More Distortions From Mr. DeAngelis

“Paul Perrotti takes good care of his men. When things get troubled as 

they are in the case of the FOI hearing he has no problem pushing his men

in front of him. The firehouse treasurer will face Atty. Buckley's questions

relative to reconciling the fire house books with IRS reports. Good luck.”

There is nothing troubled or troubling at the MVFD except that it is constantly being harassed by Mr. DeAngelis’s FOIs, regarding information that either he can easily obtain from Town Hall, or for information that he is not legally entitled to receive.

Once again, here is why. There are two entities at work.

1) The Middlebury Volunteer Fire Department.  This is the Town Department that receives funding through taxpayer dollars.  This is the Town agency that puts out fires, cuts people out of their cars, and pumps resident’s cellars in the dead of night. These taxpayer dollars go to purchasing fire fighting equipment, turnout gear, apparatus and maintenance, fuel for the apparatus, heating oil for the building, etc...

 2) There is also the Middlebury Volunteer Fire Department Inc.  This is the “club side” of the private organization that raises its own money.  This is the organization that puts Thanksgiving dinners on the tables of less fortunate residents, donates to the food bank, sponsors Little League, sponsor’s the Halloween party for the entire Town, gives scholarships to high school seniors, and outfits the Firehouse with essential non-fire fighting equipment such as all equipment for the kitchen, and most all furniture in the building. None of the funds that come into the MVFD Inc. are derived from taxes.

Under the MVFD Inc. is also the Fire Department Ambulance Fund. This part of the organization uses a billing company to bill those who require the ambulance.  All funds collected through billing go towards maintaining the ambulance, purchasing supplies and equipment, and paying $80,000 each year to Campion Ambulance for Advanced Life Support services.  Any funds that are left over at the end of the year go towards a fund for purchasing a new ambulance. The MVFD Inc. has a new ambulance on order that will save taxpayers around $190,000.

These are two distinctive organizations. Mr. DeAngelis and Mr. Buckley are attempting to blur the lines between these two organizations. Mr. DeAngelis is entitles to see all information on finances that relate to the Town-side of the MVFD, or in other words, the fire fighting side. These are the funds that the Department derives from taxes.  He is not entitled to see financial records from the “club side”, or the part of MVFD Inc., the side that does not receive funds from taxes.

The MVFD Inc. Treasurer does not handle taxpayer funds at all. The MVFD Treasure handles the books of the MVFD Inc.,  or the “club side.”  Since Mr. DeAngelis is not entitled to information from the “club side,” the Treasurer’s appearance at any FOI hearing is irrelevant.

The sentence that Paul Perrotti is pushing men in front of him is ridiculous.  Its a vain attempt of Mr. DeAngelis to create an artificial smoke screen of chaos that does not exist. 

“Police, Fire and Public works financial matters must be 

centralized.

The way things work in this town financially and fiscally is absurd. The 

fire dept operates with no real supervision financially.”

Wrong, again!  The taxpayer funded sides of the Police, Fire Department and Public Works all come under the direction and oversight of the Board of Selectman.  That is why we have this board; to oversee these various departments.  

Former First Selectman Ed St. John attempted to pawn off his elected responsibilities, when he appointed his now defunct, and politically motivated fire commission.  The commission only proved to be a new unnecessary layer of bureaucracy, and a threat to not only firefighter safety, but the safety of the entire community.

So where is the oversight? How are bills paid?  When the Fire Department receives a bill, the Fire Chief authorizes that the bill get paid.  The bill is then sent to Town Hall to the Finance Department.  The amount of the bill is then deducted from the proper line item account from the budget, and a check is cut. The check is them forwarded to the Fire Department liaison who will verify whether or not the bill and payment is legitimate.  Once approved by the liaison, the check is then signed by all three Selectmen. The MVFD Inc. Treasurer is not involved in this process at any point.

There is not a lot to oversee when it comes to the Fire Department budget.  Over the last two years the Department’s budget has been reduced by almost 14%. These are cuts made by the Chief and Officers.  The FD budget is about half that of the Library.  The current budget for the Department is $209,000. When you take into account that maintenance costs, fuel costs and other associated costs go up every year, the Department should be commended for doing their part to keep taxes down.  After all, paying only $209,000 per year for a Volunteer fire department is a bargain.  A paid department would cost millions.

 “On top of that, two of the three Selectmen are firemen which further blunts an honest appraisal of where the money goes.”

That argument is just silly.  Mr. DeAngelis has obviously forgotten that Mr. St. John was and is a member of the Fire Department, and was so for his entire time in office.  It also must have slipped his mind that Tom Proulx, was a Selectman for over twenty years, and has been a member of the Fire Department for over 50 years.  This is a disingenuous argument.  The taxpayer side of the Department is clearly spelled out in the budget - line by line.  Read the budget.  That’s where the money goes.

 “On Oct. 16, the Treasurer of the Fire Dept. must respond to a 

subpoena to explain various financial dealing of the firehouse. There 

should be no need to do this as all financial matters regarding the 

firehouse should be handled by the Chief Financial Officer of the town, 

not a treasurer of a private fire dept. Case law in Ct clearly shows that a 

fire dept is a town agency.”

Mr. DeAngelis makes it sound like his entire FOI fiasco is some sort of Federal Indictment of the MVFD Inc. Treasurer, and alludes that there must be some sort of wrongdoing. As already stated, the MVFD Inc. Treasurer does not handle any taxpayer funds, he handles the club side of the organization.  He is bonded, and the MVFD spends its own funds each year to have its own books privately audited. 

Therefore the MVFD Inc. Treasurer’s appearance at any FOI hearing would not only be a waste of everyone's time, but totally irrelevant.  

The notion that taxpayers should pay the Middlebury CFO to handle the books of a private organization that raises its own funds is ridiculous.  Perhaps Mr. DeAngelis also believes that the Town’s CFO should also handle the books of the Cub Scouts as well.

“Once Gormley is removed from office the town needs to move forward by ending personal vendettas and improving town services.”

Mr. DeAngelis speaks about personal vendettas.  Mr. DeAngelis appears to be acting as   chief spokesman for the individual who has the largest personal vendetta in Town. 

When Mr. St. John left office and Tom Gormley took over there was a huge sigh of relief felt throughout this community. Mr. Gormley and Mr. Desmarais disbanded the fire commission which was the hallmark of Mr. St. John’s personal vendetta against the MVFD. Mr. Gormley’s open door policy gave residents a chance to closely interact with their First Selectman.  Tom Gormley is a refreshing and much overdue change to this community.

As for improving Town services? The Town already enjoys an excellent Police Department, Fire Department and Public works.  I don’t know how anyone could improve on these organizations, especially when Mr. DeAngelis is demanding more spending cuts to the very organizations he seeks to improve.