July 28, 2009

Gill: City knew but did nothing

Press release this morning from Republican mayoral hopeful John Gill:


It appears the city was made aware of Bristol Hospital’s decision to close the Senior Wellness Center as early as Friday July 24th. “What is so disturbing to me is that the Mayor didn’t pick up the phone and call the hospital to schedule an emergency meeting to try to find a solution” Gill said.

Further Gill went on to say that he was shocked to read that the mayor, a democrat, “won’t commit tax dollars to fund a private service. This is what democrats in Washington are all about these days. They are owners of car companies, banks, insurance companies as well as wielding the power to replace CEO’s “

At the very least the City could have tried to come up with a solution, Gill said, and I am glad to see that Mr. Barwis has asked the Mayor to discuss this unfortunate condition for our seniors with one day remaining before the scheduled close. One possible source of funding is the approximately $54,000, the City is expecting to receive for over-payments to AT&T. Our Seniors helped build this City, we should make every effort to save their Wellness Center. Gill stated.


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Copyright 2009. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com

61 comments:

Anonymous said...

Looks like this Gill guy is going to beat this thing to death. What a rookie!

hazy vision said...

so ward is criticized because he ISN'T the Washington status quo Democrat? can't have it both ways gill, better breath in hard and let some oxygen touch the crevices of your young and inexperienced brain.

Anonymous said...

The city is still looking at a possible deficit and Gill wants to keep spending more of our tax dollars.

Next he will be saying "lets raise taxes"!

under weight said...

sure hope that gill puts more thought and reason into representing clients than he has in politiking.

Anonymous said...

Gee Gill, if you had gotten involved even ONE MONTH ago, you could have alerted the city as to what might be happening, rather than waiting until after the fact..

Anonymous said...

Gill, with your inside information, can you tell us if Barwis contacted the Mayor (would have been nice), or if he contaced the Senior Center during budget time asking foor help?

Why should the city have to jump when Barwis didn't do his job?
Or is he playing games, using local politics to get his way?

AnonymousWestconnStudent said...
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Anonymous said...

GGG Go Gill GO...expose Ward for what he really is...which is not much of anything consistent. One moment he hails the Obamma nonsence of stimulas and now he will not spend any funds on our seniors.

Anonymous said...

Ward spends city tax money on the unions, he has clearly demonstrated that...but when it comes to taking care of the seniors in Bristol...he hids behind a Republican candidate.

Seniors vote and vote large..hope they can overcome all the votes Ward bough from the union with his give away contracts and failure to save tax dollars under the GASB 45 issue.

GGG Go Gill Go...like that ..maybe it should be on his signs!

Anonymous said...

8:48am - enough Mayor, Gill has something you lack - compassion for the seniors.

Anonymous said...

Artie boi...breath deeply as your experience is showing...poorly. You should never have let the seniors down.

Get some O2 into your soaked brain! Now there you will find some deep crevices due to all the brain damage that occurs when you are as old as Ward. Go play policeman,,,do it during the day however!

Anonymous said...

Hey City Workers get back to work!

fish bait said...

Mr. Gill would do well to restrict his lack of knowledge before speaking, as his appearance seems to represent nothing less than being that of "a fish out of water."

Anonymous said...

I think Mr. Gill is pointing out the hypocracy of Bristol Democrats, and is doing a fine job at it!

The Dems in this town flocked to the polls en masse last November to elect Obama President, yet say Gill is too inexperienced.

They support Sen. Dodd's cash for Countrywide plan but can't rally behind supporting this? Perhaps if the program was Federally funded they would support it!

It's absurd to think the city couldn't find $25,000 here. Abolish Billy Stortz's little BDDC (how can he be an R???) and see the savings that would bring. Take money from our grossly over-funded pension plan and use that. Take money from the schools by cutting administrator positons.

This is a no-brainer, which is why I can't figure out how Ward didn't see it as a perfect issue for him! As of now I'm voting for Gill.

Anonymous said...

More could have been done by the City to help this crucial program to stay open. I'm not suggesting that the City fund it completely, but they could have met with the hospital to find out what was needed to continue it.

Anonymous said...

Pension fund dollars cannot be taken and used for this.

BDDC concept pushed by state to keep Bristol eligible for funding.

City approved BOE budget (where were you), money to be used for education.

Gill more like a democrat than any republican I know.

But uninformed voters like you are the reason we are in the mess we are in.

Anonymous said...

All you Ward huggers - do you think next year Ward won't raise taxes? He has to because he took $$ from the rainy day fund, next year what is he going to do? He should be creating revenue for the city not playing the shell game with taxpayers money. Oh I will bet my house taxes go up next year because Ward knew if he raised them this year he would not be relected. Ward only cares about Ward.

Anonymous said...

Uh oh, looks like the anti-Ward folks'tiny ship is getting tossed. They've got GILL-igan at the wheel (and we all know how that turned out for them).

GGG - GILL(IGAN'S) GOT TO GO!!!

;0)

Anonymous said...

"GGG Go Gill Go...like that ..maybe it should be on his signs!"

Ya...and then write keep on going Gill. Come back when you've got a clue...till then...

GGG means Gill's gotta go!

AnonymousWestconnStudent said...
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Anonymous said...

10:52am - how correct you are. Ward cares about his union boys more then the seniors and veterans in this town. Where do veterans go for help in this city? Al is gone, has been for a while now.

People in this town need to see Ward for what he really is a - greedy, beer guzzin union hack.


Tom C.

Anonymous said...

Does Gill know where Bristol Hospital is located?

Anonymous said...

Does Ward know where it is? He certainly knows where the police stations are, and every bar.

Anonymous said...

1:09

You hit on just issue that Barnes and the republicans should have benn hitting for the past 18 months.
But no, they have been sitting back, doing nothing, and now will expect he voters to get the message in 3 months.
It didn't matter who the candidate would be, the issues were there and the Republicans blew it!

Anon wescon hit it right: the r's don't care about the city (VNA for example), they just care about politics!
And they now criticize Ward?

Anonymous said...

Steve,
What happened to your moderation of this blog. Some pretty nasty name calling and character assassination going on.

Steve Collins said...

If things go as planned, this blog will migrate onto the Press website before too long and comments will not be moderated,
I've loosened up in response because I'm not sure how much I'll be able to do once the change happens. I hope I can control things to the degree I have until recently, but I can't be sure of it.
I hate the mindless name-calling.

spotted said...

Tom C ? - 1:09 - I don't think so - better to use anonymous.

Anonymous said...

The un-answered question remains: what did Ward know, and when did he know it? Did Barwis give him advance notice and he did nothing with it; or did Barwis blow him off and not bother to tell him? Either way, it does not reflect well on Ward's "leadership".

Anonymous said...

A day without a comment from Gill is like a day without sunshine.

Sound like he would be a media hound like Obama!

Anonymous said...

7:33, Give him a few minutes. Talk is all he's got.

Anonymous said...

So if the local pizza joints stop delivering pizza to seniors - should the city pick up the tab for that too?
At some point you have to decide what are crucial services to the city and what can we afford to do - especially in a down economy! Do you realize that MOST of these seniors can have the same services provided by the clinic done at the doctor office and paid for by medicare?
The City funds the senior center already - it doesn't mean they have to fund every single program.
Let's not be quick to blame the city for every decision that a business makes in town.
What would you be willing to give up to have this clinic?

Anonymous said...

"Let's not be quick to blame the city for every decision that a business makes in town"

Awww...come on now. Gill wouldn't have anything to say if he couldn't play the blame game.

Anonymous said...

But let's get beyond the closing of the wellness clinic itself, to the issue of leadership. Regardless of whether it was a reasonable decision, the decision was not made on the spur of the moment. Burwis was obviously thinking about it for some time, and he either withheld it from Ward, or he told Ward but Ward didn't bother to tell his Senior Services director.

Either way it's failure to provide leadership. It would be really refreshing to hear Ward admit it.

Anonymous said...

July 28, 2009 2:54 PM to respond to this person's comment:
To say Republican's don't care about this city is ridiculous. I just moved into this town in Feb. and I am a registered Dem. I support mostly Dem views across the board. I work for P & W in East Hartford. My wife is a stay at home mother to our 2 children. I am watching and reading the beatings that the Republicans are getting from everyone on a daily occurence. For Republicans to even want to continue to fight for this city shows me how much they actually do care. I am shocked at how name calling and bashing is the norm here. I might have to switch my affiliation because I am embarrassed at how things are going. I haven't seen the same bashing from the Republicans towards the Dems. I am new, so I could be missing things but I feel it is time for a change.

Tim Gamache said...

I'm sure Mr Barwis knew the hospital was considering the discontinuation of this clinic LONG BEFORE anyone else.The REAL question is,why would he wait to try and sit down with the Mayor AFTER the issue became public knowledge? The onus was on HIM to try and find any way possible to save such an important service for seniors.The time to contact the Mayors' office was when closing the clinic FIRST became a consideration by the Hospital.Is it just me,or does it seem like Mr.Barwis is playing games with the Seniors "stuck in the middle?"

Anonymous said...

thank you 11:30!

These are services covered under their health insurance. Barwis is trying to balance the needs of the community outside of the hospital as well as their needs inside as well. When there is only a set amount of dollars to cover everything, somethings got to give. There's been lay offs, pay freezes and leaving positions unfilled which leaves fewer people and resources to try and meet the needs of the community. We aren't UCONN. The state doesn't come along and give BH handouts to keep afloat every few years. It's time to make tough decisions. Forcing seniors to use their ins for these services rather than handing them out for free at the expense of our small, cash strapped community hospital is NOT asking too much.

As a democrat, I am happy to see that Ward is using restraint in this and not funding it. Why force our cash strapped city to pay for something that is covered by the seniors' insurance? It's not right to expect the city or hospital to do it. Yes, seniors built the town, the same as we continue to do in this generation. I somehow doubt that generations to follow will advocate putting the city or our local hospital into further debt because I want to have perks when I'm a senior. Give me a break!

Anonymous said...

Tim G. Just keep ranting on what Ward told you to say - you are also a puppet for Ward.

Anonymous said...

I wonder what contractor did the remodel on Ward's house - think they were union boys?

Anonymous said...

"As a democrat, I am happy to see that Ward is using restraint in this and not funding it. Why force our cash strapped city to pay for something that is covered by the seniors' insurance?"

A smart mayor (or an average city manager) would know a half dozen ways to save the wellness center without costing the taxpayers. Unfortunately we have a below-average mayor who has no idea how to do such things. And our standards for mayoral performance are so low, no one even calls him on it except his sacrificial lamb opponent. I guess we really do get the government we deserve.

AnonymousWestconnStudent said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

1:26:
The Republicans would welcome you. Please come on down August 27th BOE Building on church street to our meeting.

YOur absolutely right about the Republicans not bashing the Dems, let's have a good old fashion debate on the issues and what's best for Bristol.

Ward might have all this experience, but what has it gotten us?

He voted to spend 5.2 million dollars to buy the mall, plus give the old owners the sweetheart deal of 5K per month to maange it.

He was opposed to the BDDC even though the state wanted it.

SO I'll ask again, what has all this experince gotten us?

Anonymous said...

Gamache you blow hard...you belong in Washington with the rest of your wild eyed liberal spennding bafoons. It was nice NOT to hear or see you for so long...go back under the bridge...fade away...jump a boat with Stortz and drift away from Bristol. You are nothing but a rubber stamp for your buddy ward.

Anonymous said...

Do you mean to suggest that the City should not have a dialougue with the Hospital...as a routine?

If we do not, shame on us. There are so many issues that need to be communicated to police fire and other emergency personnel.

This service LOST to our seniors is a POOR reflection on both the mayor's office and the hospital..however the hospital has made a tough financial decision that the mayor is incapable of doing.

Maybe if the Mayor was capable of making INTELLIGENT TOUGH decision (like GASB 45 and 0 cost union negotiations)our seniors would still have this service.

Governments' role is to generally take care of those who can not take care of themselves. Arties union boys don't qualify on that score some of our Seniors do.

This is disgraceful of the Mayor.

Anonymous said...

Mayor Ward should be ashamed to have allowed this in our city!

open idiot said...

you gill people are really stooping lower than dirt this early in the campaign - why don't you get some balls and stand up at a council meeting to ask who the contractor was on ward's house.
by the way, my public tax dollars shouldn't be used to replace a private vendor's ( the hospital's)services.

Anonymous said...

6:59

You don't like Gamache becuase you think he is a rubber stamp, and you don't like Stortz becasuse you think he isn't.

Guess it all depends on what YOU are getting or not getting.

By the way, both Gamache and Stortz have put themselves on the line for Bristol: have you?

Also, Both Stortz and Gamache readily identify themselves.

Obviously you don't!

Anonymous said...

Give me a break. The hospital is a separate entity. What services they provide or choose to cut is THEIR business. Blaming Ward for their decision is ridiculous. You guys are grasping at straws...disgraceful indeed!

Anonymous said...

"Blaming Ward for their decision is ridiculous."

How CONVENIENT for you to miss the point completely. It's not about Bristol Hospital doing whatever they feel is in their own best interest. It's about Ward's failure to look out for Bristol seniors' best interest.

Where Was Ward?!?!

only one gill? said...

seems that gill's strategy is to release one gripe paper a week and have the rest of the week taken up by party guppies who sucked him into running - gulp, gulp.

Anonymous said...

"It's about Ward's failure to look out for Bristol seniors' best interest."

No it's not. How was Ward supposed know what the Hospital was planning? How convenient of you to miss that point that they are a private business. Please don't tell me Ward's supposed to be contacting them on a regular basis to ask what they're up to. It doesn't work that way.

Nice try, but instead of trying to discredit Ward, Mr. Gill's going to have to stand on his own merit (Ok, I see that is a problem, but with time, who knows?).

In the meantime, we know where Ward was and what he's about. Question is, who, what and where was Gill???

Anonymous said...

The position of your nose relative to Ward's body is obviously blocking your vision. Either the hospital administration has contempt for Ward (what do they know that we don't?), or they gave him advance notice but he ignored it. If you're okay with what that says about him as a leader, I'm happy for you. You live in a happy simple world. The rest of us don't.

Anonymous said...

First, I don't like the way Kurt Barwis is running Bristol Hospital.

However as a city, this issue with Uconn could put Bristol Hospital out of Buisness with all its 1700 employees.

Does Mayor Ward understand the issue?

B/c I have yet to hear a word from him about it.
He and Barwis as one of the largest employers should be taking reguarally.

So, Tim Gamache is wrong! Ward needs to be the leader?

Where was he?

proof said...

so it is getting near the end of the week and gill is returning from wilton, will read everything that went on this week in bristol and give us his version of what should/would have gone on if he were here to see or even be at any/some of the community activities - gee, if he shows up at the august city council meeting, we might even get to see what he looks like - or if he even exists.

Anonymous said...

Here we go again. More insults and loads and loads of BS. Comtempt? Ignoring advanced notice? It's amazing your arm doesn't pop out of the socket with you reaching so far.

I'm fine with Ward's leadership and I'd much rather live in my "happy, simple" reality-based world than your twisted cosmos where fabrication and BS are the order of the day.

Anonymous said...

subsidize podiatrists?? seriously? The hospital should subsidize them?? What's next? Subsidize cardiologists because someone doesn't want to pay their copay? Susidize pharmacies so that no one has to pay for prescriptions??
They get paid via insurance and co pays already. Why would a hopsital, even one that isn't struggling, subsidize any doctor? If the staff at this clinic are so up in arms about this, why aren't they volunteering their time to provide services?

It's unbelievable that so many people really can't or refuse to understand reality here. I work at Bristol Hospital. I know the cuts and sacrifices first hand. There is not much money to go around. People like to come on here and complain about how outdated things look but the money is spent on necessities first. Imagine the complaints if we start spending money to pretty up the place when we are losing services and staff left and right. Barwis is not being greedy. He is trying to keep me and all of my co-workers employed, therefore, keeping open our financially struggling hospital for people who truly need it! I never thought I'd be sticking up for the president but someone needs to. He is doing the best he can to make cuts where he can. Maybe it's not common knowledge and wasn't announced to the media but the cuts started at the top! As an employee, I appreciate that. I respect that the highest paid stepped up and took personal hits before anyone else did.


As for mammograms and providing help for babies, that is funded by the govt. Complain to the federal and state govt that you are outraged that under/uninsured women can get mammograms to hopefully save their lives at the expense of clipping toenails and blood pressure checks for seniors.

gill who? said...

has anybody seen this gill guy or is he a figment of the gop's imagination?

Anonymous said...

4:2`

Better yet, has anyone seen the GOP?

Anonymous said...

What GOP?

last is still last said...

so even if ward and burwis knew it, it is evident that gill didn't have a clue and when he found out through the press, which he probably read on-line, what did he do about it? did he call the mayor or the hospital with ideas or volunteering to help resolve the situation/ NOT - johnny come lately or, better yet, johnny not come at all.

WHO? said...

is this gill guy for real or what, when does he think that people have to know who he is or what he stands for - the day of the election?

Anonymous said...

The real question is: who is feeding Gill, who is pulling his strings?

Sure would be nice to know!