Following The O’Zone’s publication of its latest
post, Southbridge,
Does This Smell Fishy To You?, a friend asked me when the council
authorized the town manager to make these sales and who voted for it.
After reviewing the town
council minutes, I was able to find the following entry:
TOWN
COUNCIL MEETING
TOWN
OF SOUTHBRIDGE
MONDAY
May 21, 2012
AGENDA
ITEM #2- ROLL CALL: Councilors present: CLEMENCE, LANGEVIN, MARCUCCI, NIKOLLA,
REGIS, SPINELLI & VANDAL. Absent: LIVENGOOD. MCDONALD arrived at 7:05pm.
AGENDA
ITEM #24- VOTE TO AUTHORIZE THE TOWN MANAGER AND TOWN ATTORNEY TO SELL BY RFP
NINE (9) LOTS ON COMMERCIAL DRIVE, INDIVIDUALLY OR COLLECTIVELY, WITH A
TARGETED MINIMUM TOTAL SALE VALUE OF $270,000 TOWARD THE 10.79 ACRES ANR AND
THAT THE TOWN MANAGER AND TOWN ATTORNEY BE AUTHORIZED TO COMPLETE ALL NECESSARY
CLOSING TERMS TO EFFECTUATE SAID CLOSING: A motion was made by Councilor
Spinelli and seconded by Councilor Langevin.
Councilor
McDonald asked if they have current appraisals on the property. Town Manager
Clark stated it was included in the package and they did select a different
company and the effective date of the appraisal was March 28th and that‟s where
the $270,000 comes from. Town Manager Clark stated this is a brand new
appraisal.
VOTE
BY ROLL CALL. THOSE IN FAVOR: LANGEVIN, MARCUCCI, MCDONALD, NIKOLLA, REGIS,
SPINELLI, VANDAL & CLEMENCE. MOTION PASSES.
So in retrospect, all councilors present voted to
give the town manager and town attorney authority to go ahead with the sale of
these properties.
However, I find it interesting that the only
councilor who was absent was David Livengood.
Now, if I was inclined to be overly skeptical, I
might observe that such an absence would tend to exempt the ex-councilor from any
charges of a conflict of interest. Of course that would only be unfounded
speculation.
I will say that I had heard rumors that Mid
State Welding was already a prospective purchaser of some of these lots. And I
was aware of the connection between the former councilor and that company. But,
we all know how pervasive the Southbridge rumor mill is, right?
Besides, the councilors who were present raised no
such questions. Obviously, if they had heard such rumors they must have known
they were without any substance, right?
So, I’m sure that we can all rest assured that there
was nothing inappropriate in this and we can add a dollop of tartar sauce to
this dish to diminish the fishy taste as we swallow it.
RIGHT?
Back when I was on the council, there was talk that Mid State was interested in the industrial park so I'm sure people were aware this was a possibility. It would have been nice if they presented their proposal to the Council so the whole town would know what kind of deal we were getting (we do own the industial park, the town manager doesn't) but since the council never adopted any requirements for the kind of business we want up there, a presentation probably wouldn't have made a lot of difference. I don't know anything about Mid State but I hope they provide the kinds of jobs (and tax revenue)Southbridge desperately needs. If they do, hats off to councilor Livengood.
ReplyDeleteRich, come on. This was a twofer. It makes Clark look good and it must have helped DL at Mid-State or he wouldn't have done it. Let's see what Southbridge gets from the deal.
DeleteThe town sells of a piece of land in the park that was offered for sale and some complain. So what who purchase it... it was open to anyone. who had money let them build. And quite complaining. You bunch of BABIES
ReplyDelete