INSURANCE COMPANY PAYS $10,000 FOR FORENSIC AUDIT ~ DUE MISSING FUNDS NEW MILFORD BUILDING DEPT.

LOOKS LIKE NEW FAIRFIELD ISN'T ALONE WHEN IT COMES TO MISSING FUNDS!  BUT UNLIKE NEW FAIRFIELD A FORENSIC AUDIT WAS CONDUCTED!

Insurance company pays New Milford $28,000 in connection with missing Building Department funds

Susan Tuz, Staff Writer

Published: 11:40 p.m., Tuesday, November 9, 2010

NEW MILFORD -- A settlement has been paid to the town of New Milford by Traveler's Insurance after an accountant's forensic report revealed $18,000 was missing from the Building Department books.

Finance Director Ray Jankowski confirmed Tuesday that Traveler's paid the town $28,000 in response to a claim he entered regarding $18,000 in missing funds revealed by a forensic report prepared by BlumShapiro.

The report covered an audit of the books from 2007 through March 2010, Jankowski said.

In addition to $18,000 for the missing funds, a sum of $10,000 was paid by Traveler's to cover the cost of the accountant's forensic report.

"There are two types of proof," Jankowski explained. "One exists under the law and the other is, for an insurance company, accepted through the results of an audit."

Jankowski added that while the audit proved the funds were missing, no proof of theft has been found to date under the law.

Longtime Building Department secretary Barbara Brickley resigned from her position in New Milford Town Hall on Aug. 13.

Brickley was on administrative leave from her position at the time, according to personnel file documents.

Brickley's resignation came as an investigation was being conducted by state police into "discrepancies" in the Building Department books, Mayor Pat Murphy said.

That investigation is still ongoing, according to town attorney Randy DiBella.

Jankowski and DiBella declined to comment on the ongoing investigation.

Murphy said she also declined to comment until the police investigation is closed.

When contacted by The News-Times Tuesday and told about the forensic report findings and the insurance settlement payout, Brickley said, "I have no idea what it's about. This is the first I've heard of it."

In September, Murphy said "no one was charged with anything, and no one was accused of anything."

The mayor declined to comment on whether Brickley's resignation had any connection to the ongoing police investigation. Murphy did say at that time that Brickley was not asked to resign.

Contact Susan Tuz at stuz@newstimes.com or 860-355-7322.

UPDATE ON THE MHHS CONCERNED PARENTS ...

Concerned Parents of MHHS Children,

By now you may have seen the response by Superintendent Roy and the folks from the "environmental" company, Hygenix.  To quote one of the candidates from the New York Governors race, Jimmy Mcmillan, "I am tired of playing the silly game".  For the superintendent to quote environmental levels without having any understanding of what they are is ludicrous and underscores one of the many problems with this project.  They are in way over their heads and are playing guessing games with the lives of our children.  Lets be clear about the Hygenex response.  It is a smoke screen.  This gentleman from Hygenex is the person at our initial meeting that was defending PCB's stating that "PCB's DO NOT CAUSE CANCER, THEY ARE SUSPECT AND MAY CAUSE CANCER".   Is that why the DEP made the school cover window caulking and plan to remove the soil and brick masonry ?  With regards to the comments about concrete being caustic and "NOT CARCINOGENIC"  well, here is some factual information to clear some of the misinformed and misguided smoke screen.....  Concrete contains chromium which is a KNOWN CARCINOGEN and that CAUSES CANCER.  Well maybe not to Hygenix as some compounds "could" or "may" be harmful.  

Hygenix ran a silica test which is a common compound in concrete and concrete dust.  Ok, great.  Now - that test was run because "we the people" expressed our concern.  Shouldn't that be something that they figured out on their own?  Why are "lay people" asking technical question and raising concern about the safety of our children, educators and yes, even Mr. G's wildlife?   Based upon the response submitted by the Superintendent and Hygenix they are now deploying an additional level of vacuuming to further get rid of as much dust as they can.  Well, the problem here is that they are doing that because they found elevated levels of dust - remember 3 times more dust in the areas under construction then the areas not under construction from the sample that they submitted to us.  The only way to mitigate the problem with concrete dust is by keeping it wet.  That is what is done in most construction environments to protect the workers from this toxic health hazard.  With regard to the mold and hazardous fiber board on the ceiling the air samples with the equipment used (as told to me by the state health department) are not really sufficient.  A bulk core sample would be a better indicator but quite honestly, you can see it with the naked eye and that does not require any credentials or certifications.  In addition, while I bring up the state health department, I was also told that the silica test was a waste and that they (state health department) could have told me that it would have turned up nothing.  There is a plethora of information with regard to the hazards to construction materials and safety precautions on line.  The American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists (ACGIH) is an agency that has existed for many years as well as the Electronic Library of Construction of Occupational Safety and Health.  

Finally, what you should be advised of is that the most stringent safety guidelines come from OSHA, in the state of California and UC Berkely.  These levels that are quoted tend to come from OSHA guidelines that were developed in 1968 and are based upon healthy middle-aged men.  I was told by the state health department that everyone knows that they are not applicable for children as the tolerances are or would be much lower.

Here are the immediate questions that we need answered;

1. Why was the decision made to keep our children in harms way?  There is room at Consolidated and there could have been a plan to relocate the children and seal off the area.
2. How many children have developed asthma, cancer, serious respiratory or neurological disorders because of the callous, decisions made by companies like Hygenix?
3. Why doesn't the school think it is important to protect children, the educators (and Mr. G's wildlife)?
4. Why is it that nearly every other project for school renovation throughout the country moves the children out of harms way?
5. Most importantly, when will our children be moved out of this environment?
6. If the Environmental contractor does not feel that PCB's are cancer causing (or harmful) to our children, what other hazardous toxins do they feel is acceptable for our children to be exposed to?

 
Regards,
Steven Roe

Steven Roe, CEO
West Highland Support Services, LLC60 E. 42nd St.
Suite 401
New York, NY 10165
(0) 212 867 1848 x111
(C) 917 513 1871

NATIONAL CENTER FOR EDUCATIONAL STATISTICS

SCHOOL                             STUDENTS

Consolidated School                      664

Meeting House Hill School             668

New Fairfield Middle School          750

New Fairfield High School              975

EXCELLENT MOVE TO THE INTERNET ... NOW IT TIME TO BROADCAST ALL MEETINGS AND ARCHIVE THEM

Town meetings in New Fairfield have gone viral

Erik Ofgang, Staff Writer

Published: 11:22 p.m., Thursday, October 28, 2010

STEPHEN STANGL, DIRECTOR

cody morris, director

• 
  Director Cody Morris, an 11th-grader and director Stephen Strang, a 10th-grader, both of New Fairfield, operate remote cameras from the control room at a town meeting in the New Fairfield Senior Center. New Fairfield is adding a channel dedicated to town events. Both channels are available on the internet. Photo taken Thursday, Oct. 14, 2010 Photo: Scott Mullin / The News-Times Freelance

• 
• 
• 

NEW FAIRFIELD GOES DIGITAL!!!

NEW FAIRFIELD -- New Fairfield's education channel, which has been broadcast on Channel 17 on Charter cable for the past six years, is now available streaming in real time on the town's website at www.newfairfield.org.

In addition, the town launched a new government channel on Oct. 13 that will also be streaming on the web. Both channels also will be available to subscribers of AT&T U-verse, a digital TV, high-speed Internet and phone service newly available in some parts of New Fairfield.

First Selectman John Hodge said streaming online allows residents without cable to view the channels and the addition of a new channel will allow the town to broadcast more government meetings.

"The more people know, the more informed they are, the better their decisions," Hodge said. He added that the town wants to make local government as accessible to residents as possible.

The idea is to "try to bring town government right into people's living rooms (and) make it accessible to them, so they don't have to get their information from a third party. They can watch and make their own decision whether their town is moving in the right direction or not."

Both channels can be viewed by going to the town's website and clicking the link on the left hand menu that says "New Fairfield TV on the web."

The Community Room in the building that also houses the New Fairfield Senior Center was built as a TV studio to broadcast town meetings, so the town is poised to broadcast more events.

When New Fairfield launched its education channel, Hodge said attendance at town meetings went down, but residents' awareness of town issues went up. He predicted that trend will continue now that the channels can be viewed online.

To broadcast the town's educational channel and the new government channel, AT&T installed new video equipment at the community room in the Senior Center. That equipment is allowing the town to stream both channels online.

Ray Juskiewicz, the video coordinator for the town, explained the difference between the two channels. The educational channel will continue to provide live and repeat coverage of board meetings and original programming related to school and town events. It cannot show any overtly politically events, however.

On the other hand, the government channel will broadcast town meetings and other programming related to local, state and federal government.

At election time candidates from each party will be given equal time on the channel and be allowed to produce segments in support of their campaigns.

Channel 17 broadcasts Board of Selectmen, the Board of Finance and the Board of Educationmeetings. The new channel will allow for coverage of other town meetings.

Juskiewicz said the next step will probably be to broadcast the Park and Recreation Commission meetings and the Zoning Board meetings, but that will all be decided by town officials as the new channel gets started.

Hodge said streaming is part of a bigger effort to enhance the offerings of the town's website.

He said residents can now perform, "90 percent or better of all Town Hall functions on the Web. There are very few things that you actually have to come to Town Hall for anymore."

FOLLOW UP ON THE MHHS HEALTH AND SAFETY CONCERNS

Hi All,
Forgive me on my delay in writing to you but there was / have been a lot going on behind the scenes. I would like to update you on what we have done and what we would like to do next.  Please pass this around to as many folks as you know or inform them as to where they can keep up to date with our efforts.

First, I would like to re-state to you what our sole objective is.  Our children should be, need to be, and are entitled to a safe, healthy environment to be taught in.  It is apparent from the position of a parent that these conditions are not acceptable and potentially have serious health implications to our children and our educators.

Although I can and will  continue to correspond via e-mail it is more efficient and prudent that we find a different means that is easier for all.  Thanks to Adrian Bing-Zeremba we now have a facebook page that has pictures of the school, discussion areas and information regarding health and safety for all of us to get educated.  The address is http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Concerned-Parents-of-Meeting-House-Hill-School-New-Fairfield-CT/160686310631678.

Simply go to facebook and search for "Concerned Parents of meeting House Hill School" and you will find it.

I have had conversations with several local elected officials, candidates, etc. regarding this situation and there is a legitimate concern.  I reached out to Richard Smith who responded immediately to me expressing his concern.  He then wrote a note to the John Hodge and Kim Hansen.  Their response was standard "we are within state limits".  By the tone of Richards e-mail he was not satisfied and plans to address this at a state level if elected.  I also reached out to Ken Neal.  Ken called me directly and was equally concerned about how this is being handled and provided direction to me on how it should be handled.  Ken requested that I continue to follow up with him as this was also of great concern to him.  It did not appear that this decision to place the children in this environment makes much sense to anyone.

Monika Thiel took the time to call me and spend a fair amount of time with me over the phone and offered her assistance.  As a person on the board of selectmen she is concerned about the process and level of experience of the people hired to do this work.  She and I shared the same concerns.  From my initial observations at the meeting that the school administrators held it was evident to me that these well intentioned folks were in way over their heads and are inexperienced in scoping, planning, budgeting and running a project like this.  

In the interest of providing factual information and not spreading hysteria, I have contacted several trade organizations with regard to the materials in the building.  I have contacted the ASCC which is the industry group for concrete and safety around handling, area protection, etc. of people when using concrete / concrete products.  I have also contacted an environmental solutions company to inquire about testing of gases, particles, PCB abatement, asbestos abatement, air quality, etc. etc.  So far, the one consistent message that I have received from all that have responded is that the children should not be in that environment - period.  I will be providing the information to the facebook page as it comes in to me.  (I am not there yet but I intend to have it complete and update it regularly).

What I have learned is that although the DEP has some guidelines the EPA does not.  They are not sure what is safe vs. what is unsafe.  This is the exact reason why you NEVER TRUST GOVERNMENT AGENCIES WHEN YOUR HEALTH IS INVOLVED.  

The EPA's mission statement is ;

EPA's Mission

The mission of EPA is to protect human health and the environment

The DEP's mission statement is ;

About Us Mission StatementFounded in 1971, the mission of the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) is to conserve, improve and protect the natural resources and environment of the State of Connecticut in such a manner as to encourage the social and economic development of Connecticut while preserving the natural environment and the life forms it supports in a delicate, interrelated and complex balance, to the end that the state may fulfill its responsibility as trustee of the environment for present and future generations.

What I can tell you is that they did not know what each other did.  It was pretty funny - but not really.  So, what I can tell you is that the DEP is state run and the EPA is run by the federal government.  If you go to the websites for each of teh agencies you will see that the DEP is more about licensing and making sure the groups / trades /people that they issue permits to are doing things in a manner that the DEP requires them to do it.  The EPA appears to be more about protecting people then licensing.  Seems to me (all opinion and cynical here) is that the DEP is about taxing through licensing.  That has no bearing on this discussion - just my 2 cents.  What is interesting here is that although the DEP has guidelines the EPA does not  so somebody decided to put a stake in the ground and determine what is safe for the sake of having a guideline.   DO YOU REALLY TRUST THEM TO KEEP OUR KIDS SAFE AND HEALTHY ?

I was advised to request a separate meeting with the Dept. of Buildings, Board of Finance, Board of Selectmen to present or concerns  and most importantly our facts with regard to this issue.  I am moving as quickly as I can to gather this but we need to be organized and have our facts straight.  So, that being said, anyone who has experience in building / renovating / managing schools from an administrative / facilities perspective or anyone involved in the construction process of schools or anyone that is directly involved in the process of protecting children, or anyone that is involved in air quality testing, water quality testing, environmental testing please present as much relevant, factual information to me and the group as possible.  Also - if you have found information that rebuts what our position is then please let me know as we do not want to create hysteria and take uninformed, uneducated, or inaccurate positions.  That is not fair to those that will hear our concerns and will prevent us from having this situation addressed.  We will be dismissed if we are not relevant.

Regards,
Steve

Steven Roe, CEO
West Highland Support Services, LLC60 E. 42nd St.
Suite 401
New York, NY 10165
(0) 212 867 1848 x111
(C) 917 513 1871

sroe10@charter.net steven.roe@westhighland.net dennis.wixted@westhighland.net adrian.bing-aremba@boehringer-ingelheim.com