Mr. Schwartz and Mrs. Speakman are obviously very angry that the Blacks had to file another complaint with the RI Attorney General about Barrington’s violations of the Access to Public Records Act.

There they go again.

Complaints had to be filed because the Barrington government refuses to act in the best interest of all parties by complying with the law.

There they go again.

As expected, our town councilors now give another public tongue-lashing because the Blacks again caught Barrington officials doing wrong.

The Blacks remain in good company with Judge Procaccini and other brave souls who have been tongue-lashed by this Town Council.

These councilors are vainly attempting to use lies to divert attention from their own dereliction of duties. Their illogical denials and convoluted lies cannot serve to defend the indefensible, illegal actions that are the subject of the Blacks’ complaint to the AG.

Beginning back in April 2009, Mr. Minardi received clearly written requests to view the public records. The denial of access was accomplished by various delay tactics and, ironically, more lies. The lack of leadership, lack of character, and lack of honesty in this government obviously comes right from the top.

In their letters to the editor, Mr. Schwartz and Mrs. Speakman don’t mention that Mr. Minardi was caught on tape denying access and lying. Any attempt at a defense that does not admit this “smoking gun” is void of credibility from the get go.

After six months and a complaint to the AG, the records are finally in the vault so that the public has access.

But these councilors aren’t angry with Mr. Minardi, or the Town Manager, or the Solicitor.

Mr. Schwartz says the town turns the Blacks’ public records requests over to the solicitor and this “strains’ the town’s “legal services”. If the town’s “legal services” are “strained”, it’s because the town withholds public records rather than simply doing the right thing and making the records accessible.

Mrs. Speakman says the Blacks asked to see "over 9,000" pages. Mr. Schwartz says it is 13,500. Mr. Ursillo’s invoice says 4500 pages were withheld from access. Don’t these officials even know how many pages of public records they were actually withholding? Good thing the Blacks didn’t pay that bill for $945.00.

Mrs. Speakman says she knows of no other problems with access.

We hear otherwise.

She says people can go to the council if they want access.

Sure they can, June.

If our council spent less time lashing out at the good people of Barrington and more time doing their duty, the Blacks wouldn’t have to be filing complaints with the AG to get the access to which the public is entitled.

These councilors have it backwards.

It is not the Blacks’ asking for records that is preventing these government officials from doing their duty.

It is the failure of the government officials to do their duty that is causing the public to have to ask for access to public records.

Either way, we agree that Barrington Officials do not do their duty.

There is only one reason that the Barrington government does not want government to be open: too much to hide.

Hey Cowboy,

Why are the good guys, who follow the law, know right from wrong, contribute hours of due diligence for the justice deserved, being constantly chastised by this government, which follows its own weird agenda, lies often, and refuses to represent us honestly, or at all!

June, this is more dishonest baloney, evading your duty to address the wrongdoing.

Why not just fess up, and hold the guilty public servants accountable?

Obviously, Mr. Minardi, the Solicitor, and Manager engaged in an illegal scheme over 6 months to hide public records that prove the Vision revaluation is bogus. Access laws were intentionally violated left and right, and there is a “smoking gun” tape recording.

The records were only released because the Black’s filed a Complaint with the AG.

June, shouldn’t you be addressing the intentional wrongdoing (especially the lies)?

Hey, Betty ... c'mon now ...

You are really starting to make a fool of yourself here ...

You're saying that our public servants are too busy to comply with state law?

Is that your position?

OK ... well ... you better call the Rhode Island Attorney General, then ... because I would expect that he sees this differently...

... Now what's this about coming to you to inform you of any required action necessary for compliance? ... so you don't already know what's required for compliance ...? or you're not aware that the town manager is out of compliance or that the town solicitor is giving us the runaround ... maybe you haven't been reading the Barington Times for the past 7 months? ... what's the message here? ... you are unaware of non-compliance with the law? ... and we should bring this to your attention for action?

This is a bit confusing, Betty

So ... we'll bring issues to you and you will address them right? ... maybe even help us get them solved ... right? ... Like you did for the American Legion Boys and Girls? ... Addressed and solved right?

Betty ... Betty ... Betty ... you can't even set up a token donation to the American Legion ... and they're sending a Barrington student to Washington DC! ... (please tell me that you didn't do a photo op with the American legion and the winner). He's got every right to be upset ,Betty. (you should send an apology and fix that quick).

Listen, though ... The word is out ... we know you can't help us ... and we've known this for a long time ... so stop insulting us here ... OK?

So ... let's get back to the basics, Betty ...because you DO have a job to do here ... OK?

You have got to make sure that the people who work for you are organized in such a way to follow the law ... OK?

We want access to our public records ... not in 1 month ...not in 6 months ... but now ... like ... right when we ask for it ...OK? ... Got it?

It's your job to make sure this happens ... OK?

So please do your job ... Have a little sit down with Eddie and tell him to DO IT or we'll find someone else who can ... (He's not doing you any favors, Betty).

OK ... now ... about the law ... OK?

You need to stay on the right side of it ... OK?

Betty, Read this letter below to Doc ... and ... Let's get with the program here ... OK?

Good luck on the next one, Betty (please don't let anyone write an arrogant letter to the AG ... OK?)

This note below was for Doc, but it applies to you and Lazzy, and Bumner, and Widemouth too ... please read it to them at the next council meeting ...

***************************************************

Sorry, Doc ... nice try ...

But this BS won't cut it anymore in Barrington.

Comply with Rhode Island state laws or get out of the way.

You are either be part of the problem or part of the solution (and right now ... you're on the wrong track, bud).

The public servants who report to you have lied and broken the law.

It is your responsibility to acknowledge this problem and to fix it (not to support their bad behavior ... or to attempt to make excuses for their unlawful actions ... or to insist that the continued violations never occurred ... or to insinuate in any way that your constituents are somehow to blame for this problem with the public servants under your purview).

The citizens of Barrington elect you to do a job for them. If you do not properly serve them, then they have the right and the responsibility to take proper and responsible action to get the job done. This is what has happened. Citizens have now taken such action at their own expense to correct these improprieties because of your continued lack of responsibility and lack of proper leadership. The result is that the citizens of Barrington and the Rhode Island Attorney General are now in position to take the necessary steps to correct this problem.

You and your fellow councilors (having abdicated your responsibilites and your public duty to correct this situation) will now standby and watch government in action. Your role now is bystander (as it should be). The defacto authorities in this matter (the citizens of Barrington and the Rhode Island Attorney General) will take it from here.

You will have more opportunities to choose to be part of the problem (by ignoring problems and excusing poor public service) or to be part of the solution (by acknowledging problems and insisting on quality public service). Based on the multiple governmental problems that have arisen in Barrington under your watch, it looks like you will have many opportunities to make a better choice. Please make the right choices in the future, because you are really wasting a lot of our time and attention, all of which would be better spent on some real public service (remember the kids, Doc?)

Here's some advice for your path forward ...

... Times have changed in Barrington, Doc ... and you don't seem to have gotten the message from all the lawsuits and formal complaints now in place HERE ...

... so here is the message again ...

...THE OLD WAY OF PERFORMING AND DEFENDING POOR PUBLIC SERVICE IN BARRINGTON IS NOW OVER. BARRINGTON CITIZENS INSIST ON HIGH QUALITY PUBLIC SERVICE AND FULL COMPLIANCE WITH THE LAW FROM THEIR PUBLIC SERVANTS.

OK, Doc? ... All set now? ... better luck with the next one, eh?

June your not a leader you should not be president of this council!

It is very simple - the Vision assessments are fraught with error. Instead of doing the best and right thing to get the errors fixed, those in town hall who are working 24/7 to protect their backsides are doing everything they can to prevent folks from getting the proper information and results. All with your blessings.

DO NOT BLAME the Blacks for looking for answers in all the right places. It's too late to advise you to NOT lower yourself by defending the actions of those who obfiscate the truth for their own gains, you already have.

The American Legion Boys & Girls state program for kids recently came to President "Contact a Council Member" Speakman for the customary annual donation and got what appears to be a cold shoulder (see related LTE). This council may have been resident friendly in the past but appears to be taking a different path today.

I suppose President Speakman will post another LTE next week regarding the American Legion Boys & Girls LTE encouraging other worthy causes to also knock on the council's door for their trick or treat.

Betty ... Betty ... Betty ...

What are we gonna' do with you? ...

Listen ... seriously ... get your act together or we're sending you back to the Golden Girls ...

Hey Widemouth ... you're about due for a pontificating bombshell letter to the editor aren't you ... what do you have for us?

Hmm don't think the law says you go through the COUNCIL then the TOWN CLERK, THE TAX ASSESSOR"S OFFICE and OTHERMUNICIPAL AGENCIES, who are not suppose to do their best, they are required to do their job under the law period. Now we all know where the deception and foot dragging comes Ms. Speakman the Barrington Town Council President geeze what a maroon.

Jack

Oh caps are intentional in case like me she has a little hearing loss sorry if anyone elses ears were hurt.

Jack

Jakb, you make a great point:

"they are not supposed to do their best, they are required to do their job under the law, period".

It is especially true because their "best" isn't good enough. Their "best" falls way short.

You would think that the Town Council would be upset with those who don't follow the law, but NOOOOO...

the Town Council comes out and defends the illegal conduct!

Something is very, very wrong.

The problem is that our elected officials are giving THE WRONG MESSAGE (through their actions and through this letter to the editor) to our appointed officials and our town employees. Our town is run according to this wrong message from our leadership to our employees ... The wrong message is subtle but clear:

"the Blacks are too demanding for our taste" and "these demands are well within their rights (but not really)", and "these state laws are to be followed (but not really for THEM)", and so ... "do what you can for the Blacks but don't worry about being in compliance with the law for the Blacks (because we don't believe that you really have to)", and "if you want to screw with the Blacks, then it's OK with us ... you won't get any corrective action from us about it" and "we have our own way of doing things here in Barrington, and it's not always by the book for all citizens, but we think that's OK and it works just fine for us"...

... Betty and Doc both say the same thing ... something to the effect ... "... this is well within their rights ... BUT ... these Blacks ... they're unreasonable ... and ... blah, blah, blah"

Hey Betty... Hey Doc ... (NO BUTS ... OK?)

Stop giving the wrong message to our appointed officials ...

Stop telling them that you think the Blacks are well within their rights BUT that you think it's OK if they don't get served.

This is the wrong signal and it is NOT the message that we want for our public servants to hear from you.

Eddie and Costanza are feeding off your wrong signals, folks!

This is what is driving their illegal stalling tactics!!!

Do you think that they woiuld pull these stunts against the Blacks if they thought that you wouldn't support them in it?

...Well ...Here you are ... supporting their stunts!!! in black and white ...

... and how about if they don't like the White's, or the Gray's, or the Red's, or the Blue's ... do you think they're going ot stop with the Black's? ... and do you think that it's going to stop with Eddie and Costanza? ... Everybody's got the message (all the town employees) ... They've already got your approval to pull selective stunts ... now they can apply it to anyone they choose ... why not? What if Eddie decides that he thinks that someone else is too demanding ?... or what if one of the cop decides that a certain neighbor is too demanding? like say ... a certain neighbor who lives near the beach and complains a lot to you and Eddie because you've turned her yard into a public park? ... Is she "well within her rights but OK to screw with" too?

Hey Barrington Town Council ... remember "SELECTIVE ENFORCEMENT"??? Well guess what? ... WE FOUND THE SOURCE FOLKS! ... it all starts right here ... WITH YOU (OUR LEADERS) ... Do you think the cop would have put the screws to the woman who called the police about the parking at the beach that fateful day if the woman wasn't on the list of people that it is OK to screw with? ... don't you consider this neighbor to be on the "too demanding list" too? ... doesn't everyone in town know it? ... do you think the cop would have "conveniently" missed the suspicious activities going on (along with the illegal parking) at the beach that day if it was someone else who called the police to complain? ... do you really think that this cop could't put two and two together when she walked right into the situation? ... (kids, parking, wooded area, beach, kids approaching me to avoid being approached by me? HELLO?) ... We all know that this caller is on your list ... and we all know that the Blacks are on your list ... and we all know that their are others on your list too ... Now we see in black and white how you communicate this dangerous message to the town officials and to the rest of our town employees (it's right above us here in black and white...you both said it) ...

...Now all the pieces are starting to come together ...

and now is a good time for you to re-think your arrogance letter to the judge ... because you've just proven his point ... SELECTIVE ENFORCEMENT IS ALIVE AND WELL IN BARRINGTON ...

It's time to stop it, folks ... and it starts with you.

The correct message from the Barrington Town Council is: FULL SERVICE AND FULL COMPLIANCE WITH THE LAW ... FOR EVERY CUSTOMER ... ALL THE TIME ... NO SCREWING WITH CERTAIN CUSTOMERS FOR ANY REASON AT ANY TIME.

Give that new message and we'll see proper change in Barrington ... skip that new message and you'll be writing more arrogant letters to the editor ... or to the judge ... or to the AG ... or to whoever is next ...

To Imjutsayin:

For all of us who have been victimized for so long, for all of us who have been treated with such distain, for all of us who have suffered from unlawful transgressions by this sleazy town government et al, we can finally look forward to a new day thanks to you, the Blacks and all those brave folks who are standing up to their countless injustices.

Let's take Barrington back. BRAVO!

... and now ... Betty ... you have "other obligations" also ... because we've just put you in charge of apology letters ...

We want you to put this on the town council agenda with your name beside it ... for the next meeting ...

First ...

... We're gonna' start with your apology letter to the American Legion (you should do that one yourself and try to not take make them wait as long as they waited for no answer last time, OK?)...

Next ...

... is Widemouth's apology letter to the Superior Court Judge ... make sure to tell him that you made a mistake ... and that his comments were on target (that there is a selective enforcement problem in Barrington) ... and that we've now discovered the source of the problem ... then tell him what the source is ... and tell him that we are rectifying the situation with a new service standard being imposed by the Barrington Town Council ... "FULL SERVICE AND FULL COMPLIANCE WITH THE LAW ... FOR EVERY CUSTOMER ... ALL THE TIME ... NO SCREWING WITH CERTAIN CUSTOMERS FOR ANY REASON AT ANY TIME." .. then thank him for for his time and pointing out this problem to us ... make sure that Widemouth writes this letter because the humble pie will be good for her ... make sure that everyone signs it too ... you, Widemouth, Bumner, Doc, and Lazzy ...

Next ...

... is Barney's apology letter to the superior court judge ... ask him not to get into all the reasons or to try to justify his response or emotionally charged situation etc, etc. ... ask Barney to simply apologize for any statements that he made about the judge or his comments during his ruling that may have been offensive to the judge or may have encouraged a response from the Barrington Town Council ... ask Barney to inform the judge that he is working hard with you to address the selective enforcement issues raised by the judge ... and that he will do his best to correct the situation and to support the new policy recently imposed by our leaders on the Town Council.

Next ...

... is your apology letter to the AG ... this one comes from you because you are ultimately responsible for this council and the town employees who report to it ... no rehashing of the copy costs ... and no referencing the heavy demands of specific taxpayers ... and no false positive Eddie Haskell spin of the high quality of work done by our outstanding town employees ... just an admission of wrongdoing and a straight apology for it ... a strong statement in support of open public records ... and a personal commitment from you that all public records will be made available at all times to all taxpayers ... pursuant to the new service code in Barrington ... then repeat the code for him ... "FULL SERVICE AND FULL COMPLIANCE WITH THE LAW ... FOR EVERY CUSTOMER ... ALL THE TIME ... NO SCREWING WITH CERTAIN CUSTOMERS FOR ANY REASON AT ANY TIME." ... and then ask the AG to please leave the enforcement of this open records requirement with the Barrington Town Council and that it is good hands....

Next ...

... is your letter of apology to the Blacks ... this one is from you, and Doc and Widemouth and Lazzy and Bumner, too ... tell them that you apologize for any inconveniences that they have experienced in their request for public information from our town officials ... and that you understand that certain town ordinances and state laws were violated in the process of serving them ... tell them that you are working hard to make sure that this doen't happen again and to put a better system in place that will provide immediate access to all public files for everyone ... and then thank them for all the work that they have done on this issue ... and that their work is valuable to the council and to all of your constituents

Next is ...

... the apology letter from Costanza and Eddie to the Blacks... ... it should reference your letter to the Blacks and it needs to be a sincere apology for the delays due to any misunderstandings ... Costanza doesn't have to admit in this letter that he broke the law ... because that will cause him some serious, long-term problems with the bar... but he does have to sign this "apology for inconveniences and delays" letter ... and if he doesn't signit, then you need to replace him ... Eddie will sign because he won't want to risk his new big salary and pension (and you will need to talk with him about that later too) ... don't let Eddie be Eddie ... just a simple apoloogy in the letter for the inconveniences and the delays...

OK ... the last one is the biggy...

This is the mother of all apologies for you and the gang ... it's an open letter in the Barrington Times (its a full page ad - not LTE) ... To the Taxpayers of Barrington ... with apologies from the Town Council for the circumstances of the reval debacle ... be honest and upfront ... that the town council was less than open to the negative input that it first received from its citizens regarding the reval ... that the council was inefficient in managing the process of addressing these comments ... and that the situation got progressively worse as a result ... to the point where it transitioned into litigation ... tell them that you are deeply disappointed with this outcome and remind them how bad this situation is for the whole town (regardless of your individual reval outcome) ... and that in hindsight ... you would have taken this matter in a different direction ... if you had been better prepared to respond to the negative information from residents and if you had all of the information that you have today (reference that NY report on double vision) ... thank all of your constituents for their active involvement in the issue and for their personal investment of their time and money in order to point out the problems (large and small) to help you correct the situation and get a fair tax formula in place for Barrington ... tell them that with their continued input ... you would like to move forward and resolve this situation by starting from scratch ... tell them that this will likely be a difficult and complex resolution ... and that you know that every citizen will not be completely satisfied with the final result because this is a very sensitive issue (their tax bill and the difficult economic times) and an inexact science ... however ... you are now convinced that this start from scratch method will in fact be in the best interest of the town ... you don't need to mention any of your other apologies or the new service mantra that you are leading ... just commit to the redoubling of the town council efforts and focus to finally resolve this reval problem for all of Barrington citizens ... and welcome their continued input ... and praise them and thank them for their active involvement in our government ... then lay out the steps and the timing of the new reval process under your direction.

OK ... Betty ... better get to work ... lots of leading to do here, kid ... YOU CAN DO IT, BETTY ... we'll support you ... really! ... you've got nothing to lose ... c'mon give those poli-sci student at RWU somethin' to be proud of!

response to imjustsaying

You really should right a book on all this since you have so much info and articulate opinion and facts on it. You will be getting carpal tunnel syndrum and the operations for that are not fun or cheap LOL

Jack

1) WHY ARE ALL THE DIFFERENT UNIONS ALWAYS FIGHTING AND SQUEEZING CITIES AND TOWNS FOR MORE MONEY?

BECAUSE THAT IS HOW UNIONS MAKE THEIR MONEY.

THE UNIONS RECEIVE DUES FROM ALL OF THEIR UNION MEMBERS.

THE DUES ARE DEDUCTED DIRECTLY FROM THE MEMBERS PAYCHECK.

2) WHO ARE THE UNION MEMBERS?

PUBLIC SCHOOL TEACHERS

POLICEMEN

FIREMEN

3) WHERE DOES THAT MONEY COME FROM?

IT COMES FROM THE ANNUAL TAXES PAID BY THE TAXPAYERS IN THE CITY OR TOWN IN WHICH THEY LIVE.

4)I'M A TAXPAYER, AND I"M FED UP WITH HIGHER TAXES, IT'S GETTING SO I CAN"T AFFORD TO LIVE IN MY OWN HOUSE ANYMORE. WHAT SHOULD I DO?

IF YOU DON'T WANT HIGHER ANNUAL TAXES, THEN VOTE THE UNIONS AND THE POLITICAL CANDIDATES THEY SUPPORT OUT OF OFFICE.

5) IT'S JUST THAT SIMPLE !

ahh kinda nothing to do with this article there improveEP The proplem here it seems is lack of quality control of the employee's and arougance on managements part. And a council that stands up for the employee's right or wrong period.

It would behove the citizens of barrington to remembers this in the next election in my opinion and all towns and cities should do the same when looking at their government, local or national. This has gone on to long in our whole society in my opinion and only we the people can try to fix it with our voting rights.

Jack

Say Betty ...

Regarding your apology letter for the reval disaster ... the other councilors aren't gonna' like your idea ... and you can't present this to them for a vote among the councilors because you'll end up at 4-1 against ... instead ... tell them that you need their full support on this letter because you believe it to be in the best interest of the council and the town that you all serve ... and tell them that you expect a signature on it from each councilor ...

... You will need to let them vent ... and discuss their fears and concerns about the apology letter ... then tell them that it's uncomfortable for you too, but repeat that you believe it is in the best interest of the council and the best interest of the town ... tell them that they have to get over their fears and their concerns for the sake of the town that they serve ...

... Tell them that the ability of the council to govern is becoming more and more compromised by this issue ... and that this is what it is going to take in order to stop the bleeding and to turn things around quickly and efficiently ... acknowledge that mistakes have been made with the council's handling of the reval ... and list some of those mistakes ... and tell them that they won't be criticized for telling the truth about these mistakes and facing the facts ... tell them that they are not expected to be perfect ... and that their apology will be appreciated by their constituents and that it will restore confidence in the council ...

... Remind them that over 700 of their constituents have taken them to court over this issue and they're about ready to break out the tar and feathers on it ... tell them that the council simply can't go on leading the town down its current path ... because it is too costly and too much of a distraction for them and for their constituents ...

...Tell them that you all know much more now than you did at the time of the reval decision ... remind them of the NY case with double vision ... and remind them of the findings of the Blacks once they opened the pulic records ...tell them that it is likely that the double vision foundation is going to crumble ... and that when it does crumble under the pressure of a lawsuit that the resolution will be in the hands of a judge and that this will be much worse for the council ... then tell them that this apology step is a necessity for the council now in order to change the direction of this matter toward a resolution ... tell them that you want a quick resolution that is under the direction of the council rather than under the direction of the court system ...

... Then stress your point again that this is not about them but that it is about the town that they serve ... now ... at this final stage ... you're going to have some trouble with Bumner because he wants to be a judge and he's going to think that this apology letter will spoil his plans ... so tell him that an apology to his constituents will not disqualify him from being a judge later and that a serious rebuke from the state attorney general poses more risk to his plans...

... Then hand out a draft copy of the apology letter that you've prepared for their comment ... ask them to read it and think about it for a bit ... then encourage some more discussion about their fears and concerns ... then ask them for their full support again for this letter ... and tell them that you would like a supportive response from them within 24 hours ...

... Then ... before you adjourn ... read to them (but don't hand out) your other draft letter ... tell them that this second letter is your own apology and resignation letter ... and that you will be submitting this second letter to the Barrington Times if you don't get their full support for the first letter ... tell them that your second letter isaddressed to the residents of Barrington ... and that it says that you tried to move things in a new direction on the reval by starting from scratch imediately ... but that you couldn't secure the full cooperation from the council to do so ... tell them that the letter states your proposed steps and timing for the start from scratch plan ... then read through these steps and the proposed timing fro the start from scratch plan ... then read to them the portion of the letter that informs your constituents that you needed the full support of your colleagues on the council to turn around this reval efficiently and that because you don't have their full support for the start from scratch plan that you are resigning effective immediately ...

... From the perspective of your four other colleagues, your public apology and resignation over philosophical differences with the other four members of thecouncil will be a much more frightening scenario than your first letter where you plan to stick together as a council and fight your way out of the black hole that you're in ...

... Then read to them from your second letter where you thank your constituents for their patience through difficult times and where you thank them for their active participation and contributions of time and resources to secure a fair and reasonable tax structure for the town ... and where you offer your continued support for them as an active citizen participant in Barrington's government ... by this time in your reading ... your four colleagues will figure out that you're about to make 700 new best friends and they're about to go it alone through litigation without you ... so then you should read the part of the letter where you wish your colleagues well in their continued efforts without you (this will scare the snot out of your four buds and they'll buckle and sign your first letter before you leave.)

... Betty ... before you release the signed letter fromteh council ... you need to call Landy Williams at Smish and Scavanaugh and cut your deal with him for an out of court settlement with BET ... tell him in confidence (don't show him) of your apology letter and then reead him a copy of your planned steps and timing to start from scratch on the reval. Tell him that you need the full cooperation of BET to make this out of court plan a reality ... and tell him that you first want a nice letter from BET thanking you and the other councilors for your apologies and for your very efficient plan and schedule to start from scratch on the reval...

... Tell him that you would like a letter from BET acknowledging that this reval is a complex issue and that it will take some time and effort and cooperation from multiple parties to resolve ... but that they trust that the plan is now on the right track under your direction ... and that they will refocus their efforts to support you ... so that this matter can be brought to an efficient and optimal conclusion...

... Tell Landy that you want the BET letter to be placed in the Barringtion Times on the full page facing of your council's full page apology letter. When you have the council letter signed and Landy's letter signed, then call Joshy and tell him that you need to secure two large advertising positions in his next issue (and that BET has agreedto pay for both) ... don't let Joshy write the news on settlement until the two letters are published ... there will be plenty of news for him after the letters run ...

... then guess what? ... you're halfway home ...

June: You're actually on point. The Blacks overwhelm public offices with requests, which as everyone agrees, is their right. However, the number of hours it takes (more than a few folks), takes away from town workers other obligations. These requests, I'm sure based on an understanding of them, have taken over 40 hours of work time to comply with. And that's just the Blacks. So in the meantime, normal operations come to a halt because requests must be complied with within a short period of time. Wow...... these people are from Barrington? Yikes.

response to Zygon64

If the normal operation come to a halt it has nothing to do with the blacks, it has to do with the employees and the town not modernizing records. Consider this should the Vision appraisal have a copy of all this in electronic for I bet they do.

Should the town have it yes. The putting of records in electronic form in the last decade is not hard and takes little time. The 900 pages requested could have been converted by 1 employee in to electronic records in 2 days at the most with a scanner and omni read program or what ever program they chose to purchase. There is no reason this should not be done with all records in a town.

I doubt that it takes that long to put the records in front of the blacks at town hall. Does 1 employee have to stand there and watch them go through and take notes. I dont see why its not like they would be foolish enough to take any. If anything they would say ok this record meets the info we are looking for please copy it.

They never asked for all copies only to view them. This all a simple legal task and if the town has made it that time consuming it is not the Blacks who are at fault it is the town. Why any taxpayer in town would try to blame the Blacks for trying to help them is unbelievable. You should all be glad at least someone is sticking up for your rights.

Jack

If you're going to add up the hours spent by Barrington officials in preventing access, you may have undercounted & you've got to get the facts straight.

The Blacks asked to see the Vision appeal documents back in April 2009. No big deal. No burden on government. Those are public records. All the town had to do was make the records available to see.

But June's government refused to do that, so the Blacks had to file a complaint with the AG to get access.

As a result, the documents are now sitting in the vault like they should have been back in April 2009.

It seems that it may have taken the government officials WAY MORE than 40 hours to break the law, and then to lie about it, and then to try to cover up what they did wrong.

And it's not over yet. The AG still has to weigh in.

But, really, anyone with any sense wouldn't blame the Blacks for the government's incompetence and illegal actions.

The blame lies squarely with the Barrington government.

It's like if the government hid the deed books and the Blacks asked to see those... the government would be at fault for hiding those public records. That's how it is with other records that the government hides.

Don't blame the Blacks just because they're the ones who asked to have the records be made available to the public.

Now that the appeal records are available.... WOWEE!! There's some interesting stuff in there.

It's like a template for appeal.

It’s about time, all right.

Mr. Minardi obviously spent lots of time trying to hide the tell-tale reval records.

Hiding records is a tell-tale sign of a bogus reval.

Mr. Minardi has wasted a lot of time trying to hide the evidence of the bogus reval. .

Instead of spending his time hiding records from taxpayers, Mr. Minardi should have spent some time supervising the reval and publishing the legally required “defined standards” on the Town’s web site.

The dishonest, negligent conduct needs to be exposed and addressed in time.

In time, the BET lawsuit and other actions will address the scandal of the bogus reval.

In time, the AG investigation will address the public records scandal.

This time, June’s head is in the sand.

This time, June hopes the storm will pass so that her dreams of higher office are not shattered.

But June should have taken the time to fix the problems long ago.

Then many people (not just paid town employees) would have lots more time for other activities. The Town has spent oodles of time and money trying to defend a bogus reveal and hiding public records.

If June and Mr. Minardi had spent some time doing their duty in the first place, there would be no BET lawsuit, no reval scandal, no public records scandal.

Maybe June should finally step up and do her duty.

After all, it’s about time.

Zygon64,

Are you also living in the last century along with our leadership.

We had enough taxpayer money to provide longevity raises (with the associated compounded pension spikes that are added to a longevity raise), we had enough to pay legal bills for useless work.

The cost to hire a temp to place the records into a computer database is a fraction of the above expenses to the town. Many towns already do this.

What we have here is a town who plans an assessors office into a closet size room and then forgets to update the plan for access to public records. (Like a "no benefits" temp to do scanning).

This is bad management 101 which in the private sector would be penalized, not have stupid "paper and staples" excuses made by the town attorney.

Thanks for allowing me to make the counterpoint.

"June: You're actually on point"

The Blacks are only exercising their rights. The present town government has the black eye, (punintended). If they had simply made arrangements for the Blacks at the beginning this wouldn't have been a story. Now it has the attention of the AG's office as well as civil rights groups who want these town officials, who have been bullying people for years, to simply do there jobs.

The biggest thing to come out of this is the awareness that towns such as this have people in government catering to a select few and hammering the regular people who just want to live in peace and security. This Vision Appraisal is also to blame in this scheme. If they had operated according to proper procedure then there would be nothing for the Blacks to look at in the first place. The whole process stinks all the way over here in Bristol.

The appearnce of impropriety by the town government should be a concern of all citizens of Barrington. These records should have been and probably are in electronic form somewhere. For that alone the council should be ousted. Imagine a town like Barrington with no electronic record of the appraisal, I can't believe thats true. These people are clearly trying to cover something up. Whether it's their own incompetence or actual lawbreaking and\or corruption is for the AG's office to decide. Either way these people have taken the citizens of Barrington for a ride that isn't over yet.

Barrington officials need to come clean and it doesn't look like that's going to happen ... so we'll continue to argue about how to explain the bad behavior and the poor performance.

Too bad ... because I'm sure that the rank and file within the Barrington system would like to serve properly and do the right thing ... but unfortunately our current leadership has somethign else in mind ...

true imjutsayin when you see a letter like this from a town official trying to justify wrongs that are clearly the fault of the managment of the town there has to be more to it since no-one wants to come forward and say ok we screwed up and are fixing this once and for all. I have heard the complaints and we will straighten this out so it does'nt happen again I agree no citizen should be treated like this.

Now wouldn't that have been nice to hear from the town.

Jack

Barrinton public officials need to rethink their position regarding state law ... this position stated above condones violations of state law and, in effect, gives our public officials a "false licence" to violate the law(which they have obviously exercised on multiple occasions).

Thanks for the poor leadership and improper covering for the illegal activities that you condone. We understand clearly what this Barrington Town Council is all about. Now ... can we have some adult intervention here, please.

It is great to see honorable and smart people taking a stand against the improper actions and poor judgment of our town council.

The Barrington Town Council is an arrogant and inept bunch which unnecessarily divides our residents and continually attempts to lead us in the WRONG direction (even if it is on the WRONG side of the law).

First ... the judge picked up on it. It was bad police work on the day of the tragedy and this was a significant factor in the outcome of the day (like it or not). The chief was not willing to accept the appropriate responsibility to acknowledge this problem nor was he capable of taking the necessary action to correct the problem and purge the system ... so the problem has become his problem (he chose to become part of the problem rather than part of the solution). Instead of addressing the problem directly and efficiently, he opted to build a false defense by constructing a series of bogus teen programs which had no benefit to any teen. These programs were touted with maximum PR so that these PR chips could be cashed at the necessary time. That moment arrived finally when the superior court judge issued his ruling (and his findings about the poor police work in Barrington). The chief quickly responded with his "baffled" remarks and he started cashing the bogus PR chips that he had carefully built up since the incident. He easily convinced the Town Council to be equally shocked and dismayed and together they attempted to cash these bogus chips with the public at large (a sort of "defense of Barrington" play which was really much more of a "defense of the inept chief and the inept town council" play). At this stage the Town Council also chose to be part of the problem (with their emergency public defense rather than a serious consideration of the proper criticisms of the judge).

Perhaps this town council didn't know any better... perhaps they were afraid of the blame shifting to them (after all ... the police chief action is ultimately their responsibility).

But now we see the same kind of response from the town council with another problem. They don't realize that their weak position is the source of the inappropriate town officer activity. They don't even acknowledge that the town manager and the town solicitor have been hiding the public documents from residents for 6 months. The requests were made to review the documents (but not granted). This is illegal. Instead of addessing the important and relevant questions related to this problem (for a clear signal and a fix), they would rather distract us further with a dissertation on all the work that our town employees have to do (the reason that they can't comply with the law) ... or maybe another more complete explanation of the $0.21 per copy analysis would be a helpful distraction.

The bottom line is that the town council will not hold anyone's feet to the fire because it is their own feet that would be hot. They are as much a part of the problem as the individuals who are completing the inappropriate activity on their behalf. They've given them the green light to do it (and they continue to do so). As long as they choose to defend the inappropriate of illegal activity, then they are as just as guilty ... and therefore not in any position to correct anything.

In both cases ... you begin with poor leadership which creates the environment for the inappropriate action to take place at the town officer level in the first place. Then once the inappropriate action is taken (and noticed ... and properly challenged) you don't get corrective action ... instead ... you get full support for the inappropriate action all the way up the full chain of command. Not a thanks for the appropriate criticism (and let's fix it together), but rather a full support for the inappropriate action.

This is not how our system of government is designed to function. The normal checks and balances that are hardwired into the system have been dismantled in Barrington and we end up with a bad mix of inappropriate action and then complete and unanimous support for the inappropriate action from our supposed leaders.

This town council obviously prefers to point the finger at the judge or at the Blacks, rather than to properly address the basic facts in front of them ... the reality is that the council has created the environment for inappropriate and illegal behavior within our town government ... and they clearly continue to selectively ignore, dismiss, and excuse such behavior without regret ...

This letter above is a clear demonstration of the source of the selective enforcement and the passive aggressive behavior that is all too common in Barrington public service ...

... The manner in which our town council president casually dismisses the illegal activity of town employees and her continued mis-representation of the request to view public documents as an unreasonable request for multiple copies is inexcusable. The issue is that the public access to public documents was denied (for a long time). This type of activity is ILLEGAL.

...Let's not turn the focus to blame the resident who requeted to view the public documents, or to the cost of a photocopy, or to the price of tea in China ... Barrington residents want clean and responsible government delivering a clear message of proper public service to our employees ... (not this nonsense above).

... This Town Council is not properly serving or representing Barrington.