Ken
O’Brien
The successor to School Committee member Brent
Abrahamson’s seat on the School Committee will be appointed by a joint meeting of the Town Council and
the School Committee.
According to the Town Charter:
SECTION 2 - VACANCIES
3-2-1: Vacancies in the elected town boards
established under this charter shall be filled by the town council in joint
convention with the remaining members of the respective board within sixty days
unless a regular town election shall occur within one hundred and twenty days,
but only until the next town election.
However in a letter to acting Town Manager Kevin
Paicos, Town Clerk Madaline Bonadies noted that, since ballots had already been
printed and some absentee ballots had already been returned, it would be too
late to make any change in the current election schedule. As a result, the replacement
would be chosen by a joint meeting of the two boards. The person selected would hold
office until the next regularly scheduled election in June of 2016.
This opinion was confirmed by the Elections Division
of the Secretary of State’s office.
The state figured this out before the end of the lunch hour?
ReplyDeleteWhy can't they print the accurate ballot, throw out the obsolete absentee ballots, resend them out, and count the votes?
The Charter does not say that is we don't feel like counting votes, we met the bullyocricy decide.
So, blame the Clerk's Office for him dropping out? Sure, they could spend another $8,000 of taxpayer money, spend hours redoing their work, hope that absentee ballot casters can be reached again, just to prove your point. And as far as the ballot being accurate, well, it was accurate until 7 p.m. last night when BA retired or resigned, or whatever. Don't blame the Clerk because the Board Member quit!
ReplyDeleteI'm not blaming the Clerk for Abrahamson resigning- I am blaming the Council- specifically the finger of a single Councilor, the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back after to " Vote of no confidence", which was more insulting and just as inappropriate. How many people have Bachelors degrees on that Council? Three out of the nine? THEY are going to fix our schools? THEY have it All together on that side of the town?
ReplyDeleteIt would NOT cost $8000 to print a ballot for a hand counted election.
And it is better to elect a SC member than allow the Council to Vote on the subject. They have few if any qualifications. The Chair has been a full time teacher for how many years? This is his first year as a regular.
The way I read the Charter, we need an election on this, not a special election.
Brent read the Charter the same way. We forgot that in Southbridge, the Charter is just a general guideline, not the rule of law. Going by the rules is too inconvenient.
Who is going go be the School Scapegoat next year? Remember, the teachers are never the problem.
Oh really? The way I read the Charter there is to be a special joint meeting of the TC and the SC, and nominations will be made and a vote will be cast for a replacement School Committee member, with the majority v ote getter being the replacement for Mr. Abrahamson. It really doesn't matter what makes sense, for instance, choosing the top three vote getters in the upcoming election. Doesn't matter what you think makes sense. It's in the Charter, and I'll bet the State AG's office agrees with it.
ReplyDeleteI think your problem is that you think you know who the joint TC;SC is going to pick, and the upcoming majority terrifies you.....
I'd only be terrified if I was a student or the parent of a student. I see no reason to expect the school to change because we have the same teachers. Changing the SC or the Superintendent will do little if anything for that school.
DeletePeeps, we ARE within 120 days of the election. The host of this website has the Charter wording listed. Why are you ignoring the call for an ELECTION. It says NOTHIING about putting off an election if the fallible machines can't be prepared in time due to the machines limitations.The Charter does not require us to use those less accurate machines if they can not do the job this year, use paper ballots and c o u n t !