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.
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.
