Archive for May, 2012
05.29.12
Posted in Tanna Kasperowicz at 11:25 PM by Tanna K
Based on what we heard at the Selectmen’s meeting tonight (held at Our World Children’s Museum) Acting Town Manager Mike Milanoski should also be suspended with pay.
Last Friday Milanoski suspended Police Chief Mark DeLuca with pay pending an investigation of various union complaints that he said he could not talk about last week (in a press release to all other newspapers except this one) because of the pending investigation.
However, at tonight’s meeting Milanoski threw DeLuca under the bus, saying DeLuca was being investigated for forgery, misconduct, using his position to secure personal benefits (is that the old rumor that he stole the Toys for Tots presents?) and physical abuse.
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05.25.12
Posted in Tanna Kasperowicz at 5:40 PM by Tanna K
Cohasset’s Trail of Tears is an on-going story.
The latest to be walked to the door and stripped of his keys, at the start of a busy Memorial Day Weekend for police, is Police Chief Mark DeLuca. DeLuca was placed on paid administrative leave by Acting Town Manager Mike Milanoski sometime today (Friday, May 25).
Milanoski would not forward his press release to us, but apparently he said the Cohasset Police Union is upset with the chief. Not so say people close to this issue. They say Milanoski suspended DeLuca shortly after DeLuca complained to selectmen about Milanoski’s alleged interference in police matters. Ho Ho!
It is known that Milanoski was upset with DeLuca’s speech at Annual Town Meeting saying he was against closing the station 4pm to 8am. It is said that Milanoski was holding DeLuca’s contract over his head until after ATM – where DeLuca was expected to regurgitate the party line and then didn’t.
Another very sad day in the Town of Cohasset – where the leaders and their Boy Manager continue to fumble all the balls.
One selectman down, four to go.
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05.22.12
Posted in TU Water RFP Expert at 9:44 AM by Tanna K
Cohasset has seen a lot of drama over the past 20 years or so, where its water system is concerned, culminating in a management contract/concession RFP that came nerve-wrackingly close to the edge, where the risks of unknown costs and came into play.
However, come second session of Town Meeting on Monday night, the clamor for risk and radical measures was replaced by a measured tone and well-reasoned action. The Town’s water commissioners and BOS took note of what voters and the water industry were telling them and did the right thing.
Article 32 (a grant of discretion to water commissioners to negotiate a concession or a long-term management contract with unknown terms) was pulled. The water commissioners announced that they would move forward under prior authorization with the process of selecting of one of the 2-year management proposals that came in under historical and expected prices. This choice was not only the financially savvy option but the most ethical and responsible one with respect to stewardship of the public interest.
So much for what is obvious and uncontroversial. Now comes the third rail.
We have never met, talked with or otherwise communicated with the Town’s retiring manager (Mike Coughlin) and hold no brief for or against him, but the best advice that Cohasset’s BOS and water commissioners heard at Monday’s meeting came from this gentlemen – when in doubt disclose!
Against a backdrop of decades of system failures, substandard operations and nonexistent financial controls and reporting that Cohasset leaders have been working hard and with some success to remedy, it makes no sense to follow opaque procedures when letting the Town’s next water system management contract. The final draft of the proposed contract should be published for comment on the Town’s website and allowed to circulate for a reasonable number of days before it is executed. With reliable financial records, visibly improved maintenance (i.e. regular flushing of mains, etc.) and a transparent procurement process, Cohasset can dispel suspicions that the sorry past is somehow the prologue to the future.
Restoring the integrity of the Town’s water delivery system was step one in the process of rehabilitation. Getting a functional financial reporting system in place was the second. The next step will consist of restoring confidence in governance. Transparency will be a vital part of that process. It is something that Cohasset’s volunteer leaders are well equipped to deliver.
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05.21.12
Posted in Mike Coughlin at 1:09 PM by Tanna K
by Mike Coughlin
This past Saturday the citizens of Cohasset met to practice the purest form of American democracy- the New England Town Meeting. This Monday the town will meet again to consider amongst other issues– the future of the Water Department.
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Posted in Tom Wolf at 1:00 PM by Tanna K
By Tom Wolf
I’m glad I waited a week to deliver the postmortem on May 12 Town Meeting, Part I; now it can include the autopsy report following the election.
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Posted in Tom Callahan at 11:39 AM by Callahan
Congratulations to Martha Gjesteby, and thank you for standing up to run.
I had opined the other day that this election was a referendum, and I think I was proven right. The powers that be should not misread this election. I have already heard the postulate that Ted simply didn’t get his vote out. Well, Martha can say the same thing – the nice weather and the blissful indifference I also spoke of almost won the day.
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Posted in Uncategorized at 1:00 AM by Tanna K
Cohasset Annual TM Part II in a nutshell
Newly elected Cohasset Selectman Martha Gjesteby (Yes-ta-Bee) will appear at the governing table at tonight’s town meeting. Former selectman Ted Carr was retired by voters at Town Elections last Saturday. Maybe Ted and former town manager Mike Coughlin will sit together at TM tonight. After-all, they are good friends.
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05.19.12
Posted in Tanna Kasperowicz at 11:59 PM by Tanna K
It isn’t often you get to pay back a friend, but in this last election, I got to do just that.
Years ago I had been very involved in Martha Gjesteby’s first, second and third campaigns for the BOS, but when it came to her running for her fourth term, we had a falling out about something political and I supported someone else.
We remained friends, but what I had done was always there, between us. When she sought to run for her fourth term again, this year, I got a “do-over,” a chance to help her make her fourth term on the BOS come true.
Months before Martha decided to run, she was on the warpath – looking for a selectman candidate to run against the very popular chairman of the board. She accosted people in the street, knocked on their doors, called them on the telephone. People would see her coming and lock their doors. “No, I don’t want to be selectman!” they would protest. After-all, asking someone to run for selectman is not quite like asking for a donation to the PSO.
She came very close to getting a candidate. But finally, she came to the realization she would just have to do it herself. And she did. One day she called me and told me she was running.
She added: “I will be my own campaign manager,” and she immediately sat down and started going through her list of names, old and new. This time she had her son Rolfe helping her with signs, and with some of the younger voters. Other friends came forth with advice, and encouragement. Strange as it seems, everybody on her side thought she actually might be the perfect candidate. She was an elder stateswoman, and throughout the years she had been very respected on the many boards she served.
Martha was upset over a lot of things the BOS was doing and not doing. She felt they needed some advice on running the public’s business. She thought they were uncivil.
The turn-out was very low. The school families never turned out for the other candidate. Many of Martha’s supporters were absent too. But at the end of Saturday, Martha eked out what was a 47 point win. No one was more surprised than Martha. I was sitting beside her at town hall. A few moments before the announcement, Martha said “Well, tomorrow my life will return to normal, and I will have lunch with the bowling team because none of us really bowl very well and lunch is what we really go for,” and she rambled off a few more things.
And then she won, and her face reddened, her opponent marched right over to her and wished her well, and she was sworn in. Just like that, her life had changed.
At 83 years of age she had won the hearts of many in the community who admired her spunk and her verve. They saw her waving signs at the overpasses on 3A. On election day they saw her at the polls all day until 6 p.m. when the polls closed.
She may not do her run Sunday morning, but on Monday she will do her mile and a half run down Pleasant Street and around the block and back. Her blood pressure is excellent. She is a perfect weight. This summer she will do laps at Sandy Beach.
And on Tuesday nights she will assist the BOS in running town government. And she will do it all very well because she is a very orderly person.
And the BOS could use some order.
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Posted in Uncategorized at 8:23 PM by Tanna K
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Posted in Uncategorized at 7:55 PM by Tanna K
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