I have to admit, I never thought I’d be involved with one of THOSE groups. You know the ones, they come to meetings at the town and disagree with anything other than the status quo? They are disagreeable, just be disagreeable?
We’ll, I’ve joined one of those groups. But, this group is different. We base our action on facts and reasonable opinions based on being informed and making resonable assumptions. We then get involved to try and shape policy and support candidates for our government that represent what we feel is best for our town. We don’t plan to go to board meetings and chant slogans, no secret handshakes, no inflammatory commentary or personal attacks; just calm sensible public discourse.
This new group is called “Vernon Residents for Sensible Government," or VRSG for short. Why did we form? Basically we don’t like the way our current Town Board is handling our relationship with Big Bend, among other things. Read my blogs below to find out more.... Like I’ve said before, we as a town can benefit greatly by sharing costs with our neighbors. Our board has decided unanimously to not share fire and rescue services with the Village of Big Bend. We’ve been doing this cost effectively for more than 40 years! In fact our current fire department has a cost per resident that among the lowest in the county.
Anyway, you can get more details by reading this blog and, possibly, by attending Town Board meetings. In addition, VRSG is planning on holding an informational meeting on March 3rd at 6:30 at the Big Bend Lion’s Club near the Village Hall. This is the time and place for you to get your questions answered and to get the information you need to make an informed decision. If you can’t make that meeting, a summary of the proceedings will be posted to this blog.
Oh, by the way, you don’t need to agree with us to attend the meeting. Please come to offer your opinion. We respect everyone’s opinion; we’re all in this together and some will disagree with us. That’s OK! We can still be friends and neighbors. Quite frankly, I would enjoy having those who disagree attend the meeting and provide information to support the Town Board. If you show up, you’ll be provided an opportunity to speak and not be treated with anything but respect. Sometimes we all need some alternative perspective.
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
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I have lived in the Town of Vernon for over 30 years. I am a land owner and business owner. I watch all the meetings on Channel 25, so I feel I am reasonably informed and have been able to form opinions about issues and personalities of our elected offcials. Why is Mr. Reilly allowed to make comments about "his opponent" during his annoucements period? Mr. Reilly ignores the Chairman when "point of order" is sited to him. Should Mr. Rilley's "opponent" now be granted equal time before the tv cameras? Is this legal campaigning? Please note that I have elected to be anonymous, to be honest I'm afraid of retribution from some of the existing board members.
ReplyDeleteSocialism comes to the Town of Vernon --
ReplyDeleteJust think about that statement for a minute....
Socialism comes to the Town of Vernon.....
You think I am nuts???? Do the math... Something the Town Board isn't good at...
Ok, these guys get in office last April. Since then they have done the following...
1. Removed Marilyn Gauger from the Fire Board.
2. Mike Doble leaves the Fire Board because Supervisor Bill Craig has it out for him.
3. Because of the "New" direction of the Town Board, Supervisor Gary Finch leaves the Town Board in June. Smart move on his part, I wouldn't want to be part of it either...
4. This new Town Board wipes out the Plan Commission from a 5 citizen/2 board member group to a new 2 citizen/3 board member group. Sounds like control to me and I still believe it is illegal.
5. Look at all the people these so called "elected officials" have gone after.... Marilyn Gauger, Mike Doble, Cathy Bronk, Carol Shea, Chief Buchholtz, Big Bend President James Soneberg and here is the kicker, they appoint Dan Sherbarth to the Fire Board last summer to fill Mike Doble's spot. He sees what the Town Board is doing and starts to question them. These "elected officals" then remove him after only serving a few months because Dan Sherbarth disagrees with them. This is nuts...
So lets do the math...
Joe Reilly+Tom Bird+Bill Craig+Kurt Barikmo+Fred Michalek= Socialism......
These people want complete control of everything. The Town Board, Plan Commission, Fire Department, Public Works and Park and Rec..
And based off of the articles I have read in the paper, if these so called "elected officals" had their way, they would take over the Village of Big Bend too.
Socialism??? You bet... Everything is run by these five guys because they know best for Vernon... remember that when you Vote for Reilly or Barikmo in April...
If you don't believe me, watch comedy channel 25 every first and third Thursday of the month. Reruns are available at the Vernon Town Hall and are worth watching to see the Elected Official in action...
These comments were brought to you by a citizen who believes in the Republic and not the "State of Vernon"...
I would just like to explain my position on leaving the Fire Board. In May of 2009 when I showed up at the Town Board meeting to be reappointed to the Fire Board, Mr. Craig made a motion to not reappoint me. His motion died due to a lack of a second. (Just minutes before his motion to not reappoint Marilyn Gauger was seconded and approved by a majority vote.)
ReplyDeleteA motion was made to reappoint me that was seconded and approved by majority vote. The day after that meeting I started contacting Mr. Craig to see if we could meet to answer some of his questions and to find out why he wanted me gone. I made several attempts to contact Mr. Craig via email and once on the phone. When we did speak, he refused to meet.
Then I went to the Town Chair to try and arrange a meeting with Mr. Craig; I work for these guys I might as well know what is bugging Mr. Craig. During the next two weeks while I tried to arrange a meeting, Mr. Craig was in the paper basically ragging on Marilyn Gauger on how she broke rules, etc. basically calling her out and trying to justify his pushing to not have her reappointed.
So, when I finally did arrange a meeting to address Mr. Craig’s concerns the meeting was between Marilyn Gauger, Fred Michalek, Bill Craig and myself. We went line by line down his list of concerns and addressed each concern and explained exactly why specific actions were taken. It became clear in this meeting that we/I was not going to make Bill happy. He did NOT accept any of our explanations and it became clear to me that he was not going to rest until both of our characters were challenged and if he had his way, assassinated. The final straw was when he questioned my honesty. I handed my prepared resignation letter to Fred Michalek right there on the spot. I guess I knew going in that I would not be able to get past his hard head. He wanted us gone and he was not going to stop until we were.
So, when it’s said that he asked pertinent questions, yes he did. Marilyn Gauger and I supplied specific answers based on common practice and procedures of the Fire Board. NEVER was any action taken that was not in the best interest of the community OTHER than me resigning. As I said before I regret leaving and not finishing the job – but in retrospect I would have been removed anyway, much like Dan Sherbarth.