March 25, 2009

Stortz raises GASB 45 issue

Email sent from former Mayor William Stortz to city officials yesterday:

Dear Mayor Ward,

From what I hear, the GASB 45 Issue is not dead, at least yet, supposedly the Council can and will vote on it.

I know that many people still have questions, and while some answers may have been given, the information has not been widely or adequately disseminated, and in some cases is still being questioned.

I would like to suggest, like to ask, that the city make this issue part of their Web Site, until it is resolved or closed. I would like to see the public have the opportunity to ask questions, have them posted, along with answers. This way the questions will be public and the answers documented for all to see.

Perhaps the questions could be submitted on line and be filtered through your office so as to eliminate the extraneous and irrelevant or self-serving ones, and maybe some questions can even be combined. You, your office, would assign the questions to the appropriate department, who would provide your office with responses to be posted. That way you, and the council would also be aware of the public interest and concerns.

There may be variations to this that might make it more effective, but providing for a forum for questions, AND answers, may help bring this issue to a successful conclusion. Since it could amount to a possible half mill impact, I am sure that the public would have a real interest. By making the public more a part of the process, prompt closure might be achieved.

Hopefully you will consider this, and implement it, or at least some version of it.

As usual, I will try to answer any questions, and expand on this if you are interested.

Sincerely

William T. Stortz


PS: Bill, you should include me on these things!
*******
Copyright 2009. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com

30 comments:

Anonymous said...

Time for former Mayor Stortz to ride off into the sunset...

Anonymous said...

always amazes me that stortz can come up with these alternatives after the fact; why didn't you suggest this during the meetings Bill? Not enough press?

Anonymous said...

Maybe Bill realized the press only has 8000 readers.

Steve Collins said...

Actually, the Press has more than 8,000 subscribers. Count in the online readership and we probably reach well over half the population of Bristol.
His email to the mayor and City Council reached... seven people.
And me.

Anonymous said...

how do we know that it even reached that many people? Do they all read the blog?

Steve Collins said...

You mean the seven? I suspect at least some of them didn't read it when they saw Stortz had sent it. But they probably will see it on here.

Anonymous said...

As I follow this "blog", I gather that Stortz sent this to the Mayor and Council, no one else.
So apparently he wasn't looking for "PRESS".

Also, while it might have been brought up sooner, why didn't the MAYOR and the COUNCIL do this from the get go?

I think it is a good idea and I hope the city follows up on it.

Anonymous said...

12:48 - that is what PUBLIC meetings are held for, bill is just trying to get some lime light - would be pretty crowded on the website if every idea was posted on it.
stay in retirement bill, twice was definately enough.

Anonymous said...

Sounds like someone is having a problem letting go of their FORMER Mayoralship. Your no different than any other Citizen Mr. Stortz. Please explain what makes you so special to comment on these issues. Why should we care about your opinion or comment more than, lets say Mr. Jones' comment down the road??

Anonymous said...

Not every idea is a possible half mill issue, and this is not an issue that would be on forever.

Frasnkly I am surprised it wasn't done early on.

Certainly Stortz knows about public meetings, and also knows how sparsely they are attended.

Anonymous said...

Stortz, YOU WERE MAYOR. YOU COULD HAVE DONE THIS IF YOU WANTED. DON'T MAKE IT SEEM LIKE WARD MESSED UP. YOU DID TOO, IF ANYONE DID AT ALL.

Anonymous said...

Looks like Stortz doesn't think he's getting enough attention anymore.

Anonymous said...

Stortz = Monday Morning Quarterback

Anonymous said...

online readership does not count Steve.

Steve Collins said...

Online readership doesn't count for what? It doesn't count toward paid circulation. It certainly counts toward readership.

Anonymous said...

Revenue

Anonymous said...

2:34 Mr. Jones down the road has never been mayor and probably has little, if any, knowledge of how the city works or what GASB 45 is. Whether or not you like him, Mayor Stortz has experience and knowledge that few of us have. BTW, Mr. Jones down the road can also contact the town fathers if he wishes to; no one's excluding him.

Anonymous said...

Funny how Bill wants to post everything on the web. As I recall in his last go 'round as Mayor he REFUSED to put a lot of information on the web. A little hypocritical.

Anonymous said...

The question still is: is Ward going to give the public the opportunity to ask questions and get answers?

Anonymous said...

The Ward followers seem to be out in force, attacking Stortz.

Guess they are afraid he might run.

Anonymous said...

"Guess they are afraid he might run."

Hobble along is more like it...

Anonymous said...

The BRTC must be the new Green Party because they keep recycling Stortz.

Anonymous said...

Bristol Press owned ,run, by the Republicans,Steve no way in Hell 30 thousand people read this paper.Oh my god I sound like a rep.NO,NO,Obama has this countrie going down the wrong path ! Remember the last 8 yrs, NO don't look back brighter days ahead.

Anonymous said...

8:32: LMAO!

Anonymous said...

Vote Nicastro in 09!

Anonymous said...

March 26, 2009 9:26 AM poster = Base of the Dumb-o-crat Party

Anonymous said...

2:21 LMAO? Does the truth hurt?

Anonymous said...

At least that way there would be a record of the inconsistent responces by the city.

The last meeting was a farce with various people contradicting others, and themselves.

This would create some transparency and accountability.

Anonymous said...

I guess the Press and this blog are run by Republicans. How come neither had even the tiniest article about Chuck DiBiaso being sent to prison for 10 years for a planned tryst with a 15 year old that turned out to be an undercover cop? Not only did DiBiaso run on the Republican ticket for the Board of Education, he also ran for State Rep. The Courant had an article on this, but the Press and the blog merely looked the other way. Now if it was a Democrat who did the same the story would have made front page.

Steve Collins said...

Or maybe we just don't routinely check court proceedings in Hartford.... C'mon, 9:27, do you think I know everything that happens everywhere? I'm merely a report, not the Lord.