Middleboro: Impressive Choices!

The Middleboro Town Manager Search Committee has released their FINAL choices and judging from early comments, one must wonder .......

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The Brockton Enterprise reports:

Former Brockton Mayor John T. Yunits Jr. is one of four finalists for town manager in Middleboro, a job advertised at $130,000 a year.

The three other finalists are James P. Purcell, Norton town manager; John O. D’Agostino, Mansfield town manager; and Charles J. Cristello, Hingham town administrator.

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Yunits is also a consultant for the Liberty Square Group, the firm that handles public relations for the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe and their bid to open a casino in Middleboro.

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Media Nation reports:

Oh, but not to worry, says search committee member Wayne Perkins, a former selectman and casino backer. Yunits may be taking money from a firm funded in part by the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe and the South African casino moguls who are behind all this, but his work with Liberty Square is "strictly" limited to lobbying for a power plant in Brockton.

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But despite Mr. Perkins' assurances, that does not appear to be quite so, as a review of the additional articles indicates. It seems, yet again, Mr. Perkins has not done his due diligence.

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Some may remember that Mr. Perkins was forced to resign as BOS Rep. to Plymouth County Commissioners because he had taken a job with the County. BOS

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Mr. Perkins said this of casinos in March 5, 2007:

Chairman Perkins noted that towns in Connecticut that have casinos don’t pay taxes. BOS

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We're still waiting, Mr. Perkins.

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Mr. Perkins' arms are still sore from patting himself on his back for single-handedly negotiating union contracts that awarded 36% pay raises that put Middleboro in its current position.

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One truly must question the logic of considering an applicant employed by casino investors. Where will his loyalties lie? Should we even trust the assurances? Will he present impartial information the BOS and townspeople require to garner additional funding for the Town?

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One of the other choices is Mansfield Town Manager, John D'Agostino.

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A quick google search, for those who weren't paying attention last fall, reveals the Sun Chronicle article,

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Boston Globe:

[the recall began]....after a US District Court jury awarded damages to two former Municipal Electric Department employees who alleged unfair treatment by D'Agostino. Those damages may eventually top $3 million.
The jury concluded that D'Agostino, who oversees the Electric Department, had indulged in retaliatory behavior against Director John Beliveau and Chief Financial Officer Kimberly Stoyle, after Stoyle filed a sexual harassment complaint against D'Agostino and Beliveau supported her action. The complaint, filed with the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination, never went forward.
D'Agostino fired Beliveau in 2004. Stoyle quit in 2005, claiming D'Agostino's retaliatory behavior drove her out.
Amoruso and McCarter were linked to the issue because both were selectmen at the time of the alleged retaliation and selectmen oversee D'Agostino.

The town recently settled with Beliveau for $1.6 million. The money was taken from the Electric Department's rainy day fund.
Meanwhile, a judge ruled last month that D'Agostino was personally responsible for about $1 million in damages and attorney's fees to Stoyle, and the town has appealed that ruling.

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Mansfield Politics

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Middleboro, it might seem, doesn't have enough law suits to satisfy some. Do we need more for your tax dollars? That's the information that's contained in those EXECUTIVE SESSIONS the BOS doesn't want you to see.

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The Cape Cod Times offered the following: LINK