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From Sunday's Sun Chronicle | Quote: | SEEKONK - Evaluation forms are now available for taxpayers who want to weigh in on the job performance of Town Administrator Michael Carroll.
Residents and town employees are being asked to fill out the questionnaire so selectmen can get a better idea of how Carroll is doing in his job, board Chairman Francis Cavaco said.
"We're paying him $106,000 and change. We... |
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Dave too....lol.
Just wondering if the School Department intends to show Obama's speech to the students on September 8? If they are will the parents be notified in advance for something like this? |
I'm glad we have a contract to take some of these dead trees down. However, we still have all of these stumps from over a year ago when the electric company paid to remove dead trees. I watched that meeting and the BOS was promised that the stumps would be removed and that new trees would be planted. What happened? I've passed the group of stumps in front of Martin, there is one large one with a hole in the center of it. The town is lucky no one has fallen and broken an ankle or leg and sued us. Anyone know if this contract includes removing the stumps? |
Will the BOS admit to making a mistake and go back to the original 4 polling places? How much more will this consolidation have to cost the taxpayers? Between the CPA and the Banna renovations, we're startin' to talk real money.
Here's another question. Will the School Committee agree to shut down the high school on January 19 for the special election to fill Kennedy's seat? There is a good possibility that the turnout will match the 2008 presidential election. It will be a shame if people stay away and a nightmare if 8000 people show up. |
Ballot includes positions on Board of Selectmen, Board of Assessors, Library Board of Trustees, Planning Board, School Committee and Water Commissioner. |
We have certainly come a long way since the very first Seekonk community web group was founded in 2005. One of the hottest topics for the years that followed was alledged backroom deals and the underuse of technology that had the potential to connect all citizens with government and the community.
In Friday's editorial, "Progress slow on Open Meeting Law", the Sun Chronicle commended Seekonk's BOS for taking a hard line approach by insisting the Board of Health permit open meetings to be televised. To quote "They recognize that the presumption should be that the public's... |
This mornings Sun Chronicle published a letter from a N Attleboro woman who has witnessed inequities between the elementary schools that service their children. In a town as large as NA, obtaining a level of equity would be far more difficult than it would be in Seekonk.
If inequities still exist in Seekonk between Aitken and Martin, they are likely not as obvious as NA's. These inequities may burn just below the surface. In fact, it would probably take a bit of effort and investigation to discover if our children and the system could benefit from a restructuring.
This... |
| Quote: | By George Morse- Seekonk Star
SEEKONK - It could bring in more than $400,000 a year but a few town officials aren’t quite sure a local option meals tax is right for Seekonk and its many restaurants.
At a Seekonk Board of Selectmen meeting in July, Town Administrator Michael Carroll provided estimates from the Massachusetts Department of Revenue (DOR) on how much the town could gain by implementing a meals... |
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The bos is trying to urge all boards and committees to televise their open meetings. The Board of Heath refuses. Vicki Kinniburgh says it would be inappropriate and irresponsible because discussions can be sensitive. Brady says too bad. People have every right to know what's going on. Kinnigburgh insisted that if us plebeians really knew what was happening that directly affects us, we would be sent into a panic. Gee, Vicki. You sure have a way to calm frayed nerves.
I agree with Brady. If a meeting is open to the public, it should be made available by every means possible. It's... |
Sun ChronicleThis article talks about the Selectman looking at either new trash bags or some other alternative. Apprently they are recieving compliants about bags breaking. While I have never had that issue, I have had problems where I go out in the morning and the garbage bag I palced out the night before (after 9:00 pm like the bi-laws state) have been chewed open by either a local dog, or some wild rodent. While the trash company has never given be any grief... |
For those of you who missed it Dave Parker was discussing the issues and costs related to the mandatory census we have to do every year for the state. I guess he is talking to state officials to find out why we have to incur that cost when we are the only state in the Union that requires it. In short he got a very beurocratic answer.
Mike B. then raised the question of what would happen if we just didn't do it? Then proceeded to go on a very nice rant about how we need to start drawing our lines in the sand when it comes to the state government bending us over.
I almost... |
Nobody wants their taxes to be raised including myself. But for many years we have enjoyed our low tax rate and execellent services that I feel the town provides on their limited budget. I find it to be very rigid thinking and a lack of common sense when some of our elected officials will not consider an override for specific departments. Their argument is if we do an override it has to be for all departments. Cannot pick & choose. Sounds good but lacks thinking out of the box. Public safety is something that we cannot over look. When our chiefs are stating that we need more man power, its... |
Does anyone know when the annual town report will be published? I think, thanks to Francis Cavaco, this report will include all salaries. |
I had the privilege of giving two of them a tour of my home yesterday.  |
Has the Seekonk Real Estate Market hit bottom? |
As of now there are six people who have put their names in to by appointed to the CPC. The selectman opted against picking names out of hats to instead interview the candidates. They will be interviewed July 8 at 6:00 at Town Hall.
If you are one of the six you should receive a letter in the mail telling you to show up. So if you do not get one by monday or Tuesday I would recommend contacting Michael Carol the Town Administrator. |
Today's Sun had an article about the 'great' results from the survey available at the town meeting (see below). I am suprised that the BOS was so thrilled with the results. Buried in the article is the fact that there were only 21 turned in. Sure hope the BOS, FinComm, department heads, and SC did not turn any in - that would have pretty much been all of them.
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Town meeting responses favorable to town
BY JOSEPH S. SIEGEL FOR THE SUN CHRONICLEThursday, June... |
| Quote: | SEEKONK - When State Representative George Peterson (R-9th Worcester) addressed the room at a Seekonk Republican Committee (SRC) sponsored breakfast last Saturday morning, he whispered “hello.”
Naturally, those on hand responded that they couldn’t hear him.
It was exactly the point Rep. Peterson wanted to make. After calling on his fellow GOP members to voice their opinion a little louder, he welcomed those in... |
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| Quote: | | SEEKONK - When the board of selectmen voted not to re-appoint former town veterans’ agent Donald Kinniburgh earlier this month, they said they had a plan. Both Town Administrator Michael Carroll and former selectmen chairman John Turner said they’d talked to town officials in Rehoboth who would be willing to regionalize and split the position of veterans’ agent between the two towns. Mr. Carroll said Rehoboth veterans’ agent William... |
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I would like to think that we are all very passionate when it comes to involving our children in youth sports. All of us are volunteers and we put our kids before us.
The President of Seekonk Youth Baseball needs our help. This is not about Soccer or Baseball, it is about our Town Government (yes...the one we all pay taxes towards in the theory that they represent us). Rules, regulations, and the unproductive stand of,”you are going to do it this way because WE said so”, have stifled the creativity, joy, and sense of accomplishment that every taxpaying resident of this town has felt... |
My third grader has MCAS this week, so in between tests they have down time. His teacher told him to make a creative drawing of whatever he wanted. He is a Star Wars fan, so he drew a picture of a bunch of Star Wars characters. Most of them had Light Sabers, but one had a lazer gun.
Because of the lazer gun, his teacher reported him to the school shrink, who he had to go meet with.
According to the shrink, the light sabers were not an issue, but lazer guns are not allowed to be drawn in school. Huh? Some logic....and clearly not a Star Wars fan because any Star Wars fan knows... |
"Madeline will bring a collaborative, approachable and quiet charismatic style of leadership to our town, with the ability to unify and build bridges between the schools, town and community." In other words, a complete change.  Can't wait to see the interview and get my own read on her. |
Any ideas where we are with that or what the process is? Town meeting will be here before we know it. |
| Quote: | By George Morse (Seekonk Star)
SEEKONK - The town may have just defeated a debt exclusion that would have cost about $40 a year and now a few citizens want to head back to the polls in April to ask for $29 a year.
On Monday night, John Alves, of River Street, appeared before the Seekonk Board of Selectmen to make a presentation of the Community Preservation Act (CPA). Mr. Alves is part... |
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I have a few notes to post as time allows today but I am curious if anyone watched a portion of the show on cable last night?
The committee is working on an overall multimedia policy and steps were taken over the past week to improve the filming/recording of the meetings.
If any feedback could be provided on the video/sound quality from last night it would be helpful. |
This is a suggestion for the BOS members who are on this board. I believe that a disclosure statement along with the tax bills would help explain the various components of the bill to the property owners. I think that it could take the tax rate that is being charged and break it down into the base property tax, each debt exclusion (refund, rebate, grant or whatever you want to call it), and now the CPA charge.
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It does not have to be on the tax bill, just a note included with the tax bill. Something like this. (numbers are examples only) |
Nice to see you on here Mr. Parker. Don't take us as seriously as we take ourselves. I would love to get to the bottom of the mystery 1.2 million dollar grant "reimbursement" for the Martin/SHS projects, or more specifically the tax rate applied to the tax payer for that specific exemption. I know you mentioned at the forum that the taxpayers are being reimbursed with that grant money, but based on my research, and emails with Bruce (whatever his last name is) that... |
Seekonk voters to decide tax hike to pay for refurbished fire station
BY JOSEPH S. SIEGEL FOR THE SUN CHRONICLEWednesday, April 15, 2009 2:20 AM EDT
Project, which would memoralize firefighter, to cost $750,000
SEEKONK - Plans are proceeding for refurbishing the Banna Memorial Fire Station, and the board of selectmen approved a town warrant article calling for a temporary tax increase to pay for the project.
If a debt exclusion were approved at May's town meeting, the issue then would go before the voters on a ballot.
Gary Sagar, a contractor who is working... |
The teachers contract is now posted on the school department's web site as a PDF file. |
....That the decision to make Mr Cavaco the new Chairman of the BOS is a political manuver to try and humiliate the man?
I like Francis, he works hard, he is always available to the residents, and he genuinly wants what is best for the town.
But let's face it, when it comes to his communication skills no one is ever going to compare him to Ronald Reagan or Barack Obama. That has always been his achilles heal, and I think certain members of the board know this. So why not set him up to look like an idiot in front of the town?
What do you guys think? |
This is the "Original and Unedited" letter to the editors. I am not responsible for their edits or typos.
PROCEEDS FROM THE SALE OF WATER MUST NEVER BE USED AS A SOURCE OF REVENUE TO CLOSE BUDGET GAPS IN SEEKONK.
I am Christine Allen and I am running for Water Commissioner in Seekonk.
There have been suggestions that the Town of Seekonk should take over the Water District. Not on my watch! It must remain its own separate entity. I have seen first hand the fighting that goes on over who gets the cash, town side or school side. The Water District should... |
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From the School Dept:
A Search Committee was recently appointed by the School Committee to interview candidates for the position of Superintendent of Schools. Eight candidates were interviewed last week. Three names have been forwarded as finalists to the Seekonk School Committee. They are Dr. Elizabeth Zielinski, Mr. Kelly Clenchy and Ms. Madeline Meyer.
This evening the School Committee will hold its organizational meeting at 7:00 p.m. in the library at Seekonk High School followed by one interview - Dr. Zielinski. The other two candidates will be interviewed on Saturday,... |
| Quote: | Four to seek two Seekonk selectman's seats
BY JOSEPH S. SIEGEL FOR THE SUN CHRONICLEWednesday, February 18, 2009
2:11 AM EST
SEEKONK - There will be four candidates vying for two seats on the
board of selectmen for the April 6 election. Selectmen John Turner
and John Whelan are running for re-election. Their current three-year
terms will expire in April.
Town Moderator Dave Parker, the... |
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 [ Poll ] Once again I find myself conflicted about whom to vote for - not happy with current BOS members running and not happy with new candidates either...I'm setting up a poll to see how voters are leaning...  Four to seek two Seekonk selectman's seats BY JOSEPH S. SIEGEL FOR THE SUN CHRONICLEWednesday, February 18, 2009 2:11 AM EST SEEKONK - There will be four candidates vying for two seats on the board of selectmen for the April 6 election. Selectmen John Turner |
I know this question can be asked to the Town Assessor or the Tax Collector...but what do homeowners do when the value of their home is now less than the town's recent valuation? I've never been in this situation before  ..do I file for an abatement of some kind? Do I need to ask for a re-assessment of the property? Isn't everyone going to be doing this??? Could this significantly affect this year's revenues from property taxes? |
Does anyone know the particulars of this wording change for Mixed Use Zone? I saw the Letter to the Editor in the Seekonk Star by the Harts, urging residents to attend. Dut to scheduling conflicts, I may not be able to attend but would like some advance info if anyone is familiar. The letter on page 6 was addressed to all Seekonk residents who live on or near Rt 44 or Rt 6 in the Mixed Use Zone. The last paragraph urging support of the changes sounds to me like they are going to tighten up/restrict what can be done in this zone. If that's the case I'm all for it.
Update: the discussion... |
Just an update. The Chief of Police will be attending, Francis Cavaco has confirmed that he and possibly John Turner will be attending. I am pretty sure there will be at least two members of the SC attending as well. FinComm is aware, I know they have discussed it, but noone has officially confirmed that they will attend, also I believe there are other town committees that are planning to attend.
Here is the list of topics that have been put together to broadly cover the issues we have in town. If anyone has a specific question within these topics they would like placed on the official... |
Just a reminder everyone that the Seekonk Open Forum is still on for March 19
from 6-9 at the Public Library.
We are hoping to get a good turnout so we can hold more of these in the future.
Myself and Paul Buckley were at the SC meeting last night to formally invite the
members to the meeting and handing out information about the Forum to those in
attendance.
This is your chance to get away from the computer, and out in front of our town
leaders to voice your concerns and opinions.
Hope to see everyone there!
Mike |
I'm assuming this would apply to Seekonk as well, that a meals tax would be well-funded by all the eating establishments in Seekonk, but we wouldn't necessarily reap the full benefit of it.
Excerpt from the Sun Chronicle:
NORTH ATTLEBORO - A statewide meals and rooms tax would not be the boon to the town that it should be because the money would not be distributed to communities that collect it, Town Administrator Mark Fisher says.
Concerns about the 1 percent meals and rooms tax proposed by Gov. Deval Patrick were among the issues selectmen discussed with the town's... |
Much of this info is included in the Document that Tom posted as I too was hammering Bruce for details. I imagine he is wondering what the heck is going on...lol http://seekonkrepublicans.blogspot.com/2009/01/seekonks-backdoor-override.html |
Bill Rice is a candidate for the Seekonk Planning Board. He moved to Oak Hill Avenue from Barrington five years ago with his wife, Martha Rice Sanders to enjoy the rural quality of the town. Bill regularly attends meetings of the Seekonk Conservation Commission and Planning Board to understand how Seekonk manages land development. Along the way he’s learned that many residents are overwhelmed by the pace of development in the town and that they seek ways to assert some control over the loss of open space and the changing nature of the rural environment in Seekonk.
He understands... |
Hello,
I am looking for a house to rent in Seekonk. If anyone knows of one could you please post a message for me? Looking for $1400.00 or under / month.
PS - How do I turn off the playlist on this site?
Thanks!! |
Come in person to Johnson and Wales or call in bids while watching Cable 9 coverage. http://www.seekonksaveapet.org/home.html - check out the list of items! Different list each night.   |
I'm curious: is anyone interested in the idea of starting HS at 10 am instead of 8? Sports, extracurriculars etc. could be run in the mornings. The kids who need sleep could sleep in (teenagers' biological clocks run on a later schedule). Or is this just some crazy idea I had after reading this? Also, is there a School Committee meeting agenda out? Is there any reason we can't have these posted on the Seekonk Schools site BEFORE the meeting? Argh. |
| Quote: | Seekonk: Rep. D’Amico Office Hours
01:00 AM EST on Tuesday, January 27, 2009
SEEKONK - Rep. D’Amico will hold office hours Feb. 2 from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. at Seekonk Library, 410 Newman Ave. During this time, constituents are welcome to stop by and share any concerns they may have. |
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Via EastBayRIFor about the last five years, the Knights of Columbus Council 5108, based in Seekonk, has held a free throw basketball tournament at either Pleasant Street School or Seekonk High School. The competition allows boys and girls between the ages of 8 and 14 to come out and show what they’ve got from 15 feet away in the hope of advancing to a statewide final and possibly winning a scholarship.
When Council 5108 member Norman Bowlin asked to use Pleasant Street school this... |
I have received the debt exclusion schedule from Bruce Alexander (Finance Director) and uploaded it. You can see it by going to this link ( Debt Exclusion Table) It is a PDF documents and I have added some totals and calculations to the original document to assist. There are a couple of points that should get your interest. 1) The school projects have reimbursement dollars. This serves to lower the total impact of debt... |
The Seekonk Lions Club will hold a regular meeting Jan. 15 at 7 p.m. at Bugaboo Creek Steak House, Fall River Avenue (Route 6). The quest speaker will be vice district governor Ray Hebert who will discuss District 33S events. Anyone interested in learning more about Lions Club activities can visit www.SeekonkLions.org or contact Nate Helgerson, (508) 336-3637. Also, anyone who has used eyeglasses or hearing aides that they would like to donate are asked to contact a Lions member. |
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