Friday, May 28, 2010

Search underway for a new town manager

The selectmen met with a representative of Maine Municipal Association (MMA). MMA will conduct the preliminary job interviews background checks etc.. MMA is charging $4,900 for their services plus fees for posting in the newspapers.

The selectmen said they want the same wage and benefit package as they had with Nancy Hatch. Free heath, dental and life insurance, travel expense and +/- 40 K per year.

Given that this is not a 40 hour a week job this seems excessive!

216 comments:

  1. NO NO NO, Check this out, I went to the town office the other day and was able to conduct business without a town manager. Until the current problems/facts are out and the town has a clear process to recall elected officials including a review policy that can be used to remove non performing employees we need to put this on hold. There seems to be enough interest in the movement to migrate to the administrative assistant form of government why would we continue down this Manager path, spend the time and money and then turn around and change direction.

    We do not need a town manager, we did not need one before, we can not afford to put ourselves in the position of having to get rid of one 6 or 8 months form now.

    I ask you this, what or who is this person going to manage? Will they oversee the public works department, take care of the extensive town park system, direct the police and fire chiefs?

    WAKE UP, a town that does not have one inch of sidewalk, public sewer system, fire hydrants, public works department or Full time Recreation director, Code enforcement officer, Police/Fire department etc. most likely does not need a town manager.

    It is in our favor that we do not have another drain sucking money from us now or in the near future.

    This is also EXACTLY why we need a recall process and some ADULT SUPERVISION in the selectmen roles.

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  2. Your post made me giggle...and not AT you mind you, WITH you. Whilst whining about our property taxes, I've been told they are a complete bargain compared to other communities.

    To this, I have always responded with a blank stare, maybe followed by a neurotic giggle, because I think that type of thinking is just nuts. Exactly WHAT do we get for our taxes now? What you posted above is exactly my point. We can't even get high-speed internet out here and no one in town office seems to think it's important. I mean, the town office has it and that's all that's important. We're just peons. Why won't the town office advocate for this on our behalf? ...sorry, just one of my beefs and I got carried away.

    Having never worn the shoes of a town manager, I cannot comment on what that position entails. My personal, and very tongue-in-cheek opinion is that all the town really needs is a tax/fees collector, but I'm a dink like that.
    :-D

    Kathy Perin, Newburgh
    ;-)

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  3. I sincerely hope that everyone who is concerned as to what has taken place will get behind the group of concerned citizens who are working to make a change. Involvement is the only way we can make a change and stregthen our town. Currently, we are the laughing stock of all the surrounding towns. Imagine, selectmen who have never opened the manual of town rules and regulations ? Much less having the ability to understand them. What about having a basic IQ test for selectmen ? Seriously, we need to re-group and make some immediate changes. We the residents are also guilty, we put our selectmen in, to be the watch committee. So, lets get going and help. Sign me up

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  4. huh?????? who says the selectman have never opened a manual? who knows that for a FACT? are you peeping in their windows and watching what they are reading every night? thats creepy!yuck...as far as IQ testing, maybe so, But YOU the non voters let this happen...VOTE next time, jokes on you!

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  5. We know for a FACT that selectmen have never opened the municipal officials manual, nor attended ANY workshops for selectmen, - because they told us so! They said that they never knew that there was a manual or workshops for elected officials, that they had never seen it or read it.
    They obviously never read the "Maine Townsmen" either (publication put our by the Maine Municipal Association and sent to every elected official as part of our,quite hefty, dues). Becuase if they had, they would have seen the listings for workshops for municipal officials. And the requirement that they be certified in the Freedom of Information law within 180 days of taking office.

    Lou Chamberland

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  6. I agree that what they are proposing for a new town manager is totally excessive and unnecessary. If we can do without a town manager while the investigation is underway, we should. Is there any procedure for citizens to stop this from going forward?

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  7. As far as I know, there is no procedure for stopping them from hiring a town manager. That is one reason we need a re-call procedure.
    The only thing you can do, which I would urge you and anyone else who thinks we should wait on this town manager proposal, is to call Buddy and Leona and share your views and concerns.
    Lou Chamberland

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  8. Lou - why shouldn't we call Skip as well? Is he not a selectman anymore? seems strange you omitted his name to call.

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  9. Come on towns Sheeple (sheep like people).

    Do you really think Leona, Buddy and Skip are interested in what anyone else thinks? If so they would have quit months ago when they discovered what happened "under their watch".

    Asking them anything other than what time it is becomes a streatch request and likely bothersome.

    The only reasonable way to deal with them is to assure there are enough signatures to have a recall procedure question placed before the voters. All you lazy knucklehead complainers that did not sign and return the sheet need to close your pie holes and take your place back in the flock, I am tired of listening to you moan and do nothing.

    The dictator for 3 years form of government that we currently enjoy NEEDS TO CHANGE sooner not later.

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  10. If you do not want a town manager.

    Do not call them, write them a letter, keep a copy and ask for a written reply.

    (In ink not crayon)

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  11. This is a reminder to sign your petition that was included in the "Town Watch" newsletter & mail it back as soon as you can. You can also find a copy at www.townofnewburgh.info to print out in case you have misplaced the first one.
    We do not have a town charter,(most towns do) which is where this provision would normally be in a town. Therefore we have to do this by passing an ordinance. Also, if you would like to be able to vote for the type of town government you choose, sign that petition as well. An administrative assistant type of government would place the selection of town officials back in the hands of the selectboard or by popular vote of the townspeople. Read it over & decide. Thanks!
    A town charter needs to be written if any one can be of assistance with that.

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  12. Who ever wrote that they knew for a fact that the selectmen have never opened their manual is quite frankly a lair!---gets your facts right before you start slamming-- LSMITH

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  13. Another bold face lie: Skip, Buddy and Leona are interested in what the town people think, BUT DO YOU THINK THAT YOUR LITTLE GROUP OF PEOPLE ARE SPEAKING FOR ALL THE TOWNS PEOPLE--MOST PEOPLE I TALK TO THINK DIFFERENT

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  14. Why is it that all you people can get on here and talk trash but you can't write your name at the bottom of your post? If you are big enough to run your mouth be big enough to attach your name to it!! I have lived in Newburgh all of my life and frankly I am ashamed of all of you trash talkers and you should be ashamed of yourselves, look at the example you are all setting for the future of our town. Chris, Noreen, Rosanna, Mike and many others have done nothing over the past few months but try and start trouble. They have no idea what they talking about most of the time and NONE of them are town heroes so I really wish they would stop trying to make it look like they are. You are all making yourselves look ridiculous! How dare you sit around with not much else to do but trash talk all of our selectman who are working, raising families and still taking their time to work tirelessly for YOUR town!! I won't speak for anyone else but I will say for myself I am really tired of hearing about what “the fixers” (and just what do they think they “fixing”) has started for a rumor this time, find something else to do!! Just because Cindy is an awful person doesn't mean everyone who has ever worked in our town is too, one bad apple doesn't make them all bad. Stop all of this immature and childish behavior! Lastly I just wanted to truly thank our selectman for all that they have done over the past several months and all that they will continue to do.
    Signed
    HEATHER RINES

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  15. Thank you Heather Rines for your support of our selectmen, I will be sure Skip, Buddy and Leona read your comment. I know they will appreciate some POSITIVE feedback. It's refreshing in these trying times.
    Johnna Smith

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  16. In response to Heather Rhines.

    Everything that you raved about in your post was nothing but a bunch of garbage. You speak of trash talk, and you seem to do it better than anyone else on here. Could you please give me, Mike Burns, proof of where I have talked trash on here, because this is the FIRST time I have ever posted on here. And I can guarantee you, Heather, that if I ever post anything anywhere, or send a letter, I will sign my name to it. I believe what I stand for and I stand for what I believe in. I have also lived in Newburgh most of my life, and I, too, am completely ashamed. Although, I am ashamed of our selectman, not the good citizens that you talk trash about. You stated that "we" don't know what we are talking about, when in fact, Heather, we know more than our selectman do. The only one that looks ridiculous is you. For you to defend the three selectman who have not done their jobs, and who are still not doing their jobs to the full extent of the law, makes you look quite ridiculous, to say the least. If you do see an improvement in the selectman, it's only because we are now holding them accountable. I have spent hours talking with Skip and Leona over the past few weeks. I have told all three of them that I would work with them. "We" are committed to helping them get the proper procedures in place and followed for the betterment of our town. We have NEVER started any rumors. Everything that we do, or we say, come from FACTS that we can back up. In one of the posts that I have read, they stated that we don't have access to find any mistakes. That is completely false. Every citizen in Newburgh had access when they received the towns annual report. All they had to do, or you, was read it, and compare the figures. All the other information we have is public knowledge at the town office. "We" even had the back up disk of ALL financial info from 2002 to March 2010. We knew she stole before anyone did. And I, or we, would be happy to share all of these facts with you. But we know who did what, when, and how. We will work with the selectman to make sure they follow the proper procedures so this never happens again. One rotten apple in a bushel of great apples, if not taken out, makes the rest of the bushel bad. That is what happened in our town. Everyone looked the other way, even you, (and you're still doing it) and you know it. Wake up and smell the roses.
    Mike Burns

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  17. To you Mike Burns for one my name is Rines not Rhines which was spelt right at the bottom of my post so it's funny that you couldn't even spell it right and I am suppose to trust that you can read figures right. Ok? And...I will not even waste my time responding to you because I do not feel that you are worth it. Have a great day!

    Thanks for the response though!

    Heather Rines

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  18. To the fixers what makes you think you have the right tools to fix anything? To all that were so quick to chuck the selectman under the bus isn't it just as much your fault as theirs you had access to the same info that they did. So why don't we lay the blame where it blongs Cindy is the one who stole from all of us not the selectman. What about Nancy Hatch don't you think that she should take some of the blame for letting this happen shouldn't she have caught this befor anyone else being the town manager. To the selsctman keep up the good work to every one else get a hobby!
    signed Craig Rines

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  19. In response to Heather and Craig Rines' response to Mike Burns: Your replies to Mike were vacuous (and very difficult to read) at best. People on the attack, as are you two, are just ignorant of the facts and running scared...thou doth protest too much. Your attack on who you call the 'fixers' is also vacuous. It's my educated guess that you have not taken as much as half a minute to look over any of the 'proof' that these industrious people have procured for you! Give it a chance, the two of you, and you will like yourself a lot better in the long run. This is not such a little group of 'fixers' anymore. More than a hundred of your townspeople signed the petition so far.....probably none of you in 'the family' though. They also received enough donated money to keep the operation going. That's not so paltry in light of the fact that the reply was twelve percent of the petitions sent out. The national statistic for mailed petitions being returned is a whopping TWO percent!!! I think you two are now in a losing ballgame...but there is still time to join the right team.

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  20. It is easy to see that your not a relative. LOL

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  21. Nice response Mike, and Thank you for being a concerned citizen. Some folks don't have the intellect to understand which got us here in the first place.

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  22. I will post something that the 1400 plus residents of Newburgh need to consider. You all elected your selectmen as guardian's and they were given positions of trust. Those positions of trust have been violated. Cindy and Nancy were hired employee's. The burden falls back on the folks who we placed our trust in not who they placed their trust in. We are going to be near a $400,000 loss and 1400 plus residents didn't take or lose this and no one is taking responsiabily or accountability so, I believe we need to be requesting full insurance/bond coverage, be paid to the town from the town's insurance carrier as we have a group that is at fault not just Cindy and Allen Dunton. Any thoughts on this avenue to pursue ????

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  23. the fixers said...
    Facts.....A town clerk for 31 years and Lois expected that approximately $7,000 would be taken out of her yearly wage of $22,000 for her health insurance. Barring all other deductions, a weekly paycheck of @423 vs. a weekly paycheck of $298??? You believe this could actually happen in the real world? I wonder HOW "they" (and who are they??) COVERED IT UP????? Ooooohhhhhhh, Lois must be upset that such a big MISTAKE has been made. I wonder how many years this happened and when she plans to pay all this back to the town????? What a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive!!! Nancy isn't around to slap anyone's hand like she and the selectmen did when Cindy got uncovered LAST YEAR. Will it be the 'good old boys' who do it???or will they just thank her for her 31 dedicated years of service to Newburgh. This is just the tip of the iceberg.

    the fixers said...... At selectman's meeting Lois Libby made a statement concerning her wages. Lois stated that she is on salary and not hourly. Lois said she makes 22k+ a year and her health coverage was supposed to be taken out which would bring her down to about 15.5k+-. BUT then she goes on to say that her health insurance coverage has not been taken out and she had no idea!!!!! I THINK NOT!!!!! Citizens were in shock to say the least. One citizen spoke up and and confronted her on this... "Do you get paycheck stubs?" Lois said that she did and the citizen goes on to state.... "AND YOU DIDN'T LOOK AT IT? I find that hard to believe." Lois said that they covered it up so she didn't know. Bull crap!!! 22k+ a year is a whole lot more than 15k a year, and she knew! I have no doubt in my mind that she knew. It was her part of the good ole' boy network funds! Come tax time, it was pretty obvious that she wasn't paying health insurance coverage! What do these people think???? That everyone in that meeting is stupid???? That all the citizens in Newburgh are stupid???? The buck doesn't stop at Cindy....... Comment ----------
    What about the unauthorized Christmas Bonuses, how many got this perk and for how long ? Don't they have to pay back the town ? What about their tax return's or taxes owing. Many avenues to cover to piece all this together and bring all responsible parties to task. What about the gains from the towns credit card use. This was monies that were ill gained. Everyone needs to come clean and stop the cover up.We need to have the District Attorney, Attorney General, US Marshall, FBI , Social Security, Sec of State and the News Media in for a complete review with charges brought. We need a fresh start. No one has said how the above is being resolved ????

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  24. WOW ! Did the auditor team discover this ? I think I have been over paying my taxes and I think I will ask for a discount benefit too. Seems everyone else is on board, might as well ask for mine, too.

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  25. Listen up......This is the latest that we heard and really need someone to prove it or not. It is hard to believe but....We were told that Leona Smith ( selectman) told someone that she would only approve a new municipal building if it had a new gym ? I didn't know the taxpayers were interested in this great expense ? Who in the world is watching the checkbook and what could the selectmen be thinking ?

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  26. IMPORTANT: --- " THE SELECTMEN NEED TO BE AWARE OF THE FOLLOWING AND CONDUCT THEMSELVES ACCORDINGLY" TRUST CAN BE A BIG BURDEN IF IT IS VIOLATED.

    14 §8104-D. PERSONAL LIABILITY OF EMPLOYEES OF A GOVERNMENTAL
    ENTITY
    Except as otherwise expressly provided by section 8111 or by any other law, and notwithstanding the
    common law, the personal liability of an employee of a governmental entity for negligent acts or omissions
    within the course and scope of employment shall be subject to a limit of $10,000 for any such claims arising
    out of a single occurrence and the employee is not liable for any amount in excess of that limit on any such
    claims. [1987, c. 740, §4 (NEW).]
    SECTION HISTORY
    1987, c. 740, §4 (NEW).
    14 §
    14 §8105. LIMITATION ON DAMAGES
    1. Limit established. In any claim or cause of action permitted by this chapter, the award of damages,
    including costs, against either a governmental entity or its employees, or both, may not exceed $400,000 for
    any and all claims arising out of a single occurrence.
    [ 1999, c. 460, §1 (AMD); 1999, c. 460, §2 (AFF) .]
    2. Costs. Court costs, prejudgment interest and all other costs that a court may assess must be included
    within the damage limit specified by this section. Accrued post-judgment interest may not be included within
    the damage limit.
    [ 1995,

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  27. What do we have here---more violations and offences. Where and when does it stop??? What State of Maine or United States Agency can help us? Bring them all in and get us going in the right direction. We are in desperate times. Take all the offenders away and help us recover our tax monies. PLEASE

    We know for a FACT that selectmen have never opened the municipal officials manual, nor attended ANY workshops for selectmen, - because they told us so! They said that they never knew that there was a manual or workshops for elected officials, that they had never seen it or read it.
    They obviously never read the "Maine Townsmen" either (publication put our by the Maine Municipal Association and sent to every elected official as part of our,quite hefty, dues). Becuase if they had, they would have seen the listings for workshops for municipal officials. And the requirement that they be certified in the Freedom of Information law within 180 days of taking office.

    Lou Chamberland

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  28. Have you run out of new FACTS to write about? I notice you have cut and pasted a few old comments to post over again..whats up? not enough new controversy so you have to shake up the old stuff? Fun. Now about that manual, I'm sure you didn't hear from ALL the selectmen that they didn't know a manual existed, because Skip has had one in our house for years, no, he doesn't read it nightly, but does refer to it quite often, which you may or may not believe (and frankly I don't care either way) So lets put that one to bed, OK?
    Johnna Smith

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  29. Great points Johnna...I just wanted to add you all think the selectman are to blame for Cindy and Nancy's shameful acts but Cindy was stealing from us before our three selectman began their term so are you calling up the former selectman and harassing and threatening them also??
    Heather Rines

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  30. Heather, we are NOT getting harassing and threatening calls from anyone..I don't know about the other selectmen, but no one is calling our house harassing OR threatening us. Let's keep our topics to what we know to be true.
    Johnna Smith

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  31. Are you kidding me, Put it to rest and great points. Are you folks living in a different world. Someone posted the liability that selectmen face for violating the towns trust. It is a huge responsiabilty and above all, there needs to be Accountability. Being negligent and incompetant , in this world are counted against you. If someone was sincere, honest and sorry for their acts or lack of, they should call and meet with the district attorney immediately and plea before it is, to late. With accountability is also the fact that the town is out a great deal of money and most of the town folks, want it back one way or another, we just cannot afford this type of outright loss regardless who was on the watch committeee (selectmen). Great points and get over it---Don't you understand how serious this is ? Watch what is coming down the pike....Citizens are looking for justice to be served as it was their monies that they trusted would be safeguarded by the town.

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  32. Heather, why not stand up and say your a relative of selectman, Leona Smith ???? and with this mere fact- you, enjoy a conflict of interest with anything you post.

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  33. to anonymous..don't misquote me..I was talking about putting the MANUAL issue to bed. period.
    also lets not forget that EVERY taxpayer in this town regardless of who we are were violated.

    and to the other anonymous: why not stand up and say who YOU are?
    Johnna Smith

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  34. For those of you that are so concerned about my relationship with one of the selectman but are to much of a coward to tell who you are… yes I am Leona Smith's niece but NO I am not related in anyway to Buddy or Skip and Leona aside I still stand by our selectman. Johnna I did not say you are receiving phone calls I asked if people were calling the former selectman who are not standing up at meeting so that they can give them grief in person, but I do know for a fact that people are getting nasty comments said to them among other things. I stand by everything that I say and do not say things that are not true believe it or not I am not one who like to fight but I do strongly stand by what I believe and don't feel that it's ok for people to get on here and post things that are not true and to bash our selectman and others. To Johnna I am sorry if you felt that I was stating false information… that was certainly not the case at all.

    I would appreciate if people would not continue to write things about myself or any other family member of mine for that matter if you are not big enough to tell me who you are.
    Heather Rines

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  35. What isn't getting across here is 3 people were put in a position of trust by the town and they were the ones who sought out these positions.. If the audit recommendations ,MMA rules, policies and procedures were followed than the loss would of been greatly reduced. Maybe, it would not of even been attempted. You can reference a manual but if you don't comprehend what you read and employ it then, it is of no value.

    I do know that the penobscot district attorney is part of a stepped-up effort to combat public corruption and misuse of tax dollars by elected officials and government employees. Being in a position of trust and the guardian of the towns funds is a huge responsiabilty and undertaking and I'm sorry but that is part of the selectmen's position, That is what they do. Thank you for answering the questions and comments and regardless of what you said, we know that you do care as we all do. However, there is a question of accountability and I'm sure that will come to be addressed, very soon.

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  36. I here alot about the selectman and how we should hold them accountable, but how come no one seems to care that Nancy Hatch was the town manager and should have picked up on this befor anyone and I don't belive for one min that she didn't her hand in the cookie jar!

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  37. I believe the District Attorney will have indicments handed down soon which hopefully will include Nancy Hatch for her part in Gross Neglience and Gross Incompetency and whatever else they have or can discover. But as it is continued to be said, Nancy reported to " the selectmen" and it was their responsiability to safeguard. We elected, they hired, so they had a responsibility to police the hired folks and our elected officials fell down on that, period. Do you not think that they should be held accountable for their part ? We are talking about a loss that will exceed $400,000 of taxpayer money and our town is near the breaking point.

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  38. All I can say is Amen. You know, I was told that The Concerned Citizen Group had an agenda and were just out to cause, trouble. Low and behold, they were trying to warn us and had the facts and figures. Sometimes, we can't see the forest due to the trees. I just wish that the selectmen would resign and allow our town to move forward with new people who are not family or friends and who have, no issue's. All we need are, part-timers and a new 5 person selectmen board.Newburgh has many professional and smart residents who may want to help so let's ask them for their service.

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  39. Should everyone who posts here identify themselves? For what end? So they can be snubbed in the town office or driving through town by 'the family'? To anonymous above...this website was created for all of you....the good people of Newburgh....not to aggrivate, but to inform. That's all it has been from the very beginning when Mike and Chris saw the big discrepancy in the town report and when the school transaction was railroaded through. They were just bringing out all the facts as they uncovered them. It is the 'family' who have turned it into a pi..... contest and started the name calling...to cover up the facts. Had the fixers been intimidated in the beginning, probably the town office would still be intact with Cindy and Nancy, and money would still be disappearing day by day. The selectmen will probably resign eventually, as the pressure is on them every day. The sooner they do, the better it will be for the town.

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  40. I want to really know why everyone is so mad at the fivers, hey wake the heck up and realize they caught onto the stealing from our towns funds. And yes, everyone needs to wake up and notice that we need new selectmen, and my personal opinion would be 5 brand new selectmen.

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  41. Did Buddy really say he wasn't asked to sign the petition??????? Is that funny or what!!!!!!! Another lie from your town official, and pretty blatant at that. You gotta just know that Buddy has absolutely no respect for any of you out there to think you are so confoundedly stupid as to say something like that to the Bangor Daily News for every one of you to read!!! The petitions were sent to every taxpayer in the town!!! Buddy went on to say that he did not know what to do with the petitions???? He has been a selectman for eight years and he doesn't know what to do with a petition??? Isn't that just hilarious???? When are the people in this town going to wake up and smell the coffee???????

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  42. well that sure was a couple friendly posts. That is a nice attitude.

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  43. Ten comments have been moved to the Hash and Bash post where you can continue your dialog if you wish. They were moved since the comments added very little to the original subject regarding Town Manager.

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  44. Any NEWS on the hiring of the NEW town manager? Selectmen meeting Monday night Aug. 9th , 6pm Newburgh School. Everyone should try & attend...

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  45. Heck, I wanna know about The Dunton's, they took our money and nothing has happen ? Whats up with that ? Also, I thought we were going to change to some sort of assistant instead of a full-time, town manager where our town is so small and we don't have many services to offer and watch out for. I also heard that we were going to get all new people and a 5 member board but I don't see any change, yet. What happen to the town property that was taken by Hatch and Dunton ? I read where some other small towns who have had thefts recently, had the State Auditor come in and look over all their records and the Maine Attorney General's office became involved. What is going on, in Newburgh ? Are our state representatioves helping us regain control so that policies and procedures are followed to the letter ? Where is Plowman and Cushing ? Why have they been so quiet when we all voted for them to help, Newburgh and they swore they would ? So many questions without answers. Anyone know anything ?

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  46. yEP, 1500 VOTERS IN NEWBURGH CAN SWING AN ELECTION..KEEP THAT IN MIND.

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  47. I attended the Selectpersons meeting last night and from what I am hearing the selectpersons are close to making an offer to fill the Town Manager position and have in fact narrowed it down to (2) candidates.

    I continue to be concerned with obligations as a town if we continue to pursue this person, are succesful with the hiring process and down the road the petition drive to move to an Administrative Assistant form of Government is succesful. My concern is that not only do we need to communicate to this person verbally (as I understand they have) during the interview process but in addition we need to communicate this in writing and have the succesful candidate accept by signature to assure we do not put ourselves in a position where we have any future financial obligations related to an employment contract or change in job status followed by a financial settlement or law suit, this would be very dissapointing and counter productive for some time.

    Since Buddy stated that the plan is to move forward with this based on a past vote by the residents, It seems there will be no option to delay this process until the AM petition movement has run it's course and the issue is finally settled.

    In my opinion we should hold off on this starting now, until we have a clear understanding of how the town as a whole wishes to proceed in the future. I know the burden of running the town with day to day operations has somewhat shifted to the selectmen due to our situation but I also know there is a pool of people who are willing to volunteer time to help see us through these difficult times. Why is this not a reasonable option?

    Unfortunately I am sorry to say our best hope seems to be if they are not succesful in the hiring process and the search would continue until we resolve the petition issue, but this also seems like a waste of time, effort and money either way.

    We have no winners here until the entire mess is resolved but from my view and what others have said to me as long as the petition is still in play there should be a hold on the hiring.

    How do we make this happen? What do others think about our options?

    Jim Hopkins

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  48. Jim: You are right on target on this one. We need to wait on this hiring which has been expressed over and over but sometimes, no one is listening and they don't look at the big picture. I for one believe the voters will vote down the full-time towm managers position for $50 k plus. We simply do not need it and cannot afford it, as Kathy P had said, we don't have sidewalks, Police, etc, all we need is a part-time Ad Assistant with a budget-finance committee and an all around clerk.
    Our wages are out of control and need to be roped in with some thought process, going on. The only increase we need is a 5 member selectmen board to counter balance. Winterport is much bigger but look at them. They appear to have it right. We need to do the same on a much smaller scale and with a PT Ad Assistant. Believe this, the citizens do want to wait until voting time. We cannot have people offering employemnt without any HR background and have the town liable for their errors or misunderstanding of employemnt laws. Again, this is a crazy undertaking. Everyone needs to step back and wait it out. People please speak out...

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  49. Yep, I'm for waiting

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  50. Unless everyone calls the town office & voices their concerns about this, nothing will get done. at least give it a try. They are now interviewing 2 candidates, out of 34. I agree it is a crazy undertaking & should not be done now with the petition. Also I see absolutely no reason for this small town to hire anyone for a 40 hour a week position. What are your thoughts on this?

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  51. You quoted her?

    "as Kathy P had said, we don't have sidewalks, Police, etc,"

    She is from away you know!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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  52. I have to disagree with holding off on the town manager...IF the admin. assistant plan gets voted in at the Annual Town Meeting in March 2011, the way I understood it when it was explained to me, is that it will be 2012 before it can be implemented. We really don't want to run our town this way for another year and a half do we? We need someone in the town office NOW if not sooner.

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  53. Who cares if she is from away.

    Just so you know

    My Post Made Kathy Giggle and she went from a
    :-D face to a :-) in a hurry.

    As far as I can tell she is a dink like that.

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  54. Disolve the town and beg Hampden or Winterport to take us over before it is too late.

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  55. If they keep spending when there is no $$$ it will self destruct.. What happens when the tax $$ stops coming in?? Anyone asked or know how much $ the town actually has, we heard VERY LITTLE..
    You don't JUST make UP $250,000 MISSING dollars.

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  56. 75% of the taxes have been received.... The town only has approximately 500k. They really don't know how much money they have because the selectman are still not doing their jobs.... They have not looked at the monthly bank statements against the warrants.... Buddy stated last night that "he is too busy"... Actually, they haven't looked at the town finances at all. All in all, they are still doing pretty much NOTHING. This town probably doesn't even have enough funds to make it through the winter. Buddy is just too busy to do the job he WANTED and was elected to do.... They need to resign...

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  57. Well, I missed the meeting, but I know we must be close to broke. Now we have the expense of moving to the school & rattling around in there. We must have to do some work to get in there such as a counter for customers etc. Then there is the extra plowing, trash pickup, more to heat + + + etc. Someone said we now have to hire a janitor & don't forget the cleaning lady for all those rooms, we pay Lois's sister in law $13.50 an hour now to clean the town office. That will be double.
    And, the new town manager, we paid Nancy Hatch $38,000 with full benefits,(dental, health & life) 3+ weeks paid vacation, paid cell phone, & traveling $$.. He will get way more salary & probably the same benefits. Where is the $$ going to come from? I bet its tacked onto our taxes next year BIG TIME.. I don't believe we have any where near 500k..... Buddy actually said he was to busy to check any finances?? You serious? I thought all NEW procedures were in place? NO???

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  58. I remember that the auditors and the attorney said we needed policies and procedures in place as soon as possible, As did our yearly audit. Are you telling me we still don't have them ? What in the world is going on ? IS NO ONE LISTENING TO THE PROFESSIONALS ? ALL WE NEED IS A PART-TIME PERSON TO MAKE SOME DECISIONS, WRITE UP GRANTS AND ASSIST IN RUNNING THE TOWN ALONG WITH 1 CLERK. Appears no one is doing anything, so yes, lets hire more folks to do---nothing too.

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  59. Dear Anonymous August 10, 2010 12:06 PM

    Your point is well taken and normally I might agree with you that we do not want to wait another year and a half and would need someone in the office now.

    But these are not normal times, we are all in middle of one of the worst if not the worst recessions in decades, the town is reeling from the corruption and sloppy management from some of our previous trusted employees.

    I suspect when the town voted to move to a town manager type of government the taxes were lower, there was a sense of prosperity in town, in Maine, throughout New England and across the entire US, in other words we were all growing. There were likely a large amount of housing starts in town too, with property values soaring across the town, state and country we all experienced a period of much better economic upturn, it is likely most of us recieved a general wage or cost of living increase every year. At the time the Newburgh school may have been growing after years of declining enrollment, things were looking pretty good overall.

    Now I suspect the opposite is true, many of the residents are actually concerned with loosing their jobs if things do not change, many or most have gone 1 to 2 to 2 1/2 years without a pay raise while most costs have increased (including the tax burden). Many of our fellow citizens actually recieved pay cuts in an effort to keep their jobs or to keep their employers from laying off other workers, many more may have lost their jobs and are performing full or part time jobs to get by with a much reduced pay scale. In the mean time the property values have dropped 30-40% and somewhere in there the mill rate increased to make up the difference. It was not that long ago we headed into the winter facing 4-5 dollar a gallon heating oil prices, we all know this can and most likely will come back and experts predict this may be the year.

    We are missing a substantial amount of money that we will not ever see again, the move to the school will be another cost that I believe is grossly understated and the unknown cost associated with the new Hampden Academy (again I think is grossly under estimated). All this combined with our other financial uncertianties.

    Yes I do want to wait another 18+ months to decide what is the best for the community as a whole.

    Don't you???????

    Jim Hopkins

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  60. WHAT THE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!F

    Freeze the spending.

    Cut costs.

    It is simple, we can not afford this right now. It also does not matter when it was voted for or if it was voted for it is not right.

    Selectmen, you have a chance to do the right thing just do it, make one good decission before your term expires, you must understand you have nothing to loose at this point.

    Put a hold on the spending until the Sh-t settles.

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  61. Listen you sore loosers from Newburgh.

    Spending money is what elected officials do best, once elected they loose their natural instinct to cut costs and be frugal much like the landlock Salmon lost their urge to go to sea after the ice age. No big deal if it costs more here and we did not spend it there we just move it around until it is all gone, "It's what they voted for at the town meeting", "We have to spend this amount".

    So here we go let's get a town Manager for 60-70K or more a year fully burdened, in a town of 1300, to manage two part time employees. Oh I almost forgot they can spend their time writing grant requests too, that worked out really really well last time, we must have tons of left over grant money from Nancy Capone or did Cindy take that too while asleep at the wheel was playing on the selectmens radios.

    Perfect

    FYI, it is extremely rare but you can buck the trend and look for ways to save money and not spend spend spend spend spend spend spend spend spend spend spend spend spend spend spend spend spend spend spend spend spend spend spend spend spend spend spend spend

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  62. I VOTE FOR THE ADMIN ASSISTANT AND THE CLERK. THAT IS ENOUGH FOR OUR SMALL TOWN TO TAKE IN TAX MONEY, REGISTER A FEW CARS AND ISSUE DOG TAGS. THINK ABOUT IT, WE ARE DOING FINE BEING OPEN PART-TIME. EVEN THESE JOBS ARE NOT FULL-TIME AND WE CAN HIRE A PART-TIME REAL GRANT WRITER WHEN THE NEED IS THERE. WE HAVE 2 OF THE BEST IN THE WORLD, LIVING IN OUR TOWN AND ASSOCIATED WITH UMO. I DO BELIEVE IN THE 5 SELECTMAN POLICY, AND I VOTE TO ADD JIM H AND KATHY P. THEY HAVE SHOWN THAT THEY ARE CONCERNED AND WANT THE RIGHT THINGS,FOR THEIR COMMUNITY AND THEY WILL NOT HAVE ANY CONFLICT OF INTEREST, ISSUES. WILL OTHERS SUPPORT THIS, ALSO ?

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  63. I will support it!!!!!!!!

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  64. Although I am flattered and find your suggestion interesting I would suggest Mike Burns or another that has a longer term town activity level to be a more appropriate choice at this time. I am guilty of not participating in town affairs until recently and this would or could be counter productive. A couple of months ago I joined the planning board and have observed Mike in his role as the head of the board, from what I have seen from Mike with his level of attention to detail and vast knowledge of our current operations, strengths and weaknesses and his dedication would give us the ultimate bang for the buck.

    There are many others more qualified that appear to be waiting in the wings for the chance to help, I would suggest we exhaust these options first.

    Jim Hopkins

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  65. Mike is the chair of the planning board and we are hoping for 5 members to the selectmens board so there will hopefully be available positions. We need to rid ourselves of inpriorities, any idea of conflict of interest and base everthing on honesty and working for the best interest of our overall community and taking a formal stand against what is wrong and be able to see what could be wrong in our future. It is a position that can produce great rewards for the inner self knowing you are helping the community. We need more people to take a interest and a stand not just let others do it and feel bad about their decisions. Bottom line is, we love our community and want it to be the best it can be but a few cannot do it all and all our residents need to take a valid interest, remember there is never a stupid question, only answers. That is why we need Policy and Procedures written and followed as much as allowed and in place before we ever consider hiring new staff, to follow, what ? An idea conceived without H.R experience and subject our town to more legal problems when it isn't done right? We need to wait, as I believe it is only a part-time position, regardless.

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  66. I'm to BUSY to worry about theft........

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  67. I'm not for waiting. Who is writing the checks and balancing the checkbook. I don't believe that the is the job of the selectmen. Most of our selectmen work 40 hours a week a regular jobs, are paid 2,000.00 per YEAR, and some people expect them to run the town as well? I dont believe that is the original intent of the job. Five selectmen would be fine I guess but you still need a qualified person writing and implementing policies and procedures and (hopefully) over seeing all transactions that take place, balancing the accounts, keeping track of expenditures within the line item budgets, overseeing the clerk and deputy treasurer, and (again hopefully) writing grants. I would like to see a budget committee (maybe on selectmen on that committee), a road committee (again one selectmen on that committee), and so on. Involvement by our townspeople is really at an all time low, no matter what you're doing. Anyone interested in volunteering to sit on a committee? In the last 3-5 years how many people have been at the town meeting? I'll tell you, no more than 40 for at least three years in a row. There's a lot of talk here but not much action. The more involvement by more people (not just a select group no matter what you opinion) is good for the town. Better ideas more discussion about how things can get done and more accurate information to the general public. However, I still believe that we need someone in the office 40 hours a week.

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  68. I have read and re-read all the comments and all you people really agree, just some say it a different way. An Admin Assistant and a clerk can cover the office for 40 hours as I saw Nancy and Cindy doing nothing for hours on end and taking lots of time off to go do errands. So, think about that. You don't write new policies and procedures - You obtain and use proven methods as the town auditors told us over and over. You do need to have the reference material and yes you must read it and understand it. We make out this to be difficult when it isn't when, you have capable people. It is more or less, routine with an exception here and there. Yes, offering yourself up for a selectman is a heavy repsonsiability and in a position of Trust , you must have accountability but again, it is not difficult when you have the ability to balance and 4 others to call upon. I'm sorry but for a mere 1400 residents, it does not constitue being open for 40 hours. Why waste money when the need is not there. Not to say that sometime in the future it may change. There are grants out there right now for broadband monies and many other grants that Newburgh has not ever applied for and everyone knows the reason....Before one applies to undertake a selectmans position he or she must understand that it takes committment and ones needs some extra time to devote when the need is there. It is not a role for the average person who is working 40 hours plus per week that would have a problem attending to issues at hand and as they arise. But for those who are able to, it is a wonderful opportunity to offer something back to the community. Yes, Involvement is the key to make all good things, happen.

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  69. http://www.grants.gov/applicants/find_grant_opportunities.jsp

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  70. AUGUST 23rd, 6:00 p.m. AT THE NEWBURGH SCHOOL WILL BE THE NEXT SELECTMEN'S MEETING. PLEASE TRY TO ATTEND & BRING YOUR FRIENDS...

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  71. And may I add, Please bring your list of questions that need to be addressed and stay with the question until you get an answer. The town has and will have 1/2 million dollars of your tax money at stake maybe more considering the added fee's, etc. It is up to you, to help force the issues so they will be addressed and resolved. Everyone is up to listening to your suggestions where ever they may take us. The community will welcome, your input. Hope to see you there and mark the date down.

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  72. OMG, the last selectmen meeting. You had to be there as it is like Saturday Night Live with so many issues for the voters to be shut out of. Just pass a motion and skip the voting process. When are we going to demand accountability from these folks ? We need the State Auditor to come in as we have multi, conflict of interest issues.

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  73. I am so glad that Helen Mogan has come forward publicly and said she was now one of the all mighty fixers, maybe now she will run her big mouth enough that they will go back and investigate when she was in the office...hey maybe she and Cindy can be cell mates!! You guys are nothing but a bunch of loud mouths, who are spending all of your time trying to make things what you call better but in the end what you say doesn’t really matter at all now does it?

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  74. There was an audit on Helen's books.... It came out perfect to the penny. On Helen's watch, nobody made off with over 250k, but on Buddy's watch it happened and can still happen because he is still NOT doing his job. He says he is too busy to go over the bank statements ever month and match them up with the warrants. So how do we know that there isn't theft going on already under Buddy's watch?????? Just because you sit in the office all day does not mean you are doing your job. Sit there all day, but you don't have time to look over the finances???? You don't need to be an accountant to compare a monthly bank statement to a warrant. If he had done this one time over the past 8 years, we wouldn't be in the financial crisis we are now. I say remove Buddy and put Helen in his place..... If that happened, this would NEVER happen again. If it didn't matter what the "fixers" said, then somebody would still be stealing money. You should wake up and thank the concerned citizens (hundreds of them) who want this town run the proper way. The current selectman don't have time to do the job right, they need to resign and allow someone to step in who will do it right... Fix this town.

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  75. Well for those of us who are new in town or wasn't here when Helen was in office, please let us know the details.

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  76. Cindy has not seen a handcuff so I doubt Helen has much to worry about. Now I see why people don't want their names on here. Nothing but a witch hunt. We won't even go after people in this town who admit to stealing let alone look at books from 12 years ago.

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  77. I find it quite funny that people would want to go after Helen and not care about Cindy and Nancy. Just turn our back on the quarter mill Cindy stole and go after the people the "Family" don't like? Yes lets go over 10 years back and try to find things. To hell with the people who ADMIT stealing right now huh?

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  78. Boys oh Boys, It appears that family and friends cannot see the light, Newburgh is out of control.
    You need to set aside the excuses and look at the big picture, what is at hand right now. You have uneducated people in positions that they should not be in and are in constant denial. We as a community need people that can operate a town within the law, with policies and procedures and not made up as we go along. Newburgh and we are all part of it, has committed many violations of the law and we need someone to look over our town practices and remove these people before they take us all down.
    If your honest, how can you sit back and do nothing, knowing what is going on. Come to the meetings, call your representatives, keep asking for help. Sooner or later it will explode.

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  79. I agree... WHAT ARE YOU TOWNS PEOPLE THINKING?? YOUR NEVER AT THE SELECTMEN'S MEETINGS, YOU DON'T EVEN BEGIN TO KNOW WHAT IS GOING ON WITH THE WHOLE THING, NOT JUST THE $$ PART THAT CINDY TOOK.. YOU THROW STONES AT SOMEONE 12 YEARS AGO THAT WAS JUST ACCUSED OF SOMETHING TO GET THE HEAT OFF THE "OFFICE" BACK THEN. HELEN WAS NOT FOUND TO HAVE DONE ANYTHING OTHER THAN "HARD WORK". AFTER ALL THE MESS WITH HELEN, GENE SPARROW THEN ASKED HER TO COME BACK & HELP HIM SET UP THE BOOKS. (WHAT'S WRONG WITH THAT PICTURE?) YES, HELEN'S FAMILY WORKED FOR THE TOWN IN SEVERAL POSITIONS 12 YEARS AGO, GET TO THE PRESENT TIMES PEOPLE, 9-10 RELATIVES OF OUR I. TOWN MANAGER WORK FOR OUR TOWN. THIS ALL IS BESIDE THE POINT, THE POINT HERE IS, THE SELECT BOARD ADMIT THEY DO NOT , HAVE NOT LOOKED AT ANY FINANCIAL RECORDS SINCE THIS ALL TOOK PLACE IN MARCH, NOR HAD THEY LOOKED AT ANY BEFORE THAT. THEY TOLD US LAST MONDAY NIGHT THEY HAVE NO IDEA HOW MUCH MONEY THE TOWN HAS IF ANY & ONE SAID HE'S TO BUSY TO LOOK. THEY TOLD US THEY BELIEVED WE WOULD NEVER SEE A PENNY FROM CINDY DUNTON. THEY TOLD US THEY WANTED NANCY HATCH INVESTIGATED RIGHT FROM THE BEGINNING, YET SHE WASN'T EVEN INTERVIEWED BY THE AUDITOR. SHE HAS A PAST HISTORY OF FRAUD. THEY HAVE VIOLATED MANY STATE STATUTES & CONTINUE DOWN THE ROAD TO DESTRUCTION WITH YOUR MONEY. HOW MANY OF YOU HAVE CALLED THE "TOWN LAWYER" & ASKED QUESTIONS & FOUND ANYTHING OUT? HOW MANY EVEN KNOW WHO HE IS? TOWN LAWYER "DEAN BEAUPAIN" MILLINOCKET, MAINE GIVE HIM A CALL & ASK QUESTIONS, WE PAY HIM TO REPRESENT US AS A TOWN....
    EVERYONE NEEDS TO STOP DWELLING ON "CINDY DUNTON" THAT WILL EVENTUALLY GET INTO COURT, YOU NEED TO CONCENTRATE ON WHAT IS HAPPENING RIGHT NOW IN THE OFFICE & WHY.... REQUEST FINANCIAL REPORTS, REQUEST ANY OTHER PAPERWORK YOU WANT TO KNOW ABOUT, ITS ALL PUBLIC INFORMATION. SEE FOR YOURSELF BEFORE YOU THROW STONES. THE CONCERNED CITIZENS OF NEWBURGH HAS OFFERED TO HELP, TO SIT ON BOARDS, TO GET THE BOOKS BACK IN ORDER, TO ASSIST IN ALL WAYS, YET SOME HERE SEEM TO WANT TO MAKE OUT THE INTERESTED HARD WORKING PEOPLE THAT INITIALLY BROUGHT THIS TO LIGHT & PROBABLY SAVED THE TOWN THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS ARE BEING DEEMED TROUBLE MAKERS. THAT IS FAR FROM THE TRUTH. TAKE TIME TO GO TO THE NEXT 2-3 SELECTMEN'S MEETINGS & SEE FOR YOURSELF. IF YOU CAN'T ATTEND CALL CHRIS YOUNTZ & GET AN AUDIO COPY OF THE MEETINGS. BEFORE YOU JUDGE & SAY ANYTHING FIND OUT THE TRUTH.

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  80. What about the town's lawyer, Dean Beaupain ? What is he doing for our town ? Seems to me that his legal advise worked against us and he should be held accountable as he billed us for his services and had he frozen assets, as he should of, we wouldn't be looking at a worthless IOU. To put the frosting on the cake, he gave no time limit for the payback. Imagine that folks.

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  81. Imagine Buddy taking credit for finding fraud. It was The Concerned Citizens of Newburgh that started to raise so many questions and request the paperwork in support of the crazy answers that brought it to light. Not Buddy Belcher by any means but you all really know that, don't you?

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  82. WEIGHT IN, KATHY P......I MISS YOUR RESPONSE'S AS
    YOU SEEM TO HAVE IT DOWN....AND we sincerely hope that you will and can attend the meetings and ask questions... being from away, you tend to see things more clearly than some of us, locals.

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  83. You are not one of the locals you are one of the fixers trying to play both sides and the middle to stir emotions. After the fixers found out what was broken they have not fixed anything, the true value of the fixers is turning out to be zero.

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  84. I am so sorry I guess I wasn't made aware that the "fixers" are a bunch of heroes who flew in and saved our town. Thank you fixers where or where would we be without you?..Idiots

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  85. Just thought of you all for some reason, not sure if it is because I am currently in the city of brotherly love or the fact I had not checked in for a few days. Well anyways looks like the sides are still hammering away at each other, who could ask for more see you in a couple of days.

    Jim Hopkins

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  86. I see both local groups ( The Fixers and The Concerned Citizens Group) trying their hardest to get our town to do things by policy and proven procedure but no one is listening or reading, what must be done. We realy do need help from The State Agencies to get us back in order. If anyone can show up to the meetings, to help, it would be greatly appreciated.

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  87. Just another relative making stupid remarks since he isn't even aware that the theft could have continued on and on with greater loss of his tax money but he finds humor in making stupid remarks. The real answer is yes, he should thank the concerned citizens without making the remarks. Is it really that hard to see the light and appreciate the help.

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  88. Wed. Aug. 11, 2009
    Citizen asks selectman:
    Citizen: "Why did you decide to take a look at the financial records in March"? (after 6-8 yrs in office)
    Selectman: "We continued to see the "Concerned Citizens" request more & more & more information from Cindy Dunton as they had been over many months" & we decided to check! Upon checking with Cindy, we saw things didn't add up.
    State law requires select board to view records every 90 days!!

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  89. In reply, can you just imagine where or where or could it be, where oh where ? Idiots ---hum

    In answer to Anonymous above: if this is all you have to say about your town going BROKE,(making jokes) join the "Library" committee & PRETEND all is well here in town.. PRETEND we don't need financial advisers or someone to go over the books & set them up. JOIN in to SPEND taxpayers $$$$ to have a DOOR cut into the school for access to the Library, spend time listening to the selectmen for 45 minutes about getting book shelves & such when they have no idea if there is $$ enough to plow the driveway to even get to the office or $$ enough to pay the lease for the office to run out of the school.. BUT maybe you can walk up & read a book! How about you start coming to the selectmen meetings to see where your tax dollars are being spent.

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  90. Um No we should not rehire a manager at this time.

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  91. Buddy Belcher signed the petition for the town to go back to Administrative Assistant form of management!! I heard the petition had about 180 signatures .

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  92. I think a town library is a wonderful idea and I would have gladly joined in to a 45 min conversation about book shelves, and yes when the library is up and running I will be glad to walk over and read a book...but please you don't wait for it to open I think you could use to read a few NOW. And I am not saying we do not need financial advisers but it sure the hell isn't going to be someone that you people feel is fit. For those of you telling me to come to selectmen meetings...how do you know that I'm not there??? I'm not sure why I even waste my time with you low life trash talkers. Fight amongst yourselves I am done even bothering because Lord knows you know best, and are always right and I'm pretty sure nobody is going to tell you different. If I want to argue about weather or not you are all mighty and saved our town or not and look at you point out my typos like a little 5th grader I'll stay right at home and fight with my husband. Once again...idiots!!!

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  93. And once again we show what a friendly little town we have. I for one don't see why we need a town manager that is paid 70,000 dollars a year. 15 years ago we did not even have a town office outside of a selectman's home. We need to cut spending in all forms of government. If the state can do it so can we.

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  94. I can't believe the hate in this town right now. What a mess.

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  95. AMEN to that!!! How do we get this across to the officials???

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  96. I meant AMEN to this post:
    I for one don't see why we need a town manager that is paid 70,000 dollars a year. 15 years ago we did not even have a town office outside of a selectman's home. We need to cut spending in all forms of government. If the state can do it so can we.

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  97. mY FIRST STTEMPT AT POSTING. We would like to know why we don't have a part-time town office and save up some money for needed services. We can get by until the voters vote to have an assistance instead of a full-time town manager at more money than I made in 5 years of working.Plus all those benefits, even more were added at the last selectmens meeting, how crazy and over the top. We need to step back and try to get some money from the Duntons who have all the new toys and collecting rent while avoiding us. Yes, what is our town Attorney doing for us? Who does he report to? Pay back the money and give up this Tapley Road favor. This isn't right. All you, need to go back and start at ground zero and do things up front and right. I'm asking all our citizens to help to make this possible.

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  98. It appears there is an increase in the interest and use of this site in recent weeks with what also appears to be new or first time users. Would be very interesting to see the polls run again now that people have a better understanding and feel for the the financial or commercial impact to the community, as well as their opinions may have swayed in either direction over the summer.

    What about running these polls again to compare the results and see if there is a shift in results, is that something you can do?

    Should the town switch to administrative assistant

    Should the town office be moved to the Newburgh school

    Just curious
    Thanks
    Jim Hopkins

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  99. I'm not sure who the 10 people are that are stated in the BDN that are not going to pay their taxes but really?? My thoughts are go ahead then the town will own your home and you can move we will then have 10 less trouble makers. What has this town come too I want the old Newburgh back! :(

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  100. Try READING the story. It says they will not pay until October 1st. The last day of the deadline. The town has not even taken CINDY'S home let alone someone who does not pay their taxes.

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  101. "they have vowed that they will not pay their property taxes until just before the Oct. 1 deadline."

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  102. The old Newburgh with the people stealing from the tax payers? I'll pass on that.

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  103. I just gotta say that I think this has been a WONDERFUL medium for a lot of voices to speak that might not ordinarily be heard, and I realy enjoy reading what my neighbors have on their minds. I'm sad to see name calling though.

    I mean, I don't mind being called a dink because I started it, but to see the word "idiots" getting tossed around is a major weenie shrinker and makes me sad. Life is too short for that kind of hate and that's really all I wanted to say about that.

    I'm blown away by seeing my name mentioned...I'm a nobody, just a low-rent desk jockey really, and I certainly don't have a lot of real-world experience with things that don't involve manure or word processing, so to see my name in print a few times kind of made my heart stop for a second there...like deer caught in headlights kind of a feeling.

    I would love to help, almost have the ability to do more for us all because I work at home, never ever leave here, but I'm basically a high school graduate and don't feel I have the smarts to be in any sort of political/legal capacity that would benefit our town. I'm just an opinionated dink who gets on line to chew the fat every now and again.
    ;-)

    Anyway, because I have a bunch of time on my hands here at the ol' homestead, I sent an e-mail to a fella by the name of Andre Cushing, because I have no clue who to ask for help with our town's issues, or even what questions to ask. I did refer him, or perhaps an aide of his, to peruse this blog and see if there were any opinions on how to help us out or guide us through this mess without going on a witch hunt.

    I ad to giggle though when I clicked on the link provided on his site (http://www.andrecushing.com/) that directs folks to the town of Newburgh:
    http://maine.gov/local/penobscot/newburgh

    You'll find you get "Error--page not found." Awesome. Newburgh doesn't even exist in the eyes of the state (except when it comes time to collect that revenue!) but Hampden and Dixmont have nice little pages. What's up with that? Anyone know if it a cost issue, or perhaps a maintenance issue or manpower issue?

    --Kathy Perin

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  104. Ahhhh Kathy I love hearing from you!!! I to found that on A. Cushing page. Not sure whats up with that.. You dooooooooo have so much to give to the town & to all of us... kindness, humor, fun, friendly laughter, & informative life experiences.... I do not know you, but can just tell. I chuckle during the day remembering your words. I agree whole heartily that we need to stop the name calling & work to better our town. Keep writing K.P.. Your to much fun.

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  105. We all can see K.P is witty and Honest in her approach. That is reason to get her to the meetings and she does have some time so she would be a ideal candiate for our town. I don't believe she would put up with the crap that we have been subjected to. That is all it really takes, a sense of direction, a honest approach, and to treat everyone the same. I hope that you do feel the earth move and reach out a little to help, guide our town. Give your Johnson, a yank and come on down to the meetings to get a good sense of the neighborhood players and what and why there are groups like the Fixers and The Concerned Citizens of Newburgh trying their best to keep things honest and make the voters, aware. Thats all they really want to do but some must feel some type of guilt and have to make comments. So many times, I have had to say, Thanks, I didn't know that or that was going on. My thoughts are we need 5 selectmen. only an Assistant and one clerk, and open when the traffic warrants, it and I don't believe it needs to be a full 40 hours. No way, not for our small community and our budget.

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  106. Good Mornin Newburgh town families. Seeing as there is another selectmen's meeting coming up next Monday night, Aug. 23rd, 6 p.m. at the Newburgh School lets see if we can get the attendance up & help with some very important issues. Come & participate or just lend an ear. Committee's need to be formed (financial & budget.) Its time we seriously take a look to see if we can afford to move into the school & hire a town manager! Altho I didn't attend the last meeting I did listen to an audio tape (thank you Chris) & I heard the selectmen say they felt they had $$ for a few months for a town manager salary.(not exact quote) This really scares me when you think of all the things needed to run that office out of the school building as well & pay another position for 40 hrs.

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  107. THIS scares me also, & I've asked at several meetings "Is our town in trouble", "should the town’s people be worried"? I haven’t gotten an answer to that yet.
    Don't forget not only will we be paying a new manager's wages, (I'm assuming 40 hrs, right?), but also adding the expense of a janitor, way more time for a cleaning person, a much larger area to plow, a dumpster, heat will double if not triple, we have no idea what a new treasurer will want for salary, I could go on, but someone somewhere needs to say "STOP" we can't continue spending!
    Why don't we consider hiring a staff for 20 hrs. a week, advertise for volunteers to clean & see if someone is interested. That would help get us back on our feet a little. I also think with all the businesses in town someone would donate their time to build the counter for the office in the school, they are planning on paying someone $5,000 to get the place ready!!!!!! YIKES. If we had the manager also be the treasurer like Winterport does, with a budget/ finance committee in place, everything would be viewed weekly, that way nothing could happen like in the past.
    I'd also like to make sure the jobs needed for maintaining the school when we move are ADVERTISED!!
    Yeah, I just saw a sign posted on the Kennebec Rd. with the date for the selectmen’s meeting. Thank you to the person or people responsible for doing this!

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  108. You are right on the money here, (no pun)we can not afford to do what we are going to do and it does not seem to matter. Everyone knows we are in trouble and if we move forward the way we are we all will feel additional tax pressure in the future that we do not need.

    You fail to mention the additional road costs we are facing if the state pulls out of the maint. of the current state aid roads in Newburgh.

    Jim Hopkins

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  109. 5000 dollars for 1 window because our first selectman likes to be able to see out? I guess in a recession the town of Newburgh is the only place that does not cut spending. How much could have been done to the current town office with 5000 dollars?

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  110. For $5000 bucks they can hitch our town office up to a semi and wheel it on down the road to the school grounds, hook it back up to power/water and then everything will be in one central location.

    We don't even have our own post office/zip code for cryin gout loud.

    They can button up the school until the economy bounces back, which eventually it will, and when the town grows and has more kids, we can open it up again for the overflow. Towns have been doing this sort of thing for years.

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  111. Ahhh Kathy the logical solution would be to wait as you suggest with your button it up comment. But the reality is at one time there was a vote and the town decided it would be cool to have a brick town office Vs the current town office. What I am learning about this process is that regardless of the current situation we are in, or if it is right or wrong, if we can or can not afford to do it etc. etc. none of this seems to matter.

    It would only take a little courage and bit of leadership to change course and decide something is not right or in the overall town's best interest based on the reality of a moment or situation.

    We have had/seen some dramatic changes in town since the town manager form of government was approved and implemented as well as the move to the school was voted on.

    Our money has been stolen, our school is closed, we have spent a pile on legal and accounting fees, the economy is not rebounding, the state is considering pulling out of some state aid roads that we may now have to take care of, people are loosing jobs, taking pay cuts etc. etc. etc.

    Yet we seem to be heading down a path straight ahead just the same, (just like we voted for), regardless of the pain it may cause to some and the cost increase to all.

    Now is the ideal opportunity to take a step back, take a deep breath and put some thought into what we are about to do, evaluate if it makes sense right now with our current situation and the added financial burden that is real but the extent is unknown.

    RIGHT NOW we do not have a full time town manager, we have not moved to the school, we do not know the real costs with operating from the school, the new HA extras, the additional roads issue, cuts in the homestead exemption on and on and on.

    With absolutely too much uncertianty to move forward, we should probably consider taking a step back.

    Jim Hopkins

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  112. Your 100% right Jim... Now the big question is how do you Newburgh people get the officials to listen to the seriousness of it all? A number of people here in Hampden know the devastation you are soon to encounter because of the inability of the town official to do whats right! We cannot understand why no one has stopped them. We do know you do not have a town charter, you MUST get someone to draft one ASAP & get it in your town report for the towns people to vote on in March 2011. Without a charter or recall ordinance ANYONE can take a seat & run your town into the ground! When is your next election coming up? This is a scary situation! I understand you have neither charter or recall O...

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  113. Our 3 Selectmen know not what they are doing. To be a selectman must of been some sort of ego trip for each one as Gross Incompetentcy is at work, here. We must somehow be able to remove them and now, is not to soon. Any idea's ?

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  114. Get a life people!!

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  115. GET A LIFE PEOPLE!!!!!!!!!

    Spoken exactly like the person think I would like to trade Newburgh tax bills with.................

    Jim Hopkins

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  116. Jim: It most likely was a selectmen's comment.
    Where is Kathy, we need her to weigh in on this.

    Of serious nature, has anyone heard if The town's Lawyer has accomplished anything and if our officials have gone to pick up the town's property from Nancy Hatch and Cindy Dunton ? Or is it still, shut the eyes and it will go away ?

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  117. I find it amazing that the selectmen voted at a Selectmen's meeting (Aug.9) to accept a ambulance but not put it on the road until the citizens voted on it in March. But I find out that they went ahead with registering and insuring it anyways. Nothing has changed with these three, they still do whatever they want even though they voted against it at a meeting. Do one thing in front of the public eye then behind closed doors sneak it in anyways.

    Mike Burns

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  118. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  119. Anon--I'm here. I just can't weigh in on anything because I have yet to be able to attend any of these meetings :(

    ...all I can go on is what is posted here and on the other site that provides those awesome audio files and it hasn't been updated yet.

    From what I gathered from the e-mail I recieved from Mr. Cushing (and posted in its entirety under "The Selectmen Newsletter portion of this site), the elected officials have to seek help from the state, not us peon residents, and it sounds like that isn't going to happen any time soon because our elected officials don't see a problem.

    I really need to score me a set of the blinders our elected officials are wearing!

    (Post edited at 1904 hours because of a typo--I hate those)

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  120. Kathy,
    I have been lax in my duites to upload the audio files as I should have been doing. I did upload the last meeting and it can be found at this link:
    http://www.archive.org/details/SelectmensMeeting82310

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  121. Chris,

    Lax nothing! What you are doing is not required in any way, shape, or form, but it is wicked appreciated by myself and a lot of other "shut-ins" I'm sure! Thanks for doing that for us!

    :)

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  122. Oh yeah, I also fixed the timestamp on here so it shows up correctly when someone posts on here

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  123. Did anyone hear about some secret meeting that the selectmen held where they gave Steve Tribou the boot ? Plus Skip Smith believes, he doesn't and won't answer to The State of Maine and if he wants to license and use the ambulance, he most certainly will and to hell with what the state thinks and their rules.
    Did one poster use the words, OUT OF CONTROL ? Something must be done.

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  124. How can Newburgh afford to send out these rec letters to all the folks who don't have kids attending the rec program. This doesn't make any sense, at all. Just another example of not understanding the budget process and logic.

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  125. How can we get our government to come in and remove our town office people ? Shut it down so we can start fresh. Come on Concerned Citizens and The Fixers, we need you to help us who don't have the time. I suspect we are about to become North Dixmont soon, the way things are going. Doesn't everyone see this ?????

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  126. If you go to Dixmont's web site you will see they are light years ahead of us. If you happen to get a copy of Winterports annual report take a look, this is what an annual report should look like.

    I would have to vote to allow Either Dixmont or Winterport to take us over and at this point would certianly welcome the change but the county line could be an issue.

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  127. FESTIVAL & REC. DEPT FLIERS..
    First off Linda Hamilton works very, very hard & has for years doing the yard sale for the Fire Dept. This year with money tight she decided again to have a SALE this fall, Sept. 24 & 25th. She has been asking over & over for the office to GET THE TOWN CRIER OUT with the information about the SALE. Do you think this IMPORTANT sale information has YET to be sent out, NO it has not. WHY WASN'T THE 3 THINGS ALL PUT IN THE TOWN CRIER???? FESTIVAL.. REC. INFORMATION & FIRE DEPT. YARD SALE & SENT OUT 2 WEEKS AGO?????? DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH IT COSTS TO SEND OUT 3 SEPARATE FLIERS TO EVERYONE IN TOWN?? CALL & ASK YOU'LL BE SHOCKED......
    In response to the "Rec" letter again, this was addressed the last time they wasted money sending this out to ALL citizens of Newburgh. THE OFFICE people DON'T GET IT. I myself went to the office & talked to them as did 5 or 6 of my neighbors. My son has children & information came home several times to ALL families that had children in the Newburgh School, it was well advertised about the before & after school program. A big waste of $$$ to send this out to all the households!!! I suggested to Lois, where my son received it already as did all the other parents at school (everyone at school knew about it anyway)why didn't the town place an article in the Town Crier about it with contact info, placing the applications in the office etc. I know the applications are well displayed at the school. YOUR right, its just another example of no one there knowing how to cut spending or care. I believe in my HEART from trying to talk to everyone at the town office for the last 3-4 months, the number 1 PROBLEM here in town is "THEY DO NOT CARE"!!!

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  128. Now wait,

    Although we need to cut spending I have to say selectively sending out town information is just another way to set themselves up for problems.

    Can you imagine how much of a beating they would take if one or two of these got misplaced and a parent of a child even appeared to be left off the list, others may want to know everything going on in town kids or no kids. It is unfortunate but I must vote to include all in informational mailings or include none.

    Now that said from my view there is room for consolidation of mailings, information and announcements but if I had my way there would be a regular set schedule and it would be on time or not at all.

    Keep in mind we are short staffed at this time, many of you do not want to hire additional full time staff or even a replacement manager, you want to cut back the office hours but you want the same level of services or better.

    Let's be fair here you people are getting out of control.

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  129. Dear, August 30, 2010 9:04 AM

    I did go to the Winterport web page but could not locate an annual report, the webside is very impressive.

    http://www.winterportmaine.gov/index.html

    I do happen to have a copy of their annual report, they list 3 years (current year and 2 previous years) property taxes for all parcels of property by owners name, there are no secerets in Winterport. All town activity is clearly displayed on the website inlcuding the recall process (they seem to be proud of this one).

    You are right they do certianly seem to have their ducks in a row.

    Jim Hopkins

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  130. Jim, make plans to attend a Winterport selectmen's meeting & talk with their current Town Manager & you will be absolutely shocked as to their procedure, information & caring they take to answer each citizen's questions compared to the Newburgh meetings. If for some reason they are unable to answer the questions @ Winterport (which by the way seldom happens)they contact you as soon as they get the answers. Winterport did a "complete" recall one year of 5 elected officials.
    As you know each of the Newburgh meetings people ask questions that need to be answered, the following meeting its seldom on the agenda under "old business" or even addressed again. Makes you wonder how & why they continue on the road to destruction.

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  131. How about if we send the Newburgh selectmen to a Winterport meeting for a field trip. We could pack them a little lunch and a snack for the bus ride, we can keep the cost down if we had some volunteers Vs paid staff to ride with them and make sure they behave and sit in their seats. If we plan this far enough ahead we can go to the childrens museum with a stop at McDonalds for a happy meal on the way home.

    OMG that would be toooooo much fun!!!!!

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  132. LOL you guys have nothing to do?

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  133. I think seeing how another town runs their meetings is actually a pretty awesome idea :)

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  134. Kathy, you are out of control and need to leave the North Road a little more often.

    Here is another idea, invite other towns to come to see how we run a meeting, if we do this right we could charge them for the training on what not to do and help make up for the money stolen while our ripvanwinkles were sleeping. :-(

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  135. Anon @ 10:59 am said: "Kathy, you are out of control and need to leave the North Road a little more often."

    Word man, frickin' word. A friend a while back called me "woods queer." I totally get what she meant now.

    :D

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  136. Kathy: You just need to attend the meetings, they will certainly enlighten you. Just totally bizarre, and they will say and do exactly what they want to do and no one is going to stand in their way. Most voters in Newburgh have no idea as most don't bother with the meetings but they should to see what OUT OF CONTROL REALLY IS AND WITH INTENT TO CORRUPT EVERYTHING AND EVERYONE IN THEIR WAY.OUR BOARD IS NOT A HONEST GROUP OF NEIGHBORS. SADLY SAID....

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  137. I can get away with a question like this because I truly am clueless. What is in it for them personally to be corrupt as you are suggesting? I mean, aside from the obvious theft by Cindy "Scott Free" Dunton. Is there money involved? Is it a power thing? I'm not being a smartass or anything, I truly just want a clue is all.

    I've listened to the meetings via the other website and aside from abruptly ending a line of questioning and making a motion to move on, which didn't seem very nice but what do I know, I didn't hear anything overtly rude.

    I heard a lot of Lois in the audio files and I really like her...she's got her stuff together and I feel really bad about her situation with the health insurance issue, as it wasn't her job to make sure it came out of her paycheck, it was her bosses. I feel that mistake should get "eaten" by the town like we are eating other expenses that came about during the same time frame.

    I also feel the town should have gone through the firing process of an incompetant town manager, as in not doing so she also got away "scott free" and was able to score another gig without any consequences to her actions/inactions. Yes it may have cost money but so didn't paying out her vacation pay and all the other "perks" she received for being an incompetant. Totally bogus man, on principal alone. Don't white collar people get spanked anymore for screwing up?

    :)

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  138. Keep in mid. 31 years on th job, your hourly wage is set by the budget process, all of a sudden your net becomes a great deal more and you decide it may be better not to ask any questions. In the corp world, we call that " hush money". Per Sheri Denis when she asked Nancy Hatch why Lois was given the extra, Nancy replied, we wanted to something for Lois. What for being a good girl and keeping your mouth shut ? It is sad to say but a bad apple infected the entire basket and citizens should not have to pay for anything they didn't vote to have, period. This is not how a town is suppose to operate. But,,,,don't dismiss the legal process, just yet.Hang in there as some things take a little time.

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  139. I'm not sure you understand, Lois's insurances (health, dental & life) were being taken out at first, then Nancy Hatch decided to do Lois a favor & not have it taken out anymore!!! If your paycheck suddenly increased by a sizable amount, would you notice?? What about the $2 an hour raises each year for 3 years & then $3 a year & so on? The Christmas bonuses they continued to receive, $400 or more for each one each year, were not approved by the selectmen or in the budget. They claimed they did approve them for a few years, but nothing in the minutes about ANY Christmas bonuses... So they agreed they didn't discuss it in a selectmen's meeting, secret meeting are illegal. I do not understand why anyone would feel WE THE TOWNS PEOPLE should pay for 5 years of Lois, Nancy & Cindy's insurances... Make me understand why this would be right.. It isn't right, she owes it, she knows she owes it & she was brought up to know what is right... Nancy, Lois & the selectmen ALL knew about Cindy using the town credit card for personal use, they knew Cindy & Nancy never ever worked 1/2 the hours they should work, for a yr or more Skip wanted to have an internal audit done without anyone in the office suspecting they were coming, Skip had kept a log of all the hours Nancy & Cindy missed work week after week, they knew Cindy ran a football pool off the town computers, they knew Nancy & Cindy had the Conservation Club information on the town computers & worked on that weekly, they knew about the phone blitz to get voters, asking people right at the office counter to sign absentee ballots, taking home absentee ballots for family & friends to sign, giving all the jobs to family members (9 in Lois's family.) JUST to hit upon a few things that was going on that are ILLEGAL & believe me there are plenty more.. While you paid high taxes for the games being played then and NOW in the office. ANYONE READING THIS BLOG GET A CALL FROM THE OFFICE TO VOTE? DID YOU GET ASKED TO VOTE FOR A SPECIFIC CANDIDATE?? if you did PLEASE post about it.

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  140. We rec'd a call the day before from Cindy to make sure that we went to vote for Belcher as Mike Burns had an agenda and the town needed to keep him out of office. My wife and I did what good citizens do, we accepted that as the truth from our town office and voted as requested and we did hear Nancy and Lois in the background. Little did we know what really was going on....and who had the agenda. We sincerely regret our mistake as our error has effected our entire town government and we are ashamed of our actions without investigating and giving the Concerned Citizen group an opportunity to explain their side and what they were uncovering.

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  141. Let me ask, has anyone requested the information as to when Cindy Dunton and or Alan Dunton registered their new vehicles and if Lois did open up or stay late so Cindy Dunton could avoid the public, as it has been rumored to have taken place, this is favortism and illegal. We need this to be answered and see the supporting evidence for or against. If this did take place it is a slap in the face of all decent and honest taxpayers of our community and needs to be dealt with, legally. Can someone obtain the necessary copies as we are not available during the day. I believe they all should show the date and time unless it is forged.

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  142. Is it ILLEGAL to open the office early???? or work late?: sometimes i arrive at my job early and unlock the doors...I hope my bosses don't have me arrested!!!

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  143. to: Anonymous Aug. 31, 2010 8:03 PM

    Could you NAME all 9 relatives of Lois' that are working in town and their respective positions? I can't get to your number.
    That would be helpful to back your accusation.

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  144. I'm not the original poster of this.
    1. Lois Leavitt Libby, (I. town manager / clerk)
    2. Tom Libby, (husband) odd jobs
    3. Jim Leavitt (brother) plowing (this was also a double paid job, Kendall Davis plows the winter roads out there & in his contract it states he is to plow the fire stations & town office, they both got paid for it.
    4. Nancy Leavitt (sister in law) cleaning
    5. Brett Leavitt (Rec. director)
    6. Vickie Leavitt (Rec. " assistant)
    7. I believe some of their children use to work for the Rec. or do work there.
    8. Vickie Leavitt ? (niece) did the blueprints when the building committee for the Town Hall renovation was in place.
    9. Julie Leavitt (sister in law) not really a job, but Festival

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  145. Wow,
    Most excellent thing you are not from away too you would absolutely be a low life then, to go along with your one misguided vote and single handed destruction of the town. This is some good stuff someone should write a book, then make a movie and we could use the proceeds to pay back the town.

    Kathy P. check this one out you feeling better about having your label now? Ha Ha, (not the woods one the other one).

    I have always been in favor of signing the posts in the past but recently (about 2 mins. ago) got concerned this guy might sick his pit bull on me. LOL

    So everyone knows (I want to make this crystal clear), the only time Cindy ever called me was to remind me my dog lic. was about to run out. Unfortunately I found out later that was code speak and actually meant "someone was low on cash".

    Signing off from sunny Downtown Newburgh,
    "The weather is here and I wish you were Beautiful"

    Jim Hopkins

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  146. We heard Lois and Nancy in the background? Did it sound sort of like this?

    LL: Hi Nancy hatch what are you doing at the Newburgh town office today with all your free time?

    NH: Oh nothing Lois Libby I thought I would do some online shopping for some beauty products.

    LL: I wonder why Cindy Dunton is calling all the people in town.

    NH: Not sure Lois Libby she is always trys to keep busy you know that.

    LL: That's for sure Nancy Hatch town manager of Newburgh, she is a busy little bee.

    CD: NANCY HATCH and LOIS LIBBY, Can you two keep it down I am on the phone trying to siwng the vote to Buddy, he is too dumb to realize he may loose his throne and that bastard is knocking on the door you know.

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  147. Well that comment sure rattled someones cage. I guess the "family" must monitor this site pretty close. Y'all better stop talking bad about the "family" I don't think they like it.

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  148. When a man assumes a public trust he should consider himself a public property.
    -Thomas Jefferson

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  149. Anonymous said...
    Is it ILLEGAL to open the office early???? or work late?: sometimes i arrive at my job early and unlock the doors...I hope my bosses don't have me arrested!!!

    The above poster most certainly does not work for the government, state or federal as they would know the answer, Yes it is a serious violation. Of course, on the garbage truck and at the site it may be ok so, pick away,

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  150. Maine’s Tort Claims Act provides a basic but not exclusive framework for determining what actions a municipality and its employees may be held liable for under state law.

    Unwarranted privileges where actions are tainted with bias or favoritism if Cindy or Alan Dunton were allowed to register her./ his/ their vehicle or vehicles after hours or on a Saturday while the community cannot.

    Enough said, Education is a wonderful thing.

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  151. The conflict law prohibits all public employees from seeking or receiving bribes, gifts, promises, or anything else of value in return for an official favor or a promise of action or inaction. In addition , it prohibits fraud or allowing anyone else to commit fraud. Action or inaction is sufficient evidence that the public employee is acting with corrupt intent.

    Engaging in favoritism by a public official. see Standards of Conduct. It would be an unwarranted privilege.

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  152. Please pass me another tort, I want to have it with my morning coffee........

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  153. Boys oh Boys, It seems our town office needs some new faces and direction. How do we get these people to step aside for the benefit of our town ? I can't believe that they want to live with this and what their inaction and action has caused and is continuing to cause. Here is hoping the law will see what is going on here and come in to help.

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  154. This is simply amazing, someone trying to display humor and using up valuable space when this is such a serious event. Are you even aware that Newburgh has no money and our town tax monies are being use like a piggy bank for what ever by our trusted officials who have no idea. Still without committee's , policies, procedures or mission. We can only hope that the state can send in the troops, soon.

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  155. I just left the store and someone said that they had heard that someone had threaten death to one of The Fixers or Concerned Citizen Group ?
    Now, it gets interesting as we go from issues to events. Any one out there listening to our help signals ?

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  156. The threat had nothing to do with the "Concerned Citizens" group.. It had to do with the 1st responders & that issue.

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  157. We heard it was directed to a member of the group but regardless, a threat to do someone harm of this magitude just moves everything to a new level and is yet but another example of why our town needs new town officials before it esculates and there is unrepairable damage.

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  158. Newburgh , The Concerned Citizens and The Fixers are trying to provide access to not so public, town information and comments to increase Newburgh town government transparency and encourage voter participation and collaboration in town government. Why not let them know that the majority of voter's in Newburgh appreciate their effort.

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  159. I heard from someone, who heard from someone else, who's wife's 3rd cousin heard from someone body who's friend overheard from their hairdresser........seriously people

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  160. Someone body, what is the world could this moran be trying to say other than, Duh! Where did he get a computer ? The serious aspect is correct and we need our problems resolved, soon. Without trusted leadership doing their job for the people, we have, nothing.

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  161. LMAO (at myself)...and you..(what IS the world could this moron) did you mean what IN the world? I got my computer at Staples, where did you get yours? lighten up...my point was he said she said and rumors if you heard it at the store it must be gospel.

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  162. "There would be more truth in it from the store than from the town office in Newburgh"!!!

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  163. Which hairdresser local or from away?

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  164. You were right Luc, we got the makings of a lynch mobb brewing.

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  165. The objective is that The Concerned Citizens Group of Newburgh Objective here is to try to provide access to not so public, town information and comments to increase Newburgh town government transparency and encourage voter participation and collaboration in town government. How can that be wrong ? Send them your email and get your name on their mailing list so you too can know what secrets are lying behind them there doors as it is your hard earned tax dollars, at work or not.

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  166. Since it is so likely that the town is going to crash, who has looked into the ramifications from going bust, are we protected by bankruptcy laws like any other corporation or is the debt passed on to the tax payers at full face value? Should we get out of town now or wait until the property values decline even further? Let's not pay our school payments until they shut us off and then go bankrupt, Cindy would know what to do to get us out of having to pay.

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  167. Cindy DID pay the SAD #22 payments, they were ALL paid up to JAN 2010, when you heard she had NOT paid them, that was untrue. Town owed 1 payment to SAD 22 for Feb. 2010, Cindy was done Mar. 11th. After Cindy resigned then the payments got behind 3 - 4 months. You can call SAD #22 if you need further proof on that one!

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  168. Appears, that we have more than one serious blunder after another by our town, still at work, like nothing is wrong. Why don't you all just resign and go back to your regular jobs and forget your ego's. If you want to help your town, that is what you should have done and still can do, Don't ruin our / your town any futher and resign. It is the ethicial thing to do. All the residents need to impress upon them that we want this to happen, now....Meeting on the 13th, Please come and express your view, just maybe they will listen to a full house as it is your tax dollars and your town at stake. We need for all this to stop and re-build Newburgh with new people.

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  169. Does anyone but me think that 9 members of one family is just a mite overboard and raises many concerns ? As the above poster said, we really need to have new faces and last names. My god, how did this happen ???? Any one of them working for min wage ? I bet not. Isn't this at the very least, illegal?

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  170. QUESTION: IS LOIS LIBBY EVER GOING TO BE HONEST AND PAY THE CITIZENS BACK? HOW CAN SHE SLEEP WITH THE GUILT ? 1500 RESIDENTS SCAMMED.

    At selectman's meeting Lois Libby made a statement concerning her wages. Lois stated that she is on salary and not hourly. Lois said she makes 22k+ a year and her health coverage was supposed to be taken out which would bring her down to about 15.5k+-. BUT then she goes on to say that her health insurance coverage has not been taken out and she had no idea!

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  171. My concern with this whole thing about Lois Libby not knowing that Nancy Hatch had decided to "do Lois a favor" & stop taking the insurances out of her check (dental, health & life) is: How can Lois claim she didn't know when---- Lois first got health insurance through the town it was being taking out, so she knew what she was making each week & all of a sudden her pay increased!! Somehow I find that hard to believe with out a raise how would your pay increase??? Not only were we paying ALL her insurances BUT remember the selectmen gave her a $3.00 an hour raise so she could "afford" health insurance....another thing I can't figure out... Do you get a big raise so you can afford health insurance? Well, she claims she doesn't owe it because she didn't know about it!!! Interesting! The selectmen say that's ok let the town suck up that bill. She also, as stated above, accepted the unauthorized Christmas bonuses for 5 or more years & doesn't feel she owes that either... Is this all for REAL Newburgh people? Where are you NEWBURGHER'S, step up & demand CHANGES today!!!!!!!
    AND I agree, 9 relatives of 1 employee is a big conflict of interest! Anyone know how many years this has been going on?

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  172. Everyone's main concern right now should be the finances of the town... It's pretty scary to hear the selectmen say "we do not know where we stand or how much $$ the town has because we haven't looked". Seriously we do not know where to look or how to get that figure & neither does our current treasurer. She can't do a financial report!!!!!! SAY WHAT? State agencies where are you?? Someone needs to stop this run away train..

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  173. You were right Luc, we got the makings of a lynch mobb brewing.

    Yes,Our Citizens are disappointed and upset and it will not stop until these folks step down or are convited. Has everyone stopped and thought about how much money is really gone and is continuing from the theft, the cost associated with it,a highly paid clerk who is a co-worker and friend of a selectmen, lawyer fees, auditor fees, mailings without any information, missing towm property,over payments not being requested returned, the list goes on and on. Now, we have this ambulance and school costs, associated expenses and the folks who were sleeping on the job and really responsiable are still there and don't want to leave their paycheck.
    So yes, Luc, the honest folks of Newburgh whose money is being tossed away daily, are upset. We need a good showing at the meeting on the 13th to let them know, that it must stop and people need to be held accountable for their actions or inactions. So far, everyone has escaped the arm of the law, or so it seems, so the taxpayers need to rise up and be dammed vocal.

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  174. I do not belong to any of the axe grinders or family groups, I remain independent and have tried to keep an open mind through all this.

    But I keep hearing this excuse from others around town that it was Nancy Hatch that is 100% to blame for the problems we have, the selectmen are exempt because they are not paid much and Nancy should take all the blame. Here it is folks, Nancy did have superiors she worked for. I am sorry I can not accept this thought process placing blame on her alone, it is past the time for the selectmen to admit if they were involved with Nancy to the level they should have been she would have been exposed as an incompetent, lazy buffoon and terminated years ago. Now we are about to allow the same three to make another choice on who to replace her with? You can not have it both ways, if you are qualified to interview, evaluate and select this person and then manage their activities in the future were you not also in charge and directing before? Have they all recieved some special training and certification we are not aware of? How can any of the selectmen justify what happened, how long it went on and who is responsible without first admitting they did have a direct roll and responsibility to oversee the town manager.

    I am sorry but I no longer have an open mind it is obvious the continued involvement by the three current selectmen is not in the best interest of any of us regardless of where we sit on or beside the fence.

    Selectmen, please bow out gracefully so we can move forward with a clean slate.

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  175. so i'm wondering which of you "anonymous" posters who want all the selectmen OUT are going to run at the next election???? One of the selectmen's positions is up next year. Hows the ballot going to look?......

    Anonymous #1__

    Anonymous #2__

    Anonymous #3__

    Anonymous #4__

    Skip Smith __

    get my point???

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  176. I get your point and it is a good one I have always felt people should sign their names it adds a little credibility to the message, others dissagree obviously.

    I also noticed you did not sign your post.

    Jim Hopkins

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  177. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  178. Man, I wish when we delete comments, it would just delete the whole thing, because now it looks like I may have said something nasty and deleted it as an afterthought...

    Anyway, I was just inquiring to readers about that First Responders course being offered and asked questions before doing my own research.

    After making some calls, turns out I don't qualify for the course because I'd need a crapload of shots and a physical exam, and, well I'm poor and uninsured so screw that. LOL. I'll perform my own version of EMS services to friends, family, and desperate neighbors with my trusty roll of duct tape, tube of super glue, and bottle of whiskey.

    :D

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  179. We continue to head down the path of destruction. How does that saying go, something about insanity and repeating yourself being a sign of it???????????

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  180. I AM NOT ONE OF THE PEOPLE THAT VOTED FOR A FULL TIME MANAGER, I AM ONE OF THE ONES THAT WILL VOTE TO CHANGE TO A LESS EXPENSIVE FORM OF GOVERNMENT IN THE FUTURE. I AM NOT HAPPY WITH 3 PEOPLE DECIDING TO HIRE ANOTHER MANAGER FOR A TOWN OF OUR SIZE WHEN WE CLEARLY DO NOT NEED IT AND THE CURRENT MAJORITY DO NOT WANT IT. I AM ALL FOR A NON-ESSENTIAL SPENDING FREEZE UNTIL WE CAN FIGURE OUT WHERE WE STAND EVEN IF WE VOTED FOR IT IN THE PAST. TAKE 6 MONTHS OFF FROM SPENDING UNTIL IT IS CRITICAL AND THERE IS NO OTHER CHOICE, THIS SHOLD BE THE BASIS FOR ALL SPENDING RIGHT NOW. I DO LIKE OUR COMMUNITY, MY NEIGHBORS, MY HOME, MY LOCATION I DO NOT WANT TO MOVE. I DO NOT LIKE WHAT I AM LEARNING ABOUT OUR THREE SELECTMEN AND WOULD LIKE TO SEE SOME FRESH PEOPLE AND THOUGHTS IN THESE ROLLS. I DO NOT UNDERSTAND WHY THEY ARE IN DENIAL AND DO NOT GET DONE.

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  181. What about our town real estate attorney that Nancy Hatch had used. I understand that Dean Beaupain is only a Real Estate Attorney and knows nothing about criminal law but our town officials allowed him to make judgement calls and they went ahead with his advise ? They must not have read about Plum Island. Regardless we have ended up with a worthless IOU note. And the audit,had no meaning unless it followed the money trail but the tax payers paid in excess of $45,000 and still climbing. Not to mention Dean Beaupain billing the town at $185.00 per hour and add in Sheri Denis the clerk at $87.50 and Lois Libby's fantastic new wage and benefit package that not one voter, voted for. Is there anyone that really thinks all of this is ok ? Or is it, business as usual. If Newburgh somehow stays afloat, our taxes wiil shoot through the roof in the near future as nothing is happening to help us out with our problems and all are remaining in denial, as usual. Our citizens need to take a stand but I'm afraid that some of them are still in denial too even with all the facts in front of them or attainable.

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  182. It is amazing to me how many issues are quoted in these blogs that lack any truth. The innuendo's and untruths just continue, as the only way to continue to keep this in the "headlines" is to try to create hysteria, day after day. Instead of trying to "prove" the fixers are right, why doesn't anyone go into the town office and watch how it works. There needs to be more than one person in the office and it is unreasonable to think that Lois Libby can do it all by herself. The fixers constantly complain nothing is changing or being done. Exactly when should Lois try to do anything, in between phone calls, car registrations, complaints and etc.? Instead of trying to prove who is right and who is wrong, why aren't the fixers trying to be part of the solution and offering their time on a volunteer basis? It seems they complain about the rate of pay anyone else receives, when one of their own quotes a higher rate than any of the others. Before you cast stones at others, perhaps some of you should look in your own glass house to see what can be dug up and slung about you on this website. Oh that's right, one of the fixers is the administrator, so those bashings can easily be deleted as he sees fit.

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  183. To the above poster, whom ever you may be. I would guess a family memebr or close friend of a selectman as the sole purpose of the Concerned Citizen Group as I see it, is to keep us aware and I have yet to note, a lie. So please research before you comment and you too, may be able to see the light and get your own self out of complete denial. There is so much mismanagement because of the lack of capability and you dam well know it. Sorry, but its true.

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  184. Why didn't the poster who complained, address the repeated and repeated municipal law vioations that have run amuck within our town office for a very long time ? Check it out before you start with your unfounded comments that you have just plain made up in your own mind without research. You need to be able to back up your comments and you cannot.

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  185. I find it interesting that as soon as someone talks against the fixers they are hashed and bashed and must be a family member or relative of someone in the town office. God forbid people have thoughts of their own that are not related to anything or anyone. Perhaps they are citizens of Newburgh who also pay taxes and are just tired of having to avoid neighbors who are fixers, as the only thing they ever want to talk about it the town office. Whenever someone doesn't agree or posts anything positive on this site, such as Kathy Perrin, they are quickly told why they can't think this way because of the research. They also then receive a call or visit from one of the fixers to counsel them on why they can't think the way they do. Citizens all have a right to feel however they want. If they choose to trust whomever is in the town office for whatever reason, this is their right. There is a saying about opinions that starts with "opinions are like a......., everyone has one." We are all entitled to our opinions, beliefs and all set our own moral compass. Just because someone doesn't agree with your opinion and etc. certainly does not make them a bad person. There are many, many really good people in Newburgh who want the best for Newburgh. Each citizen will decide what's best for the town in their opinion and neither the fixer group or "family" group can make me decide. The decision is my own!!

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  186. Dear Anon. September 9, 2010 6:48 PM

    You are correct as long as we conduct business the way we always have we would need the same or close to the same number of people to get it done.

    That is exactly why we need to look at changes in the way we do business, how to streamline, how to reduce the business days but maybee keep 2 days for admin (not open for regular town business). Use e-mail and a credit/debit card to pre-request and order car re-registrations and hunting liscenses you know plan the work a little around down times. I would love to just stop by and pick mine up on a predetermined day Vs waiting in line or waiting to process them.

    This is a big part of what is wrong with our system, we do not have enough insight or management skills guiding the town office to figure out ways to make changes that make it easier to do business and become more cost effective.

    If it is outside the box thinking it must be bad and nothing we want to get involved in.

    So instead of looking at ways to pad the payroll in the name of keeping everything the same, try to put a little effort in suggesting ways to change the process and perhaps at least move into the 1990's and give that a test whirl. The world is evolving all around us and all we can come up with is move into a new building and drag the same old process, systems and people with us.

    With this we will not add to any services but we will add costs, that fry's my behind.

    Do not be afraid of change, I too am not a fixer or family either and as you say is important I like to make up my own mind.

    In case you missed it we are broken.

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  187. To the poster above the last one by Chris. For your information, I'm the one that suggested Jim H and Kathy P. run for office because their comments indicated an open mind. No family bashing as you say, I only want to hear and see, facts and I have, so that is why I realize that The Concerend Citizens are trying their damest to help and educate the voters. They want and are trying to promote town involvement,nothing else other than bringing the offenders to justice. You need to look at the big picture and then would will be aware that our selectmen are in over their heads and are there only because of their own ego's not because of their know how, management experience, etc. When they want to help our town, they will step down and the voters need to make themselves aware of all the wrongs that have been and are being committed so they can vote accordingly and start fresh. Sorry Kathy P. I cannot quote your humor with this one as the poster cannot convince me that they are not directly involved with the town office. Playing dumb and trying to put the focus on something or someone else, will not work here as it boils down to ' CHECK THE FACTS " and look at the big picture, period. Does it not bother you that your own tax monies, are being wasted ? You cannot begin to defend, dishonesty.

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  188. Does it bother anyone that our annual report failed to include the yearly audit report that is required by law. I ask you why ? It is required by law. I submit, the concept of a office cover-up as no other reason survives the thought process. WOW -- the lights have come on

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  189. I would like to let all citizens of all parties and all beliefs know that The Concerned Citizens of Newburgh would like your email address so if needed,they could send along important town information that you otherwise, may miss. Please remember, it is your town, your government, and it needs, your voice. Next Meeting, September 13th, (Monday night) at the school. Please try to attend as these meetings may be important to our survival and at the very least,they set the direction in which we are going to move in. Positive or Negative, it will be up to us.

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  190. I fully agree with the above posting. The TaxPayers need to attend these meetings now as it is their money and they need to ask questions of their elected officials to confirm that all their tax money is accounted for and there are no secret meetings and back door favors, going on. We need to make sure that it has stopped and becoming involved in the meetings is the only way that I can see for the voters to get an idea of how our town, is doing or not.

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  191. I for one am pleased we were able to secure and apply a stop gap at the town office in the form of Mr Briggs as the new town manager. The fact that we will have apparently (athough it may be tomporary) moved to fill this position with a "part time" solution is very encouraging. I have long felt that we could/should make changes in the way we conduct town business by streamlining our process to fit the current needs of the town Vs. returning to the bloated model of the past. The terms of hire are another bright spot in our current path that will allow a cost effective honeymoon period with which to evaluate our progress and plan for the future without a long term commitment that might be very difficult to change and could have proved costly long term and short term to reverse.

    Buddy, Skip and Leona,
    We are still deep in the woods with our situation but I feel this direction will allow badly needed time to heal and eventually map out and implement a long term strategy that will be acceptable to a majority of the taxpayers in town.

    I believe I speak not only for myself but also others when I say thank you for listening and working hard to find a middle ground offering on this manager issue, let's keep our fingers crossed and hope for the best over the course of the next 6 months as we still have several hurddles ahead of us all.

    Sincerely

    Jim Hopkins

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  192. Bangor Daily News this AM and Jim, your posting. Thanks. A part-time Town Manager /Assistant Admin
    is the way we needed to go, for sure. One hurdle down, now what about Sheri Denis and the shell game of working for a firm than forming her own company to still bill the town her high rate of pay. Will Mr. Briggs see through this scam and stop it. We will see, as they both enjoyed the co-worker relationship in Hampden. I think this is his next hurdle as well as involving himself with our Real Estate Lawyer and putting an end to his incorrect legal advise and his billing. I for one believes, Newburgh needs to consult someone of a higher standed and with some criminal experience to see what can be done to better our position in regards to The Dunton's and Ms. Hatch, the mentor, herself. Mr. Beaupain was totally wrong in his legal advise to Newburgh and he should be held accountable too. As of now, it remains a wait and see, but it sure is a step in the right direction as long as Mr. Briggs is a man with an independent mind and has the negotiation skills of a swat team leader, for within.

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  193. Once again an anonymous post with incorrect facts. Sherri Denis did not start her own company to get the "high rate of pay" you are stating. But, as usual, since of of the fixers wants this job, the lies will continue. Why don't you actually check the facts before you begin you continued ridiculous claims. Have any of you asked Sherri anything about any of this? Isn't it true that Lou Chamberland wants over $50 an hour to do the same work? I don't believe Sherri's rate is even close to that? So, Mr. Briggs, I hope you do see through "this scam" to realize why the continued accusations are posted on here, day after day, with no signature. I hope Sherri Denis hires a lawyer to protect her interests against the people who are attempting to discredit her and her reputation.
    By the way, were you trying to say of a higher standard and legal advice?

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  194. I guess I should have read the BDN before I posted, they do have a familiar tone, oh well sounds like some of us are on the same page.

    Jim Hopkins

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  195. Could the poster,again anonymous,explain the co-worker situation in Hampden he or she is talking about to me. Skip Smith

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  196. Hey Skip, Glad to see your on board. These blogs are so we can try to make Newburgh user friendly once again and also to prevent future loss and make our town government responsive to our community. I too, had heard, now please remember only heard " rumor" that Sheri Denis had worked in the town office in Hampden. I don't know if that was before or after she worked with Leona Smith or if she still does. We don't get all the news out here in the woods. We used to rely on the town to keep us all updated but that hasn't been the case of late. Hopefully, we can get back on the road to, Neighbor Friendly, again.

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  197. I believe Sheri Denis works with Selectmen, Leona Smith so that is the real, Conflict of Interest, today. One should step away or both.

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  198. Sherri Denis is a public accountant who works for many people every day and I'm sure she would love to walk away from the situation in Newburgh.

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  199. NEWBURH LOST, IT'S TRANSPARENCY WITH THE HIRING OF NANCY HATCH. WE NEED TO GET BACK TO FULL TRANSPARENCY FOR THE VOTERS. AS SUCH, I WOULD LIKE TO KNOW THE ANSWER TO MY QUESTION, DOES SHERI DENIS WORK WITH LEONA SMITH ? YES OR NO ?
    WHERE DID SHERI DENIS GO TO FURTHER HER EDUCATION AND GET HER CPA ? SIMPLE QUESTIONS.

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please be couteous!

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