On October 3, 2005 Kirk Richards of the Dispatch wrote an article about Valleyview.

He wrote,''The most vocal of the four was Irene White, determined to oust longtime mayor Mike Russolillo.'' I did!!
The coward resigned.

I did not move to West Virgina to be closer to my family, most of my family lived in or near Columbus. I moved because I and my property were threatened. What are the big bad men afraid of? One woman?

Paul Parrish said, ''Things are being addressed.'' The large issues are gone.

Of course the big issues are gone. Like residents having to pay back IRS, pension funds, Workman's Comp., and bills that should have been paid with incoming funds. No one but me wanted to face that big issue. We still don't know where it went but it came from the police officier's pockets.

Resident Craig Smith, who frequently went to council meetings to protest the previous leadership, said, ''there seens to be little reason for anyone to show up these days.''

Smith very seldom attended meetings and if he did he didn't say anything.

No wonder, as I was told they do what they want. That is why no one goes to meetings.

Smith said, It's back to how it used to be in the good old days.''

God have mercy on the residents. Smith is a very good friend of Russolillo, Watkins, and Hellwege. Happy times must be back for these.

Watkins said, Obviously, they're, comfortable. They is his reasoning as to way residents don't come to meetings. The reason is that the people know that with a man such as Watkins and council backing him, they are lost. No one wants to speak against someone who threatens his opponant with arson as he did me.

You can't take Hellwege's word for anything. He sent flyers through the mail saying he sold property that doesn't even exist to boost his reputation. Isn't it illegal to send fraudulent things through the mail? I still have the flyers and called the auditor to verify the addresses.

Valleyview sure has a winning team !

Things Are Better

Ms. White wrote:

''Paul Parrish said, 'Things are being addressed.' The large issues are gone.

Of course the big issues are gone. Like residents having to pay back IRS, pension funds, Workman's Comp., and bills that should have been paid with incoming funds. No one but me wanted to face that big issue. We still don't know where it went but it came from the police officier's pockets.''

The IRS, the pension funds and Workman's Comp were paid by the Village. The last to be settled was the IRS debt. The Village went to court to recover funds to pay for that debt. Former Clerk-Treasurers did not do their jobs and pay the Village's bills in a timely manner. They did not steal the money, they just did not pay the bills. It cost each of the Clerk-Treasurers thousands of dollars to pay back the Village the penalties and interest that the Village incurred. The Bonding Company for the two Clerk-Treasurers also paid the Village a portion of the penalties and interest.

Other than not knowing their jobs I believe there was no malicious intent to harm the Village. They made mistakes and they paid for them.

From everything that I have seen on the books of the Village and from audits performed no money was ever stolen from the Village. The funds always remained with the Village. The books of the Village showed an inflated balance with money that was put into savings CD's that should have been used to pay the bills. Yes, the Village had the money, but it should have never been put in savings when it should have been used to pay the bills as they were incurred.

Again, I believe Ms. White wants to single out a few individuals when I believe that there was a much larger crowd to be held responsible.

If the Village Council had been doing the proper oversight the bills would have been caught sooner and the penalties and interest incurred would have been less. If the Clerk-Treasurers had paid the bills as they should have the Village would not have incurred the penalties and interest. If the Mayor had taken the time to make sure that the Clerk-Treasurers knew their jobs and also provided some oversight the Village would not have incurred the penalties and interest.

There are quite a few people at fault, not just two or three.

Things are better in the Village now. The finances are in much better shaped and the bills are up to date. It will only happen when people do their respective jobs. I hope that while I was on Council the safeguards that I helped put in place will help protect the Village in the future, but they will only work if the Council monitors the finances as they are required by the law and that the Fiscal Officer gives timely reports to the Council and pays the bills on time, and if the Mayor submits an accurate budget that can be supported by the revenue of the Village.

Residents still need to take an interest in what is going on in the Village. There are ways for residents to have their grievences addressed, either with or without Council. The law affords the residents many options to make sure that Council is listening them.

Dispatch Article

The Dispatch Article that Ms. White is referring to is on the front page of the website under the community pages. The title is:

Dispatch Article 10-03-05

Thought you might want to read the article to understand some of her comments.