Comments on: ‘Temporary Fix’ Planned to Reopen Fishing Pier in March

By: Mike Kuzma, Jr

Mike Kuzma, Jr — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 16:05:29 +0000

Actually, reading the contract, it appears that: within the “As is, where is” clause, Echelon bought the court in toto, along with the rest of the property, and that furthermore in “Exhibit B” to Purchase Contract, it specifically EXCLUDED the Town reclaiming the backboards by omission in the last line stating:

“5. A small wooden shed between the playground and the BASKETBALL COURT.”

It is here that an exclusion regarding removal of “personal property” would be noted, as Clause B under Item #1 recognizes Exhibit B as being all inclusive of the “personal property.”

From reading this, it appears that the Town has reduced Echelon’s costs by at least the cost of removing the backboards.

And after talking to some of my coworkers, it is our opinion — only an opinion — that seeing as how the Town removed the backboards after closing, and they were not excluded in the contract, basically the Town stole them. See, if they were excluded, #5 on Exhibit B would read: “a small wooden shed between the playground and basketball court; said court appurtances above grade level also to be excluded from the sale.”

Frankly, item #5 simply missed memorializing said appurtenances.

As a postscript, I do not mean to imply that the Town did anything ‘illegal’, it is simply a way of describing the end result. There is no inference of nefarious intent on the town, its employees or the Public Works employees whom did the work.

By: Deborah Bender

Deborah Bender — Wed, 16 Jan 2013 15:00:20 +0000

It is pretty impossible to get any sort of straight HONEST answer from our town manager. Last fall I personally was told by a town employee that was on the job removing the entrance to the playground that the purpose of taking down the archway to the playground was to paint it. BIG LIE! The archway stood leaning against the old school for months and never did get painted.

We basically have no say in what is done in our town.
We basically have no say in what is spent in our town.
No open government honesty, no government transparency.
We just get to hear what the town is going to do, spend, etc.
NO VOICE AT ALL!

By: Mary Finney

Mary Finney — Wed, 16 Jan 2013 14:11:18 +0000

After reading the contract referred to by Ms. Arcos, I also did not see any mention of the basketball hoops, nor any requirement that the Town be responsible for their removal. Furthermore, there seems to be specific language regarding Echelon’s requirement to carry proper insurance which would protect the Town from any liability should any injury or damage occur on their purchased property. (At least, that is the sense that I got from the above referenced contract, not being a lawyer myself.) Which is interesting since I recall one of the excuses given by the Town as to why Town employees were being used to do labor that appeared to be the job of Echelon was a fear of law suits if someone got hurt using those basketball hoops… I am sorry to see that the tone of secrecy, misdirection, and misinformation appears to be continuing on the part of the Town administration. I think we would all like to know WHY.

By: David Boyd

David Boyd — Tue, 15 Jan 2013 21:06:16 +0000

Despite a specific list of items that would be removed from the premises that was included at the end of the contract document, I saw no mention of any requirement to remove the basketball hoops.

Sounds like a bit of misdirection on Miss Arcos’ part.