'Trust but verify'
Posted: Wednesday, August 28, 2013 6:00 am
Everyone on Morrisville Borough Council agrees recently proposed projects are needed. Some are identified as energy-efficient, and those savings are to cover the annual cost of the $1.25 million loan needed to fund the nearly $1.4 million contract. What happens if the savings are not enough to cover the cost?For the last year and a half, three council members have repeatedly requested information regarding how this project was to proceed. Sadly, council leadership and the administration have withheld essential information from council members. This includes the contract, even though there are problems with the contract that need to be addressed. These include providing the cost for each of the improvements and other provisions required by law.
Debbie Smith, councilwoman
Morrisville Borough
As elected officials, we have a responsibility to see that expenditures comply with all applicable laws and regulations and are in the best interest of our residents. Full disclosure with open discussion at public meetings is essential to assure we have all the information to make informed decisions for the betterment of the town. In the words of a former president, "trust but verify."
As elected officials, we have a responsibility to see that expenditures comply with all applicable laws and regulations and are in the best interest of our residents. Full disclosure with open discussion at public meetings is essential to assure we have all the information to make informed decisions for the betterment of the town. In the words of a former president, "trust but verify."Morrisville Borough
31 comments:
I wish I could trust or verify anything in this letter, but I can't.
Is there any truth to any of this? 1.5 years of asking, no contract provided, essential information withheld? That would be bad if it were true, but I have a hard time believing it. Can someone shed some light on this? It doesn't havre to be LED light, just any light at all.
Ronald Reagan also said "There you go again", and "Facts are stupid things", and "Trees cause more pollution than automobiles do", and "I am not worried about the deficit. It is big enough to take care of itself".
This woman has only voted AGAINST things without bringing anything at all to the table. She has proven herself to be a total waste of a vote in the right direction over and over again.
I don't buy any of her excuses for not doing the right thing. My guess is that she has been hearing some crap about her public obstructionism & she feels she has to make excuses for it.
I find it hard to believe that essential information was withheld from the very people that it's desired to get a yes vote from. That doesn't even make sense.
On any subject, she is able to contact Mr. Bates & Mr. Seward with any questions she may have, any information she may need, but chooses to wait for the dais, then complains. I am so tired of this. On the night of a vote is not the time to ask questions that have been answered over and over again. I have watched council meetings long enough to see her in action for some time. She asks a question at the council meeting to have it on camera and her question is answered. But the next meeting she will ask the question again and it will be answered again. And on and on. It happens so often that I use it as my time to use the bathroom, feed the dog, etc, because it's the same every time. It reminds me so much of what Jane Burger used to do when she was on council.
Do your homework & stop blaming everyone else for your incompetence.
Morrisville cannot afford inactive, obstructionists, yet it keeps electing them.
"Sadly, council leadership and the administration have withheld essential information from council members."
If this is found to be false, can she be sued for this statement?
Maybe, but why bother suing? Reasonable people do the right things for the right reasons, and don't have a hair trigger for lawsuits. Just because someone doesn't sue doesn't mean what she's saying is true.
I, and we as a community, can't sort out these squabbles from here. We shouldn't have to. We should have reasonable people who can gather solid info and make informed decisions based on it, not ideologies, or delusions, or falsehoods. We lack enough of that.
Based on the preponderance of the "evidence" to date, I'm coming down on the side of I don't doveryai what Debbie Smith is saying. That's not a good feeling, given that she's my 3rd Ward Councilperson.
this is the most ridiculous thing to constantly say you do not receive information you do not have the answers to your questions and vote NO to everything just to say NO. put on your big girl panties and do the job you were elected to do and that means push for answers obtain documents and read through materials when you receive and vote responsibly and independently not just how someone on the outside looking in tells you or you need to step down and get out of that seat that could be held by someone more responsible
AMEN! I call on all of the supposed leaders of the town to either start handling the job and everything that goes with it, or GTFO. There's a lot less shame in resigning than there is in remaining over some misguided sense of pride.
Can we do a recall of any of these people? Is there a way for the rest of the town to recall a ward councilperson not their own? I'd get behind an effort to oust these obstructionist hacks and get some real leaders in place that can make change happen.
I'm always puzzled when people practically broadcast their incompetence, proudly, as if it's somehow a good thing.
It happens a lot around here.
She claims to never have seen the contract, but cites specific problems with it. She contradicts herself in the same sentence. If after all this time, you don't have the information you need, it's your own damn fault. How is waiting to be spoonfed demonstrating any kind of ability or leadership. Come on and step up or GTFO!! This crap needs to end.
Ward 3 voters remember. Debbie Smith supports crime
"Everyone on Morrisville Borough Council agrees recently proposed projects are needed."
So she says she knows that work needs to be done, yet offers no solutions and when solutions are presented to her, she votes against them.
When I was a kid my dad used to say not to measure a person by what they say, but by what they do.
Debbie Smith never brought up any genuine concerns during meetings. She just said no to everything, and complained. Debbie: do your homework, learn what you need to, and if you still don't get it, don't throw the taxpayers under the bus. If you do not like this project, get over it. It was passed and we are committed. Voting against it just puts the Borough at risk. Make sure the contract is fulfilled (if you can understand it) and keep the taxpayers safe from financial harm.
If you would learn to be cooperative, maybe you could hear and understand what is going on.
People of lesser intelligence often use the excuse that they weren't given information, but the fact is that they didn't understand the information they got, and didn't know how to clarify it.
Don't give this woman a partner in November, vote for Fred Kerner!
At their first opportunity, Smith and her friends got rid of one of the top firms in PA and replaced them with Mr. Downey's firm.
In this article Debbie Smith is essentially saying that our current solicitor is not competent enough to negotiate a contract.
This is the solicitor she and her friends hired him.
Good point above. Has the Solicitor expressed concern? If there were problems, shouldn't he say so? I believe that he has given his blessing of the contract and the process. All signs point to this being a good project.
If this is all shady, shouldn't Debbie be questioning his legal advice on the contract? He is a good source to "verify" its content. I don't expect my council members to be lawyers. That is why we pay for a solicitor, for legal protection. Why isn't she pointing at him if she thinks he has led us down an illegal path?
And remember, Downey's firm is Republican, a contributor to Debbie Smith's campaign and her choice as Solicitor.
Maybe this isn't politics at all, maybe it's just people who never got past the two year old NO stage, and never learned to share or cooperate.
1 comment:
sally19067 posted at 6:09 pm on Wed, Aug 28, 2013.
Posts: 7
Debbie Smith has never trusted, so she has never taken the next step to verify. It has been over a year and she has not been able to grasp the concepts of this project. She has had ample time and opportunity to "verify", but she has never done so. I have come to believe that she is not bright enough to comprehend the issue or the contract.
Perhaps she could have let her usual NO stand relax a bit, and she could have learned what she needed to know.
She takes the obstructionist way, and thinks she is going rogue.
Is this the same solicitor worob wants back on school board
Same firm (Begley, Carlin, & Mandio).
I think council the administration has been working on this project for two years.
Since the beginning, even I have known that in the case of any shortfall of funds, the company itself, Johnson Controls, eats the cost. This was one of their selling points. This question was asked then and answered. I was at that meeting and so was Debbie Smith. I have heard this same question being asked and answered several times since then.
'Trust but verify'
Doesn't sound like Debbie Smith did either of these things.
I'm no big fan of Ronald Reagan, but he must be spinning in his grave to have such a callow unworthy person invoking his name.
Sorry everyone. I'm a 3rd warder and I didn't vote for her. Our bad.
She only won by three votes. Shows how important it is to vote.
I didn't vote for her. She sucks as a councilperson and should feel bad for her ineptitude. She is a great example of a person who should resign in order to let a more willing and qualified person take the role.
It also amazes me that she is so unaware of just how inept she is that she feels the need to further broadcast this via her letter to the BCCT. Wow! Just wow!
As Forrest said, "Stupid is as stupid does," and this is pretty stupid.
Just because everyone agrees projects are needed does not mean we can afford the projects.
What happens if the cost savings DOES NOT cover the cost of the loan? Where do the payments come from?
From a taxpayers point of view, we need to know how we are going to pay for all of this? Post the contract on line so we can all see it. That way there is not "he said, she said".
Ask the so.icifor. Is there a guarantee of payment? How is it protected?
I meant solicitor.
Post the contract so we can all see once and for all!
Who are you ordering around? Post this, ask that. Do it yourself.
I'd suggest asking the questions and reporting back.. .Lo & behold I trust what you'd report back even less than you'd trust what you were told.
Offsetting penalties, the play stands as called. Proceed with project. Ledger threaten a veto every 2 secs. Opponents reserve the right to say i told you so. Have a nice day. Buzz off.... IBEW forever. Viva la revolucion! Suck it Trebek.
If you were t the special Council Mtg. You would have seen hat every council member was asked individually, did you receive the Johnson ControlContract? Every single one of them said NO! Check the DVD
None of th council members received the contract before they voted.
Debbie Smith said:
"For the last year and a half, three council members have repeatedly requested information regarding how this project was to proceed. Sadly, council leadership and the administration have withheld essential information from council members. This includes the contract, even though there are problems with the contract that need to be addressed."
Why is it so damn hard to get to the bottom of things that are fundamental and simple? We've got people writing to the paper saying the contract was withheld from you for 1.5 years. Is she a liar, a shitty writer, or both? Stories constantly shifting, pushing blame onto others when it hits the fan. You might think this is leadership. I think it's the opposite of leadership.
Post a Comment