The chairman of the library's board of director, David Fortier, sent this to me last night after reading the stories in Friday's paper about Democratic mayoral nominee Ellen Zoppo's problems in 2004 with Library Director Francine Petosa:
Speaking as a private citizen about my experience with the library board, of which I am now chairman, I can say, if there was some trouble between Ellen Zoppo and Francine Petosa, I was not aware of it, and I certainly donʼt see any evidence of it now. There have been disagreements, of course, but that is part of the give and take of public life. You might not think discussions about a library would generate such give and take, but our conversations can be lively ones.
We meet the first Monday of the month. This monthʼs meeting, however, is the second Monday.
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Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com
16 comments:
Dave, take your blinders off. Everyone knows how Ellen feels about Francine, Ellen makes no secret of it.
I suggest you re-read the comments Ellen made in her response to the 2005 issue coming to light. She insulted Francine when Francine has NEVER made a single complaint about Ellen to the media, and she had many many opportunities.
Dave,
How loyal of you to come out in Ellen's defense but not come out in Francine's when this whole thing came out.
Are you the Chair of the Bristol Library Board for the Bristol Public Library that has Dept Head Francine Petosa or are you the Chair of the Ellen Library Board that only speaks out to defend the honor of Ellen?
Dave you are well aware of how Ellen treats Francine and berates her every chance she can.
Why are you pretending you don't know anything about it?
Because Dave wants to stay Chair of "Ellen's Library committee" this is the reason he protects Ellen.
I can assure you, everyone knows the attitude Ellen has against Francine - its so thick you can cut it with a knife.
I agree, Dave take your blinders off. Have some courage for once in your life.
Hold on a minute, how is he "defending" Zippo in that e-mail? And how is he not supporting his co-workers at the library? If there was any bias at all it came off as CYA to me. Certainly understandable considering the circumstances.
Dave Fortier is one of Bristol"s most respectable reporters.Keep up the good work Dave.
It's about time someone from the Library stood up lambasted the Bristol Press for their tabloid journalism!
I'm glad Dave spoke up, too. That's why I chose to put his words here on this blog.
But there's really no need to insult the Press -- and me -- for telling the story to begin with.
Would you really prefer not knowing what I find out?
Wish you would find out about the PW budget overdrawn - taking from one account to the next, not good!
Created this $300,000 loss from what I have been hearing.
Why hasn't Ellen been on top of that?
I confirmed from a person in the comptrollers office that PW is over budget but she couldn't confirm that it was as high as $300K or that they were paying bills with other department budgets. But they are "noticable over"
an anonymous charge about the budget from an anonymous person in the PW department? great.
Gee, an annonymous charge from an annonymous person that was CORRECT.
$200K correct.
I find it fascinating that people can actually object to a politician who wants to hold department heads accountable for what happens (or doesn't) under their administration. This is why we need to seriously look at professional city management, and why Ellen is the right person for the job. She is not afraid or intimidated by people who resist change and accountability.
Ellen only holds people accountable for mistakes that can't be traced back to her. That's why she refuses to hold anyone accountable for the mistakes that PW makes - because she is on the PW board and it proves that she didn't keep her eye on things.
What does Francine Petosa need to held accountable for? Doing her job? Not following Ellen's every order?
Francine knows how to run the library. She doesn't need to be micromanaged and threatened by Ellen.
Problem is the dept. heads ARE doing their jobs, and well. Ellen is the problem - she likes to cause dismay whenever, wherever she can.
It's just in Zoppo's nature to act as if SHE KNOWS it all - hence start going after those she does not like.
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