The Alberton papers #5 by Dick Darne
Before the bobcat, lets discuss "blame", not to be confused with "the blame game". Blame is a tool, no better or worse than the use to which it is put. For example, suppose a boiler blows up. Certainly someone will be blamed. Now if the blame is correctly placed, and the main objective is to never have this happen again, we have two options: fire the person responsible and certainly he won’t blow up this boiler again,( but his successor might), or; reinstate the person because he definitely knows from first hand experience what can happen, and the odds are it will never happen again on his watch. That being said, lets move to the bobcat.
From all available information, it appears we have purchased $49,673 worth of bobcat and attachments. The price miraculously is just under the $50000 limit for competitive bidding. Even though our town is rife with accumulated knowledge and experience in the fields of snow removal, digging, and equipment operation, amazingly, none of these people were consulted. While it appears the snow blade works, do we know if all the attachments are suitable for our needs? There are two in particular that, in my opinion , are worthless for our needs. We already have mowers capable of cutting all the town’s grass. Outside of the park , I have personally cut 95% of the grass, the remainder being on a very steep slope. Why do we have the brush cutter?
As for the power sweeper, the state does RR ave. and has always done our parking lot. We have no other paved streets. In addition, I and others who have used one can attest to the huge dust cloud kicked up if copious quantities of water are not used. So, what do we do with them?
It sure looks like someone showed poor judgement. Was it whoever sent a town employee out to spend up to $50000 and use his own assessment of what to buy? Or the employee himself? Or the equipment salesman? Isn’t it true that if the salesman knows how much you have to spend, he will try to sell that much? There are a lot of people involved, is there some connection? Friends? Relatives? Business connections? Did anyone involved benefit in any way?
From the time we were children, we are conditioned to think "the blame goes downward", but much later in life, if minds are kept open and observant, we learn that most of the time the blame belongs up. While everything discussed here may meet the letter of the law, it just doesn’t look good. Final thought: if the blame belongs up, then since,"we the people" govern, we were asleep at the wheel. "The price of liberty is eternal vigilance" means vigilance in all matters, large and small, top right down to the absolute rock bottom grass roots.
Dick Darne
aldermandarne@hotmail.com
722-4575
Before the bobcat, lets discuss "blame", not to be confused with "the blame game". Blame is a tool, no better or worse than the use to which it is put. For example, suppose a boiler blows up. Certainly someone will be blamed. Now if the blame is correctly placed, and the main objective is to never have this happen again, we have two options: fire the person responsible and certainly he won’t blow up this boiler again,( but his successor might), or; reinstate the person because he definitely knows from first hand experience what can happen, and the odds are it will never happen again on his watch. That being said, lets move to the bobcat.
From all available information, it appears we have purchased $49,673 worth of bobcat and attachments. The price miraculously is just under the $50000 limit for competitive bidding. Even though our town is rife with accumulated knowledge and experience in the fields of snow removal, digging, and equipment operation, amazingly, none of these people were consulted. While it appears the snow blade works, do we know if all the attachments are suitable for our needs? There are two in particular that, in my opinion , are worthless for our needs. We already have mowers capable of cutting all the town’s grass. Outside of the park , I have personally cut 95% of the grass, the remainder being on a very steep slope. Why do we have the brush cutter?
As for the power sweeper, the state does RR ave. and has always done our parking lot. We have no other paved streets. In addition, I and others who have used one can attest to the huge dust cloud kicked up if copious quantities of water are not used. So, what do we do with them?
It sure looks like someone showed poor judgement. Was it whoever sent a town employee out to spend up to $50000 and use his own assessment of what to buy? Or the employee himself? Or the equipment salesman? Isn’t it true that if the salesman knows how much you have to spend, he will try to sell that much? There are a lot of people involved, is there some connection? Friends? Relatives? Business connections? Did anyone involved benefit in any way?
From the time we were children, we are conditioned to think "the blame goes downward", but much later in life, if minds are kept open and observant, we learn that most of the time the blame belongs up. While everything discussed here may meet the letter of the law, it just doesn’t look good. Final thought: if the blame belongs up, then since,"we the people" govern, we were asleep at the wheel. "The price of liberty is eternal vigilance" means vigilance in all matters, large and small, top right down to the absolute rock bottom grass roots.
Dick Darne
aldermandarne@hotmail.com
722-4575
posted by aldermandarne | 7:50 PM
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