR THE MUNICIPAL GAS USAGE PER VEHICLE FOR THE CHESHIRE CT POLICE DEPARTMENT. NOW I HAVE RUN MUNICIPAL GAS USAGE A FEW TIMES BEFORE, BUT I ALWAYS RECEIVED LUMP FIGURES FROM EACH MUNICIPAL DEPARTMENT, NEVER INDIVIDUAL VEHICLE USAGE. I THOUGHT THEY DID NOT KEEP TRACK AND THIS WAS CONFIRMED IN THE EMAIL I RECEIVED FROM THE CHESHIRE TOWN HALL ON MONDAY, AUGUST 16, 2010. BUT WHEN I WENT OVER THIS ARTICLE I NOTICED SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT WHICH WAS SAID AT THAT 2008 BUDGET HEARING. I MAY BE WRONG, BUT I SWEAR I WAS TOLD THAT EACH VEHICLE IS LOGGED IN AND MONITORED FOR HOW MUCH GAS THEY PUT INTO EACH VEHICLE ON A DAILY BASIS.

SO IF THIS IS THE CASE, WHY CAN’T MY SPOUSE GET PER VEHICLE GAS USAGE???  WAS IT JUST TALK OR A MISUNDERSTANDING?? READ THE PASSAGE AT THE BOTTOM OF THE POST IN BOLDFACE AND MAKE YOUR OWN CONCLUSIONS.

When I first started doing Underground Town Hall and making my comments, I secretly used to say to myself, “boy do I wish just one person on the Town Council would start asking the hard questions.”

Well, I think we have someone who is asking —- Councilor Tim White. But one thing that must be kept in perspective–question government because it is the right thing to do, not because of a personal feeling.

We must realize that most of the changes brought about in our society and in this world were motivated by hate or greed or both. That is the way of the world. But there are people who believe in open and honest government. I have had to deal with my personal feelings about this police department for many years. I really try to keep things in perspective. I try to balance things out, but sometimes it may not look that way.

Hopefully soon, many of my questions will be answered and many of my feelings will be put on the table to rest once and for all. That is all I will say about that.

I always try to attend as many Town Council meetings as possible, especially during the budget. I do attend the Police Department budget, because it is not so much the Cheshire Police Department as it is a Police Department. This is the most powerful department in town. It is a para-military organization. So checks and balances must be in place and kept there. It has nothing to do with who is running the organization. Not at all. My husband could be the Police Chief and I would insist on the same standards. That is my belief and that is the duty of every citizen in this nation, to oversee and watch the government. That was the will of our founding fathers.

Someone said they are not “buying” what I am saying. I am NOT SELLING IT!!!

Now the police over the past several years has been very efficient. This year’s budget is up approximately $200,000 with the bulk of the increase ( $184,000) coming from salaries. According to the Town Manager, there is $16,000 in the non salary account.

Out of these salaries is the hiring of two new police officers to basically replace officers who have either left the department or retired. I believe the Police Chief said that in July of 2008, approximately 33.7 percent will be eligible for retirement. That is ELIGIBLE, not meaning they will all take retirement mind you.

Now the big issue the past several weeks was the topic that Councilor Tim White first brought up at a recent Town Council meeting regarding a gas use policy by municipal employees. Tim asked about the policy for all municipal employees, not the just the police department.

So I was pleased tonight to see quite a lengthy presentation by the Police Chief on just this issue. GOOD!!

Now I still do not have a scanner unfortunately but I did want to show all of you the handout that was given to everyone at the Police Budget Hearing which went from 6:30 p.m. to a little after 8 p.m. Many questions were asked about staffing, hiring, equipment use, and my favorite, the new cruiser purchases, tire wear and tear. It was great and very informative.

Right now, I want to concentrate on the big topic, the municipal gas use.

According to the”Cheshire Police Department Gas/Mileage use 2005 to 2006:

For Calendar Year 2005: Total Gallons used was 34,392: Average Gallons per month in 2005 was 2,866; Total Miles Driven in 2005 was 326,386 and Average Miles Driven Per Month in 2005 was 27,199.

In 2006: Total Gallons: 34,576; Avg. Gallons Per Month: 2,882: Total Miles Driven: 337,941: Avg. Miles Driven Per Month 28,162.

In 2007: Total gallons: 31,489: Avg. Gallons Per Month: 2,624: Total Miles Driven: 306,955; Avg. Miles Driven Per Month: 25, 580.

Jan/Feb 2008: Total Gallons: 4,969: Avg. Gallons Per Month: 2,485: Total Miles Driven 48,370: Avg. Miles Driven Per Month: 24,185.

PROJECTED TOTAL GALLONS FOR Calendar Year 2008-2009: 29,820: PROJECT TOTAL MILES DRIVEN FOR Calendar Year 2008-2009: 290,220.

FISCAL YEAR

Fiscal Year 2004/2005: Total Gallons: 39,148: Avg. Gallons Per Month, 3,262: Total Miles Driven: 359,638: Avg. Miles Driven Per Month: 29,970.

2005/2006: Total Gallons: 37,657: Avg. Gallons Per Month: 3,138: Total Miles Driven: 312,380: Avg. Miles Driven Per Month: 26,032.

2006/2007: Total Gallons: 33,003: Avg. Gallons Per Month: 2,750: Total Miles Driven: 332,111: Avg. Miles Driven Per Month: 27,676.

2007/2008: Total Gallons: 20,233: Avg. Gallons Per Month: 2,530: Total Miles Driven: 198,076: Avg. Miles Driven Per Month: 24,760.

Projected Total Gallons for Fiscal Year 2008-2009: 30,353: Projected Total Miles Driven for Fiscal Year 2008-2009: 297,116.

Now according to Lt. Jay Markella the gas pumps ( I believe he said there are two) at the Police Station is located in the north east corner of the department and is monitored by a camera. I know this to be the case because I saw it being monitored when I was in the dispatch area of the police department during the tour of the station as part of the Citizens Police Academy.

Lt. Markella said up to three cameras can monitor the pump if necessary. The gas pumps are old according to Markella but the recording system is adequate. What happens is that the two pumps are on a stand alone system with a gauge. The officer who needs to dispense gas into a police vehicle, marked or unmarked, records what the gauge says and these records are kept on a daily schedule.

Lt. Markella said that the way the monitoring system works is that the system, which he said is very sensitive, has the Officer pulling around to the pump. The Officer must enter the vehicle ID#, the vehicle gas code and the odometer reading which automatically triggers a printout inside police headquarters.

This is something because I swear this sounds like the Madison Wisconsin gas card system I spoke about in front of the Town Council last week. Go to Home Page “Featured Video” to hear my speech on the Municipal Gas Use Policy.

A report is filed and each report has the date, time, amount of gallons pumped, which is then turned into a chart.

Now apparently the department will be using a pump and the system used by the Public Works which involves a plastic key. A number is issued for each key, so if a municipal employee decided to give his key to a non-authorized user, that municipal employee would be charged for the unauthorized use, because his or her key number would show up in the system. All for what it is worth I guess.

Now the Chief also handed out a chart of what looks like the entire CPD fleet: i.e. the marker number, the year make and model the year purchased, what department the vehicle is assigned to, total miles and 2007 miles. THANK YOU!!

A resident had a question: how much does the Town pay for gasoline? Are they exempt from state gasoline tax? Is there a bid waiver? We will find out.

 

Sunshine Week

  • By: Cindy

With our attention at keeping government honest, here is an interesting Associated Press article on e-mails between the public and governmental agencies and the publics right to access them.

I am hopeful our Town Government will take note of this. Also, I have received many calls about the municipal gas use situation. I will be keeping up with this. I also have received disturbing information regarding landscaping. That is all I can say right now.
Boy the list keeps growing: grass cutting, snow removal, car washing. I am sure I will hear more.

FYI, one of our Town Council members should know better than to ask on the spur of the moment for an executive session to discuss something when the executive session is not spelled out on the agenda. I am glad for once that Matt Hall intervened and corrected the situation.

Cheshire T.G. TAKE NOTE:

Sunshine Week: State moving to archive voluminous e-mail


BY SUSAN HAIGH
ASSOCIATED PRESS
HARTFORD — The numbers are staggering.
There are 25,207 e-mail ac­counts in Connecticut state gov­ernment. At least 4 million e-mails each month are ex­changed between members of the public and state agencies — a figure that keeps growing and doesn’t include interchanges within agencies or between them.
And when a member of the public or a journalist files a Freedom of Information re­quest to read an archived e­mail file, it takes the Department of Information Technology about three hours to retrieve it, said agency spokeswoman Nuala Whelton.
“It’s very time intensive,” she said.
That’s one of the reasons why DOIT is working to hire a com­pany to set up an e-mail archiv­ing system for state government. The state is cur­rently reviewing bids from con­tractors.
“It’s a much more efficient way of storing e-mail. A new archiving system will make FOI requests much more efficient. A new archiving system will ba­sically capture e-mail as soon as it hits the server,” Whelton said. It will also allow for cus­tomized searches, weeding through thousands of govern­ment e-mails in seconds. Each agency will have its own ability to search through them for FOI requests, as well as internal in­vestigations and court-ordered legal discovery — a big reason why corporations are already using e-mail archiving systems. Under Connecticut’s open records law, e-mails are not specifically mentioned. But in most cases, the Freedom of In­formation Commission has in­terpreted e-mails to and from public officials and employees, using state or municipal com­puters, as public records, said Colleen Murphy, executive di­rector and general counsel for the commission. “You’re using government-owned equipment and using government-owned time,” she said.
The FOI commission then looks at the requested e-mails to see if all the information should be released as a public record. For example, there could be a Social Security number on a document that cannot be re­leased.
Computer records played a role in the 2004 impeachment investigation of former Gov. John G. Rowland. The legisla­tive inquiry committee subpoe­naed DOIT for copies of everything on Rowland’s com­puter hard drive, as well as all the computer documents he generated, including e-mails, since he first became governor in January 1995.
Federal authorities also sought computer records as part of their investigation into alleged corruption in Rowland’s administration. Rowland ulti­mately resigned and served 10 months in a federal prison after admitting contractors paid for home improvements at his lake­side cottage and that state em­ployees bought him a hot tub.
Murphy said her office has made a point of meeting with various state agencies, remind­ing them that they need to cre­ate policies for retaining e-mail. “It’s really like any other kind of record. There are some records that are permanent and others that would have a limited life,” she said.
She said each one needs to be examined and considered whether it should be saved, de­pending on the particular agency’s operation.
“When we go out and speak with people, we tell them, ‘You should really be thinking about this because you don’t want to be met with a request where your only answer is, we don’t have those anymore,”’ Murphy said.
At her office, Murphy said she retains e-mails that have “some kind of permanent impli­cation” to her, such as a mes­sage relating to a particular project that she’s working on.
The commission tried in 2004 to issue a ruling about making state and local government offi­cials’ e-mails and voice mes­sages open for public review. But the officials lined up against the proposal, complain­ing such messages are difficult to track.
“It led to a firestorm,” Mur­phy said. “People interpreted it as a requirement that agencies had to transcribe every voice mail that they received.”
The proposal was ultimately dropped. But Murphy said the issue will likely resurface as e­mail becomes more popular and agencies begin using new phone systems that send voice mail messages to an e-mail box.

  

MONTREAL MUNICIPAL GAS USE RIOT

 

More Inmates in Cheshire?

  • By: Cindy

On Friday, I received a voice mail message on my home phone from a resident who had read my letter to the editor in the March 13th edition of the Cheshire Herald.

This person who did not identify himself, claims that he was “in the position” to know that the State of Connecticut was planning on building three new prisons in Cheshire which would house 3,000 more inmates, but according to the caller, the only thing stopping all of this from happening was the situation with the towns sewage treatment plant being at or over capacity.

I am emphasizing, that I cannot VERIFY this information but I thought it was worth mentioning on my website for a talking point. This caller stated several times that he had tried to give this information to the local press, but nothing was ever done about it.

I know in 2007, there was talk of renovating the old wing of the Cheshire prison to possible house a few hundred more inmates. And, with this continuous talk of tougher sanctions on inmates, parolees and the three strikes law, one must take all of the above into consideration.

Now I did come across “The Real Costs of Prisons Weblog.”

Here is a post from it which includes an article from the New Haven Register talking about possible prison expansion but not to the extent this caller claims might be in the works. The idea of having 3000 more prisoners on top of the 3000 already in place seems a little far fetched, but with the State of Connecticut who knows? If the state plans on toughening up repeated offender laws and the way crime is going in Connecticut, it would not be hard to fill up that extra space now would it.

Click here for article

Now I know some of you have expressed concern over the tough language I used in my last post. As you know, I am very shy and reserved. So you know I must be very concerned when I have to speak up and use phrasing that some might deem offensive.

I believe it is the obligation of every resident in every town and city in America to be the watchdog over their local governments. Unfortunately, most people don’t feel this way.

Most people claim they are too busy with work or family life to take a somewhat active part in the goings on of their community. That to me is a shame.

Now I am not saying that everyone in town has to show up to every single Board of Ed meeting, Planning and Zoning meeting or Town Council meeting. But, it would be nice if every once in a while, some of you took some sort of interest in how your town runs and how your money is being spent.

As I stated in a post long long ago, I wish you people would have adopted me years ago. I would have loved to have been your kid. Since none of you have time to care about how the government spends your money, you probably don’t give a rats behind (see I am being nice now with the words), on how your child spends yours either!! BOY, I missed out!!!

And as far as this municipal gas use goes, what is the matter with the rest of you on the Town Council? Can you speak? Especially the Republicans!! Tim White had the courage to bring up a legitimate issue and you just sat there? SPEAK UP!! We did not elect mannequins!! Or did we?

I am not saying or I am sure Tim isn’t either, that we don’t trust the people in power; i.e. the Town Manager or the Police Chief. No. This policy now of putting in a code is a recipe for disaster. How do you know Town Government, that I don’t know this code?

You don’t!!

This system or lack of it now where each department polices itself invites fraud because any person who wants to take advantage can .

Let’s consider the following scenario: “OK Ms. Lawbreaker, you have been convicted of a violent felony. Just make sure you show up at the prison tomorrow to start your sentence. We are leaving it up to you to police yourself to make sure you do the right thing.”

Sound assinine!! Sure it does. Just like asking people to police themselves with other peoples money. Not going to happen!!!

Are people driving town cars out of state for personal uses? The public doesn’t know. These proposed safeguards that I spoke about at the Town Council meeting of March 11th prevent embarassing articles that I and Councilor White had on our websites.

Believe it or not, it hurts when someone says something bad about our town because it is an attack on all of us who reside here. It is just a preventative measure, not a fingerpointing accusation or a trouble making statement.

It is to prevent something bad from happening.

Mannequins

(Androides), automation; Poupees ,(Dolls)

 

Cutting Back

  • By: Cindy

Recently, I have been having second thoughts about this website or blog or whatever the hell they call everything now. I wonder if what I have been trying to do or say over the past four years has made an impact. I don’t know.

And, coupled with the events over the past several days has just heightened the tension between myself, my supporters and the Town Government.

Frankly, I just think I am wasting my talent on Cheshire.

(Oh here we go, the stupider than Jupiter on you know who’s blog will be throwing another anonymous tantrum).

I actually was rethinking this meeting I will be having also. I will have to see how things go.

As you know, I am always involved in something or butting heads with some authority figure but that is how I am. I fight for my rights, and families rights and I *UCK the system whenever I can. I just did it a few weeks ago and boy are they upset. TOO *UCKING BAD!!!

That is how I was brought up. Speaking of the system, many of you are wanting to know why I am running the series on the Weather Underground. I thought it would be interesting for those of you who were not around in the 60′s or 70′s.

I probably should not say this because the Government already monitors this website because of the word “Underground”, but one of my relatives had connections with the Weathermen. I remember my family being proud of her. They paraded her around like she was Cleopatra.

I know some of you think the Weathermen and SDS (Students for a Democratic Society) were radical and out of control. Well maybe. I do believe in some dialogue with the authority. They did not.

These people no matter what you think of them, really believed in what they were doing and were willing to pay the price and did. Some of these people were in jail for over 10 years for what they did. But, the majority of them got off because the FBI did not believe in the search and seizure clause of the U.S. Constitution.

I wonder what you would think of this: a group of people decide they do not like what their country is doing even though they live far away from the mother country which they pledge allegiance to.

They claim the taxes are unfair. They are not being represented fairly. Their voices are not being heard. What do they do? They form their own militia for God’s sake. They start a “war”–a “Revolutionary War.” They kill people. They blow things up. This goes on over several years. Who were they? Sound like a radical 60′s group? Sort of. Instead it was in the 1760′s and 1770′s. I have spoken about these radicals before.

Who were they? George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Patrick Henry, Nathan Hale, Paul Revere? Remember them? They fought the “establishment” for what they believed in. Enough said.

Now it is budget time. I haven’t really gotten into the budget but it looks as reasonable as it can be. Apparently the increase is a little over 4 percent. Now as many of you know, Trumbull has been in the news because their operating budget proposed a whopping 11 percent increase!! People were furious. Could you blame them. Many people, including seniors and those on a fixed income were livid beyond belief. Over 500 residents packed a public hearing last week to express their outrage. (You wouldn’t see 500 people in the Cheshire Town Council Chambers even if the town were giving money away.)

I guess the budget was pared down to a six percent increase which is still a lot and for all you mall lovers out there—Trumbull has Westfield Shopping Park and the town still had to pump up the taxes.

I have a link to both Cheshire’s “proposed” 2008-09 budget and Trumbull’s budget.

Trumbull and Cheshire are a lot alike demographically. The population is nearly the same, except Trumbull has about three or four thousand more residents. The square miles is identical. And the per household income is nearly the same. Believe it or not, Cheshire’s per household income is HIGHER. Trumbull, which is in Fairfield County, has a PHH of $90,000 and Cheshire’s is $98,000.

So look at the “proposed” Cheshire Town operating budget and look at Trumbull’s and decide if you see a difference. I did. Trumbull breaks everything down to the last penny. They break down every piece of equipment they spend money on; how much salt and sand they throw on the roads–everything. I am going to put on Trumbull’s website homepage and notice the difference their also. Why? Because they have an elected official!!! A First Selectman!!! Voted in or out!!!

So here it is:

Cheshire’s “proposed” operating budget for 2008-09

Trumbull’s Website Home Page (click on proposed operating budget for 08-09).

Oh by the way, my letter to the Editor is in this weeks Cheshire Herald. In it I talk about the Town Employee Gas Use policy which the wimp outs on the Town Council did not bother to follow up on!! It figures.

Cheshire Herald link

Breaking News: Woman Sits on Toilet for TWO YEARS!! She must have eaten at 2000 Flushes Buffet!!

Click here for video