Town of Braintree

Want to be acknowledged for thinking out of the box? Here's my idea that doesn't take rocket scientists to understand, but at least it shows you care if in fact you do?
Ackerman, paid $95,000, is leaving us the end of next month. There have been names bandied about who should replace her in the interim. Some might work, others - God help us! We've got a DPW Director who appears to be riding aimlessly about town not really performing up to his $90,000 salary these days. Suggest to our Selectmen that for the interim period until Town Meeting tackles the idea of a Town Manager that our DPW Director be given the added duties of Executive Secretary and Personnel Director AT THE SAME SALARY. For six to twelve months, we could save the salaries of these two outgoing officials ($160,000 plus or minus)and hire a couple of cops and couple of firefighters during that interim. The Selectman Chairman could aid and abet the new interim leader in making the decisions and daily chores of Ackerman and Diamond. That's what a Town Manager would be doing anyways, so why not pull together, save some money and give it a try? Makes sense to this writer.

Behind Scenes Games Played?

Great idea, anonymous, and we should expect nothing short from our Selectmen with such an idea, but will it have a chance of happening? I say no because I've already learned of the games being played by some of our Selectmen. McAuliffe and Hubbard along with Ryan are posturing for Ms. Kay in the Selectmen's Office to step up and replace Ackerman. All Egan wants is to politicize whatever way necessary to get his brother hired here as a cop, so he'd support his colleagues to ensure that happening along with cavorting with Chief Frazier to make it happen. That leaves us with Koko who wants to be Chairman again this next year, so he would like to appoint the DPW director or one of the downstairs managers into the interim seat so he can control the flow. Watch this game being played out over the next few weeks. Be ever so wary of McAuliffe who is feverishly working his colleagues the best way he knows how and that's behind the scenes. He did it with his buddy Reynolds for the Water Sewer job. It's all about control and power with these snakes in the grass and we outsiders looking in are being played as fools by accepting whatever they decide as best for Braintree!

By Herb

Better yet

They should all resign and give the voters a clean slate

fly on the wall

Word around the halls are that the Personnel Board is going full speed ahead to appoint a new Director. They feel the position is crucial to the town and they can't wait until May.

Talk around the BOS office is that Ryan and Hubbard are pushing for Sue Kay, Kokoros wasnts to do it himself, Tim Egan is pushing to give an exisiting dept head a chance to show off his or her abilities. Bill Hedlund's name has been mentioned as well as Kinsherf but Kinsherf isn't interested, and McAuliffe is working under cover for an unkown. McMahon or Egan's brother hasn't been mentioned at all.


I'm inclined to give Egan's idea a shot because it saves money and lets someone who is knowledgable about the way our town prove his worth until town meeting makes a decision.