A few weeks ago Charlie Cristello, the Middleboro Town Manager, had a visitor from the Enterprise who requested some information that is public record. Charlie simply wrote it down on a piece of paper and answered every question asked. This centered around his very own contract. The Enterprise has been having a very public ongoing battle with another community regarding access to public records and wanted to simply check out responses from various communities.
The recent election had as a major issue transparency. Business being done in public. Inquiring minds might want to know and if it is public information do it.
Now you come to our local G & E that seems to operate under rules that defy public access but also common sense. The Enterprise had a rather interesting article about how the manager John Granahan has managed to go into some type of corporate lock down over his contract, payroll information and the budget. Unlike the TM he has a different set of rules. Mike Solimni, a commissioner, has not been able to get the information. I can just imagine telling a CFO or a CEO to "buzz off" if they asked for corporate information from an underling. The diss of Solimini is a diss of rate payers.
Town Counsel has said they do not see the light (pun intended)in regards to releasing information that should be readily available. This stonewalling has also impacted other town officials who need the information for such foolishness as accountability and with a key phrase being the town (us) will be responsible for all G & E debt.
I called up several municipal power companies to question what they do. What policy do they have? It all came down to two words - public record. Mr. Granahan claims his contract contains "Proprietary information" and as one pundit said "What does it contain? The formula for cold fusion?" I didn't bother to ask procedures as just the fact that they realized honoring a request was their responsibility.
What other towns do is just a useful point of reference in case municipal unities have some type of Skull and Crossbones society going on but the core issue remains the same - the management style of Mr. Granahan.
Now their web site does have information such as their annual report but only as far as 2005. They do have open meetings but what good are meetings that are open when the information requested is not open?
The G & E seems - at least to this novice - to do a reasonable job of keeping rates low, servicing the power grid and contributing to the community but I just wonder if the manager is running another local fiefdom?
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The G&E has grabbed a tiger by the tail. Anyone who understands Middleboro knows there will be an uprising. They have just opened the flood gates by closing their information
I read the link in the article to the Enterprise and am just mystified by Granahan's actions. Forget his contract and just concentrate on the other requests. Why are they not releasing information to a commissioner?
Spataro raised the issue Monday night that if the BoS is transparent so should the G & E be transparent.
Time for an accounting.
I can only base my opinion on what I have read and what I have observed and at this juncture I have to question the management decisions of the G&E directly related to this fire storm.
The issue is rather simple to me and it centers upon release of information necessary for the commission to do a diligent job and likewise for other town departments to simply do their job.
Is this just some type of management stubbornness? Is being uncooperative based on what may be perceived as the questioning nature of one board member in particular? What happens is now suspicion starts to run amok.
I sincerely hope that Mr.Granahan and the elected Board of Directors will have a change of heart.
This is some of the most bizarre antics I have witnessed while involved in town government.
The Enterprise has a great editorial on that very topic in the Sunday edition.
The G&E meets every Tuesday at the Main Street office - 7:30. Maybe showing up with some of your utility bills will help?
A nice Sunday morning while I sit and watch the birds at the feeders and I see that Middleboro becomes the center of attention in The Enterprise regarding the release of public documents. The editorial is just a continuation or a follow-up on an article that Alice Ewell wrote but with the force of editorial placement.
I sincerely hope that the Mr. Granahan comes to his senses and has a release of documents and a trifle more transparency.
http://www.enterprisenews.com/topstories/x1076645389/OPINION-Middleboro-official-is-hiding-something
Finally got my rebate from NSTAR after 17 weeks of waiting. Processing time was suppose to be 4-6 weeks. I can imagine if someone didn't pay their bill for 17 weeks.
Be there Tuesday evening the G&E needs to be reminded for whom they work.
Today in the Enterprise.
When I taught in Attleboro you had a retirement buy back of unused sick time at the rate of $30 per day up to 120 days providing you taught for 15 consecutive years in the system. The buy back for administrators was far more generous.
My daughter is employed in the dreaded private sector and has no buy back or carry over. Use it or lose in for sick time/vacation time.
I have a son who is a pilot for a major airline. Same situation.
In my non public employment history I had only one company that would give you a buy back and carry over and they went bankrupt 35 years ago.
The article does not state if this is a dollar for dollar buy back but the story also states that two other municipals - Braintree and Taunton - offer no bonus or buy backs.
According to Commissioner Triner this has "helped productivity." So does this mean employees were taking time off when they were not sick? Does this mean that someone comes to work sick to accrue a bonus?
Now when the payroll finally gets released - and it will. Then a comp can be done with other municipals to examine job descriptions and benefits to determine how our G&E lines up with others.
I am just stunned at what is going on with this bonus situation.
Now how are the days determine? How much sick time do they get? How are you eligible for the program? If you take a few days sick time and have accrued sick time can you still get some bonus? This whole program needs some clarification.
I didn't know Lincoln Andrews and Adam Bond could tap dance. However they don't use a floor but a "Chair" and a manager to dance all over.
Can't dance unless they give you a platform. These guys definitely thought they could say "sorry" and go home.
OK...now lets talk about shutters. Oh the deflection.
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