His lectures were simply worded for all to comprehend.
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His kindness and humility were striking.
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Let me toss out one:
When I requested a list of town insured vehicles from the former Town Manager, Jack Healey last year, the list received was FAXED FROM THE INSURANCE COMPANY.
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Do you think that's odd?
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My interpretation is that the Town DOES NOT have in-house, on computer records of each piece of equipment that's being insured. Nor is that information available within the Town's computer system for a Department Head to examine.
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The naysayers are already sputtering!
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The total number of items insured was 212.
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Doesn't each vehicle cost ~ $5,000 per year to insure?
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(Those items will be called vehicles in subsequent comments for the sake of simplicity, but they may be trailers or other equipment and in fact, not a vehicle.)
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A number of years ago, the Town junked or sold several vehicles and neglected to cancel the insurance. Only an audit disclosed the matter.
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When was the last time an audit of 'vehicles' was done?
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Let's take the issue one step further.
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Because vehicle records aren't maintained in-house, what of maintenance and fuel consumption and MPG and mileage?
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If you had 3 or 4 family vehicles, wouldn't you write it down so you didn't neglect oil changes, inspections and so on?
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Let's say Department X uses a vehicle and accumulates 5,000 miles per year.
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Department Y uses a vehicle and accumulates 50,000 miles per year.
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Wouldn't knowing the departmental usage allow the Capital Planning Committee to make informed long term projections instead of reacting when a crisis arises?
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With in-house computer reports, would it be possible to notice that too much money was being spent on maintenance of a high-mileage vehicle?
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What was most striking about the list of 212 insured items was that many had $500 deductibles.
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Any informed consumer knows that the first insured increment is the most expensive because insurance companies anticipate nuisance claims.
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Could the Town save money - YOUR TAX DOLLARS - by increasing the deductible?
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Is the BOS asking?
If you are reading this, even if you are as computer inept as I am, what you see or generate is ELECTRONIC FORMAT.
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There is no magic here.
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Yes, I could have scanned the 50 pages myself, zipped it and accomplished the same.
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Your tax dollars paid for ELECTRONIC FORMAT.
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Now, Selectman Bond is currently being praised for discovering that the Town Clerk was spending $1800 for updates of law books in hard copy that the rest of the Town had available on the internet.
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Well, don't stop there Mr. Bond. The DOR Report raised additional issues about the failure of Middleboro to adequately employ TECHNOLOGY.
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Ever notice that the Town Clerk is still generating handwritten receipts? Surely those are sorted by hand to determine a recap of the dump stickers, dump permits and much else. How about the dog licenses?
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The rest of the world is moving to reduce paper documents, including the rest of government. Not so Middleboro!
And lest you vaguely believe anyone would be overlooked, Selectmen Rogers conducted the water rate hearing, spent much time accumulating information and producing reports. Those reports were ON HIS PERSONAL COMPUTER.
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There we go with ELECTRONIC FORMAT again!
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As a voter and taxpayer, I requested that Mr. Rogers post the information on the Town's Web Site for the public to review.
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Mr. Rogers participated in a committee that reviewed the consolidation of the Water and Sewer Departments in 2006. Mr. Tom White, as chairman of that committee indicated that the report would be completed before the end of the year (2007).
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Not done. Not posted. Not available to the public.
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Why do I keep thinking 'DONE IT THIS WAY FOR A HUNDRED YEARS, MAUDE!'
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Is it time to get rid of the dinosaurs?
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