Continution of the 2009 Annual Town Meeting.

Tonight, June 18, 2009, was the continuation of the annual town meeting that was held back on May 26, 2009.
The meeting started with a presentation by Karen Leveille, Real Estate Officer of HAP, phone 413 233-1721. Karen Leveille informed the present voters of the proposed Senior Housing Project. The presentation lasted about 10 minutes.

The gist of the presentation is also described in a flyer that was available to the voters; to see the flyer, click here!

Renters will be allowed to have pets.
The entire budget and Article # 24 was accepted by the app. 60 voters who attended the meeting.

While town moderator William Hardy read line item by line item, only two voters had a question and two line items were put on hold.

The first line item that was questioned was the increase of the salary for JoAnne Higgins, Assistant Assessor, from $24,600 for FY2009, to $30,215 for FY2010. Selectmen Earl Johnson explained that JoAnne Higgins was doing a terrific job and that she is worth even more...

The second line item that was questioned was the line item “Town Counsel Expense” which increased from $2,000 for FY2009 to $25,000 for FY2010. Chairman of the Board of Selectmen, James Wettlaufer, explained that the increase of the line item was due to continuing litigation by “two individuals, James LaMountain and Peter Frei.”

In an interview with Christopher Tanguay published in the Southbridge Evening News on February 4, 2009, Wettlaufer claimed that the town had already spent $100,000 on “what he [Wettlaufer] estimates to be five lawsuits filed by Frei over the years.”

Wettlaufer: “It’s an unfortunate thing the taxpayer has to deal with this, [. . .] if there’s any way to go back and cover the cost of our legal fees we will vigorously do so.”

Good luck Mr. Wettlaufer, as long as my legitimate suits are adjudicated in my favor and the town is repeatedly found guilty of denying me my rights, your statement is just an excuse intended to spread the myth that you and other corrupt town officials involved would operate within the laws.

Wettlaufer is right; it is unfortunate that the taxpayer has to deal with this by footing the bill for Wettlaufer’s and Johnson’s frivolous suits against James LaMountain and the frivolous defense against my legitimate suits!

The individual asking the question was Nancy Talbot, tax collector and mother of Derrick Talbot.

Derrick Talbot bought two lots off of Forest Park Drive for $100. According to Derrick, the previous owners owed back taxes and his mother suggested to the previous owners that she would give them a little something if they would convey the property over to her son instead of losing it through the tax-title procedure.

To see the deed, documenting the transaction, click here! According to the deed, the taxpayer got screwed three times; first by not getting any back-taxes paid, second by not having a chance to bid on the property, and third by getting cheated out of the funds the property would have sold for if sold through auction as required by law.

The deed speaks for itself, Mr. Wettlaufer and Nancy Talbot would like you to believe that this is all fiction... Wettlaufer calls it misinformation...

It is fair to assume that Nancy Talbot does not need to ask questions during annual town meetings to get informed, after all she works at the town hall. The question was staged to give Wettlaufer an opportunity to indoctrinate voters — James LaMountain & Peter Frei costing the taxpayer money, therefore they are bad — and Nancy Talbot was more than willing to do it. Back on May 8, 2009, James LaMountain posted a comment with the title “Derrick Talbot We miss you!!” on the Holland Blog and thereby made the Talbot’s “fortune” public.

Part time officer Eric Stanley from Dudley was sworn in on Wednesday, June 17, 2009. He introduced himself to the voters present at the meeting with a short speach. He seems to be a real nice guy and I think acting chief of police Brian C. Haughey made a good choice.

Peter Frei