DePinto admonishes Retirement Board for allowing excursion to New Orleans seminar
Published on July 16th, 2008
STONEHAM, MA - Selectman Chair John DePinto lashed out at the Stoneham Retirement Board for authorizing over $2,500 worth of expenditures so that a member could attend a seminar in New Orleans late last spring.
During last week's meeting, DePinto chastised the Retirement Board for funding the Louisiana excursion, which allowed member Jim McDermott to attend a nationwide seminar and conference trip.
According to DePinto, although the Retirement Board operates independently from the town, and as such can authorize any expenditure it sees fit, he saw the trip as financially irresponsible, given Stoneham's fiscal condition.
Referring to a recent Town Meeting, the Selectman claimed that the assembly opted against changing the structure of retirees' health benefits, because the former town workers could be hurt by such a shift.
However, according to DePinto, if the Retirement Board squandered its finances - leaving the town to pick-up a greater portion of the tab - local citizens could be very well forced to endorse such a change.
"Why New Orleans, I don't know, because it cost $2,533 and there was a conference the week before in the Cape that cost [a little over $500]," DePinto said.
"If we ever have to do something [like change health benefits], that is part of the reason, because people are going to New Orleans."
"I know we can't do anything about this, but I want to bring this up so everyone knows," the Selectman Chair added. "We have some difficult decisions to make in our next budget. And some members may feel they're getting hurt [by those decisions]."
The Selectman Chair has been a vocal critic of the Retirement Board since he took office, sponsoring a Town Meeting article in May of 2006 to turn over financial control of the local entity to state officials.
DePinto similarly protested last January upon learning that the Retirement Board had set aside nearly $15,000 for travel and seminar costs, some of which would have financed a planned trip to Honolulu, Hawaii.
At least two retirement board members reportedly expressed an interest in attending that annual conference, including Elsie Wallace and McDermott, although the Pacific Ocean excursion was never expressly authorized.
All talk about the trip ceased once DePinto and a few other town officials publicly aired their opposition.
Billboards back up for debate?
Town Administrator David Ragucci recently informed the Selectmen that has again started informal negotiations with ClearChannel Outdoor for the construction of two billboards along I-93 in Stoneham along the Woburn line.
According to Ragucci, officials from the advertising and radio giant have approached him in recent months and offered to pay up to $250,000 for permission to erect the signs along the highway.
Town Meeting, which has rejected the proposal on two occasions, would ultimately need to approve the measure.
"We're capping [the length of the deal] at 25 years," the Town Administrator explained. "After that, they would have to go back to the town for permitting."
The Selectmen unanimously forwarded a favorable recommendation to the Town Administrator, allowing the negotiations to continue.
The last time the proposal was debated by Town Meeting, ClearChannel officials sought to create an overlay district, which specifically permitted the placement of two billboards along I-93 - presumably well out of the view of any neighborhood or commercial establishment.
In return for the zoning change approval, the company agreed to pay a lump-sum payment.
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