Ron Alessi Inserts Foot In Mouth

Wicomico Councilwoman Stevie Prettyman (R-2) seems to have raised the ire of certain members of the Wicomico County Liquor Control Board. Mrs. Prettyman had the audacity to question a board member, Ronald G. Alessi, performing over $50,000 of work for the board. Good for her, and shame on Mr. Alessi and any other member of the LCB that supports his position.

Mr. Alessi refused to answer questions posed by Daily Times reporter Joe Gidjunis yet doesn’t hesitate to engage in a written monologue riddled with factual errors. If Alessi’s little op-ed piece in Tuesday’s Daily Times is any indication of the board’s performance then the public would be best served by more scrutiny, rather than the “leave us alone” attitude of Alessi.

It is true that the liquor control board is appointed by the Governor and does not answer directly to the county government. As an agency operating under a state mandate they are held accountable to state ethics guidelines which hold that behavior such as Mr. Alessi’s is highly questionable (at a minimum). Even an appearance of conflict is to be shunned. The very fact that Alessi serves on the board and is then paid to perform work for that same agency is certainly an “appearance” of impropriety. That assumes that everything else which Alessi states is true. Read more

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Barrieland’s Latest Lie – “It’s for the Seniors”

Since the first Clinton administration, “It’s for the children.”, has reigned as the all purpose cover-up for wasting taxpayers’ money. With their backs up against the wall, again, Salisbury Mayor Barrie Tilghman’s “council leadership” of Louise Smith, Gary Comegys and Shanie Shields plucked the taxpayer yet again crying, “It’s for the seniors!”. The infamous Sassafras Meadows property received another $320,000 subsidy from Salisbury’s citizens.

Isn’t affordable housing for Salisbury’s seniors important? Of course it is. When other projects come before Salisbury council you probably won’t here a peep from citizens. But you need to remember that the citizens of Salisbury have now agreed to pay out over $1 million in subsidies to this one parcel.

“Wait, I read that the subsidy was only $287,000!” That’s what you read the Daily Times. It’s not inaccurate, but it only tell part of the story.

The Tilghman administration, with the consent of Comegys, Shields, and the balance of the old “Dream Team”, borrowed almost $900,000 to reimburse the owners of the Sassafras Meadows parcel for running water and sewer out to the property. REMEMBER, the agreement to give the property water and sewer was based on the promise that almost 300 units of affordable senior housing would be built. The developers simply took a big bag of cash from the city and left town. Read more

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It’s A Caesar’s Wife Thing

The events of Friday evening and Saturday surrounding the State’s Attorney for Wicomico County have generated a lot of discussion, news source reporting, comments from bloggers near and far, and a public admission statement from Mr. Ruark.

Credit where credit is due: According to reports, Mr. Ruark was compliant with the arresting officer(s). In all but the strictest legal sense (he wasn’t in court under oath) he admitted Saturday in his public statement that he’d used extremely poor judgment Friday evening, and by inference, was guilty. Based on the WBOC internet clip, he didn’t assert that this was a first time event; he did state it would be the last.

As to the question of whether he should resign let’s review what’s known and what’s being alleged:
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Old Mall Plan Delayed, Could See Substantial Change

Look forward to a new plan for the old Salisbury Mall. So far, everything promised by Salisbury Mayor Barrie Tilghman, former Council President Mike Dunn and Councilman Gary Comegys has either been delayed or substantially altered. Expect the same when the developers finally submit a final plan – NEXT YEAR.

Yesterday the Salisbury-Wicomico Planning Commission granted a one year extension for the developers, Salisbury Mall Associates, to submit a final plan. By itself this should be no great cause for concern. Unfortunately, there were conflicting statements given to the media yesterday. In Greg Latshaw’s piece in the Daily Times it was reported that the Commission granted the requested extension contingent on the project “not ‘substantially’ deviating from its plan for 685 residential units and 350,000 square feet of commercial space. WBOC reports that developer Jon Natelson stated that, “retail spaces could possibly be more profitable than housing there.”

Continuing his record as a reporter that does his job well (even if I disagree with him at times) Latshaw was wise to place “substantially” in quotes. We have learned from past experience that the Planning Commission will deny you the right to put up a sign in a heartbeat, but seldom does it say no to a developer. Read more

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Gary Comegys Whines, Shanie Shields Babbles

For the second day, Salisbury citizens were treated to more whining and foolish babbling by two members of Mayor Barrie Tilghman’s “council leadership”. What was initially amusing has become a source of pity for those of us who aren’t governed by this local brain trust.

It seems that Salisbury council members Gary Comegys and Shanie Shields are upset because the two council members who consistently listen to the citizens of Salisbury are reaching out and willing to interact with the folks who do the working, the living, and (unfortunately) the dying in Barrieland. Councilwomen Debbie Campbell and Terry Cohen have printed a newsletter, set up a website, and (sin of all sins) are going to actually meet with the great unwashed and listen to what they have to say.

Comegys is right! Those two women should be publicly flogged! Read more

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Is the Wicomico Liquor Control Board on the Straight and Narrow?

Kudos to Wicomico Councilwomen Gail Bartkovich and Stevie Prettyman! When local politicians seem all too willing to let transgressions slip by rather than criticize neighbors, Bartkovich and Prettyman held their ground Tuesday night when the audit for the Wicomico County Liquor Control Board was presented to council.

Mrs. Bartkovich refused to allow LCB auditor John Stern to brush aside her questions regarding a discrepancy in the Board’s beginning inventory numbers. Bartkovich had obviously done her homework prior to the meeting and would not allow Stern’s explanation that the bottom line number would not be affected by this error; or that the other numbers were still correct. A change of approximately $100,000 in beginning inventory would affect the profit margin of the LCB (and not for the better). If, as Stern opined, the error would have been covered in the purchases account we still have the question of a material error. Stern promised Bartkovich an answer today. Hopefully she will share it with the public.

Mrs. Prettyman had two questions for Stern and LCB chairman Herman Haemel. First, under who’s authority did the LCB determine how much income to distribute to the county each year? Prettyman does not recall the council ever voting on a new method of income distribution between the LCB and the county. Stern could only point to discussions between the County’s Finance Director and the LCB. If it turns out that the County Council had voted on the matter, fine. I’m sure that Prettyman will admit that her memory is like the rest of our’s. If, however, the bureaucracy rather than the elected representatives of the people approved such a measure this is cause for alarm. Read more

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Gary Comegys, A Synonym for Foolishness; Shanie Shields, A Synonym for Hypocrisy

The latest edition of the Merriam-Webster Political Dictionary is out and Salisbury is shamed by multiple entries. This morning’s Daily Times shows why.

It appears that Salisbury Councilwomen Debbie Campbell and Terry Cohen have begun distributing a newsletter and have set up a website. Kudos to them for wanting to reach out to their constituents. Of course this doesn’t sit too well with two of their colleagues on the Salisbury Council.

Councilwoman Shanie Shields, the council’s great orator and Tilghman administration house intellectual (“I ain’t never seen no wasteful government spending”) doesn’t think too highly of Campbell and Cohen’s efforts:

“To me, this is not being a team,” said Councilwoman Shanie Shields, who once put out a minority newsletter with County Councilwoman Sheree Sample-Hughes. “Nobody knew anything about it. To me, it’s a personal agenda.”

As the Daily Times points out, Shields has been “guilty” of the same offense. In the past, County Councilwoman Sheree Sample-Hughes has offered Shields space on her newsletter. We have consistently applauded Sample-Hughes for her efforts to reach out to her constituents through newsletters and quarterly meetings. Perhaps Shields is upset because Campbell and Cohen didn’t offer to put her name up there with their own. Perhaps Shields wants to approve all of the content prior to publication? Read more

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One Lesson Wicomico County Council Could Learn from Salisbury’s Council

It’s no secret that I’m a huge critic of the Salisbury City Council. There is one thing Salisbury Council does that is heads and tails above their county counterpart – providing information to the public about their meetings. When the agenda for each meeting is posted online, City Clerk Brenda Colegrove also includes a copy (in PDF format) of the council’s briefing book. Interested citizens can download it and view information that is far more in-depth than that provided on the agenda.

A case in point is tomorrow’s Wicomico County Council meeting. In a far too rare evening meeting, the County Council will hold a public hearing the proposed capital budget. How can citizens intelligently comment on something as large and complicated as a capital budget without having ready access to it. That information may be available on the county’s website (somewhere), but I didn’t find it. Why not make the briefing books easily accessible to the public?

Technorati Tags: Maryland, Wicomico, politics, Wicomico politics, fiscal policy

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Thoughts On The ENP Discussion

OK, I didn’t stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night. However all parties flailing around about this topic are missing some salient points.

There is a market out there for teachers; each and every school district is more or less competitive than its rivals, near and far, on a variety of factors. Pay is a biggie, but as has been noted it’s not always the only factor at play. Distance to work; district reputation, cost of living in the area, working relationships in the school and district, benefits, etc all play a role in determining if a teacher will even seek employment in a district. If no one applies and you have openings, as an administrator, you have a problem. The task facing administrators is whether to be proactive or reactive about this set of circumstances. The current Board deserves credit for developing and approving the ENP concept. Read more

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Wicomico Board of Education – It’s Not Just About Retirement Anymore

Thanks to a well written article in Sunday’s Daily Times (along with a very interesting supplement on pages A6-A7), discussion of the Wicomico County Board of Education’s (WCBOE) Early Notification Program (ENP) should take a dramatic turn. The WCBOE’s stated purposes for the ENP are simple: retention (especially for those with 20 – 25 years of service) and HR planning. However, it is the supplemental information provided that should give the greatest cause for concern.

On pages A6 and A7 of the printed edition of the Daily Times is a list of WCBOE employees with 25+ years of service. Should the salary levels shock the average taxpayer of Wicomico County? No. By themselves they should not be cause for great concern. However, taken in context, this information should (at least) be grist for the grinder of public discussion.

Let’s remember, the average teacher works less than nine (9) months of the year. There’s the summer vacation plus all of those Holiday’s and breaks that the average private sector worker doesn’t get off, much less paid for. Let’s take one example. There is a third grade teacher whose salary is listed as $80,179. Annualized, that salary is $107,000. Administrative personnel are (hopefully) a slightly different matter because (again, hopefully) they are “working” twelve months per year. Of course that’s not really the case because I do know that they still get most (if not all) of these other holidays and breaks (plus vacation). Read more

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