Archive for March, 2012
03.31.12
Posted in Tanna Kasperowicz at 1:01 PM by Tanna K
Another Cohasset contract bites the dust
Your diligent TU blogger learned Saturday AM that Mark Brennan, of the newly formed operations department at town hall was ousted last Friday. Wonder if Cohasset acting Town Manager Mike Milanoski frisked him before he escorted him to the parking lot – he loves doing that tough guy kind of stuff. I don’t blame Milanoski. He is only a minion, a willing one albeit, of your board of selectmen and their supervisors, the self-styled Environmental 20 (E-20) of the elite Cat Damn (sic) association.
Brennan did not return our phone calls so I suppose we’ll just have to show up for the selectmen’s public comment period next week and ask selectmen to give us their rendition of the dirty deed. According to my new best friend Mike Coughlin (former town manager) Brennan, our now former DPW director (correction, Operations Director), has a standard and very legal 3-year contract with the Town, and can only be fired for cause. It will be interesting to learn what the cause was. Brennan’s the guy who was going to be part of a group who would choose the water department’s concessionaire, but now of course he won’t be doing that. In any case, a legal three-year contract should be something worth suing for.
Read the rest of this entry »
Permalink
03.30.12
Posted in Tanna Kasperowicz at 1:01 PM by Tanna K
In the last 24 hours we have had a barrage of would-be commentators attempting to bridge our cyber-fence to no avail. Many of them are tinytown officials. You know them as: cohasset-townie at nottannak@gmail.com (so cute), stumpythelobster at stumpythelobster@gmail.com and a few others. They are confused when they register and discover their passwords no longer work and all they can now do is read our site, not contribute. So sad. Actually, not really so sad. People who hide behind monikers have nothing much to say. They’re just hecklers.
Read the rest of this entry »
Permalink
03.28.12
Posted in Tanna Kasperowicz at 11:42 PM by Tanna K
Left to right: William Hannon, Charles Samuelson,
Stuart Ivimey, Clark Brewer, Al Moore
They may be smiling in the photo above, but the Cohasset Planning Board is very upset with the board of selectmen. Planners are the second board in March to send a vote of NO CONFIDENCE to the selectmen, the first being the Cohasset Housing Authority.
The first order of business at planners’ 3/28 meeting was to take umbrage with the board of selectmen (BOS) for having not honored a pay raise for their planning coordinator.
Read the rest of this entry »
Permalink
03.27.12
Posted in Cohasset Water, TU Water RFP Expert at 12:45 PM by Tanna K
by the TU Water RFP Expert
(Click here to read the 10-Year Cohasset WaterRFP)
Last night sounded like a clear signal that the water commission is feeling the heat and light of public scrutiny. I wonder, did Aquarion back off – too many bright lights and too much controversy for the Cohasset deal to be worth their while under the concession RFP? Congratulations are owed to the Fourth Estate if this reading of the water commission’ statements is correct!
Next on the list will be a full going over for the one-year management contract RFP, which will probably reveal itself as a measurably less expensive route for the procurement of water system management services. However, Cohasset water watchdogs will want to be on watch to be sure that the management contract RFP is not written either as an unattractive straw man for the concession RFP or a stalking horse for a ten-year concession that it evolves into at the end of the first year, when the water watchdogs are tired and distracted.
Read the rest of this entry »
Permalink
03.26.12
Posted in Cohasset Water, Tom Wolf at 1:27 PM by Tanna K
Water RFP to be discussed Monday, March 26, 7PM
at Cohasset Middle/High School – Pond Street
The Water Commission’s proposed concession contract has nothing to do with water; water is merely the currency. It has everything to do with ‘the deal’ and consolidating power within the commission.
First, at one time it was the Water Commissioners putting together a big deal, mostly to impress their friends but also to rehabilitate the tarnished image of their failure to manage a simple operation. At the start it was a 20-year contract with a $4-5 million concession fee; now it is a 10-year contract with a $1.1 million concession fee. It’s no longer a ‘big deal’ but now it is even more important for the Commissioners to succeed; it is a small deal to save face at any price.
Read the rest of this entry »
Permalink
Posted in Dominic Galluzzo, Weymouth at 11:58 AM by Tanna K
Tearing Down Weymouth to Build Up Southfield
Comparing budgets at an annual cost and (8760 hours per year rate) by Dominic Galluzzo, Weymouth Resident
Read the rest of this entry »
Permalink
03.14.12
Posted in Tanna Kasperowicz at 2:37 PM by Tanna K
“If I had treated my staff the way Mr. Coughlin
has been treated, I wouldn’t have a staff.”
-Coral Grande
Cohasset Town Manager Mike Coughlin’s public hearing to give his side of the story on his pending termination lasted almost five hours. There were over 200 people in the high school media room, with Coughlin supporters in the majority. Selectmen will vote on whether to retain Coughlin or dismiss him next week.
Best Line of the night: Cohasset Selectman Chair Ted Carr, nearing the end of Coughlin’s “trial” by selectmen, said (wincing) that his board had received a letter that very day from the Cohasset Housing Authority who had taken a vote of
NO CONFIDENCE on the board of selectmen.
The crowd applauded wildly.
Best Attorney: Town Manager Mike Coughlin’s attorney, Doug Louison, who told selectmen up front that Coughlin would sue them personally (whistleblower suit for wrongful dismissal) if he didn’t get his job back and that the board had been high-jacked by “certain boards of this town.” The Cohasset Crowd loves Louison. Louison represented now Cohasset Deputy Police Chief Bill Quigley, who as a patrolman won his case against the town big time several years ago. It was a similar case. Quigley had been defamed by town officials, elected and appointed. A hearing quickly proved he was innocent. This hearing seemed to prove the same for Coughlin. He may not win the battle, because his judges are the selectmen, and they are prideful, arrogant and stubborn. But in just six months he won the hearts of the crowd and the community.
Read the rest of this entry »
Permalink
03.12.12
Posted in Cat Dam, Tom Wolf at 12:56 PM by Tanna K
by Tom Wolf
For decades the special interests of a select Cohasset group have been covertly served by a succession of elected and appointed officials. These interests include Sandy Cove, Treats Pond and Cat Dam to name a few. It seemed like a good deal for everyone; most citizens either didn’t know what was going on or accepted the trade off.
Read the rest of this entry »
Permalink
03.11.12
Posted in Cohasset Water, TU Water RFP Expert at 4:37 PM by Tanna K
This comes from a mid – 2000s tanPublic Citizen document. I know a little of the inside ball on Atlanta, as I have worked for years with a consulting engineer down south who was fired for saying critical things about the United Water proposal and pointing out that rates for water would have to go way up in order to make the deal work. I also know and have worked with one of the main attorneys for Atlanta, who took a pass on working on this particular project, as did several piping and equipment contractors whom we know. A good choice on their part. What Public Citizen knew when it published this item was just the stuff on the surface, but it has just enough twists and turns to be interesting and reveals enough to be instructive.
Read the rest of this entry »
Permalink
Posted in Uncategorized at 12:34 PM by Tanna K
This is the contract that was issued March 27, 2012 and on which our water expert is making comments. Cohasset WaterRFP
Read the rest of this entry »
Permalink
« Previous entries
