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4/2/2007
Mendham:
Town Stuff:
The Next Council Meeting:
4/2/2007
     By 07. 07. 07. on Sunday, April 01, 2007 - 6:56 pm: |
Following up on unanswered questions from the last meeting.
Question to be asked at the April 2 meeting of the town council.
For the record: You have repeatedly insulted my questions, and my intelligence, with unresponsive, and obviously evasive answers. Reluctantly, I have reduced most of my questions to patronizing, and insulting, yes-or-no form because you will comply with no reasonable alternative.
1a) Have you read the Open Public Records Act?.. if so, how do you understand the purpose of the language describing and defining "actual cost"? ...if not, how do you justify charging a "not to exceed maximum" fee when you are ignorant of contextual appropriateness and fairness under the law?
Councilwoman Stanton [pause for answer], Mayor Henry [pause for answer], Council President Murphy [pause for answer], Councilman Badal [pause for answer], Councilman Witczak [pause for answer], Councilman Garubo [pause for answer], Councilman Andrus [pause for answer].
1b) Are you aware of how much the publicly subsidized library charges for black-and-white copies? ...If not, how do you defend this lack of scrutiny, when you feel compelled to charge the "not to exceed maximum" fees for copies of vital public information? ...If you are aware, how you defend the pricing inconsistency?
Mayor Henry [pause for answer], Council President Murphy [pause for answer], Councilwoman Stanton [pause for answer], Councilman Badal [pause for answer], Councilman Witczak [pause for answer], Councilman Garubo [pause for answer], Councilman Andrus [pause for answer].
1c) Do you think it is reasonable, for Borough administration to make no distinction, in terms of fees, between black-and-white copies, and obviously more expensive to produce full-color copies?
Councilman Witczak [pause for answer], Mayor Henry [pause for answer], Council President Murphy [pause for answer], Councilwoman Stanton [pause for answer], Councilman Badal [pause for answer], Councilman Garubo [pause for answer], Councilman Andrus [pause for answer].
1d) I would ask the Borough administrator to please provide the Council, and the public, a rough estimate of how many copied pages are produced by the Borough government, per average month, pursuant to open public records requests?[pause for answer]
2) At the last meeting the mayor suggested I submit my questions for review at the next BOE meeting, and the attorney suggested the information I seek would be available through an open public records request. I would inform the council that the Board of Education has illegally refused to comply with those requests, and that is why I have brought the issues here, requesting your legally appropriate oversight, and if necessary investigatory, intervention.
2a) When the WMRHS Board of Education, tells the voters that a transfer of funds will have "no tax impact", Do you believe the voters should reasonably believe that accounts (spending) defunded will not be merely refunded through tax increases?
Councilman Andrus [pause for answer]. Mayor Henry [pause for answer], Council President Murphy [pause for answer], Councilwoman Stanton [pause for answer], Councilman Badal [pause for answer], Councilman Witczak [pause for answer], Councilman Garubo [pause for answer],
2b) Do you personally know what capital spending was canceled as a result of the $2 million transfer?
Councilman Garubo [pause for answer], Mayor Henry [pause for answer], Council President Murphy [pause for answer], Councilwoman Stanton [pause for answer], Councilman Badal [pause for answer], Councilman Witczak [pause for answer], Councilman Andrus [pause for answer].
3) TV 25 is self-described as the "access channel of Mandhams" would council members please explain their definition of the word "access" in the context of the history of cable access television and federal law.
Mayor Henry [pause for answer], Council President Murphy [pause for answer], Councilwoman Stanton [pause for answer], Councilman Badal [pause for answer], Councilman Witczak [pause for answer], Councilman Garubo [pause for answer], Councilman Andrus [pause for answer]. |
| By 07. 32... on Friday, April 06, 2007 - 8:49 am: |
| I believe the answers to these questions have been immortalized by Ralph Kramden..."Homina,Homina,Homina, Homina, what do you think Norton?" |
| By 07. 2....... on Tuesday, April 10, 2007 - 12:56 am: |
[Council Attorney] mayor before you close the public comment portion... there is an e-mail that received from a Gary Mosher and I believe that we... confirming that he had left a copy of the e-mail under comments upfront with the rest of the agenda and I am confirming that each member of the council has a copy of the email... and it's also on file with the Clerk... the actual questions that are asked by Mr. Mosher along with the comments that everyone has as follows
[Council Attorney] Have you read the Open Public Records Act?.. if so, how do you understand the purpose of the language describing and defining "actual cost"? ...if not, how do you justify charging a "not to exceed maximum" fee when you are ignorant of contextual appropriateness and fairness under the law?
[Council Attorney] He's asked if anyone would be interested in answering the question... so if there's anyone who would want to answer that...
[Mayor] I'd like to answer that question Fred... we are in fact familiar with opra... and as to amount to exceed in costs for copies... that has already been asked and answered...
[Council Attorney] okay the next question is...Are you aware of how much the publicly subsidized library charges for black-and-white copies? ...If not, how do you defend this lack of scrutiny, when you feel compelled to charge the "not to exceed maximum" fees for copies of vital public information? ...If you are aware, how you defend the pricing inconsistency?
[Mayor] and the answer to that question is we have not studied what the library charges.
[Council Attorney] Do you think it is reasonable, for Borough administration to make no distinction, in terms of fees, between black-and-white copies, and obviously more expensive to produce full-color copies? ....again he is asked if anyone would answer that question, it's directed to everyone.
[Mayor] If the council does not object I would like to answer by saying nothing precludes the Borough to charge the same for color and black-and-white copies.
[Council Attorney] OK...I would ask the Borough administrator to please provide the Council, and the public, a rough estimate of how many copied pages are produced by the Borough government, per average month, pursuant to open public records requests?
[Mayor] I would like to answer that by saying we can attempt to obtain an answer.
[Council Attorney] At the last meeting the mayor suggested I submit my questions for review at the next BOE meeting, and the attorney suggested the information I seek would be available through an open public records request. I would inform the council that the Board of Education has illegally refused to comply with those requests, and that is why I have brought the issues here, requesting your legally appropriate oversight, and if necessary investigatory, intervention.
When the WMRHS Board of Education, tells the voters that a transfer of funds will have "no tax impact", Do you believe the voters should reasonably believe that accounts (spending) defunded will not be merely refunded through tax increases?
[Mayor] we have answered questions relating to this issue dating back to Nov. Dec. Jan. Feb. and March we have asked our attorney to research the issue, and there's nothing more to answer about this issue.
[Council Attorney] and the following question is: Do you personally know what capital spending was canceled as a result of the $2 million transfer?
[Mayor] and the answer to that is the same as the previous answer... we responded to this inquiry on previous occasions... and there's nothing more to answer about this issue.
[Council Attorney] and the final question is: TV 25 is self-described as the "access channel of Mandhams" would council members please explain their definition of the word "access" in the context of the history of cable access television and federal law.
[Mayor] once again we have been previously asked this question, and attempted to answer it,
[Council Attorney] OK is there anyone else that has any comments with respect to any of the questions that were asked by Mr. Mosher
[Mayor] a...I like to just clarify that these public comments are treated like everyone else's... if any member of the public were to ask the same question repeatedly there is simply no reason to continue to answer the question... that is what we are doing here tonight.... the question has been asked several times and there's simply no reason to continue to answer the question.
[Council Attorney] that is the end and again mayor that is on file with the Clark.
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As predicted the answers were as preposterously ludicrous as the average Ralph Kramden attempt to lie his way out of a lie. Unfortunately, this fascist sitcom just isn't funny... at least a don't think Thomas Jefferson would be laughing. When you are no longer even allowed to ask government officials to rationally justify the law and policy they impose--even in America--it seems clear we've lost the last battle of the Revolutionary War and the fat lady might as well start singing Hail to the emperor... As we apathetically watch the "democratic experiment" burn its constitution, and itself, onto the ash heap of history. |
| By 07. 07. 1... on Friday, August 21, 2015 - 7:53 am: |
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