Southbridge Cable License Transfer Hearing - August 7, 2014

Don’t Vote For “A Pig In A Poke”

Ken O’Brien

The expression “Don't buy a pig in a poke” is very old, but actually it can be taken quite literally and remains good advice.

The advice being given is 'don't buy a pig until you have seen it'. This is enshrined in British commercial law as 'caveat emptor' - Latin for 'let the buyer beware'. This remains the guiding principle of commerce in many countries and, in essence, supports the view that if you buy something you take responsibility to make sure it is what you intended to buy. 

Southbridge’s Axis Of Dumb

Ken O’Brien

Clichés are clichés precisely because they are true.

Hence, it comes as no surprise that back in August Salon Magazine ran an article titled “The definition of insanity” is the most overused cliché of all time.

For both of you unfamiliar with this aphorism, it goes, “the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result”.

Southbridge has got to be the poster child for this particular bromide.

It seems that the town will never learn that giving in to political expediency always comes back to bite us in our collective asses.

Featherbedding And Ignorance At Southbridge Town Hall

Ken O’Brien

Featherbedding.

To those unfamiliar with the term it gained currency in the days when trade unions defended maintaining positions that were viewed as no longer necessary by the management of passenger and freight railways operators.

The Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary defines the term as follows:

The requiring of an employer usually under a union rule or safety statute to hire more employees than are needed or to limit production.

Southbridge - Mayor Maybe? (Vote in our poll)

Ken O’Brien

With the imminent departure of Town Manager Christopher Clark I believe that it is time to resurrect a proposal that I have put forward in the past. I have been encouraged as well by several people asking me to create a poll gauging public interest in such a proposal.

The issue in question is the proposition that Southbridge switch from its current town manager/council form of government to a mayor/council format. 

Charter Change Chicanery

Ken O’Brien

Want to be taken for a ride?

Back in October, you may recall, I submitted an open meeting law complaint that resulted in the town council being required to take a formal vote on proposed amendments to the special legislation to amend the Southbridge Home Rule Charter.

At the time I expressed the view that the agenda item proposed on the October 15 town council meeting agenda was not properly formulated.

Yesterday I decided to follow up on this matter. 

Breaking News: House Adopts Durant Amendments to Southbridge Charter Amendments, Sends to Committee on Third Reading

CLICK  HERE FOR COPY OF BILL

SOUTHBRIDGE  TOWN CHARTER: The House accepted a report from the Committee on Bills in Third Reading on H 3900 relative to the town charter in Southbridge.

The House then adopted a Rep. Durant amendment, H 4039, exempting the town of Southbridge charter from attorney general approval of bylaws. The House then suspended rules, and ordered H 4039 to third reading, and engrossed it.

SOUTHBRIDGE TOWN COUNCIL: The House adopted a Rep. Durant amendment to H 4040 relative to the town council in Southbridge. The House then suspended rules to order the bill to third reading, and then engrossed the bill.

The Upcoming By-law Fiasco In Southbridge

Ken O’Brien

At the Town Council meeting of December 19, 2011, Council Chair Nikolla announced the membership  of the town’s By-law Review Committee.

This Committee is appointed in accordance with Section 12-5-3 of the Town Home Rule Charter which reads as follows:

In every year following the issuance of a report by a charter review committee, the chairperson of the town council shall appoint a by-law review committee.  The committee shall consist of five members, and shall report its recommendations to the town council within one year from the date of its appointment. 

Responses to Southbridge’s Rush Limbaugh Wannabe

Ken O’Brien

For reasons of copyright I cannot reproduce Mike Marketti’s cartoon from the Southbridge Evening News of March 14^th.

Suffice it to say that it portrayed me, Town Councilor Laurent McDonald and Dennis Martinek as the three stooges trampling his beloved and fatally flawed petition to restore Southbridge to a Town Meeting/Board of Selectmen form of government.

It also showed our town manager reveling in the dissension among those who oppose him. 

Martha Coakley Gives Oral Hex

Ken O’Brien

According to the official website of the Office of The Massachusetts Attorney General, “Attorney General Martha Coakley is the chief lawyer and law enforcement officer of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.”

In that regard, Ms. Coakley is responsible for the actions of her numerous functionaries, especially when it comes to their actions in that official capacity as the chief law enforcement officer of the Commonwealth.

This fact has become especially relevant in regard to the amendments to the Home Rule Charter of the town of Southbridge that are now pending before the Joint Committee on Municipalities and Regional Government.

People Versus The Machine In Southbridge

Ken O’Brien

On February 29 a hearing was held before the Joint Committee on Municipalities and Regional Government on H. 3900.

This bill would authorize the Town of Southbridge to place on the June ballot the changes to the town Home Rule Charter approved by the Southbridge Town Council.

At that hearing State Representative Peter Durant appeared in support of the bill.

Local Groups Prepare for Town Elections

Ken O'Brien

Well, the New Year has come and gone, and in Southbridge that can mean only one thing - the start of election season.

While town elections don't happen until June, various local groups are already preparing for the event.

There is of course the town council as a whole (or at least seven of nine) who are hoping to place their planned charter distortions on the ballot. Their nefarious ambitions were bolstered today by an email from state representative Peter Durant (R - Spencer).

Southbridge Town Council - A Year in Review

Ken O’Brien

The last year has been a tumultuous one in Southbridge politics ("So what else is new?").

The year was marked by a major power shift on the town council as a result of a special election in February to fill the unexpired term of Councilor Laurent E. McDonald who passed away in November of 2010.

The election resulted in the councilorship of Larry Spinelli, widely perceived as the candidate of the Future of Southbridge coalition.

The power shift was consolidated in the June election which returned councilor Nikolla for her third term (and re-ascension to the chair) and the election of Darlene Marcucci and David Langevin, both of whom had served on the council in previous years. All of these were similarly viewed as the candidates of the same coalition.

Now, as 2011 comes to a close, and before the inevitable emergence of a new campaign season, it seems appropriate to review and analyze what the result of this shift in power has been on Southbridge's town council.

Out-Of-Town Council Meeting Erupts

Kenneth M. O’Brien

The Southbridge town council met starting at 9:00 this morning at the Southbridge Savings Bank location on Route 20 in Sturbridge.

The meeting rapidly ran into another controversy, not unlike the numerous others that have developed in the short tenure of the current leadership.

A press release from Councilor Laurent McDonald summarizes the events as they unfolded.

Will Cart-Man Strike Back?

Kenneth M. O’Brien

Just as citizens celebrate their triumph over the Cart Monster, there are rumblings that Clickolla has plans to make that victory short-lived.

Such an administrative end run around the democratic process would be nothing new in Casellaburg.

We have Carlisle’s distortion of the Charter to create a five member Board of Health.

We have Healey’s “side letter” that altered the start date of the SRD contract as it was originally defined.

Now we have a variety of signals that there will be another avenue taken to re-animate this "Cart monster corpse".

The Charter Chupacabra

CHUPACABRA

Kenneth M. O’Brien

Wasting no time, the new Town Council leadership took a meat axe to the recommendations of the Charter Review Committee.

While the absence of members of the Charter Review Committee (CRC) was lamented, such posturing was disingenuous in the extreme.

Members of the CRC were never informed of the hearing or invited to attend. The Chairman was on vacation in Maine. Other members found out only through an email from the Chairman of the CRC on Monday or through reading about it in the newspaper.