In case you missed it: Council meets Monday night

Main items of interest: Toxic Waste and Toxic People

By Will Collette

JoAnn "Shingles" Stolle about to get full seat on Zoning

The Town Council annotated agenda for Monday's meeting was not posted on IQM2 until late Friday so this preview of coming attractions is delayed. 

As most readers may know, the Charlestown Town Council is the second most powerful decision-making body in town. Or maybe the third, since the Planning Commission, under the iron-fist of Planning Commissar Ruth Platner makes more of the actual decisions than the Council does.

But the single most important decision-making body in Charlestown is the Charlestown Citizens Alliance Steering Committee, that merry band of nonpartisan solons, who hold monthly meetings at secret times and secret locations with no public agenda. Just a bunch of public-spirited folks who control all of the key public bodies in Charlestown – the Council, Planning, Zoning and Budget – who get together to decide what will really happen.

They are totally outside of public view and as transparent as a full cesspool. Or a hazardous waste site.

Charlestown Town Council meeting preview and predictions

Rumble strip rumble likely to be meeting highlight

By Will Collette

The clown car rolls again.

The Charlestown Town Council holds its regular monthly meeting on Monday, June 8 at Town Hall. Like most of the meetings of the current all-Charlestown Citizens Alliance (CCA Party) Council, most of the issues have already been decided and consigned to the “consent agenda” where they will be dispatched in one vote without discussion and debate.

Issues that will actually be discussed will almost certainly end with unanimous votes because that’s how town government under the CCA Party rolls. I am pretty certain that the outcome for each and every item on the agenda has already been decided at the monthly CCA Party Steering Committee meetings which is held at a secret time and secret location, closed to the public, with no published minutes, and probably in gross violation of the state Open Meetings Act.

First up on the agenda is a pretty sorry bit of hypocrisy where the Council will acknowledge the recent, well-deserved awards given to the Parks and Recreation Department, whose director Jay Primiano was recently forced to resign and whose functions the CCA Party seems determined to gut. 

But the show must go on, so count on Council Boss Tom Gentz to put on his Uncle Fluffy act to praise Acting P&R Director Vicky Hilton to the hilt, all the while working to stick a dagger in her back – up to the hilt.

Then comes one of the guaranteed highlights of the meeting – concerned citizens living on or near Route One where the state DOT is considering installing rumble strips. To see a lot more detail on this controversy, click here.

Here’s the official agenda with links to items provided on-line through the IQM2 data service. My commentary appears in Bold Red next to the item.

Town Council Preview

Unless they get vaccinated, the Zoning Board is about to get shingles 

Let's see what crazy false alarms the CCA boys can concoct this month

By Will Collette

The Charlestown Town Council meets again in its regular monthly session this Monday, September 8 at 7 PM in the Council chambers at Town Hall.

This month’s agenda is relatively light as they tend to be before an election – the last thing the Council incumbents want is to give voters reason to vote against them.

However, several agenda items relate to the CCA Party’s recent packing of the Zoning Board of Review with their own partisans who will almost certainly boost the number of lawsuits filed against the town when they disregard the law and make zoning decisions based on CCA Party ideology. They will almost certainly appoint CCA Party follower JoAnne "Shingles" Stolle to fill one of three vacant Alternate seats on Monday.

Expect the CCA boys on the Council to make some meaningless display of concern for the embattled victims of the Copar/Armetta Quarry on the Bradford-Charlestown line, rather than take effective action.

There may be a fight over oyster farming which some CCA Party elders, most prominently CCA Party Treasurer and CCA candidate for Town Moderator Leo Mainelli, who thinks oyster farming spoils his view. This time, it's Peter Arnold leading the charge.

And maybe there will be a couple of entertaining surprises in store.

Here’s the agenda listed according to the actual order of business. As usual, my snarky and rude comments appear in bold red.