[Note: What follows is a statement authored by the Committee to Reelect Sal Giorlandino. No endorsement is implied. If you’re running for a town office this year and would like to post a statement on My Southborough, drop me a line. Town elections will be held on May 10. A list of candidates can be found here.]
Sal Giorlandino has lived in Southborough for more than 20 years. His two daughters, Rosanna and Olivia, attend the Southborough Public Schools. Since moving to Southborough in 1989, both he and his wife, Rhonda Russian, have been and are currently very active in the community and participate in many civic activities.
As Selectman, Sal has worked numerous hours to carry out the Board of Selectmen’s responsibilities. His accomplishments as Selectman during the last three years include the following:
- Sal has helped hold the line on the Town’s Annual Budget, and his efforts have assisted seniors on fixed incomes and working families whose incomes have not increased or have declined.
- Sal appointed the new Building Inspector/Zoning Enforcement Officer. During the appointment process, Sal worked to find the candidate that would best enforce the Town’s Zoning Laws. With a goal to modernize the enforcement process, and work closely with the residents of Southborough.
- Sal has worked with many Town residents on a number of major matters. He sat on the Fire Ladder Truck Committee as an advisor member. The end result being the Town’s purchase of a new fire ladder truck for the Fire Department thus enhancing the safety of the community.
- Sal worked with Town residents in appointing a new Police Chief. The Police Chief was appointed with the assistance of a seven member committee comprised of Town residents appointed by the Board of Selectmen and a respected private public safety consultant.
- Sal supported both the K-8 School System and the Board of Health in filling their unexpired vacancies.
- In addition to being a full time member of the Board of Selectmen, Sal has served on a number of municipal committees, including the Affordable Housing Trust Committee, the Emergency Planning and Management Committee, the Metrowest Growth Management Committee, and the Zoning Advisory Committee.
Southborough is a great community and Sal and his family will continue to be a part of it for many years to come. As such, Sal and his family have a vested interest in the Town’s continued well-being, and he wants to continue to be part of the effort to maintain the Town’s allure by participating in management of Town government by continuing on the Board of Selectmen. Sal’s goals for a second term on the Board include continuing to promote fiscal responsibility by Town government and to bring Town residents together to tackle major issues confronting the Town. Town resident participation in municipal government decision-making is vital to maintaining the Town’s stature.
Read more from the Committee to Reelect Sal Giorlandino in this flyer (PDF).
Sal has worked with many Town residents on a number of major matters. He sat on the Fire Ladder Truck Committee as an advisor member. The end result being the Town’s purchase of a new fire ladder truck for the Fire Department thus enhancing the safety of the community.
Sal worked with Town residents in appointing a new Police Chief. The Police Chief was appointed with the assistance of a seven member committee comprised of Town residents appointed by the Board of Selectmen and a respected private public safety consultant – SORRY SAL. YOU LOST MY SUPPORT ON JUST THIS ALONE. The fire truck could have waited for better times and the Chief;s appointment process was a disaster.
You need not conclude that Sal is a bad person to recognize that he has failed as a Selectman for Southborough.
As a Selectman, he has proved to be an overbearing autocrat who has alienated and micromanaged Town employees. His thin-skinned reactions to phantom slights or perceived challenges of himself or the Police Chief has resulted in the BOS secretly wasting taxpayer money on lawyers willing to ignore our most basic First Amendment freedoms.
Most importantly, as between the two candidates for Selectman, Sal is the far lesser choice. John Rooney is honest, inclusive, thoughtful, principled, accountable, and a great businessman. By electing him, we put a stake in the ground against bad government, and begin the process of returning Southborough to effective and responsible leadership.
Please do your part on May 10th.
So, lets see. How has he “held the line on the annual budget”? From what I heard at town meeting, the town’s expenses were more than its income, and we had to dip into stabilization. Not holding that line too tight, I believe.
Concern for seniors? Didn’t he vote for a larger increase for property taxes this year which was rejected at town meeting? Is that a good thing for anyone on a fixed income.
He appointed a building inspector. Great job. But, didn’t we just lose a great town planner?
He was an “advisor” (what was his advice?) when we spent nearly a half million dollars for a truck that hasn’t even been built yet for all those high-rise buildings in town.
Next, ah, yes, the infamous chief search process. That went real well for the bos, don’t you think? Ask some of the candidates who applied and were interviewed about that process and get an objective view. Not sure that would be on my list.
He supported filling vacancies. Okay, good support, and a check mark for him, but an accomplishment?
He did all that in three years and there is evem a committee for his reelection? Well, then, he deserves another three years don’t you think?
Sorry, as my name suggests, I am old and am on a fixed income. I cannot afford to give three more years to someone who believes any of these is an accomplishment.
Her is a little information about the selection process for the Police Chief.
The Police Chief was appointed with the assistance of a seven member committee comprised of Town residents appointed by the Board of Selectmen and a respected private public safety consultant. The Police Search Committee led by a Committee Chairman appointed by the Committee (not the Selectmen) worked very long hours during the Summer of 2009 to review applications and develop an interview pool of candidates. The Committee interviewed seven candidates, and the private public safety consultant observed the interviews and later provided important input to the Committee when it unanimously recommended four finalists for the Police Chief=s position to the Board of Selectmen. Before the Selectmen interviewed the four finalists, each finalist underwent a day long police chief assessment evaluation conducted by the private public safety consultant. Several weeks after the police chief assessment evaluation was completed, the Board of Selectmen interviewed all four finalists and unanimously selected Southborough Interim Police Chief Jane Moran as the new Police Chief. Chief Moran’s application was supported by strong letters of recommendation from the Police Chiefs of the surrounding Towns of Ashland, Hopkinton, and Westborough.
I don’t know about you but when one receives recommendations from other Police Chief’s who have worked closly with them for the past year that says a lot. The Selectman were correct in their choice!
If you really want to make statements about Sal then come out to one of the two question and answer sessions April 26th at the fire station or May 4th at the library. Then you can actually discuss your concerns and find out the facts!
First, I want to thank Susan for providing this forum. Second, I want to thank “Rebecca” for noting that the Library will be having a Candidates’ Event on May 4th. Third, I want to invite everyone who is interested in this race to attend the Library event. Both candidates for the position of Selectman will be appearing, making personal statements and taking questions from the public. The fun starts at 7 PM on May 4th. Flyers will be going up around town next week.
From all I have learned, Interim Chief Moran had the job before the job was even posted. Your infamous Selection Committee had no law enforcement experience whatsoever and they didn’t even use the professional to his full capability. Who do you think you are kidding ?
By all means, if you want to go negative, do it anonymously!
I support Sal’s reelection. He’s very responsive to community concerns. His long record of community involvement and his clear values give me trust in his judgement on budgetary issues – he’ll help us find the optimal compromise between services and taxpayer costs.
Most people appreciate his ability to work in a public-private-non-profit partnership with all the different interests who advocated for purchase of the ladder truck, and the net result was that we’re getting it for short money. That problem is now solved for at least 20 years.
Sal’s most controversial act as Selectman seems to have been the appointment of Police Chief Jane Moran. While the criticism seems to be about use of the consultant by the committee the BoS appointed to vet chief candidates, it really looks as though the problem for most of the critics is the result, not the process.
I don’t have a problem with Chief Moran. In my opinion, she suffers a bit by following the tragic loss of an exceptional chief, Billy Webber. He may have presented better than she has at Town Meetings so far, but he is, sadly, not coming back. Give her time. She’ll do fine. I think she’ll run a harmonious department, which is something Southborough needs.
Mr. Roney,
Save your sarcasm.
I do not support Sal’s re-election, so how could my expressing it do anything but “go negative” in your mind?
As for questioning those who post here anonymously, are you serious? If Sal were to get his nose out of joint (again), I don’t have the money to lawyer up.
Peace.
Whoever you are, your endorsement would mean more coming from a known person, rather than someone who could, for all I know, be John Rooney’s cousin from out of state.
By all means, keep posting pseudonymously. It’s your right, as is my very mild sarcasm. It’s also my right to discount comments that you’re not willing to own by posting under your name.
And if you can’t tell the difference between opposing someone and going negative, I guess that explains even more about you.
Kelly –
I don’t know much about Sal’s record of budgetary judgments, especially relating to the fire truck, and I certainly take no issue with his support of Chief Moran.
I do however, take issue with your judgment that Sal’s most controversial act seems to have been the appointment of Chief Moran. Far more controversial in my mind were his acts surrounding that appointment, regarding his role in using town council (at our expense) to try to intimidate the owner/operator of this blog into revealing the identity of one of the anonymous posters, and then shamelessly defending his actions by claiming the post(s) on the blog harassed one of the search committee members causing him (or her) to state he would never serve again on a town committee. That’s harassment? The poster had simply expressed his opinion that the committee violated the states’ open meeting law by conducting their interviews in executive session. Big deal!
Wasn’t the BOS’s attempt to intimidate this blogs owner far more serious than the so-called harassment of the search committee? What kind of judgment and leadership did Sal (an attorney himself) show in marshalling the legal force of town council and office of the Selectmen to try to quash an individual’s right to speak out against meetings held in executive session? Is this what you mean by Sal’s “clear values”?
And while I’m at it, what kind of advice are the selectmen getting from a town council who agrees to participate in such intimidation? – Ah, but that’s a different issue for a different time.
I’m really not “Sal bashing”, but I am questioning his judgment as he seems to have taken the lead in trying to justify the totally unjustifiable actions of town council and the BOS.
I’d have a lot more respect for Sal if he’d stand up and say “we were wrong on this one!”
Just my two cents worth…
Read about this in an earlier comment and heard the question asked at TM but not sure i ever heard official answer.
did we spend town money trying to uncover identity of the infamous blogger, Marty?
Yes, about 3 weeks ago I made a public records request regarding this matter which included copies of the legal bills. It cost us about $1000 in legal fees to date.
Spending public funds to find out the identity of an anonymous blogger ? From what I’ve read, that may not be legal considering it was done because someone (s) nose was out of joint. Maybe the Ethics Commission should look into this OR maybe the 3 members of the BOS should pony up and replace the public’s hard earned money. And lastly, Aldo was a former Selectman. He of all people should have known that it may not have been appropriate or legal.
Just because someone knows the law, doesn’t mean he intends to follow it. Aldo and BOS and Chief Moran should all be aware of the MA and US Constitution, but disregarded that too.
Mr. Hamilton, Thank you for your continuing interest and information.
Are the voters allowed to know about all spending of public funds? In your public record request, were you allowed to see all spending for Selectmen activity and are there any you know about that we do not?
Thank you again Al.
The books on almost all public expenditures and activities are open to the public:
You are entitled for example to know the salary of every public worker. What we spend for pencils, oil and travel.
There are a few exceptions that I know about. You are entitled to know what we spend on an attorney but no necessarily what work was done as that might be privileged information.
I also think that you are not entitled to personnel records. And there are exceptions related to open meetings with respect to negotiations (minutes are supposed to be released after the matter is closed) and personnel matters. I believe there are also exceptions with respect to police investigations.
Other than a few exceptions Town (or state or fed) government is supposed to be an open book. If you want to see information on a certain subject you might try calling the department head who is responsible. In the unlikely event that they don’t supply the information (most are tickled pink when someone shows an interest in their work) you could make a public records request. State law requires that you be provided with the requested information in 10 days unless it is exempt.
The Advisory web page contains most of the town budgets which have high level spending detail but won’t tell you how many bullets the police used in practice last month.
It appears that more money is being spent on additional “Internal Investigations” focusing on Southborough Town employees. It is still a bit vague, but the issue has been raised in a recent public meeting of the Planning Board, last Monday.
It seems the BOS is spending yet more money on needless reviews, quietly and behind the scenes, using expensive legal specialists. How much will this cost, why has it been initiated? We need answers and need them before we have to choose a BOS representative for another 3 years!
At TM, there were disagreements on expenses far less than the costs of legal representation. Time to be frugal and considerate of “taxed” payers, open and forthright.
More on this subject:
http://www.metrowestdailynews.com/top_stories/x53547844/Southborough-town-workers-investigated-for-comments-about-police-chief
I just posted about it here: https://mysouthborough.com/2010/04/18/breaking-news-southborough-town-workers-investigated-for-comments-about-police-chief/
Anyone who grew up in Brooklyn will have the street smarts and intelligence to be a great selectman anywhere. No matter what anyone does there will be naysayers and I hope Sal, you will not be intimidated by them. I hope you are reelected if you haven’t been already.
Dorothy Berman
“Ira’s friend”.
Sal has Brooklyn street smarts. I hope you are reelected if you haven’t been already.
Dorothy Berman
“Ira’s friend”