Down with the propaganda machine!

On Tuesday, Fall River City Corporate Counselor, Steve Torres, opted to send a last minute letter to the City Council rather than appearing before the Council, as planned, to discuss the formation of a non-profit cable board. Not a politically smart move on his part because I am sure it caused added friction to the already tense relationship between the Council and the Mayor's office. But it gets worse.....

Torres' letter to the Council quickly said that he researched the issue and that there is no legal authority to form such a board. Thereby, completely dismissing the Council's desires to form such a board and more importantly, the demands of the citizens to form such a board.

Then on WSAR, Torres defended his decision not make his scheduled appearance by again saying that he had researched the formation of a non-profit board for cable television, it can't be done, there was really nothing to discuss, and that the letter was sufficient.

My question to Torres is: How well did you research this subject Steve Torres, Attorney, bound by ethical cannons, subject to sanctions for malpractice? Did you willfully withhold relevant information from the Council? Did you give bad legal counsel?

I ask because on June 28, 2006, as the Corporation Counsel for Taunton, you formed a non-profit corporation for Taunton, nearly identical to the one being requested by the City Council and the people of Fall River. You even cited the laws that support such a non-profit cable board.

or click here to view http://fliiby.com/file/946927/qfhhv5fuek.html

I know you will attempt to rebut by trying to say that Fall River's "FRG" channel is government only so it is different than Taunton - but the money all comes from the same Comcast money - the money that the non-profit cable board of Taunton controls.

Our operating budget is made possible through an agreement between the City of Taunton and Comcast, providing us with 2% of their net cable revenues. This corporation is overseen by a five member Board of Directors, which is responsible for setting studio policy, and the overall finances of T.C.A.M.

Our Executive Director is in charge of the day to day operation of our studio, and determines our programming schedule, the use of our studio and equipment, and all other issues relating to the programs you view on T.C.A.M.

http://www.tcamtv.com/

Moonlighting

In February of this year, Attorney Steven A. Torres, sat before the Fall River City Council and defended his recently signed contract, for his position as the city's corporate counsel. The city councilors questioned the fact that Torres was making more money than any previous corporate counsel for Fall River. Torres and Mayor Flanagan justified the $115,000 salary by asserting that the pay reflected the fact Torres would be eliminating his private practice to focus on Fall River full time. (note: At that time, I couldn't find any information supporting the claim that Atty Torres even had a private practice and the MA board of bar overseers website indicated Torres did not carry any attorney malpractice insurance because he was a government employee.)

Consider the fact that Torres justified his increased salary with the notion that he was losing money by giving up his private practice. Then imagine my surprise when I read an article out of Wareham recently which evidenced the fact that, 10 months into his contract with Fall River, Torres was still working side jobs:

"A report on the forensic audit of town computers, which has been in progress for nearly a year and a half, is once again delayed. Town Administrator Mark Andrews and the Board of Selectmen had been told that special counsel, the Law Offices of Steven A. Torres, would be prepared to present the results of the audit on Sept. 28 or October 5."

Pretty sneaky of Torres and Flanagan considering the fact that the City Council approved Torres' increased salary based on the premise that Torres was eliminating his private practice to, presumably, focus all of his efforts on the matters of Fall River. This is clearly not the case.

I think Torres is already overextended in his capacities as co-mayor of Fall River. I kid, I kid........... However, there have been many occasions where I have read in the Herald News, or heard at city council meetings that Corporation Counsel hadn't completed some task requested of them. Also, Torres went before the city council to get approval for another $45,000 budgeted so he could hire another attorney for the office - I certainly hope the addition of a new attorney wasn't to free up time for Torres to moonlight

Recalling Brian Bigelow

I think Brian Bigelow should resign from his elected position on the Fall River City Council. I was hoping he would come to this decision on his own, but that is alot to expect from someone whose decision making skills are so lacking that soliciting a hooker, for a $20 blow job, seemed like a good idea.

I have heard several people supporting Bigelow, and even defending his crime by saying it is a minor crime, a victimless crime, there are worse crimes to worry about, this crime should be decriminalized, etc. I cannot agree with those arguments. Bigelow committed a crime. He attempted to fund a criminal activity that operates in the shadows of our neighborhoods.... A criminal activity that funds the purchase of illegal drugs and makes drug dealers rich in our community. It is particularly inexcusable for an elected official who is charged with bettering our city.

In my opinion, Brian Bigelow was never an effective councilor to begin with; starting at that low point, he has only gotten worse. In the past week Bigelow missed the Arts United meeting, which he is supposed to attend in his role as City Council arts liason. He then missed last night's finance committee meeting. In the meetings he has attended since his arrest and subsequent plea to the crime, he only gave input one time.

As a reminder, Bigelow voted against allowing strip clubs in Fall River because of the harm he alleged they would do to our neighborhoods. What kind of hypocrite liar votes against allowing partially nude people in completely private facilities yet contributes to public nakedness, and publicly visible oral sex for money?

In light of everything I just said, and as a disgruntled voter in Fall River, I am demanding Brian Bigelow's resignation from the city council. I have a strong group of voters supporting me on this demand. If Bigelow does not resign by this time next week, we will begin the recall process whereby he can be ousted from office.

Who's with us?!

Brian Bigelow Explains

Brian Bigelow gets a hooker part 1

Deuce Bigelow against strip clubs in the neighborhoods

Councilor Brian Bigelow, saying he grew up in that neighborhood, showed his opposition to a neighborhood strip club in a dramatic way. “Put LNG (the proposed liquefied natural gas terminal) in the middle of the ocean, put in a pole with a strip club on top of it, and blow it up.”

“I would not want a strip club in any neighborhood,” Bigelow said to cheers.
Click here for article

But its ok to buy a hooker in someone elses neighborhood?

RESIGN NOW DEUCE. If you do not, your scrutiny in the public eye will only get worse.

Where was the Fuss on Kuss?

Recently, an arbitrator determined that the City of Fall River is required to pay an additional $2.15 million in damages regarding the eminent domain taking involved to construct the new Matthew Kuss middle school. According to the Herald News, several city councilors expressed surprise and concern over the $2.15 million liability.

“I didn’t know it was in arbitration,” Councilor Linda M. Pereira said. “I have a lot of questions about that.” Questioning the law department, Pereira said, “The council was not privy to Kuss, and I think that needs to be changed.”

“I didn’t know about the lawsuit until Adam Chapdelaine told me on Wednesday,” Councilor Leo O. Pelletier said.

When the concession stand was debated over several meetings recently, Pelletier said, “At no time did I know they wanted more money. We didn’t know we had all that extra money.

Now, anyone who has watched a City Council meeting knows that legal claims against the City of Fall River are listed on the agenda, and the standard practice is to expeditiously refer the legal claims to Corporation Counsel. Therefore, if legal claims against the City are listed in the agendas for City Council meetings, how can City Council members now claim that they didn’t know about the lawsuit? Are the City Councilors indicating that this lawsuit somehow never made it to their City Council agendas?

Another important point concerns the responsibility of the City Council to periodically request that the Corporation Counsel update them on the progress of all litigation against the City. Massachusetts law specifically provides the opportunity for the City Council to hold a meeting in executive session “to discuss strategy with respect to . . . litigation if an open meeting may have a detrimental effect on the . . . litigating position of the governmental body . . .” Yet, the City Councilors were left in the dark because they don’t request periodic reports on the status of litigation.

I suppose if the City Council never bothers to ask any questions or request updates that they then have the perfect opportunity to feign ignorance.

Herald News Endorsements

While I was very pleased to see the Herald News endorse 7 newcomers for the city council, I was incredibly annoyed that they chose to endorse Marilyn Roderick for School Committee but not Joe Martins...Marilyn is terrible.

City Council Endorsements:

Kris Bartley
Don Berube
Michael Canuel
Dave Dennis
Brian Dias
Mike Miozza
Eric Poulin

and recycled candidates, Brad Kilby and Ray Mitchell

Get rid of health insurance for part time employees

In a perfect world everyone would get free health insurance. Fall River is far from perfect and we cannot afford health insurance for part time employees, more specifically, the city council. When the city is currently cutting the health care (AND DENTAL!) benefits of full time employees, how (and why) can we continue to pay for part timers' insurance? The city spent approximately $25,000 this year on health care for the councilors take advantage of the benefit. While I know it isn't the absolute solution to the city's financial woes, it would help.

I have wanted, for quite some time, to get rid of health benefits for part time city employees. The fatal flaw, in my wish to get rid of health insurance for the part time city council, is that the part time city council would have to propose and/or vote on their benefits being taken away, and I can't see them ever agreeing to that.

I was quite pleased to read a press release from city council candidate, Eric Poulin, yesterday that articulated his desire to save money by getting rid of health insurance for city councilors. I hope some other candidates agree with this idea.

Government transparency

At the April 15, 2009 City Council meeting, I was very excited to hear a proposal by Councilor Steve Camara that would require the posting of schedules, agendas, and minutes, on the city website for ALL open meetings of Fall River governmental bodies (full text at the bottom). Almost every surrounding town offers this notice to their residents. What is our government afraid of? After Steve Camara's proposal was read, there was an awkward silence. Not one councilor moved to accept the resolution. It went a little something like this -



It is UNACCEPTABLE that Fall River does not offer this information online. Some councilors indicated they are waiting for Mayor Correia's magic new website, that has been under construction for way too long, to provide information on minutes, agendas, and notice of meetings. Do they seriously expect Bob Correia to create or allow a website that offers governmental transparency?

This information NEEDS to be online! And it can be done with minimal effort from the people we are paying at city hall.

A RESOLUTION PROMOTING OPEN GOVERNMENT THROUGH THE REQUISITE POSTING, ON THE CITY WEBSITE, OF ALL SCHEDULES, AGENDAS, AND MINUTES, OF ALL FALL RIVER GOVERNMENTAL BODIES’ MEETINGS, SUBJECT TO OPEN MEETING LAW, M.G.L. c.30A s.11A ½

WHEREAS the residents of Fall River and others should be able to obtain important information about local government via the internet; and

WHEREAS a growing number of Massachusetts municipalities have made it easy for their citizens to obtain access to key government records online. This simple and inexpensive action opens local government to more people and greatly improves their ability to be responsible, informed citizens; and

RECOGNIZING the purpose of the state Open Meeting Law is to eliminate much of the secrecy surrounding the deliberations and decisions on which public policy is based and that the democratic process depends on the public having knowledge about the considerations underlying governmental action, for without that knowledge, people are not able to judge the merits of actions taken by their representatives;

NOW THEREFORE, it is hereby RESOLVED by the Fall River City Council as follows:

1.) The Office of the Fall River City Clerk shall post all schedules and agendas of all Fall River governmental bodies’ meetings, subject to Massachusetts Open Meeting Law on the City website, no less than 48 hours in advance of the meetings; and

2.) The Office of the Fall River City Clerk shall post the minutes of all Fall River governmental bodies’ meetings, subject to Massachusetts Open Meeting Law on the City website no later than 72 hours after all said meetings.

Happy kickoff Eric

Vintage video of Al Alves endorsing Eric Poulin in the last mayoral election.

Last Meeting as City Council President?

The City Council will conclude the 2008 year at their meeting tomorrow (Tuesday, Dec. 23). 2008 was a notable year for the City Council. In a mere 365 days, they (with a few exceptions) managed to alienate thousands of voters; despite the opposition of more voters than most of them received votes last election, they opted to change the fire chief from a civil service position to a contract position, they approved a ridiculous stormwater "fee"(tax), voted to supplant the memorial of a war hero who died in a prison camp, and generally said how high when the Mayor said jump (*again with a few exceptions).....to name a few.

One of the most memorable moments of 2008 was Council President Joe Camara's infamous, last minute, Friday afternoon meeting to determine the fire chief issue, despite the fact that Councilor Steve Camara had a funeral to attend. J. Camara also, more recently, told the newspaper he was going to limit the councilor's speaking time during meetings (although he never followed through with the time limit, which probably had to do with his inability to unilaterally implement that rule on the council).

Joe Camara's inflexibility, rudeness, and desire to please the Mayor has been noted. SO - the position of Fall River City Council President is determined annually by a vote of the council members as can be seen here at Section 50 of the City Charter. Could this be Joe Camara's last meeting as president? Will his fellow councilors give him the boot in January? Who would replace Joe?

Tom Kozak's Abuse of Power

I love watching city council meetings for many reasons but at the top of that long list is watching Tom Kozak trying to stay awake for the duration. Based on his desire to nap through meetings, he clearly isn't on the Council because of his love for public service.

So why is he on the Council? Former Mayor Lambert and the Herald News seem to indicate that Kozak is on the Council to use his position to get things done to further his own self interest. Referring to Tom Kozak, Mayor Lambert in 2003 said, "I don’t think elected officials should try to use their positions to get things outside the rules, and when that fails, use their position to make threats," said Lambert.

This Herald News article from 2003 (it is actually a good article) tells the tale of Tom Kozak's attempts to muscle his request to get granite curbing installed on Langley street, shortly after he built his new McMansion there, through city hall. When Kozak was told by then director of municipal services Jim Smith that he would have to get on the request list like everyone else, Kozak began threatening Smith's job. Smith wrote that Kozak told him he "used to be able to call up and get sidewalks and other things done" when former City Administrator Robert Connors worked at City Hall prior to Smith’s arrival.

Best quote I have read this month ----

"Unfortunately this has been a pattern of behavior from Councilor Kozak," said Lambert. "I know for a fact at least two or three times when the councilor called and asked for something to be done, and when he was told it could not be done, that department head was told they would pay in appearances before the City Council. That is just not correct," he said.

Perhaps Tom didn't learn a lesson about his wrongdoing in 2003 because he started with his personal demands again in 2006. According to this 2006 Herald News article, "Instead of going through the normal procedure for getting a stop sign installed on his street, City Councilor Thomas Kozak attempted to fast-track the process Tuesday."

Can we PLEASE get him out of office? He never does very well - usually comes in 7th 8th or 9th so it wont take much.....who's with me?!



(please note the second picture in the post below this, it appears as though Kozak got his granite curbing)