Melisa Avila of Pardon Hill Road has taken out nomination papers for the Select Board seat now held by Nat Dias. Ms. Dias has announced she will not seek re-election. If the two candidates return the nomination papers, the race will be between David Gonsalves and Ms Avila. I don't know either Ms. Avila or Mr. Gonsalves or what their positions are on matters affecting the town.
No challenger has yet asked for nomination papers for the other Select Board seat held by Joe Michaud. Mr Michaud is running ...
... for re-election and has also announced his intention to run for the state House seat held by John Quinn in November. Mr. Quinn is relinquishing his long held seat to run for Bristol County Sheriff.
I am surprised at the apparent lack of interest in the Select Board races given the amount of sturm and drang that some issues have generated over that past couple of years.
What are your thoughts? Why are there so few candidates?
Friday, February 5, 2010
Another candidate pulls Select Board nomination papers
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32 comments:
It's good to see another candidate. Now where is Frank Gracie?
What's this I hear about someone from the election commission running for political office? Is this illegal or just a giant conflict of interest? How could someone on the election commission even consider running for office? Disgusting.
I think a lot of people would vote for Frank. He got a real raw deal the last time. Definitely would contribute more than Professor Irwin Corey Watson and Emily Latella Stone.
Dartmouth police union shoots self in the foot. Yup, not too many years ago when Kenny Vincent and company were controlling the select board, the Dartmouth police brotherhood union encouraged the selectmen and town meeting members to remove the chief position from under the protective rules of civil service. Now, after such a long time and two in house chiefs later, the police union is crying foul. The union leaders, at the time, where self serving.
Now, we have a new select board membership and they are doing the peoples work. I for one am pleased that the select board members hiring from outside the department. I hope this new chief will seek out the self interest insiders, and put a stop to the free loading.
In the area of consolidating. A one fleet line cost for police cars. Have all town/city police departments within a 25 mile radious place one order for all police cars, for all cities/towns. Have a one central location city/town for police maintenance,for police cars no longer under warranty. Other none warranty items such as tires, parts, batteries, and repairing fender benders.
Also, police dispatching services could be an example of money savings to several if not all cities/towns. All dispatch services should be under the control of the county sheriff department. This is another means of saving monies. This should be a good question for John Quinn. Personally, I'm surprised that our select board and county sheriff have not been in touch with each othet or come up with a plan.
For a while there was much interest in consolidation, privatization, and regionalization, but lately nothing has been mentioned. It would seem that since the Select Board was so gung-ho about it, especially Mr. Michaud with the ear of the sheriff's office, you would think more would have been done. I know that there has been some assistance from the sheriff's office with inmate help, but there have been conferences with other communities regarding CPR and it doesn't seem like much has taken place, but a lot of talking and agreeing that something must be done.
I also thought that last summer the Town Hall was going to have interns to help. Did that ever happen?
Why do all these good ideas never come to fruition, or any major fruition anyway?
Frank's raw deal last time.... he came in a distant third ??? I wonder where you're coming from.
All dispatch services should be under the control of the county sheriff department. This is another means of saving monies.
When you try to place an emergency call for Mom or Dad having a heart attack and cannot get through because there was just a shooting in New Bedford I am sure you will wish Dartmouth had dedicated dispatchers.
to 7:52
it's called lip service and politics. Joe Michaud is awesome at that.
To 9:00
The reason Frank got a raw deal was because the override group pushed Ms. Stone in and Mr. Watson got a big push from them and some of the supporters of the previous SB. The election was not based upon qualifications, it was based upon agendas. Does that clarify it for you?
Maybe its your agenda that got pushed aside. Did you ever consider that?
I didn't vote for Frank Gracie last time, only because I thought Mr. Watson was a little better. I'd like to see Frank run now. I'd vote for him.
It is obvious that if people want a candidate who is fiscally responsible, then they must get out and vote. Unless you get an extremely high turnout, you will always end up with results like Stone and Watson. Make no mistake about it, these two want to raise your taxes regardless of the fact that they both campaigned using the "fiscal responsibility" slogan. These two are why the word politician becomes synonamous with the word liar. I would love to be a fly on the wall taping those executive sessions when contract negotiations are discussed.
Unless there is a huge voter turnout, you will always end up with people like Stone and Watson. Make no mistake about it, these two want to raise your taxes regardless of the fact that they both ran on the "fiscal responsibility" slogan. They are good examples of why the word politician becomes synomamous with the word liar. I would love to be a fly on the wall during those executive sessions when contract negotiations are discussed. Will the tapes of those sessios be made public once the contracts are signed?
7:35, you are absolutely right about that. All talk and no action, it seems. It's been three years now. Where's there any improvement in our services and savings? Precious little. The "savings" we've got have been given over to parents and those few among the many in the community that like the beach. That in no way exemplifies giving back to the community, just in case Mr. Watson is reading this.
The argument that CPR is tough to implement is that towns don't like to relinquish control. It's an overused argument at this point. With all the "intelligent" minds working on the issue in our and other towns, by now you would think there would be SOMEBODY that could get something of major structural importance implemented, not something that is a one-time use or as needed, like inmates painting.
Maybe there would be one man or WOMAN strong enough to put his or her ego aside for the better of all our communities, including his or her own, and DO SOME WORK here, to see CPR gets implemented. Talk makes for good sound bites and good PR when you get quoted and see your name in the paper. And there's been a LOT of that going around lately. Our own Mr. Michaud, Mr. Trimble, Ms. Stone, and Mr. Watson have NO trouble making sure their names get in the newspaper any time they can. And it all looks so good. They are doing something for the community of Dartmouth!! Not.
The potential for CPR sounded promising the first few times we heard about it, especially when area town leaders got together, what, three times, to brainstorm.
Isn't three times the lucky number? What resulted from these conferences? Lots of handshakes, pats on the back for being so progressive and concerned for our communities. Networking, I'm sure. And everyone agreeing that CPR was essential and no one willing to let go of some control over his or her kingdom to do some good for the serfs.
Mr. Watson got lots of support from the teachers' union, too, don't forget.
And there was lots of $$$$ behind Watson and Stone, I'm sure. That's key to visibility.
If you don't like either of their leadership styles or what they have (or have not) accomplished in their year on the Board, don't forget the people and money backing they have in the community. Both speak loudly in terms of making oneself known.
A lot of the people who backed Miller, Dias, Carney and McLean-Horan (and their predecessors) switched to Stone and Watson. Why? Very simple, they knew the voters finally got wise to the good old boy network that did the lifetime contracts and spent the town to the verge of bankruptcy. So much so that the incumbents could not get re-elected. And they knew it. Taking care of the unions and their buddies got way too obvious. So now you got Stone and Watson laying low till they see the chance to do overrides and other big town employee spending. And, yes, they got plenty of money and union support behind them. If the economy was better, they would be into everyone's wallet so fast your head would spin.
YAWN........
Hey blowhards, there's still time to take out papers to run for selectboard. Of course you'd have to tear yourselves away from the keyboard bitchfest and atually do something. What are the chances of that happening?
Zero and none.
12:28, it won't be too long before they get in our wallets anyway, economy or not.
A one fleet line cost for police cars. Have all town/city police departments within a 25 mile radious place one order for all police cars, for all cities/towns.
This is already being done!!!! [ old uninformed one] its called a county bid!!! Dartmouth purchases their cars from a dealership in Worchester. [Worchester County] Same place the Mass State Police, Mass Highway buy trucks, New Hampshire State Police, Connecticut state police, And ever other local PD in the area, why because nobody can beat their pricing, and warranty service. Look it up the place is call MHQ [ Municipal Headquarters] The have more mechanics than Dartmouth has cops, place can change a cruiser engine is less than a day, and out a cruiser back on line. That is one of the reasons Dartmouth deals with them, great service at the best price.
As far as the monthly maintenance Dartmouth prices that out as well. Good year always beats everbodies prices. Lets not re-invent the wheel here people.
c'mon anon 4:07 - these internet whners care not for facts. They like intrigue and invention, lies and distortions. Oh and the anonymity a computer keyboard provides.
They'll never stand up and be counted. the only way to identify them is to break out the dictionary and look up the word 'blowhard'
I'm hearing that someone is reconsidering one race to take out papers for another. Just a rumor right now.
To 8:48
let me guess, you are one of the card carrying punks that line the back wall everytime a union contract comes up.
Override in the making, possibly???
Am I the only one who finds it ironic that an anonymous commenter blasts those who won't stand up and be counted.
Is it ironic that a bunch of Social Security and /or Medicare recipients are all fired up about socialism, socialized medicine and government spending? Keep your government hands off my Social Security and Medicare?
Is it ironic that we have American citizens arrested, held for years without trial, charges, or legal representation, have government spies listening to our phone calls and communications without warrants, and then think that regulation of health care, banks and Wall Street is unconstitutional?
Is it ironic that having invaded and occupied a country that was no threat to us, we maintain that democracies don't act that way?
Irony is dead!
Ive always found it entertaining that the anonymous poster here always has the answers but never runs for office yet critisizes those who do.
Hey Bill - it's your blog site and many times you have stated you will not require identification to log on here. So be it. You make your bed as the saying goes.....
Isn't it ironic.
I do not require those who comment to identify themselves, that is true. However to comment anonymously that others are afraid to comment with a name is ironic, don't you think?
Bill,
There are two choices when it comes to wall st.
You either have heavy regulation AND get stuck bailing them out
OR
you have minimal regulation AND let them fail.
Anger among people arises when they see that the government wants to breath down the neck of the local Mom and Pop shop with no hope of getting a bailout if that small business gets in trouble. Meanwhile GM, probably the worst run auto company in the world, gets millions to stay afloat. Let them fail. Ford was run much better and they should be the victor. If these large firms have the same consequences of running a business poorly that America's small businesses have, you can bet they would do a better job of risk assessment.
In regards to my opinion of the individual performance of some of the SB members, I reserve the right to do so. You can criticize me all you want for not running for public office. You can criticize me all you want for not putting my name on a blog post. Fine. However, I reserve the right to do so after doing various volunteer work for this community for close to 15 years. Having dealt with a wide variety of people ranging from dedicated, honest, and sincere to people who would not lift a finger to help but reserved the right to criticize those dedicated volunteers, I can surely predict which group you come from.
You can predict nada, nothing.
ANONYMOUS
I don't believe that the last person ever lifted a finger to help this town. He or she only complains.
how noble......
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