A word to the unwise in the town of Barnstable…Be careful about the ramifications of your wishes....

Part III, Section 3.1 of the Barnstable Town Charter defines the elective town offices in general.

Dictionaries characterize the word “town” as a noun.
   

1. A population center that is larger than a village and smaller than a city.
2. A territorial and political unit governed by a town meeting, especially in New England.
3. Informal. A city: New York is a big town.
4. The residents of a town: The whole town was upset at the news
5. Elective town offices are the offices in town to which people are elected.

If the word “town” is a noun, it can’t be used as an adjective, or a word whose main syntactic role is to modify a noun or pronoun for further definition.

There are 6 classes of adjectives in the English language:

1. Numeric: six, three, hundred, etc.
2. Quantitative: more, all, some, half, more than enough
3. Qualitative: Relates to color, size, smell etc.
4. Possessive: my, his, their, your
5. Interrogative: which, whose, what
6. Demonstrative: this, that, those, these

Adjectives also have different levels of intensity;

superlative,
comparative,
nominative, etc.

Therefore when the Barnstable Town Charter uses the phrase "elective town offices," it can only mean the public offices within the town to which people are elected.

It is grammatically incorrect to use the word "town" as an adjective.

The town charter defines a “regional authority” as an elective office.

The word “regional” means a part of a larger whole,  such as county or state governments.

The word “authority” infers the power to a claim of legitimacy, justification, and right to exercise that power.

The Barnstable Town Charter deems State Representative, State Senator, County Commissioner, and Assembly of Delegates to be town elective offices, ergo prohibits people elected to these offices from serving on charter commissions.

People elected to “committees, as may be established by law or interlocal agreement,” are also prohibited from serving on a charter commission according to the Barnstable Town Charter.

The key word in this phrase is the word “may’ which has a number of definitions;

1. To be allowed or permitted to:  May I take a swim? Yes, you may.
2. Used to indicate a certain measure of likelihood or possibility: It may rain this afternoon.
3. Used to express a desire or fervent wish: Long may he live!
4. Used to express contingency, purpose, or result in clauses introduced by that or so that: expressing ideas so that the average person may understand.

In the Town Charter the word "may' is used to indicate a likelihood or possibility of forming new committees to which people are elected.

As of today there are no committees to which people are elected, but if there were people serving on those committees are precluded from serving simultaneously on the Charter Commission.

Charter Commission is not an elective office as defined by the Barnstable Town Charter because the charter is silent on the panel. and the panel doesn't fall into the category of a "regional authority", district, or committee established by law or interlocal agreement.

Neither Linda Hutchenrider, the late Bob Smith, John Klimm, Ruth Weil, nor David Houghton have the power to amend the Town Charter.

Adding Charter Commission to the list of elective town offices in the Town Charter requires a Charter amendment that can only be achieved by an act of the entire town council ratified by the voters.

Charter commission is "outside the box" of town government, because it is a vehicle for the people to change town government.

Elected officials have their own mechanism to amend the town charter via a vote to amend, and a vote on the changes that must be ratified by the voters.

The "people's" means to amend or create a new charter is by collecting signatures from 15% of the registered voters, on a petition that must be ratified by the voters.

Ancillary to the latter mentioned process, is the election of nine charter commissioners, who must be voters, have their names positioned alphabetically on the ballot, and the top nine vote-getters are "duly elected."

The Constitution prohibits the General Court and cities and towns from amending its conditions in the charter commission process, which means Milne's exclusion because he is a member of the town council is unlawful.

But if Judge Connon approves the town’s June 4th motion to dismiss, he will also automatically disqualify;

Richard Clark as a member of the Charter Commission because Clark is the Moderator of the Barnstable Fire District, an elective office within the town of Barnstable to which he was elected, which means Clark simultaneously holds two elective offices within the town (Judge Connon having declared the Charter Commission as an elective office.)

Rick Barry from the Town Council because he too serves as Moderator of the Cotuit Fire District, a position to which he was elected, for the same reasons as Clark.

Jim Crocker from the Town Council because he has served a number of terms on the Centerville, Osterville, and Marstons Mills Fire District as a member of the Prudential Committee, a position to which he was elected, and his simultaneous elective office on the town council. 

Royden Richardson may also have to be disqualified from the Charter Commission because of his position on the Cape Cod Commission (unsure whether he was elected or appointed)

Linda Hutchenrider was aware of Barry and Crocker’s simultaneous dual elected offices in town when she swore them in to the council, and Clark's dual simultaneous elected office with the fire district.

Hutchenrider, Klimm, Joakim, Weil, Houghton’s subjective hatred of Milne is manifested in a self-destructive wish that could certainly change the dynamics of both the Charter Commission and Town Council, pursuant to Judge Connon's ruling.

Hutchenrider, Klimm, Joakim, Weil, and Houghton, conspired to defy the will of Barnstable voters.

All are old and smart enough to know that ours is country of laws, not men, but chose to ignore the advice. 

COG will raise funds to pay attorney's fees for a ten-taxpayer law suit to challenge Clark, Richardson, Barry, and Crocker's dual simultaneous elective offices if the court decides that charter commission is an elective office.

Comments

wow, so two vacant seats will pop up on the town council and two more seats will be vacant on the charter committee. cool the less the better. but you are right. the town has no right to stop mr milne from being there

[John Julius]

Gary, good points here...... Now let me inform the readers here of something very interesting. As many know, Roy Richardson was one of those 'lifetime' councilors, or at least one who lasted as long as the charter would allow him to.... then he stepped down only to have his son-in-law Fred Cirigotis take his place. Seems that the people in Centerville don't seem to care about how their interests are represented, at least not in that precinct.

As for Mr. Richardson, quite clearly he IS ONE and HAS BEEN FOR YEARS, one of John Klimm's phony CRONIES.... and Mr. Richardson and I have a bad dislike for each other. See, I can'T STAND phony people, let alone PHONY person who works within ANY form of government. Example: Take Governor Patrick. He fits the bill.

Now back to Mr. Richardson. To the BEST of MY knowledge, Roy Richardson NEVER even signed the CHARTER PETITION in the first place! So here we are with ONE of the ELECTED members of the charter commission WHO NEVER even signed the PETITION for WHICH he ran for in the first place! So then, WHY, you ask, did he run then to be on the charter commission? That answer is rather simple.

All one has to do is understand how much power Mr. POLITICIAN John Klimm has here in Happyville, this grand "All American Town". John Klimm is very happy with his handsome SIX figure salary loaded with perks. He is also happy that he can leave when he wants and the clueless council would have to "award" him with one very golden parachute when he does.

Mr. Klimm did a masterful job the last time a charter attempt was done where he was able to 'stack the deck', so to speak...... well ladies and gentlemen, like it or not, THIS TIME he managed to do the very same thing and if anyone has any doubt about this, then start going to ANY of the charter commission meetings. It is PAINFULLY obvious that the vast majority of the elected folks there seem to think like Mr. Klimm and his band of phony followers: That NOTHING is wrong with the charter........ Hmmmmmm, anyone mind telling ME then, WHY about 7,000 registered VOTERS signed the petition for a NEW charter?

You see friends, this town is run on plain and pure power, phony cronyism, corruption and a "good ole boy network" that might NEVER be penetrated..... and as long as the phonies likf Roy Richardson continue to be involved with the town affairs in Barnstable, don't look for any changes...........

In the meantime, people should try to watch the re-run of the charter commission hearing from last Thursday night. I was basically grilled by the chairman Richard Clark, who was at least 'fair' and then by Mr. Richardson himself, FORMER Hyannis Councilor Bob Jones, WHO ALSO sees nothing wrong with the present charter and then Sue Rohrbach, who scolded me because I read a letter from Francis Broadhurst, whom I termed a former town councilor when he was a former 'selectman'. Sorry Sue. And for anyone who does not know it, Sue works for Senator O'Leary. Gee now, think SHE ran for a specific reason? No offense to her, but really now........... are we really SUPPOSED to believe that Sue ran because SHE wants a new charter, or is it that someone put her there to run.

The good ole boy network is alive and well in Hackville, believe me. And it'll NEVER change until the people here either get pissed off, or wake up. In the meantime, keep your front doors open and leave your wallets on your coffee tables. The Klimm empire will always NEED MORE. He seems to hire another new batch of pals every month, and the salaries are handsome. Heck, if I wasn't in real estate, I would work for the Klimm empire too.

Good day

[dissatified molested probationer]

Shouldn't Roy Richardson's status as a "diddler" disqualify him from town politics anyway?

[John Julius]

To say it like it is...... with all due respect, as far as I am concerned, some who are on this commission might be guilty of fraud. The last time I knew, the voters voted for CHANGE. The last time I knew, the voters wanted something NEW, something DIFFERENT, something BETTER, which is all why the voters SIGNED the petition in the first place. Unfortunately the voters in our town got fooled again........ the only way things will really ever REALLY change is for the voters to REALLY start paying attention to the REAL problem in the first place. But like so many other things in this town, politics rules...........and as long as we continue with this sickening type of gov't, then the hacks will continue along. Trying to change this is almost like trying to make a change in the fire districts. Hell might freeze over first, before that will ever happen.

In the meantime, maybe someday the voters here will wake up. Otherwise, like I said earlier, as long as we have this form of gov't leave your wallets on the table and the doors open because the Klimm empire will continue to rip you blind..... sorry but this is just the truth.

As for the charter commission, all I can say is that I see no less than five there who have no intention of 'changing' anything. I hate to tell you this but no matter how one slices it, change won't happen. I only hope I might be wrong.

As for Roy Richardson, I have zero respect for him, zero. And the same holds true for Mr. Jones. Bob Jones is there just to help John Klimm stay in place. Make no mistake about it. Too bad the voters hadn't known this a while back.

People should try to watch the re-run of that last charter commission from last Thursday night. Then tell me Bob Jones and Roy Richardson and Sue Rohrbach care about change....... NOT

If anyone is guilty of fraud its Greg Milne. He is the one that made it look like in 12 out of the 13 districts he was only running for one elected office. When he really was running for 2 offices. But he does have sealed record for assulting his wife. Once a criminal always a criminal.

[John Julius]

No Janet, Greg is not guilty of anything. The frauds are the ones who ran for the charter commission who never had any intention of doing anything to make change which is WHAT the petition was all about in the first place.

Greg knew from the outset that he had the RIGHT to run for the charter commission but let's give him some real credit. greg was more than smart enough to wait till the LAST minute to pull his papers to run. And the other night i watched as Janet Joakim and Jim Crocker BOTH LIED in public as saying that they BOTH wanted to run for the charter commission but both said that they knew ahead of time that they could not......... ha ha, big joke. And what a LIE! Neither had the brains enough like Greg did that it was perfecly LEGAL for anyone to run for the charter because there is NOTHING ANYWHERE that prohibits ANYONE from doing so, and come June 4th, my money goes on Paul Revere who will prove what Gary has said all along, which is that there IS NOTHING anywhere in the chater that prohibits anyone from running.

So Janet, nice try, on both accounts. But REALLY, LYING in public is really bad.......your problem Janet is that Greg is the ONLY one of thirteen councilors who is respected by the people in this town. As for the other 11 besides yourself, sure, you guys have plenty of crony PHONY followers but the number is very minimal in comparison to the high number of people around town who have the utmost respect for Greg. Sorry but that is just the way it is.......

So as for the ones guilty of fraud, it is plain as daylight.

Bye Janet, have a nice night Janet.

[Mueslix]

JJ: Why does everyone who disagrees with you Janet? Maybe all obnoxious posts should be attributed to you JJ, even though they have no names?

Like me, I aint Janet and I think you guys are way out of bounds.

BTW Gary, you were pretty incoherent on the mic the other night. Cheap shots a few times too. Not surprised there.

Mueslix

[John Julius]

Janet, here we go again. Look, we know it is you. We have been over this dozens of times. And very honestly, no, there have been many times that I have respectfully 'disagreed' with many people. I have always also said that I, unlike YOY, do NOT have all the answers, but Gary and I do have something in common: We BOTH stand for accountability and we both have EXPOSED an incredible amount of WASTE, CORRUPTION, MISMANAGEMENT and INCOMPETENCE with yourself and 11 other bozo's who call themselve 'councilors'. Talk about a joke. And as for the Town Manager, he has WASTED MILLIONS of taxpayer money and you clowns just sit there like deer in the headlights. Duhhhhh......

As for Gary,I thought he did a very good job considering the circumstances........ you see Janet, the next time YOU run you are going to get CREAMED likely by Joe Pino, who has the UTMOST RESPECT from many in the precinct. And I WILL BET MY FARM on it........ so for now, go ahead, keep pelting Gary and me, and others....you seem to get your kicks from that. In the meantime, Gary deserves a lot of credit. MOST people know that he, I and others are always at a big disadvantage at hack hearings like that. Look, we all know that you and the wonder boy Town Manager did a masterful job of lining up the chamber of commerce and a bunch of hack business people to come in FOR WHAT? Because they were scared of Gary Lopez and John Julius?

Yes Janet, it is ALL so very comical......... All I have to say to you is that when Joe runs against you come next term, we will get the last laugh, and that will make a lot of people's days!

Now let's see how fast Janet comes back in here..........

Janet, while you are in Gary's site, why not talk about an issue for once? Why not go and read his last post, the one that shows Falmouth with how FISCALLY responsible they are, and HOW IRRESPONSIBLE you and the Klimm administration are? Hmmm, Janet? Can you tackle this?

First, Falmouth HAS CERTAIN QUALIFICATIONS to be that town's administrator. So much that John Klimm COULDN'T qualify. Many now that the only experience John Klimm had was a coffee boy as an aide in the statehouse. BIG DEAL..... and yet the STUPID PRIOR councils had NO CLUE that he has NO CLUE about running any town. He is a hcak and now his latest addition is Tom Lynch, another major hack to add to this......... and you and the rest of the council just sit clueless.......

And Janet, I was really surprised that you stood so silent in the recent 'policy change' in the way folks are hired here in Hackville........ I fully expected YOU to be there in the spotlight basking in the news about YOU would 'save us' all..... but instead it was John Klimm, who the paper quoted as saying, "the new policy change will put us ahead of the curve". Oh gee, what a wonderful town manager. OUR HERO! When in reality HE should be held responsible. But we have too STUPID of a council to figure that one out.

Janet, have a good night. I am going home but I will check in tomorrow. Your response should be fun....they always are.

See Janet, REAL POLITICS is about ISSUES, like the hundreds brought up by Gary here the past few years and never once have you or any other so called councilor talked abou even one. All you guys do is take up seats, period.

Dear Janet Joakim, Hutch, Crock and the rest: PLEASE LEAVE TOWN BEFORE WE MOVE YOU OUT.