Friday, June 11, 2010

Sunshine Watch

Given the town council’s proclivity to maintain two sets of agendas, one for public disclosure and one for its council members, I thought it might be fun to occasionally shine the light on discrepancies between the two. So, here’s another example of a sunshine violation.

The council’s posted agenda for February 2, 2010 states:

RESOLUTION NO. 2010-45 – BE IT RESOLVED by the Township Council that it hereby awards engineering services for South River Metals Remediation.

The minutes for that same meeting state:

RESOLUTION NO. 2010-45 - BE IT RESOLVED by the Township Council that it hereby authorizes Emergency Temporary Appropriation in the amount of $350,000.

RESOLUTION NO. 2010-46 - BE IT RESOLVED by the Township Council that it hereby authorizes three proposals for engineering services associated with the Former South River Metal Products Site not to exceed $160,000.

RESOLUTION NO. 2010-47 - BE IT RESOLVED by the Township Council that it hereby authorizes emergency agreement for remediation of a tank on the South River Metals Site.

So, resolution 2010-45 became resolution 2010-46 with the tidy little sum of $160,000 added for “engineering services”, which is just a euphemism for CME, the council’s largest political contributor.

Then, two more resolutions were magically added to the agenda. One is another CME project for the “emergency” tank remediation at South River Metals, a precursor to constructing the new senior center. This is the same place where Councilwoman Gumbs famously declared in fall 2005, “If all goes according to plan, the development could be completed within the next 18 months.”

Perhaps the development’s tardiness prompted the town council to declare an “emergency” without time to put it on the public agenda.

Then, there’s the other emergency that didn’t allow for advance notice – a $350,000 “Emergency Temporary Appropriation", seemingly to pay for it all. The insertion of “temporary” suggests the town is banking on a March, 2009, promised grant from our great but near bankrupt state. Well, good luck with that.

We’d know more except these three resolutions are also the only ones whose full text isn’t posted on the town website.

Considering the senior residence has been in the works for eight years and we still haven’t done so much as dig a hole in the ground, it’s nice to know Aberdeen Township still feels the sense of urgency to allocate hundreds of thousands of dollars to its largest political patron without advance public notice to getter done.
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Thursday, June 3, 2010

Reminder - Greater Aberdeen Garage Sale on Sunday, June 6th

The Greater Aberdeen Garage Sale is this weekend on Sunday, June 6th. So far, we have 30 registered garage sales. As always, registration is free.

Once again, signage is very important. The biggest problem in the past has been for people trying to find the garage sales. I've posted some files online that people can use to publicize the garage sale and direct buyers to the sales. (Thanks to Denise for all her help and encouragement.) Secondly, I'll be editing the data on the website so that all homes will be grouped together according to area and street.

Those who were successful in past years, were very successful. So, whether you're looking to buy or sell, I encourage everyone to participate.

The forecasts predict a chance of rain so let's hope for the best. Good luck to everyone and please tell your friends. >>> Read more!