Thursday, April 15, 2010

Should the town implement a Administrative Assistant type of government

32 comments:

  1. If we were to change to an Administrative Assistant type of government we would need to vote on it as the next March meeting.

    To do this we would we would have petition the selectmen to include it at a special town meeting tentatively scheduled for the June.

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  2. I like the idea of anything that gives the people more control of their local gorvnment. When a Town manager can hire all of the staff and only the manger can do that, that is too much control. With an assistant the hiring would be done by the slectmen or the town at the annual meeting.

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  3. Let's move forward with this petition! How does that work? Do you have to have a certain number of signatures?

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  4. I am from another town here in Maine and would like a private conversation with one or all of the Five. How would a person go about receiving contact information?

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  5. Mike Burns 234-4415
    Chris Yountz - 234-2834

    Feel free to contact them anytime.

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  6. Thank you - we will be contacting you this evening after 6pm.

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  7. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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  8. ho hum....anyone else bored with the Fab Five?

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  9. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  10. There are a numbers of things happening in the background, we are waiting for about 6 Freedom of information request from the town office. We are looking at the requirements for citizens petitions. We continue to look at the information we previously obtained from the town (which has cost us $400 for the software).

    All of the fivers have full time jobs, and can only work on this mornings, evenings, and yes coffee breaks. Two of our members have been sick lately, one fairly seriously.
    This has limited the time we can spend on this matter.

    Finally pace yourself folks, this is a 3 year process. We have made strides and will continue to work on your behalf.

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  11. I find it very hard to believe and swallow that the taxpayers of Newburg are procedurally unable to remove the current selectmen until their terms have expired. Furthermore I find it difficult to understand why someone charged with and accepting the responsibility to oversee the town operations such as a selectman would choose to remain in office in spite of their admitted poor performance given the severity of our situation. Regardless of guilt or innocence the shame of letting the entire community down by failure to perform even the most basic management duties must be painful and overwhelming. Why would anyone who claims to be and I suspect wants to be of service to the community allow the continued shadow of doubt and constant suspicion to be integral to and with the healing and rebuilding process. Although I truly suspect the origional intention of our three selectmen was to give to the community any way they could there appears to be a low level of business savy demonstrated by all involved and an associated learning curve none of us could or can afford. We as a community do not need additional distractions surrounding who did or did not know what was going on, we need to know there is a clear direction forward and the future will not and can not resemble the past. The only logical solution to assure the slate is clear is for our current town officials to step aside and allow some much need and desired fresh air to filter in. In an effort to be fair I for one would support waiting for the current financial and pending criminal investigations to be complete thus allowing the three selectmen an opportunity to filter back into the community to privately lick their wounds away from lingering suspicions. I find the outright refusal to step down by the selectmen to be borderline child like, selfish and actually somewhat consistent with their level of business management skills. I have had many conversations recently with fellow citizens of Newburgh (some of them selectmen relatives) and of the 30 or so I have spoken to only one has expressed interest in retaining any of the selectmen. Most of these people are quick to say they do not suspect intentional foul play from our elected representitives but they are equally quick to say they must go. For those of you who may still have your heads in the sand let's for a short time set aside the thoughts of loyalty driven by personality, friendship, classmates and the all important Newburgh "relative connection" factor and think of the town overall. If you see any of our elected officials do the right thing and engage them in conversation. There is no shame in explaining to them that in the big picture and as well as for the overall good and long term health of the community our best interests woud be served if they did not.

    That is how adults speak to adults.

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  12. When I read thse comments it all sounds like something I heard from my mother 50 years ago and could be a valid excuse, Three Blind Mice?

    I am trying to sell a piece of land in Newburgh, this was to be a private sale and was advertised by word of mouth. A month ago I was approached by a gentlemen from Northern NH that had recently transfered to Bangor and he want's to build a house in the area. After seeing the lot he told me he had narrowed it down to mine and one he looked at in Carmel. Last night he imformed me that all things being equal he would go with the Carmel lot and the decideing factor was the mess in Newburgh. He felt it would be a long time fixing and had in his words "reservations about trusting our current selectmen and their ability to run a town".

    So what I gathered from this is that I have lost property value based on the actions/inactions of others. I did not ask directly but I assume if this corruption had not taken place I would have been in a much better position to sell.

    I can also make an assumption that this has obviously caused real devaluation of my (and I would guess others) assets. So if Curly, Larry and Mo will kindly authorize a new property evaluation this year and help reduce my tax burden it would surely go a long way in reducing the pain.

    Thaks for all you have and continue to do, the easy way out is to say "we do not anyone from away in our town anyway" but this attitude could be part of the problem we are now facing.

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  13. Well Said.
    I think there will be more of these disturbing stories in the future, please add me to the list of working stiffs from Newburgh that want to thank the thiefs and chiefs involved in porking us either knowingly or unknowingly.

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  14. Last post April 29th, so did everything go away? What is going on in Newburgh now any updates or thoughts come on let's hear it.

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  16. Porter said : please call these folks tomm. and wish em a happy birthday to the both alan and cindy and ask how they r doing, hopefully even without food stamps to get by!!!

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  17. just got my newsletter..wish I knew who it was from....what ARE the NAMES of the fivers???? seems strange no names were given.

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  18. proofread?????did anyone proofread YOUR "newsletter" hahahahahahahaha
    you maybe had a couple mistakes in case you were counting

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  19. Isn't sad this group doesn't have the nerve enough to post things that have been stated by many many people in a positive manner for all those that are trying and working very hard to keep their town running. Quite frankly it shows how coward you all really are--and I know for a fact that these comments have been removed. Does Mike Burns really want a position on the board so bad after losing 2 or 3 elections that he has stooped this low--and do we really want to discuss when Helen Mogan ran the town, I think not(memories last a long time)--how about R.Libby, didn't she at one time run a hair salon in town,what no business or to much gossip-- do you all get our point--stop the nonsense and start working with the people at your town office instead of working against them in everyway--I also now live in a small town where most of us try to walk and talk the Christan way--you all need a healthy dose of Christ---TREAT OTHERS AS YOU WOULD WANT TO BE TREATED BECAUSE SOMEDAY UNEXPECTLY YOU MAY BE IN THEIR SHOES---Former Newburgher and hope to move back one day--SHAME ON YOU ALL--P.SHULTON NC

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  20. As the administrator of this web site I can assure you that only one comment has been deleted. That was one that left the personal phone number of Cindy Dunton. I felt that was inappropriate.
    If you wish to contact me for further discussion about posting on this site you can contact me at : claudemuni@gmail.com
    Thank you for your comment.

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  21. Yesterday I was told by a lady here in Newburgh,there has been over 200 signatures on the petitions, can anyone verify this? 200 signatures to go back to administrative assistant & 200 for a recall ordinance to be put in the town report and voted on by the towns people. This is fantastic. Anyone know how many registered voters in town?
    If you haven't signed it, dig it out & send it in or go to www.townofnewburgh.info print off a form & mail it in to Town Watch P.O. Box 154, Hampden, Maine 04444 Take back our rights as tax payers of Newburgh to have a say in what we dish out all that $$$ for. When you just got your tax bill, did you wonder what that HIGH price was for? Seems it must be for "trash pick up" that's all we have in this town. Check out other local towns such as Dixmont, Carmel & Frankfort,see what those towns provide. You'll be shocked to really hear it. GET THOSE PETITIONS IN FOLKS.. THIS PETITION was make & circulated by concerned citizens of Newburgh.

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  22. I second that motion, also hold onto your tax money until we can get our town in order. Sooner or later something has to break.

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  23. What will holding your tax money solve all that will do is take away what the town needs to keep running. I dont think you understand how government works the town dosnt actually have money til they have your tax money every thing is a projected cost they dont actually know what it will cost so if you hold your tax money you will hurting the town further so dont hold your tax money!!!!!!!

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  24. In case someone wants to look at what other towns are doing there is some good information here. Form what I have seen most towns have a recall and performance review provision if they have a town charter, hard to find one that has a town charter that does not use a town councilor (5)form of gvt. Glenburn uses 5 concilors and pays them per meeting a maximum $600/year or $3000 total so whoever made the comment about our dinky little town having and paying for 5 selectmen there is a way to do it and keep the cost in check.

    Anyway good reading if you are interested
    http://www.memun.org/public/local_govt/home_rule.htm#J

    Jim Hopkins

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  25. I remain unclear how witholding tax payment until they are actually due is perceived as a negative. Most of us do it every month with every bill we owe. Believe it or not paying for anything on time and not early will not reduce your credit score.

    Holding tax payment until the last day is a reasonable response to our situation and in this case responsible method of helping selectmen and the town in managing the towns cash flow. It is not illegal for us to delay payment but it is illegal for them to write checks that are not covered by suffecient funds so in this case could easily have the positive effect of slowing down the outflow of cash and forcing an actual accurate ongoing review of financials including expendatures. The reality is if everyone paid taxes on time vs. taking the early payment discount this would add slight personal cost but assure the accounting was up to date and the monies were managed in a responsible way between tax due dates.

    There should never be guilt or shame in paying on time Vs early, if the town wanted to post my name as one of the troublemaking ones that intentionally paid on time I would really be OK with that.

    Unfortunately my taxes are in escrow and THEY take the discount or you can be assured I would be holding them until the last possible moment every time. After all I am one of those crazy people that are happy when I do not get a Income tax refund and am even happier when I do not have to pay in, this assures me I have had my money all year long.

    Jim Hopkins

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  26. This story has "solution" written all over it. You could actually take out the name of the town and put in Newburgh

    ftp://www.arkansashighways.com/Outgoing/PublicAffairs/News%20clips/2009%20News%20clips/October%202009/Oct%205%202009/Beaver%20residents%20label%20town%20dysfunctional,%20seek%20to%20dissolve%20charter.pdf

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  27. Since 1980, nine towns in Maine have ceased to be. And more are talking about it. A huge area — half the state — is now part of what's called "the unorganized territory," where there's no local government.

    In every town but one, giving up local control has resulted in lower property taxes.

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  28. LD 1708, item 1122nd Maine State Legislature
    An Act To Allow the Buckfield Village Corporation To Be Dissolved and Combined with the Town of Buckfield

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  29. I'd like to thank the wonderful, thoughtful, dedicated, hard working citizens of Newburgh who worked the entire day outside, in the freezing cold, getting signatures to help get the town back on track. Keep up the good work guys, your time is VERY MUCH APPRECIATED! Thank you!

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  30. Ditto to anon @ 8:05 am 11/03/2010.

    :-)

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please be couteous!

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