BACKGROUND
A quick check of the Coast Guard ... over the past few years will show that Mr. Anderson has long maintained that costs associated with the former Shelburne Naval Station were a burden assumed by SWSDA on behalf of the Municipality of the District of Shelburne. Indeed, it appears that he did such a convincing job that his Board recently voted to consider suing the Municipality for any maintenance and operational costs incurred by SWSDA that exceeded the revenues derived by SWSDA from the acquisition, operation and disposal of the base and its assets...... (Millions of dollars we and Mr. Anderson's Board were told repeatedly, as a way to squeeze additional funds and guarantees from municipalities, we believe.....)
You will also recall dear reader the recommendations .... prepared two years ago by the former Acting CAO of the Municipality of the District of Shelburne, Reg Ridgely, recommending the purchase of the former naval base from SWSDA and the public outcry that ensued some two years ago..... I believe that mis-guided initiative supported by the former Warden Paulette Scott and others on Council at the time was in part motivated by the belief that the Municipality did have an obligation to support SWSDA's operation of the base.
FIRST PROBLEM .... Mr. Anderson's claims of costs exceeding revenues in the base's operations were never documented by Mr. Anderson or anyone else from SWSDA...... Who knows what monies and revenues were generated and collected by Mr. Anderson over the years at the base? Certainly not the SWSDA Board of Directors! Moreover, who knows if the costs attributed by Mr. Anderson to the operation of the Base are the result of poor management by the erstwhile manager of "All Things South West Nova"..... or really attributable to SWSDA's other operational activities and priorities, e.g. - its self-serving ventures in film-making and boat-building or other initiatives?
SECOND PROBLEM.... I have listened to Councilors and others ask repeatedly whether there was any agreement between the Municipality and SWSDA respecting ownership of the Base. Former Wardens Paulette Scott and Pat Nickerson's carefully worded responses were that there were "... no written agreements...".
Sooo..... a couple months ago I went to the Municipality with a Freedom of Information request seeking any documentation describing, alluding to or suggesting any contract or agreement between SWSDA and the Municipality respecting the base. Our new CAO not only searched the municipality's files but also wrote to Mr. Anderson seeking his input if he could provide any such documents. To my knowledge, Mr. Anderson never provided any evidence of contractual arrangements between SWSDA and the municipality respecting ownership of the base or agreements for the municipality to absorb cost overruns incurred by SWSDA related to the Base.
Following is a copy of the two page covering letter received from Mr. Cox in mid-July after his careful search of the Municipality's files.
CONCLUSION..... taxpayers of the Municipality of Shelburne have no contractual arrangements with SWSDA respecting ownership of the base, nor..... do they have an obligation to compensate Mr. Anderson or SWSDA for their reported MILLIONS OF DOLLARS IN cost overuns incurred in the operation of the base.
IN FACT THIS WAS ALL A FABRICATION FOUND ONLY IN THE MIND OF MR. ANDERSON AS FAR AS ANYONE CAN TELL!
Ombudsman Act
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*****TRANSFORMING CLIENTS INTO CITIZENS******
CONCERNED CITIZENS PETITION WORKS!
It took a while but the petition from Concerned Citizens of Shelburne
app...
14 years ago
7 comments:
Adelard,we hope the self-serving people involved with aiding F.A.IN HIS SCHEMES HAVE MORE THAN MOUTHFUL OF DUST! To think that so-called man still walks with head held high portrayed to many as the wise man!
(Like your given name,Ed.)
This is what happens when wardens and councillors are deceitful, and the MoS has been running scared ever since. The MoS lawyer was asleep on this one!
There should have been no need of your request for this information Mr. Cayer; Embree knew of the ratepayers concern of the "purported debt", and has no excuse for not informing the ratepayers of this discovery.
Any current councillor who was aware of this deception during the Scott/Nickerson years should remove her/himself from council immediately.
As for Anderson and his BofD, it's a case of The Aramony Syndrome with possible financial statement fraud. SWSDA BofDs with signing authority should be squirming knowing what will be revealed in the coming months.
It must take a special kind of person to serve the people of their district and not have the urge to travel to Y'mouth tomorrow, gain entrance to Frank's castle, and demand an explanation of this whole sordid affair.
Hey, sounds like something our Sheburne Co. SWSDA directors should do - he does work for them!
The Coast Guard should pursue interviews with former councillors, mayors and wardens; and past directors of the original Shelburne Park Development Agency. The demise of SWSDA warrants a front page story, and these people could fill in a lot of the missing blanks. It's time The C.G. dropped their normal fare of fluff and practiced a bit journalistic legwork.
The SWSDA Bada, Bada, Bing Gang have been exposed. Bring on the promised audit Mr. Paris!
Great research and input with fab ideas to confront" those" many involved who need to 'fess to either their not keeping well informed or lack of interest while filling roller wheel comfy chairs.
Keep the helpful material flowing ;as that court date is nearing !
Now for the Coast Guard and Vanguard to interview their local board members to get the story behind all of this. How could they let this CEO operate for so long without doubting his word? I also wonder if former Councillor Alan Reid has any remorse in his support of Frank. Parker wasn't as stupid. This is going to bite hard when the audit is complete. We can only imagine what the SWSDA signing authorities approved and what expenses were posted to which projects. What a money trail the auditors are going to have to dig through to get to the bottom of this one!
Wow Frank, did you hear that - nada, nothing, zero, zilch, zippO. You on the other hand owe Shelburne County, Team Shelburne and the Shelburne and Barrington Industrial Parks an apology for years of hanging this over their heads in order to carry out your agenda in other counties. Oops, we think we hear the auditors knocking on your door now - sure hope those project files and their invoices and receipts are in order. Relay our best wishes to Paulette, Pat and Richie. Ta-ta!
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