Leaders, Administrators and Dinosaurs #4

There were a number of suggestions Bob Dunphy publicly stated that made great sense, but no one was listening.

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Mr. Dunphy suggested that the BOS should be available at regularly scheduled times for voters to have an opportunity to comment, complain or just kibbitz.

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For the most part, the current BOS doesn't really want to hear from townspeople or avoids contact, like Mr. Spartaro having a non-published phone number.

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But townspeople have the ideas and creative solutions needed to move Middleboro forward.

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That might be taken one step further.

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How about the BOS post a regular Saturday morning meeting to handle correspondence, pay bills, and discuss how to plan for the future?

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The BOS has been so pre-occupied with their administrative dysfunction, they haven't noticed their failure to plan for a FUTURE.

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The Middleboro BOS has NEVER discussed municipal energy consumption and potential alternatives and funding.

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And the Middleboro BOS has NEVER discussed many other issues.

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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?