....well it turns out Nextdoor's threatened suspension was not because someone claimed I did not live in LaGrange.....it was because of my "racist" comments......... I copied a blog from a friend in the adjacent town regarding their fire commission approving a change in the union contract to give away (with no union concessions) free LIFETIME health insurance to anyone designated as a "domestic partner" of a covered firefighter.....note - that fire district ALREADY pays $6.16/$1K valuation as an ANNUAL fire tax with no end in sight to increases........and there were no limitations/definitions of what constitutes a "domestic partner" ......I made a comment to the effect that I felt that was inappropriate also and then simply copied his blog in my post. Apparently one of the alphabet organizations reported this sentence in the blog as violating Nextdoor’s Community Guidelines on discrimination. .....thus, I'm a racist....I guess one learns something about himself every day......their note read:
The specific comment in the post shown below is the reason your account was reported "This wild night of spending comes right on the heels of approving a contract agreement to provide totally free health insurance for Domestic Partners and blowing the overtime budget for the second year in a row."
...My entire post and ALL replies were taken down.
So........I've had it with Nextdoor....I would never have put up with it when I was younger and don't know why I do now..............looking into starting my own "LaGrange Confidential" Blog.............can you imagine me completely unfettered and letting it all hang out?..........a beautiful thing man.....just beautiful............should have realized it much sooner
..........Nextdoor's note to me
Hi Ron,
Thanks for contacting us. I'm so sorry about the misunderstanding.
Your account was reported, however it wasn't reported the correct way, which lead to you receiving that email. Please click on Yes, keep my address to prevent your account from being disabled in that email.
I'll take action regarding the report to make sure they understand how to report. Due to our privacy policy, we are not able to share who reported your account. We extend that to all neighbors.
Your content was reported for violating Nextdoor’s Community Guidelines on discrimination.
The content below was brought to our attention:
....
Ron from Lagrange · 2022-01-29T19:32:58
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my personal comment.................6 new firefighters will add over a $MILLION to the AFD budget in future years......even with retirements.......there is simply no end to the plight of the Arlington taxpayer. Until there are 3 commissioners on that board who align with taxpayers, NOTHING is going to change. (totally free health insurance for Domestic Partners??).........are you kidding me?
...The AFD-Reporter
Taxpayer News About The Arlington Fire District
January 29, 2022
Written by: Jim Beretta
AFD goes wild spending millions at Jan 24 meeting
New Commissioner Van Itallie opposes
Can bankruptcy or more tax hikes be far off for AFD?
The majority of the AFD commissioners spent money as if the taxpayers are a bottomless well at the Jan 24 meeting. Newly-elected Commissioner Van Itallie registered the first "no" votes in two years, since Ralph Chiumento, Bruce Griffing (now ousted) and Peter Longi were elected in December 2019. That led to five rubber stampers on the board and a 10% tax increase over the last two budgets.
This wild night of spending comes right on the heels of approving a contract agreement to provide totally free health insurance for Domestic Partners and blowing the overtime budget for the second year in a row. The draft minutes report the following:
Six new firefighters hired
" As a result of Executive Session, a motion was made by Comm. Dore to hire for firefighters, Sean Castano, Anthony Dragonetti, Mark Kolor, Sean McGovern, Ryan VanNess and Richard Court, with a start date to be determined by the Chief and seniority based on the order. Seconded by Comm. Valdez. - Motion Carried, 4 – 0 – 1 (Comm. Van Itallie abstained) "
Anthony Dragonetti is apparently the stepson of former commissioner Bruce Griffing. Griffing was ousted by taxpayers in the election this past December. Dragonetti has been a volunteer with Croft Corners Fire Company. His documented response statistics as a volunteer were dismal: 20 for 2019 and 16 for 2020. AFD responds to about 6,000 calls a year. Documents for 2019 and 2020 were obtained by the Freedom Of Information Law. A request for 2021 response statistics is pending.
$1.8 million approved for two new fire apparatus (pumpers)
"A motion was made by Comm. Chiumento to move $400K from the 2020 Fund Balance to the Capital Equipment Reserve Fund. Seconded by Comm. Valdez. Lengthy discussion. - Motion Carried, 4 – 1 (Comm. Van Itallie opposed)"
"Chief William Steenbergh
1. Regarding earlier discussion on two engines:Requesting the Board to consider the purchase of one Rescue Pumper and one Pumper to replace two engines that are 25 and 23 years old in the amount of $1,664,337.00. "
"A motion was made by Comm. Valdez to go out for permissive referendum for the purchase of two apparatus and equipment, not to exceed $1.8 million, to come out of the Capital Equipment Reserve Fund. Seconded by Comm. Dore. Brief discussion. - Motion Carried, 4 – 1 (Comm. Van Itallie opposed)"
The current Equipment Reserve Fund has $1.7 million.
Chief Steenbergh put the squeeze on the board saying that the board needed to move forward that night to get the 30-day price lock. This apparatus purchase had never come up in public before. It is questionable how many of the commissioners knew this was coming. It is obvious that the strategy, from the Chief and the union, is to spring big, costly, decisions on the weak-kneed board who cave and approve arbitrary and capricious spending.
Personnel Administrator, apparently Commissioner Dore's daughter, gets pay raise from $36.00 an hour to $50.00 an hour
" As a result of Executive Session, a motion was made by Comm. Longi to raise the pay for the Personnel Administrator at a rate of $50.00 per hour retro to 01/01/22. Seconded by Comm. Valdez. Brief discussion. - Motion Carried, 3 – 1 – 1 (Comm. Van Itallie opposed, Comm. Dore abstained "
Note that the motion doesn't say who the Personnel Administrator is, no name or any other details about the terms of employment were given. Sources say it's Commissioner Rich Dore's daughter, Heather Hastie.
Hastie had been the district's full-time Personnel Administrator for about a year, in a newly created position. Hastie submitted a resignation letter on June 29, 2021 saying that her last day would be August 3, 2021.
Hastie was then hired by the board on Aug 2, 2021 as a part-time Office Manager at her current hourly rate with hours to be approved in advance by the Chief and no more than twenty (20) hours per week from August 3, 2021 through December 31, 2021. Her hourly rate was $36.00 an hour.
This all has a Civil Service backstory that may be the subject of a future AFD-Reporter. Essentially, once Hastie took the required Civil Service exam, she was too low on the list to be reached for either the Personnel Administrator or Business Manager positions. Records were obtained through the Freedom Of Information Law. So it is unclear how she is back as Personnel Administrator.
Business Manager hired in December
Meanwhile, the board recently hired, on Dec 20, 2021, Gregory Henson as Business Manager for about $65,000 a year plus very generous benefits including totally free health insurance. The job description summary for both Business Manager and Personnel Administrator look nearly identical.
So it seems that the board will call Hastie the Personnel Administrator or, Business Manager or, who knows what else to keep her on the payroll. It's interesting that she was Personnel Administrator and then Business Manager for $36.00 an hour but, now she's apparently back to Personnel Administrator with a raise to $50.00 an hour.
"One (1) item for proposed acquisition, sale or lease of real property."
This item was on the agenda for executive session. No actions were taken on this after executive session.
What does Chief Steenbergh and the board have up their sleeve on this one?
The twenty-two (22) Medicare reimbursements were removed from the original Abstract for further review due to errors
Arlington Fire District reimburses retirees for their Medicare Part B premiums. All of the submissions for reimbursement, found on Abstract 22-1B, apparently had errors and were submitted to the board for approval. The total amount for the reimbursement requests was $64,158.60. Newly-elected commissioner Van Itallie found the errors, but they would have been paid had he not been a diligent reviewer.
The 2022 AFD commissioners are:
Ralph Chiumento, Peter Valdez, Peter Longi, Richard Dore and Phil Van Itallie
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Contact: afdreporter@gmail.com
AFD-Reporter is not associated with the Arlington Fire District
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The specific comment in the post shown below is the reason your account was reported
This wild night of spending comes right on the heels of approving a contract agreement to provide totally free health insurance for Domestic Partners and blowing the overtime budget for the second year in a row.
Nextdoor works to ensure that all neighbors feel welcome, safe and respected.
To that end, Nextdoor prohibits posts or comments that discriminate against, threaten, or insult groups based on age, race, pregnancy, marital or family status, ethnicity, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, disability, or membership of any other group protected by equality law. We also prohibit derogatory racial terms or code words.
You are welcome to share your concerns about your community with neighbors, but you must do so without discriminating against others.
Please let me know if you have any questions.
Best,
Shannon
Nextdoor
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ref:_00D361GqdD._5001R1FQWsg:ref
...my original complaint to Nextdoor:
Your message:
Case #: 08734039
Date created: 2/3/2022
...I got this email from Nextdoor:.......What is going on?......I have lived in Lagrange since 2017...... one of my "neighbors" supposedly contacted you claiming I don't........this is an OBVIOUS attempt to get my account deleted by someone who does not appreciate my postings. I RESENT and REJECT it. I want to know who claimed this and then be assured by you that He/She will be the one to have their account disabled. I have a long history of civic minded posts on Nextdoor.....and consider myself to be an asset to Nextdoor and LaGrange.......you can look it up........yet, I am routinely vilified by some from the left ....including having posts from me and other like minded concerned LaGrange citizens removed........In fact I want to know WHY a post from Tim Sweeney (a lifetime LaGrange Fire Dept volunteer and former Fire Commissioner) was removed. The post ostensibly exploded the myth that volunteers are welcomed and treated equitably by career fire fighters and was summarily removed by Nextdoor ...........Tim told me there was NOTHING in that post (dated Oct 1, 2021) which he considered controversial other than it would refute union claims. It is likely that LaGrange Fire dept union members complained to Nextdoor and then like minded "moderators" had the post removed. Again, I RESENT and REJECT.......just another example of decidedly one sided moderation...... Please contact me personally to discuss.....a LIVE person please......Ron
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