MY TWO CENTS

Finally!! Finally…after 4 years and a lot of aggravation, time, money, the money taken from REPAC has been returned to the town…over 167,000. The money has been placed in a fund designated for public access…and can only be used for the purpose of public access. The money after all came from the subscribers of Comcast. The amount is made up of the following, $117,000 was returned by Ed Schagrin, who wrote checks in 2010 for allegedly past wages dating back to 2007 in the amount of 117,000 or so. He cashed the check and put it his bank account. The directors or someone from REPAC authorized the withdrawal of 45,000, nine 5,000 bank checks, made payable to Repac were in a safe deposit box and another 4,900 or so that was in a bank account set up by REPAC. All of this happened in 2010 when the then board of selectman cancelled their contract. The contract clearly stated ( at least I think it did and apparently a judge did too) that upon the termination of the contract all assets of the company are to be turned over to the town. The money generated for public access comes from Comcast. The town has the contract with Comcast ( not the public access) to provide public access. As a result, Comcast agrees to make quarterly payments to the town. All of you who subscribe to Comcast, pay a dollar or two more a month which is earmarked for public access. A judge some time ago, ordered all the assets turned over the town town, but Repac defied the order and kept making, in my opinion, ridiculous motions and filing lawsuits against the town, elected officials and employees. Crazy stuff. A Big Thank You to Sgt Ramos, who was the detective at the time and put in countless hours gathering and putting together the paper trail to find the money and seize it. A Big Thank You to the District Attorney’s office for their diligence in charging Ed Schagrin and ultimately getting the town its money back. As part of a settlement, Ed Schagrin agreed to turn over the money as part of a settlement. My guess, Ed was probably nervous about potentially doing jail time. I think he made the right decision to a plea bargain. I don’t know about you, but I am glad this all behind us…..oh wait, the attorney and director of Repac, Hans Stoeckler filed yet another lawsuit against former Selectman Joe Tito and current selectman Mike Costello. He is looking to get paid some 80k in legal fees. Are you kidding me? If Repac owes him legal fees take it up with the corporation, not the town or selectman. I’ll keep you posted on this latest saga.

The solar panel project at the landfill is almost complete…and we will begin generating lease payments to the town. You will also notice the completion ( just in time) of a salt storage facility at the highway building. Looks great! You have all received notice of the new electric program in town. Our group is the largest purchaser of electric in Massachusetts. It consists of many cities and town in south eastern mass that joined together with SRPPED to look to lower electric costs in town. You can opt out of the program if you choose….you are automatically enrolled. You had to be since a company looking to bid on our electric would have to know what the potential electric volume in order to put in a competitive bid. If you haven’t checked it out, go onto the town website and enter in your current electric usage and you will get an idea of what you can expect to save for the year. The town locked in for 2 years with a 9.5cent kilowatt rate.

I’m not going to mention the weather only that we have used very little money from the snow line so far….. We will start budget talks in February. Department managers will begin putting together their budgets for review with the board of selectman. The school committee will begin budget talks as well. We are still in negotiations with 4 of the 5 unions. The goal is to have contracts in place for the annual town meeting in May. The board continues to meet every other Monday in January. We have several meetings scheduled outside our regular meetings for contract negotiations. In February, we will likely go back to meeting weekly while we take care of the town business and finalize the warrant for the annual town meeting.

Happy New Year! Wishing everyone a healthy, happy and prosperous new year!