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massdee
Moderator
5299 Posts |
Posted - 03/22/2007 : 09:56:40 AM
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| I would like to see Ms. Bruno run for Alderwoman and gain more experience and then make a run for mayor. |
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cathyk
Member
97 Posts |
Posted - 03/26/2007 : 12:00:16 PM
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TOWN OF STONEHAM
Contact:
David Ragucci
Town Administrator
Debora Pettengill
Executive Secretary to Town Administrator
Elizabeth Luciano
Human Resources Administrator
Address:
35 Central Street
Stoneham, MA 02180
Phone:
(781) 279-2600
Fax:
(781) 279-2602
Hours:
Monday, Wednesday, Thursday: 8:00 A.M. to 4:00 P.M.
Tuesday: 8:00 A.M. to 7:00 P.M.
Friday: 8:00 A.M. to 12:00 P.M.
WE SHOULD ALL CALL THE FORMER MAYOR AND TELL HIM HOW MUCH WE MISS HIM
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massdee
Moderator
5299 Posts |
Posted - 03/29/2007 : 10:09:24 AM
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Cheaper by the dozen
By Matt Carroll, Globe Staff | March 29, 2007
Dunkin' Donuts don't have a shop on every corner -- it just feels that way. Here's the number of stores in your area.
Community Shops
Abington 5
Acton 5
Amesbury 1
Andover 4
Arlington 4
Ashland 3
Avon 4
Ayer 1
Bedford 4
Bellingham 3
Belmont 2
Berlin 1
Beverly 9
Billerica 4
Bolton 0
Boston 67
Boxborough 1
Boxford 0
Boylston 1
Braintree 11
Bridgewater 5
Brockton 24
Brookline 6
Burlington 6
Cambridge 15
Canton 6
Carlisle 0
Carver 2
Chelmsford 3
Chelsea 8
Cohasset 2
Concord 3
Danvers 10
Dedham 3
Dover 0
Dracut 3
Dunstable 1
Duxbury 1
East Bridgewater 2
Easton 1
Essex 1
Everett 7
Foxboro 4
Framingham 10
Franklin 4
Freetown 0
Georgetown 1
Gloucester 6
Groton 3
Groveland 0
Halifax 1
Hamilton 1
Hanover 6
Hanson 2
Harvard 1
Haverhill 8
Hingham 1
Holbrook 2
Holliston 1
Hopkinton 2
Hudson 3
Hull 2
Ipswich 1
Kingston 5
Lakeville 1
Lawrence 11
Lexington 5
Lincoln 0
Littleton 2
Lowell 11
Lynn 12
Lynnfield 2
Malden 8
Manchester-by-the-Sea 0
Mansfield 3
Marblehead 1
Marion 0
Marlboro 9
Marshfield 2
Mattapoisett 1
Maynard 1
Medfield 0
Medford 14
Medway 2
Melrose 2
Merrimac 1
Methuen 9
Middleborough 4
Middleton 4
Milford 7
Millis 1
Milton 1
Nahant 1
Natick 8
Needham 3
Newbury 0
Newburyport 4
Newton 10
Norfolk 1
North Andover 6
North Reading 4
Northboro 1
Norton 4
Norwell 3
Norwood 7
Peabody 8
Pembroke 5
Pepperell 1
Plainville 1
Plymouth 12
Plympton 0
Quincy 15
Randolph 4
Raynham 6
Reading 4
Revere 14
Rochester 0
Rockland 4
Rockport 1
Rowley 1
Salem 12
Salisbury 3
Saugus 11
Scituate 2
Sharon 1
Sherborn 1
Shirley 1
Shrewsbury 4
Somerville 12
South Weymouth 2
Southborough 2
Stoneham 4
Stoughton 8
Stow 2
Sudbury 1
Swampscott 1
Tewksbury 7
Topsfield 0
Tyngsboro 1
Upton 1
Wakefield 2
Walpole 5
Waltham 7
Wareham 5
Watertown 7
Wayland 1
Wellesley 4
Wenham 0
West Bridgewater 2
West Newbury 0
Westborough 5
Westford 4
Weston 0
Westwood 4
Weymouth 7
Whitman 4
Wilmington 6
Winchester 2
Winthrop 2
Woburn 9
Wrentham 2
SOURCE: Dunkin' Donuts |
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massdee
Moderator
5299 Posts |
Posted - 03/29/2007 : 10:12:14 AM
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Sludge Plant
Ian Bowles, secretary of the state's Executive Office of Environmental Affairs, issued a decision last week stating that the facility proposed by the Boston Water and Sewer Commission does not exceed state environmental review thresholds that would have required the preparation of a detailed impact report.
It was unclear what action Everett would take next. Mayor John Hanlon declined to comment, saying he had not reviewed the decision by Bowles. Michael Parker, a lawyer hired by Everett to represent the city in this case, said: "This is not the be-all, end-all.
"There are several options, and the city is carefully reviewing all of them," Parker said. "One would be that these decisions are appealable."
Bowles wrote in his decision that although some areas of Everett are designated for special protection by the federal government because they have suffered disproportionate environmental impacts in the past, the project does not exceed those limits.
Everett city officials argue that the facility's proximity to Everett and the Mystic River make it subject to expanded environmental impact review.
Everett officials also object to the site because of its proximity to the city's gateway and a valuable parcel of private land that is being eyed for major redevelopment.
"This is unbelievable," said Everett Common Councilor Joseph Hickey. "It ruins 40 acres of developable land."
The proposed facility, which would replace one operating in the former Calf Pasture pumping station at Columbia Point in Dorchester, would handle 140 tons per day of catch basin and sewer cleanings and trench excavation materials, with a projected total of 62 truck trips a day between 7:15 a.m. and midnight. Originally the proposed facility was to be situated on a parcel in Dorchester owned by the University of Massachusetts at Boston. After several parties opposed that relocation, Boston Water and Sewer decided on a Frontage Road location in Boston, but last September the commission issued a notice to the state saying the project would move to the site in Charlestown, at 180 Alford St.
"The bottom line here," Hickey said, is that the JFK Museum and the UMass-Boston dormitories on Columbia Point are "taking precedence here."
Everett officials also argue that there is a possibility that Everett has jurisdiction over a portion of the proposed site and still has an appeal pending with the state's Department of Environmental Protection over an order of conditions issued by the Boston Conservation Commission to the Water and Sewer Commission.
Thomas Bagley, manager of community services for Boston Water and Sewer, declined to comment on Bowles's decision and the pending appeal but said that the project will continue along the regulatory process once clearance is issued by the Department of Environmental Protection.
In his decision, Bowles said that Boston Water and Sewer should note the comments made by the City of Everett regarding air quality impact during the construction period. He also urged the commission to "evaluate and mitigate construction period impacts," including the effect of traffic, and said the commission should require contractors to retrofit diesel-powered equipment with emission controls.
Bowles's decision affirms the conclusions reached late last year by his predecessor, Robert Golledge Jr., and follow a successful request by the City of Everett earlier this year for an extension of the public comment period. In their comments, residents accused the City of Boston of trying to sneak the project past them after failing to notify Everett officials that they had changed the project's proposed site from Dorchester to Charlestown.
Parker said Bowles should have required the thorough review of other impacts, including alternate truck routes due to the pending Alford Street Bridge repair project. The repair will lead to lowered truck weight limits on the bridge, forcing trucks to travel through high-impact areas like Chelsea and Everett to get to Charlestown, Parker said.
"This is the gateway to Everett, and a lot of things have been done to turn this into a low-impact area," Parker said.
"A lot of old, industrial uses have been replaced. The city was looking at this area as a continuation of that, and this puts a damper on those plans." |
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arthur
Senior Member
212 Posts |
Posted - 04/01/2007 : 07:00:17 AM
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EVERETT
Vote due on school board salaries
By Katheleen Conti, Globe Staff | April 1, 2007
Everett School Committee members could be compensated for the first time, at $5,500 a year, if the City Council approves a new ordinance.
Common Councilor Michael J. Mangan introduced the measure, under which the nine members could receive the salary starting in January. Mayor John Hanlon , who is an appointed nonvoting member of the committee, would not qualify for the money, Mangan said.
The matter is scheduled to come up for a vote at tomorrow night's Common Council meeting. Having already received a favorable action recommendation from the administrative affairs subcommittee, the proposed ordinance would require two votes each from the Common Council and from the Board of Aldermen to be enacted.
"They all have to run citywide," Mangan said. "That's a little bit more time-consuming in terms of going out and meeting the voters, flier droppings, and most of them run ads in the newspapers during election time. It's not like they just show up to the meetings. There are a lot of times they're called away beyond their normal meeting hours."
Only three of the nine School Committee members are elected at large, yet all nine must mount citywide election campaigns, which can cost $8,000 or more for contested races. In the past few elections, many of the seats have been uncontested.
Funding for the salaries would come out of the School Department budget and would not affect the city budget, Mangan said.
Mangan's original request included pay raises for the mayor and City Council, but council members amended the request to include only pay for the School Committee because they thought it was too soon after residents were hit with a property tax hike. Although Mangan said the City Council has not received a raise in about 20 years , he said he agrees with the decision to exclude that portion from the request. The seven-member Board of Aldermen receive $7,200 annually, while the 18-member Common Council gets $5,500 .
In Malden, the nine School Committee members, including the mayor, receive $7,000 annually. In Medford, five members of the committee get paid $10,800 a year, while the chair gets $11,400 , and the member-appointed secretary gets $13,200 . Revere's six committee members get $6,000 a year.
Superintendent of Schools Frederick Foresteire said it's time for Everett to move in that direction.
"They deserve to be compensated for what they do," Foresteire said. "It should help attract candidates for School Committee. They were mostly unopposed last time."
Increasing the pool of candidates is another benefit of his proposal, Mangan said.
"I just thought it would promote competition. It seems like the last couple of years, not that many people were running for the actual positions. The more competition we have, the better the candidates' qualifications."
School Committee members requested annual pay of $6,300 a year, averaging the salaries of the aldermen and common council to come up with that number, said Common Councilor Millie J. Cardello , who, as a member of the finance and administrative affairs committees, suggested that the compensation should be a stipend instead of salary. But School Committee members asked that it be called a salary so they may qualify for a city pension, Cardello said. In exchange, the School Committee agreed not to seek health benefits. The School Committee also sought to receive retroactive pay dating back to January if the measure is approved, but the city solicitor determined that was illegal, Cardello said.
The Common Council, opposed to paying the School Committee more than what they receive, asked that the pay be lowered to $4,500 . Cardello said School Committee members were not happy with that suggestion, so school and city officials agreed to $5,500 a year.
"If you look at the whole picture, I feel that anybody who is an elected official should get some sort of monetary compensation," said Cardello, a former member of the School Committee. She said contested committee election races can range from $8,000 to $15,000, depending on the level of competition.
"You hope people wouldn't [run] for the money," Cardello said, "but she added that if they were already thinking about it, "this would be more incentive."
I WOULD LIKE TO KNOW WHEN THIS CITY GOES TO RECEIVERSHIP? |
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arthur
Senior Member
212 Posts |
Posted - 04/08/2007 : 06:22:55 AM
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EVERETT
Charter change filed and forgotten
Request was never sent to Legislature
By Katheleen Conti, Globe Staff | April 8, 2007
An attempt to prevent Everett candidates from running for more than one local political seat in the same election failed to make it to the state Legislature -- for a second time.
The request for a charter change was unanimously approved by the Board of Aldermen and the Common Council in mid-January, and needed Mayor John Hanlon's signature before it was to have been sent to the Legislature for consideration. But it never made it past the city clerk's office.
Instead of being handled as a charter change request, City Clerk Michael Matarazzo said an assistant in his office incorrectly handled the request as a resolution, which is a formally expressed opinion, and filed it away.
However, Matarazzo said that at the time, city officials were unaware that they had missed the Jan. 10 bill-filing deadline. And while the city could have still filed a late petition with the state, Matarazzo said there was no guarantee that the bill would have been taken up and passed by April 2, when election papers for the upcoming municipal elections became available to the public.
Matarazzo acknowledged that his office didn't find out the status of the council's order until a little over a week ago, when an alderman called him for an update. Election papers are now available, and some candidates have already pulled them for dual offices, he said. But because the votes for the charter change were unanimous, Matarazzo said council members may choose not to run for dual seats.
"It looks like everyone is going to live up to it," Matarazzo said of the incumbents. "They're not prohibited by the charter, but a lot of people feel it's unfair. In some cases you're hanging on to your seat while trying to move up."
Candidates who win two seats must choose one, leaving city officials to appoint someone to the other, Matarazzo said.
He said his office will send the order up to Hanlon's office to be filed as a late petition for this legislative session. If it is approved, the changes wouldn't apply until the 2009 municipal election.
This was the second time the measure was filed by Ward 4 Common Councilor Joseph Hickey, who drafted the request in response to two dual candidacies in the previous election in 2005. In that election, Ward 1 Common Councilor Wayne Matewsky ran for re election for his Common Council seat, but also ran for alderman; and Ward 2 School Committee member Joseph Guiliano ran for that seat, as well as for an at-large committee seat.
Last year, the council approved a similar request by Hickey that would have made it to the State House in time, but it was voted on as a resolution, not an "order for petition," and was never sent, Matarazzo said.
Even though it's been in the charter since 1892, Matarazzo said, the issue had never come up before.
"There was an uproar last time; Wayne Matewsky brought it to light by doing it," he said. "Until it happened, no one ever thought about it."
"We were disappointed," said Hickey of the order's failure to make it to the Legislature. "But I think it was an honest mistake and I don't believe it was intentional. I honestly believe it wouldn't have been acted on in time."
For Hickey, amending that portion of the city charter is just the tip of the iceberg. He has been a long time advocate of a complete review of the century-old charter, including a review of whether Everett really needs a bicameral form of government. A request to form a charter review committee would have to be placed on the ballot for voter approval.
Hickey, along with a group of activists and former politicians, need s to gather 2,000 more signatures to place the question on the ballot.
"We're asking every candidate for public office to help us gather signatures while they're getting nomination signatures for their own candidacy," said Hickey, adding that he knows some of his colleagues are reluctant to have a charter review.
In order "to prove a point of how stupid this charter is," Hickey said, he is considering pulling election papers for every elective office in the city, including mayor, ward common councilor, ward alderman, alderman at large, ward School Committee member, and School Committee member at large.
"I was going to pull papers for every seat in the city to make the point that this is ridiculous and it needs to be changed," he said.
State Representative Stephen (Stat) Smith, an Everett Democrat who plans to bring the late petition to the Legislature, said he would also like to see candidates limited to one seat per election. Smith, who is also a Ward 3 alderman, was elected to the Legislature last year. The proposed charter change would not affect candidates holding local office from running for state office because the elections don't fall in the same year. Smith said it gives a bad impression to run for several local seats at once.
"How can somebody take you seriously if you're running for three seats? If you really cared about serving the city, you would run for one seat," Smith said.
Matarazzo said the only changes that have been made to the charter were changing the term "Department of Public Works" to "City Services," and changing the School Committee's terms from four years to two.
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Lynda
Advanced Member
1282 Posts |
Posted - 04/08/2007 : 10:05:06 PM
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| Thanks for this information. |
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arthur
Senior Member
212 Posts |
Posted - 04/19/2007 : 06:36:31 AM
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Teens want a place they can gather
Survey cites desire for a youth center
By Katheleen Conti, Globe Staff | April 19, 2007
Most Everett High School students respect police officers, most are not involved in gang activity, and most are not taking part in violent crimes in the city, according to a survey of 600 students.
But that good news is overshadowed by the survey's main finding: Everett teenagers feel that the city offers them nothing to do and no place to gather. Many of those surveyed cited the need for a youth center.
With city ordinances that prevent students from hanging around school zones after they shut down for the day, and a 9 p.m. parks curfew, teenagers said they have little choice but to hang out at other youths' homes or on the streets.
The survey was performed by representatives from the Juvenile Justice Center at Suffolk University Law School, who, after being invited by Police Chief Steven Mazzie, started a training program with Everett officers on new approaches to police and youth interaction. Part of the training includes role-playing between teenagers and police, and offering insight through the survey into unintentionally created conflicts between teenagers and police as a result of cultural differences.
Lisa Thurau-Gray, managing director at the Juvenile Justice Center, said the teenagers "unanimously said, 'There is nothing for us to do in Everett,' " unless they're in the wildly popular and heavily funded high school football program.
" 'What are we supposed to do? Go home and smoke pot?' " Thurau-Gray quoted one surveyed girl.
"One of our strong recommendations to the chief from the get-go, and he embraces this recommendation, is that there are very few after-school options for the kids, very few options outside of football. The football league is very powerful and important, but it doesn't serve all the needs for kids."
Thurau-Gray said she was shocked that a city with as many teenagers as Everett does not have a community center or more after-school programs, especially for low-income kids with fewer opportunities, who are most at-risk.
"There is poverty and a lack of resources," Thurau-Gray said. "You don't hear a lot about [Everett] kids on drugs, but lack of opportunity and boredom is the cause " for minor juvenile crime in the city, such as vandalism.
Although he was encouraged by the survey results and the officer training, Mazzie said there "is a frustration that the kids share and we share."
"Overall, for an urban area, our arrest statistics are kind of low among juveniles," Mazzie said. "We don't want to lock up every kid that does something wrong. We're trying to find alternative ways of getting people to do the right thing, but we don't have a bunch of places to divert them to.
"We're on the cusp of going down the wrong path if we don't provide other alternatives to young people."
Alderman Robert J. Van Campen said that when Thurau-Gray presented the survey results to the Board of Aldermen last week, he was overwhelmed by the number of youths who had asked for a youth center. Van Campen, who unsuccessfully pushed for the creation of a Boys and Girls Club in the city about four years ago, was able to get council support this year in asking that Mayor John Hanlon consider retaining the vacant Devens School for use as a multicultural center or community facility.
The survey "really drove home in a statistical format that young people are not only in desperate need of this type of facility, but that they are asking for it," Van Campen said.
Common Councilor James Keane said that, at a recent event, someone asked him why Everett hadn't had a teen center for at least 10 years.
"I wasn't able to answer him. That question is still in my mind," said Keane, who is in favor of the city donating the Devens building so that an independent coalition from the public and private sector can fund a center. "I know money is tight, but this is one of those things that you almost can't afford to go without, because of the repercussions."
Lieutenant Jim Gabriel, who participated in the training, said it was good to hear what teenagers thought about Everett police officers, and that the training gave him a different perspective because "it's been a long time since we were kids." One of the findings Gabriel thought was most interesting was that kids perceive a well-dressed officer as being "a good guy," but a sloppily dressed one as possibly corrupt.
"They said some police officers will look at them and not smile or not say 'hi' to them; they perceive that as the police not liking them," Gabriel said.
The Police Department will participate in two more training sessions sometime in July, after which the Juvenile Justice Center will continue to work with the city through an ad-hoc committee to bring programs like the Boys and Girls Club and the YMCA to the table, Thurau-Gray said.
"We're great with rhetoric in America," she said, "but when it comes to pinching pennies, the first group we pinch pennies with is kids, and that's not a wise investment strategy."
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arthur
Senior Member
212 Posts |
Posted - 04/21/2007 : 06:13:02 AM
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Patrick hit on funding for schools
Group criticizes lack of preschool money
By Andrea Estes, Globe Staff | April 21, 2007
A national advocacy group has targeted Governor Deval Patrick as one of six chief executives nationwide who have failed to live up to their promise to increase spending on prekindergarten education.
"No new governor entered office with a more favorable environment for pre-K for all than did Governor Patrick, and so his failure to act decisively represents an opportunity sorely missed," says the report issued by Pre-K Now, a national group that advocates voluntary preschool for all 3- and 4-year-olds.
Twenty-nine governors proposed an increase in prekindergarten spending for the next fiscal year, according to the report, while Patrick, who campaigned on the pledge to improve early education, level-funded the state's program, a pilot project involving 2,700 children.
"Parents, advocates, and legislators were eager for Governor Patrick to follow through on his campaign pledge to offer early education opportunities to all children in Massachusetts, and he entered office with extremely favorable legislative conditions to make this vision a reality," Libby Doggett, executive director of Pre-K Now, said in a written statement. "Despite fiscal challenges, I hope the governor takes his campaign promise to heart and proposes substantial pre-K funds next year."
During the campaign, Patrick promised to fund a universal preschool program approved by the Legislature last year but vetoed by Governor Mitt Romney because of its cost.
"Because early learning is critical to future academic success," Patrick wrote on his campaign website, "I will expand education opportunities for 3- and 4-year-olds, specifically by working to pass pending legislation that addresses this need."
But this pledge, like Patrick's promise to hire 1,000 new police officers and to expand park funding by $10 million, was scaled back soon after the election because of a looming state budget deficit. In mid-November, Patrick acknowledged that he would not be able to pay for the $600 million program right away.
In his budget, released in late February, Patrick proposed increasing spending on all-day kindergarten by 46 percent, to $39.5 million, but kept funding for the pre-K program level at $4.6 million.
Early-education advocates in Massachusetts say they are hopeful that Patrick will eventually fund the early-education program and downplayed the criticism by Pre-K Now.
"It's very helpful to have a group like this doing a state-by-state comparison," said Margaret Blood, president of Strategies for Children, a Boston early education advocacy group. "But I'm also optimistic [the governor will] move his vision forward. . . . He understands economics, that we need to make the investment, that there's a long-term payoff."
Blood, whose group receives funding from Pre-K Now, served on Patrick's transition team and is on his early-education task force.
Joe Ganley, a former aide to one of Patrick's Democratic opponents, Christopher Gabrieli, also defended the governor, saying that despite the state's gloomy financial picture, he has generally kept his pledge to spend more on education.
Since the election, Gabrieli has been working with Patrick on the governor's extended school day initiative.
"We watched the promises of our opponents pretty closely, and to say that Patrick pledged to fully fund early education immediately is just not accurate," said Ganley, who also worked for Gabrieli's educational nonprofit, Boston 2020.
"He included it in a list of things, such as longer school days and after-school programs, that he said were part of educating the 'whole child.' And in fact his budget does provide funding for all-day kindergarten and longer school days, as he said it would.
"To suggest that the governor came into office in some rosy situation where huge programs could be funded fully ignores the facts. The state faced nearly a $1 billion deficit, and the governor and the Legislature are forced to fund their priorities by allocating scarce resources."
Ann Reale, commissioner of the state's Department of Early Education and Care, said she, too, is hopeful that the pilot pre-K program will eventually expand.
"We're ready to go forward with further expansion if the money is available to us," Reale said. "We feel pretty strongly about it. This is the first year of a four-year administration, and we're optimistic for growth either in this year or in future years."
Administration officials didn't comment on the report this week, but said the governor supports a bill pending in the Legislature that creates a pre-kindergarten program, the first step toward putting into place universal preschool. The bill provides no funding.
"The governor is fully supportive of expanding high quality early education opportunities for children in Massachusetts," said Patrick spokesman Kyle Sullivan. "That is why, even after inheriting an over $1 billion deficit, he increased funding for full-day kindergarten in his budget by 46 percent."
The $12.5 million increase would fund 500 to 800 new full-day classrooms serving 12,000 to 15,000 more children, Sullivan said.
Patrick has also convened a task force to develop a long-term strategy for providing students from pre-K to Grade 12 a "top quality education," Sullivan said. "And high-quality early education and care is an important component of that vision."'
The Boston public schools already offer preschool classes to some 3- and 4-year-olds.
Does this apply to the money already approved from the council and alderman and if so does this mean we are heading for a bigger tax fall next year. |
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massdee
Moderator
5299 Posts |
Posted - 04/24/2007 : 07:43:11 AM
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Everett audit finds $5m in violations
'Public was taken,' city's mayor says
By Katheleen Conti, Globe Staff | April 24, 2007
EVERETT -- An independent audit of city departments released to the public last night revealed wide-ranging purchasing violations totaling $5 million, specifically involving three Everett companies contracted for multiple projects.
The findings had earlier prompted Mayor John Hanlon to fire the purchasing agent, John Garron; the director of the City Services department, Al Borgonzi; and the supervisor of the water office, Glen Garbati.
Hanlon said he issued indefinite suspensions without pay to five other city employees whose actions resulted in oversights that led to procurement violations.
"Real money is gone, oversight was missing, and the public was taken," Hanlon said last night at a special joint meeting of the Everett's Board of Aldermen and Common Council.
Melanson Heath & Co. performed the audit at the request of the state inspector general's office, which had been contacted by Hanlon's administration last year over inconsistencies in invoices of certain contractors dating back 6 1/2 years.
In their review of contracts, Melanson Heath executives said, "The lack of bid documentation available for inspection is alarming."
According to the audit, the three contractors that have done some work for the city that Everett officials cannot corroborate are J. Marchese & Sons Inc., GTA Landscaping Inc., and Everett Supply Co. Everett officials could not locate bid documents for "nearly all" of the J. Marchese awards, including the Everett Square beautification project costing more than $100,000; more than $200,000 for the reconstruction of sidewalks; and Mt. Washington St. improvements in excess of $300,000.
Last summer, the city's new chief procurement officer, Joseph P. Pedulla, became concerned with the volume of business the city did with Everett Supply without contracts or bids, the audit stated. When he refused to approve purchase orders related to Everett Supply, he became aware they were being approved by another employee, Bevely Dorman, the city's internal auditor. Dorman was one of the five suspended.
Results of the audit came three years after an investigation by the attorney general's and inspector general's offices of the Everett School Department found that 63 contracts, worth more than $552,000, had been obtained through a bid-rigging scheme.
The state inspector general's office, US attorney's office, and other authorities are also investigating.
© Copyright 2007 Globe Newspaper Company.
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Edited by - massdee on 04/24/2007 07:44:36 AM |
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michael
Senior Member
195 Posts |
Posted - 04/26/2007 : 06:47:11 AM
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EVERETT
Firms were favored, city audit finds
By Katheleen Conti, Globe Staff | April 26, 2007
Everett Mayor John Hanlon's announcement that an audit found three local companies were favored over others for city business has elicited mixed reaction from some who commend the mayor for keeping residents informed, and from others who question the credibility of the findings.
Hanlon read the results of the $60,000, six-month audit at a joint meeting of the Board of Aldermen and Common Council on Monday. The mayor said that over a period of 6 1/2 years the three companies were paid more than $5 million by the city for work that cannot be supported by records. The City Council will have a chance to question the findings next Monday, during a public hearing at City Hall.
As a result of the Melanson Heath & Co. findings, Hanlon said, he fired purchasing agent John Garron last year. City Services director Al Borgonzi was fired two weeks ago, and water and sewer supervisor Glen Garbati was fired Monday. Also on Monday, Hanlon suspended five employees indefinitely without pay.
Garron's attorney, John Tocci, said Garron was fired for reasons that had nothing to do with the audit and that he is now suing Hanlon under whistle-blowing laws.
Hanlon said the investigation is continuing, adding that he does not know if city employees stole money, but that "they certainly misdirected the money." Criminal charges against the employees are possible, Hanlon said.
According to the audit, the three vendors that were favored are J. Marchese & Sons Inc., GTA Landscaping Inc., and Everett Supply and True Value Hardware. The audit says the city was billed for undocumented overtime, was double-billed for work, and that it awarded jobs to these companies without proof of contracts.
Greg Antonelli, owner of GTA Landscaping, said he was never contacted by Hanlon or Melanson Heath executives regarding the audit, which he said he first heard about when Hanlon announced the results Monday night. Antonelli said he reviewed the audit Tuesday with his attorney, "and there isn't a single allegation that relates to conduct by myself or by my company."
"I resent being dragged into this for political purposes when there are no allegations against me," said Antonelli, whose company has been doing business with the city for seven years. "All the audit report says is that there are deficiencies at City Hall. John Hanlon's whole term as mayor has been based on this audit, which has cost taxpayers $60,000."
Alfred J. Lattanzi, owner of Everett Supply, said he is confused about why he is being lumped with companies that bid for major contracts. His hardware store does not do contracted work, so it has never bid on city work in the 46 years Everett has been doing business with the store, Lattanzi said.
"All we do is sell supplies, hardware supplies," Lattanzi said, adding that for years city workers have come in to purchase items such as a gallon of paint or a paint brush. "I don't bid. All my business is off the street."
From July 2003 through December 2006, the city paid Everett Supply $153,159 for supplies that did not go out to bid, according to the audit. While Melanson Heath said bids were not required by law, the report states that "We question the soundness of this business practice."
"The audit speaks for itself," Lattanzi said. "What they bought from me, it was small enough not to go to bid."
Joseph Pedulla, the city's chief procurement officer, said the city was doing "excessive and expensive" business with Everett Supply, and that, upon noticing, he took advantage of state contracts for other hardware suppliers with lower prices, which the city is using now. He estimated that the city is saving 20 to 50 percent in supplies. Pedulla declined to comment on whether Everett Supply did anything illegal, but added that the company has only been asked for price quotes and has never been involved in bids.
Calls to John Marchese of J. Marchese & Sons were not returned.
The audit states that Everett officials could not locate bid documents for "nearly all" of the J. Marchese awards, including three projects totaling $600,000. The audit also found instances of erroneous billing that were consistent with prior years.
Alderman Robert J. Van Campen said many "rank and file" residents called him Tuesday morning to praise the audit. "The residents view this as a sign of honesty on the part of the administration," he said. "They think that by uncovering this type of stuff, this is what good government is -- identifying deficiencies in government and fixing them."
Van Campen said the findings were "clearly disturbing," and that, combined with the School Department audit that uncovered a bid-rigging scheme three years ago, it "highlights the systemic problems that we have in the city."
Common Councilor Catherine Tomassi Hicks said that after reading the audit, "I'm looking for parts of the puzzle that are not here," particularly the roles that the fired and suspended city employees played.
"This cost $60,000. Is anybody going to jail for it? Is anybody going to pay back what they owe the city?" Tomassi Hicks asked. "I expected more from that audit."
In an interview, Hanlon denied that the release of the audit is to benefit his reelection campaign. "The city as a person has been sick and I'm trying to cure it. The city has a cancer and we're trying to scrape down all that junk," he said. "Wouldn't it be nice if I were to say to you six months down the road that there is nothing wrong with the city? That's my goal."
I KINDA FIND THIS INTERESTING SINCE THE ELECT OFFICALS ARE NOW COMMENTING ON THIS |
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THE DJ
Member
24 Posts |
Posted - 04/26/2007 : 8:20:26 PM
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| Well i think there is a city school sup. down off Fuller St. that belongs in this mess and needs to be scraped down with all the crap he stole from the school dept. Also using school/city employees to work on his house off Fuller St. in Everett. Seems to me the tax payers own a piece of Freddy's house. Again I state Freddy and Hanlon are both ass swabs and need to be driven form their jobs. Pure and simple I can't stand both and hope Hanlon will not be our continuing mayor and Fred the thief will somehow be booted. |
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EverettsPride
Advanced Member
1140 Posts |
Posted - 04/26/2007 : 11:19:42 PM
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Wishful thinking but it will never happen.
Sally |
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arthur
Senior Member
212 Posts |
Posted - 05/03/2007 : 06:16:48 AM
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EVERETT
Council decries $60k audit
Members say they were deceived
By Katheleen Conti, Globe Staff | May 3, 2007
Some Everett city councilors said at a meeting Monday night that they were deceived by the administration into approving $60,000 for an audit that identified potential contract and bidding violations by the city in dealings with three local vendors, and that they were disappointed with the audit's narrow scope.
The Melanson Heath & Co. audit released last week found various instances of poor record keeping over the past six years by the city involving contracts awarded to vendors J. Marchese & Sons Inc. and GTA Landscaping. The audit also faulted the city for doing more than $153,000 in business with Everett Supply and True Value Hardware in about four years without seeking out lower-priced alternatives. In his presentation to the Board of Aldermen and Common Council last week, Mayor John Hanlon said the three "favored" vendors were paid over $5 million by the city for work -- some of which cannot be corroborated by records.
John Sullivan of Melanson Heath told the council the $5 million figure was not theirs and, standing next to Hanlon, said he did not agree with the mayor's statement. Hanlon told the council the figure is based on calculations using canceled checks issued to the three companies. He promised to get that information to the council. The audit findings have been turned over to the state inspector general's office for further investigation.
Lawyers for J. Marchese and GTA said at Monday's meeting that their respective clients have the contract records that auditors stated they could not locate at City Hall. They also asked for an apology from the city.
The audit stated that the city "was unable to locate bid documents for nearly all of the J. Marchese & Sons awards," and contracts for several of the awards, three of them totaling $600,000. J. Marchese attorney Jeffrey Rosario Turco called the audit's conclusions "outrageously inaccurate" and said they leave "the impression that J. Marchese is somehow responsible for the city's failure to comply with state law.
The audit stated that the city awarded GTA a $34,000 landscaping contract in 2003, but that the city could not prove the bid request was sent to other vendors. It further stated that GTA was not on the state bid list, and that GTA did not perform all of the work outlined in a $139,500 contract to rehabilitate Lynde Playfield. GTA attorney Robert Bell called the audit "fatally flawed" and provided the council a packet containing photocopies of the landscaping and playfield contract communications, and a document stating that the company is on the state bid list. The council voted unanimously to have Melanson Heath review the companies' packets.
Alderman Carlo DeMaria said he initially voted against the audit, "because I was told by outside people it was targeting vendors," but that he changed his mind after Hanlon told him it was an audit on city departments.
"To me, I was lied to by the mayor," DeMaria said. Because the audit points out the city is in violation of Massachusetts general law for failing to retain documentation, DeMaria said, "It's the city's problem . . . . We publicly embarrassed a lot of people. We can't take that back."
Other councilors, including alderman and state Representative Stephen Smith, said they were told by the administration that $60,000 was needed for the forensic audit, which would include inspecting confiscated computer hard drives, as well as an investigation into the School Building Commission and a reported $3 million in unaccounted expenses pertaining to three school building projects. Sullivan told the council that the city's contract with Melanson Heath is for $45,000, $41,000 of which has already been billed, and the rest which will go toward an upcoming investigation of the commission. He stated that his firm is not reviewing the hard drives.
In an interview, Budget Director Janice Vetrano said the $60,000 was an estimate and that unused money will go back to the general fund.
Hanlon, who showed up at the meeting about three hours late, after attending a wake and another unrelated meeting, said the hard drives have been turned over to law enforcement agencies. Hanlon said criminal charges are possible for terminated and suspended employees. Although five were suspended last week indefinitely without pay, Hanlon said two of them, who are union members, have since had their pay reinstated retroactively and have upcoming union hearings.
Hanlon agreed that the release of the audit gave the city a black eye, but expressed frustration at the criticism, saying that ongoing investigations prevent him from answering all the council's questions.
"I didn't deceive them. They can say whatever they feel they're saying, they just want to turn it around to make it seem we did something wrong," Hanlon said. "They weren't lied to, they just didn't understand what I said."
Board of Aldermen president Joseph McGonagle, who is running against Hanlon for mayor, expressed concern over litigation against the city as a result of the audit. "I hope this $60,000 does not cost millions to the city."
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Citizen Kane
Advanced Member
1082 Posts |
Posted - 05/03/2007 : 06:59:13 AM
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Thanks for posting this, arthur.
" . . . they just didn't understand what I said"? Sounds like the new version of "if I can't understand it, the average person isn't going to understand it." Hanlon must really think we're stupid. This guy needs to get a clue. |
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