Brian Johnson is wasting at least $100,000 the town does not have and needs to borrow.
According to an investigation by the Holland Blog, the Dump Truck Brian Johnson intends to replace has only one serious problem, the back of the dump body is rusted out due to a lack of proper maintenance. The truck has only 60K miles and could serve the town just fine for another 10 years if alternative solutions would be considered.
Instead, Brian Johnson wants to spend $172,525 on a new dump truck,
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Comments:
Posted on 5 Jun 2010, 9:33 by ?Pressure washer
I am glad that Mr. Carling thinks that a pressure washer is a good idea. From what I have heard a pressure washer is all that Mr. Carling will be able to operate. He does not have any of the licenses to operate most of the equipment.
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Posted on 5 Jun 2010, 12:02 by LCM
VOTE
Vote your pocketbooks, and vote the bum out. Not just for the reasons given in this posting, but for his overall performance or lack of. Look at the roads, think about paying this guy a pension for the rest of his life for what he does. Think about the other goings on in Holland. A vote to retain him will be like awarding incompetence and corruption with a lifetime pension.
Vote your pocketbook, vote for change. Vote for Carling.
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Posted on 5 Jun 2010, 14:06 by Neutral
To: Pressure Washer
It is my understanding that Carling does have heavy eqipment licenses....
But simply has not had a need to use them in a number of years so they are inactive.
They ate expensive to keep up if you are not using them, so if it were me, I would choose to save money by not shelling out money for licenses I wasn't currently using too. But in reality... Being able to operate heavy equipment doesn't make you a manager, an analyst, or even capable of running a budget and scheduling routine maintenance on equipment. Clearly Brian has proved that point for all of us!
I do believe Mr. Carling does have a business backgound as well as money management
skills that the position of Highway Surveyor calls for. In addition, he can easily activate or obtain any equipment licences he might need.
In this economy Holland needs to watch every penny. We need a manager
not a grunt equipment operator that just looks after private roads that are only used by Brian's friends at the Rod and Gun Club or the Beagle Club!
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Posted on 6 Jun 2010, 9:09 by ?
Gun/Beagle Club
Know your facts Neutral. I am pretty sure that both of those roads are public. not private.
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Posted on 6 Jun 2010, 12:12 by Peter Frei
Not true..
To "by ?" another commenter who is afraid to post comments under his name.
The Town Clerk is the official who is in charge to know which roads are public and which roads are private.
According to the town clerk, Kristine LaPlante, the first 1.5 miles of Union Road, starting at Mashapaug Road is a public, the rest is a private road. This makes sense as there are no houses beyond that point. It is also the point where the old and abandoned Union Road splits off to the left.
As far as the Beagle Club is concerned, it just happened that I followed the town truck to take the picture of the back of the dump body when two workers of the Highway Department drove up to the end of Bennett Road. From the end of Bennett Road, there is a steep dirt way leading up to a private residence and further up into the woods is the Palmer Beagle Club. The work the Highway Department did on that way was limited to the steep hill and the drive way up to the residence of Kevin & Judith Knight, 29 Bennett Road. The Knights sold their previous residence at 65 Union Road to Todd Mayo & Amy Settle.
Those who know "who is who" in Holland will get the connection.
Back to the "road improvement" to the Bennett Road "extension" that took place this past week:
Gravel and tar is the perfect material to re-surface ways. It is hardly used in Holland and I was surprised that the Holland Highway Department even uses it. The way up to the Knight residence was re-surfaced with this material. The same material was used on the stretch of way up to the house but not the rest of the way to the Beagle Club.
I have not personally witnessed the work done to the part of the way that is not in common use by the Beagle Club and the Knight's residence and the visitors to their residence. It could be coincidence that the same material was used on the way leading up to the garage door of the Knight residence.
It is just amazing to me to see which attention certain stretches of private ways do get just based on the fact who or what is at the end of these ways (Holland Rod and Gun Club).
I don't believe that our road-ways are falling apart just because of a lack of funding. If that is the case, why even have and pay for a Highway Department?
The picture to the right is a picture of the way leading from Bennett Road up to the Knight’s residence and the Beagle Club. I don’t drive around and look for these things. I was just following the yellow Town Dump Truck to get a picture and ended up on Bennett Road. In all my 24 years I live in Holland, I have never been up that way.
Here is a picture of the way that leads up to the Knight residence with address 29 Bennett Road.
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Posted on 6 Jun 2010, 23:47 by Neutral
To:?
HA!!
Get YOUR facts straight!
And don't vote for Brian Johnson if you want the more heavily used, and PUBLIC roads maintained!
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Posted on 27 Jan 2011, 16:51 by Peter Frei
?
To author "?," (first comment).
It is funny that you insinuated before Brian Johnson was re-elected that licenses are a necessary requirement to work on the Highway Department. Isn't it funny how time puts everything into prospective?
Does the Highway Department now own a pressure washer?
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