Comments

Your comment: * Your name: * Your e-mail address: * (not displayed) Your website: Captcha: (spam protection code)

Please enter the code ↺

* Required fields

Send

Please be aware that the contents of this form are not encrypted

• Spending yo money!!! (Tuesday, January 28 20 08:54 pm EST)

  We should be happy Damren out of our school system how come these beauracrats dont just leave with his retirement he wants to make sure he can continue to spend other people's money wastefully like he has for years I guess addicting maybe ??????

• Haircut (Tuesday, January 28 20 08:45 pm EST)

  Damren needs a haircut another liberal squirrel I hear he really losing his mind or whatever he has had left of it

• Vote in another libtard (Tuesday, January 28 20 08:39 pm EST)

  Contois is a looser black lives matter signs and Bernie signs all over that idiots lawn libtard

• Bob (Tuesday, January 28 20 08:35 pm EST)

  Thank god Damren and the Mayor are off the planning board, but only to be replaced with the air head Contois and Morris is no help either...shit back to square 1 god help us

• Jim Sullivan (Tuesday, January 28 20 12:09 pm EST)

  Two articles today.
  
  1) Claremont School Officials do an abrupt about-face on Grammar School Restructuring.
  
  2) Political maneuvering – squabbling continues at the January 22, 2020 Claremont City Council meeting.
  
  Full details on the News Flashes page of this website.

• Jim Sullivan (Wednesday, January 22 20 11:17 pm EST)

  Bob, Cottage Courts might be a good thing but I am concerned that it will set a legal precedent to allow a larger more expansive open space ordinance to follow. That could cause a large influx of school age students into the school district forcing expansion of facilities and staffing and the tax revenue increase will not come anywhere close to what it will cost to place and educate all the new students. Large property tax increases is not what Claremont needs now. Bob, as far as your other question I have no knowledge about it.

• Bob (Wednesday, January 22 20 04:36 pm EST)

  SAU6retiree@clarrmont.com CAN you give all the details about Semans wife and what her business is and when she tried to implement it in Claremont. and I need all the details because I know there is someone on the forum that will confront them and call them out at a SB meeting in the future. thank you

• Bob (Wednesday, January 22 20 04:00 pm EST)

  Jim Sullivan: what is your take on the cottage courts it seems if done right could be a good thing. I am very interested in your opinion.

• Jim Sullivan (Wednesday, January 22 20 06:26 am EST)

  County Officials to present Sober Housing Project to the Planning Board.
  
  New zoning changes and housing initiatives proposed.
  
  Details on the News Flashes page of this website.

• My throat hurts (Wednesday, January 22 20 04:42 am EST)

  This county commissioner group along with FERLAND needs to all be sent packing like without Jobs just keep shoving junk down the throats of claremont most if the population that actually work and pay Bill's dont wish to keep hearing your bullshit we dont want your beds for junkies and shitbag convicts in claremont keep it at the county complex if your program is so great

• Bob (Tuesday, January 21 20 12:12 pm EST)

  The problem is our elected officials are compromised. Whether they are with the County, the School District or the corrupt City government it does not seem to matter. All but a few all seem to be on the same page of spend lots of tax dollars on big projects to expand the size of government and create more public jobs for the taxpayers to fund. Reducing the size of government or the size of government budgets is never part of the thought process. Until that changes the taxpayers will continue to be taken advantage of by those they elect.

• Charles (Tuesday, January 21 20 11:06 am EST)

  Liz, the new car dealers,the travel agencies,and the restaurants depend on the bloated administrative government hierarchy.
  The halfway house,or the disability or Social Security check people don't buy new cars or go on vacation.

• Liz (Tuesday, January 21 20 10:44 am EST)

  I never realized how heavily burdened the Claremont taxpayers are relative to an overabundance of school administrators with their inflated salaries and much too generous benefits packages. Our school board members are doing a terrible job representing the best interests of the public and the students. All of these wasted tax dollars on useless and unnecessary administrators could be reinvested into the school district and used to reduce the much too heavy property tax burden in Claremont. A lower property tax rate could ignite economic development. It certainly would not hurt.

• Jason (Tuesday, January 21 20 07:33 am EST)

  Charlene Lovett has a soft spot in her twisted heart for the farmers market. She used to run the thing for God sakes until she began taking over the city government. She has never seen a government program that she does not like or tax dollars that she does not like to spend. She supports turning Claremont into a sanctuary city and she has been supporting project after project to get all of the pieces into place. More low-rent housing for Kevin Lacasse’s company to the tune of $1 million in federal taxpayer money for just two projects in Claremont to bring in those low-rent apartments. All kind of government benefits for social service programs for local nonprofit agencies to create more social services for the refugees when they arrive. An expanded dental clinic for the refugees. A music center for them to entertain themselves in. Transitional housing for teenage runaways with children and the County’s transitional housing for at least 50 drug-addicted ex-convicts. A needle exchange program and other rehab programs to care for the population that she is trying to migrate to Claremont. Mayor Lovett is out of her mind but then so many others on the city council are as demented as well because they all seem to be lining up right behind her with their rubberstamp vote of yes ever at the ready for everything that will eventually destroy our wonderful way of life here.

• Lynn (Tuesday, January 21 20 07:19 am EST)

  If the Claremont farmers market cannot survive on its own, it should die the death of all failed businesses. The Claremont taxpayers do not need to support another failed program with our tax dollars.

• Decisions (Monday, January 20 20 04:06 pm EST)

  Lovett was a admin nothing in the military and is an admin nothing as our mayor self serving idiot and then she in control of idk what she couldn't make a decision on anything without legal counsel. bunch of idiots !!!!!! I'm sure all these opinions from these legal geniuses is cheap

• Bob (Monday, January 20 20 03:13 pm EST)

  Claremont Voter's really dropped the ball on the last municipal election. "You reap what you sow" for the next two years. Enjoy Mayor Lovett's "Progressive" Agenda and the price tag that will come with it!

• Charles (Monday, January 20 20 02:44 pm EST)

  Can Am is in all likelihood closing.The new trade agreement will allow the bridge components to be fabricated in Canada.
  The labor cost savings will more than justify the move.Health Insurance in Canada is provided by National health care.Canada is also importing thousands from the middle east.Many of these newly minted immigrants have experience in metal work,and they have youth and numbers on their side.
  I'm sure that the Quebec based firm is also working on Canadian grants for immigrant jobs,as well as big tax breaks for the relocation.
  
  It's too bad that Claremont squanders tax breaks,tax forgiveness,and contruction grants to slum lords and low life bar owners.You snooze,you loose,and Claremont is downright narcoleptic!

• Tom (Monday, January 20 20 02:11 pm EST)

  The Sullivan Report scoops everyone else again. Great job on the Canam story get guys.

• Jim Sullivan (Monday, January 20 20 12:39 pm EST)

  Special Report!
  
  Canam Bridges sold!
  
  Article is on the News Flashes page of this website.

• Scott (Monday, January 20 20 11:08 am EST)

  They all sound like a bunch of DemocRATS to me!

• Todd (Sunday, January 19 20 04:48 pm EST)

  In regards to hiring Morris and McNutt before him, what do you expect from Lovett and her misfit band of loonies?

• Bridge to nothing (Sunday, January 19 20 04:44 pm EST)

  Our police dept has been in shambles since Alex Scott took over. The Santagate regime of liberals hire that spineless no experience in leadership of anything to ruin a dept our city is what it is from the hiring practices and liberal policys for 10 plus years let's name another bridge for him he loved the incompetant dept heads so he could micro manage pretty smart actually if you can get away with it which same thing our council just did in hiring Morris

• Jeremy (Sunday, January 19 20 02:51 pm EST)

  I was on vacation last week so I’m just catching up with the news on the Sullivan Report. I know this comment is a little dated but I need to get this off my chest. I cannot believe how dumb our city council is. Who in their right mind allows an employee to make up the criteria that they will be rated on for their job performance review? The job performance review is the process that decides if the city manager will get a pay raise or a termination. This is the tail wagging the dog. Why doesn’t the city councilors understand that?

• Rick (Sunday, January 19 20 01:11 pm EST)

  It used to be that you could trust a cop. Now you sometimes cannot tell the honest cops from the dishonest ones. I used to have great respect for Mark Chase but no more. Andy O’Hearne was right about how Mark used the turnover numbers to his own advantage without qualifying what they mean. Mark is using those numbers to justify bigger salaries and greater compensation for his police officers, who are doing a terrible job keeping the crime rate down. Mark seems to be hiding the crime statistics from everyone. Mark is definitely not on the side of the taxpayers so why should we support him as chief?

• Charles (Sunday, January 19 20 11:23 am EST)

  Why is a city with the lowest income in the state paying the highest wages in the state to it's employees?

• Sad Times (Sunday, January 19 20 11:13 am EST)

  Just read your article on Claremont's view buy outsiders and I am not one bit surprised. As an insider I can see this too. Claremont is run by passive leaders in every department. I have trouble believing some of our leaders claim to be conservative. Conservatives would recognize that Claremont’s size does not justify the pay scales for tax payer funded employees. Unions are running the city and don’t you forget that. City, Police, and School leaders are backboneless when it comes to negotiations. Hard to turn back now. City government is a giveaway at tax payer expense without weighing the cost group. Since the retirement of Chief Prozzo the Claremont PD has become a passive lack of enforcement department and the downtown district is living proof of that and it is bleeding into the school system. The school leadership is so top heavy that it has fallen under its own weight. Between that and the union control of the education system it will take generations to fix it. Admitting that an era is over and not saving old buildings at government expense would be a great start. Outsourcing or Bankruptcy is in our future.

• Jim Sullivan (Sunday, January 19 20 09:37 am EST)

  Three new articles published today.
  
  1) Local government meetings galore this week in Claremont.
  
  2) Claremont Farmer's Market fails to cultivate public's interest.
  
  3) How outsiders are viewing Claremont.
  
  Full details on the News Flashes page of this website.

• Jim Sullivan (Sunday, January 19 20 09:35 am EST)

  The answer to your question is that the $500,000 CDBG grant paid for with public tax dollars to renovate a building that is not even worth half that amount will create seven low-income apartments.

• No sanctuary city (Saturday, January 18 20 09:17 pm EST)

  Educator it would seem that plans have begun with revising the schools so students are not all sent to one school but by the grade and more teachers staff and busing will be needed. Also the city seems to be doing there part with the new apts on pleasant street and all the fed grants coming in. How many apts will be in Main Street after all that grant money and city help is given

• Educator (Friday, January 17 20 11:33 am EST)

  If we are to become a sanctuary city,we will have to budget all of the expansion that thin entails.We will need additional classrooms and possibly even an additional school.We will need bi-lingual teachers and support staff,and that costs money.
  On the city's responsibility front,additional monies will be required to house our newly minted Claremont residents.I always remember what Hillary said,"It takes a village."

• Liberal loser Richard seeman (Friday, January 17 20 06:33 am EST)

  Retiree is referring to Richard seeman they are bleeding heart liberals he is a ego driven snowflake who have done nothing but suck money out of this town and pushing there ideas they are implants go back to your town you came from and push your agenda we don't need you idiots the guy is the biggest idiot actually she pretty stupid herself Bernie Hillary loving libtards

• SAU6retiree@clarrmont.com (Thursday, January 16 20 10:10 pm EST)

  The realignment isn’t the only change coming. Please remember, the mastermind behind Johnson Controls and the big savings is the SAU CFO. Watch for an increase in ancillary educational spending as the district begins moving outside “education” into the schools. For example, the CFO’s spouse runs an outside agency and she has tried for years to bring her curriculum into Claremont but has been rebuffed because it’s not age appropriate for younger kids. With only grades 4-5 in a building, her target audience will be ripe for the picking. Or fleecing of tax dollars. Look at the sheer number of teachers on the payroll that do not teach in a class but instead have the word “specialist” in the title.

• Jim Sullivan (Thursday, January 16 20 06:53 pm EST)

  New article.
  
  FY 21 School Budget – Elementary School Restructuring.
  
  Full details on the News Flashes page of this website.

• Charles (Thursday, January 16 20 03:01 pm EST)

  You know,I was thinking about this city manager wanting to do a compensation study beyond administrators to encompass cops and firemen too.Who the hell does this guy think he works for? Why would we want anyone that works for us try to remove more money from OUR POCKETS?
  We have contracts already in place.They have benefits far beyond the average Claremonter,but it's never enough.It's always about what some other town is paying their help.Has anyone shown our manager what the per capita income is for Claremont? Since we have the lowest income,shouldn't our help be the lowest paid as a consequence?
  I don't need anyone working for me that has nothing better to do than devise ways of taking more of my hard earned money.
  GET OUT

• Bill (Thursday, January 16 20 09:52 am EST)

  Lovett’s membership in that mayors club is not a good thing for Claremont. All she is doing is pandering to the liberals and Claremont is suffering because of it.

• Morons (Wednesday, January 15 20 09:46 pm EST)

  Imagine having a doctorate degree and not knowing how to collect lunch money help these morons please please please

• Sau no confidence (Wednesday, January 15 20 09:42 pm EST)

  Exactly right these are the most incompetant people ever old Richard seemans and Benware I'm sure those two stroke there egos spending our money with there liberal principals

• Jill (Wednesday, January 15 20 09:31 pm EST)

  No faith in the school board, they can't handle a lunch program and they want to make massive changes? Time for the SAU to be disbanded!

• Benware please go with Bernie (Wednesday, January 15 20 09:24 pm EST)

  Benware fix stuff that you should be able like getting lunch money you dumb asses can't do that proven fact now you want to change the world just like Bernie will I hope you end up in Vermont with him after he fails too problem is we can't afford your ignorance in claremont so if you want to head to Vermont now and wait for him more power to you

• Keep paying the taxes (Wednesday, January 15 20 08:58 pm EST)

  Good thing we are all paying the Bill's for these morons because if it was run like a business they would be gone thank God for idiots in local government that would never make it in the real world

• Smarts (Wednesday, January 15 20 08:51 pm EST)

  These overly educated people can't figure out how to collect lunch money lol. How are they to implement changing the entire systems transport and staffing of the schools I really don't know

• Liberal idiots another excellent plan (Wednesday, January 15 20 08:32 pm EST)

  K 1 will be Maple ave 2 3 will be Disnard 4 5 will be Bluff so that will be great maybe that will help these idiots learn how to collect school lunch money oh that's right Benware the bleeding heart is giving lunch and breakfast to everyone go vote Bernie we will all be at the schools eating so good thing they will have all this food liberal idiots

• School mess no more walking to school (Wednesday, January 15 20 08:19 pm EST)

  Let's see the new plan for the restructuring of the schools so if you were to buy a house in maple district because you didn't want your kids to go to disnard or bluff wait till you see the proposal from another round of idiots that because there mommy and daddy bought them a college piece of paper they can change the world what a joke and the ignorant school board is right into it if you bring anything to our elected dubs they would think it's great keep letting these idiots on our council and boards

• Matt (Wednesday, January 15 20 07:21 pm EST)

  Why does the city keep bending over for Kevin Lacasse of New England Family Housing? Seems like he has someone or some people in his pocket.

• Mcnutts and Eddie (Wednesday, January 15 20 06:45 pm EST)

  Good luck if we were to get him out like the last idiot with lovett damren in place we will get the same result have a fake smoke and mirrors search committee research and waste there time for them to put the best guy forward and never even give him a chance hire a bumbling idiot that knows nothing from vt

• Charles (Wednesday, January 15 20 01:40 pm EST)

  With managers like this one.who needs enemas?

• Peter (Wednesday, January 15 20 01:23 pm EST)

  Boy Eddie our new city manager is a tax-and-spender isn’t he. The firefighters are very happy with his contract offer. Of course they are he is an old firefighter from out west and he wants to remain true to the firefighter’s brotherhood and he doesn’t give a damn about the Claremont taxpayers. Now he picked a company without doing a competitive bid to do a compensation study and then he expanded it to not only do it for the directors but to do it for all the city employees too. Then Eddie the big spender wants to give everybody big pay raises all at once, even if it means changing contracts early that are still in effect. This moron has to go. So does Lovett and all the other liberal snowflake lunatics on the Council.

• Tom (Wednesday, January 15 20 11:09 am EST)

  It looks like the Farwell project will be another half ass project done by the city and I have no doubt that the pleasant restaurant project will end at the same way. The CDA is nothing more than a country club for political cronies and it looks like games are being played with these projects to cheapen up the finished product. Once again, the public is getting the wool pulled over their eyes. Thank goodness, Jim and AJ are looking out for us and getting the proof about their lies and deception.

• Gloria (Wednesday, January 15 20 10:05 am EST)

  Sullivan and Maranville made a very good point about the inconsistency of the planning office’s enforcement of the building codes and protecting the safety of the public. The property on Main Street that Ed Morris is saying must come down is in much better shape than the Topstone property if you look at the tax cards from the assessing office. I think the only reason why the Topstone property is still up and operational and open to the public is because a city councilor is the biggest tenant in the building. Political influence is trumping public safety. Folks like to say there is no corruption at City Hall but those that say it are kidding themselves. Corruption and political favoritism is all around if you open your eyes to see it.

• feeling ill !!!!!! (Wednesday, January 15 20 10:04 am EST)

  southwest and these organizations actually tell people to call in sick to there job if they were to need a little help so they fall into the criteria of there lame agency and come back and see them

• reality time to change our policys (Wednesday, January 15 20 09:48 am EST)

  We still need to pay equal to other towns to our employees it is necessary to keep good employees the problem in claremont is the lack of working people paying the bills we are full of welfare and ssdi recipients thanks to the like of southwest community services and west central all these organizations which do good for some people but others become dependent on the services we need to make it more difficult to just sit home and walk around claremont in your jammies there are alot of these people that could work and be functional people in the community instead of sit in there crap apartment and look at there phones or big screen all day that could be the beginnings of a fix stop the welfare dept for years giving our tax money to the same people maybe give them a plan to get better and work with them instead of just spit a check off a computer which fixes a problem for 2 seconds not long term

• Megan (Wednesday, January 15 20 09:18 am EST)

  I think it is terrible what the Council is doing regarding the elderly exemptions. They should not even be considering cutting the number of recipients they should be increasing the asset and income levels even more and increase the exemption itself a lot more. They are the ones that are causing the tax rate to be so high and it is creating a hell of a burden for everyone including the elderly who want to remain in their homes after years of paying the high taxes. They deserve the consideration instead of the wealthy developers that do not live in Claremont and the city employees who are already well paid.

• Roger (Wednesday, January 15 20 08:30 am EST)

  I’m not so keen about that wind farm project even though I’m on the right side of it so it will not block my view of Mount Ascutney. The property owners are from out of state so they don’t give a damn about blocked views or how anyone may think about having to look at the monstrosity of a wind farm. I think it is safe to assume they are simply looking at the profits that this lease will earn for them. I’m glad Jim informed the Valley News about this turn of events so that we now all know about it. If Jim told the Eagle Times instead the story would probably never have saw print. Their coverage of Claremont happenings is virtually nonexistent these days. The new editor is a young kid and not to sound as if I have a problem with someone’s age because I don’t because there are many qualified and accomplished young persons in the world but this news editor isn’t one of them. I believe he will drag this newspaper down even deeper and it is just a matter of time for the Eagle Times to fold up for the second and presumably final time. The funny thing is I don’t think anyone will miss it this time.

• Jennifer (Tuesday, January 14 20 09:03 pm EST)

  Todd, you want to know who Jason Benware is? Well he's a pompous narcissist, who's arrogance is quite nauseating. If your ever around him you'll realize immediately he likes to hear himself talk, basically a know it all which is hilarious considering all the mishaps that has taken place while he's
  been on the school board.

• Get REAL we have a problem houston (Tuesday, January 14 20 06:22 pm EST)

  Benware should run for county commissioner be with Barrette and Ferland maybe get 100 beds for people to get drunk and sleep in on our dime we could buy them food at mexican or the Pleasant maybe get them cash cards oh maybe they already get from the state im sure we can get them some county cash cards too refill them every month while they are in the program or have them get the cards with there clean needles perfect then they can sit next to you at dinner after you worked all day maybe even watch them pass out or get a narcan treatment that is fun to watch !!!!!!!!

• Bob (Tuesday, January 14 20 06:12 pm EST)

  Contois got what he deserved. He did not educate himself on anything and got schooled. he wanted to be on the city council,he got it... be careful what you wish for. Now you are starting to see who's who and what's what with these people. To bad we have to wait another 2 years to try and get out the idiots that people voted in.

• little boy on the board (Tuesday, January 14 20 06:11 pm EST)

  dave if you only knew what a piece of work and how nasty dirty he is the self serving do nothing but give free crap that was donated it goes so deep the average person would never believe it to be true!!!!!! stiffs everyone i guess that is the liberal way for likes of him that cant make it in life on there own

• Dave (Tuesday, January 14 20 05:34 pm EST)

  What Nick Koloski did to Mr. Contois was low down and dirty. Sticking him on the conservation commission was a very low blow after Mr. Contois lost the opportunity to serve on the one board that he wanted to serve on the most. I never knew Nick had such an evil streak and I am now sorry that I voted for him. The fact that Nick cannot remember votes that he cast just a few months before is also not in his favor. That suggests to me that he really does not vote his conscience but he votes how the administration tells him to vote. Probably the price for all the favors he and his landlord received. I don’t know if anyone will ever be able to prove the quid pro quo dealings of Trump but I think it would be very easy to prove Nick’s quid pro quo deals with the administration. I will never make the mistake of ever voting for him again.

• Matt (Tuesday, January 14 20 04:00 pm EST)

  I agree that the council screwed Contois over but I believe he only has himself to blame because he is so ignorant about how the seats work on a board that he has been serving on as a citizen in an alternate position. The other thing that really turned me off about him is his constant repeating of I don’t know about this or I don’t know about that. If you don’t know a damn thing then why the hell did you run for council? I am beginning to think that Contois is on a power trip or he is the type that he constantly needs his ego massaged. Maybe he will get better with time but right now he is not a serious player just another doofus city councilor.

• Jessica (Tuesday, January 14 20 02:21 pm EST)

  I think it is absolutely shameful what the councilors did to poor Mr. Contois. He is such a wonderful man who has worked tirelessly for Claremont behind the scenes. He was instrumental in stopping the recycling company from performing dangerous activities that would have hurt the health of so many Claremont residents including the kids attending the Maple Avenue Grammar School. Mr. Contois wanted one thing to be on the planning board and with three seats available, they could not even give him one because they wanted their cronies in those seats. To these unethical councilors, the end justifies the means and their political agenda is the God that they follow.

• Todd (Tuesday, January 14 20 02:08 pm EST)

  Who the hell is this Jason Benware clod on the school board? Free meals for all the kids for both breakfast and lunch? At a cost of almost $1,500,000 a year no less! Is he out of his cotton picking mind? This dunderhead is dangerous and when you look at what the fools on the city council are doing it is obvious that Claremont is in very big trouble because these fools are going to tax-and-spend all of us right into the poor house.

• Tom (Tuesday, January 14 20 01:01 pm EST)

  I think it was a terrible idea for the Council to approve the $500,000 application for New England Family Housing. These developers have sucked up way too much public funds for their projects. Look at what they are doing, they are creating low income housing that qualifies for Section 8 vouchers. They call it workforce housing but that is a crock. It is just like Mayor Lovett calling her plan to bring in refugees as turning Claremont into a welcoming community when it really is a sanctuary city. She is not really representing Claremont instead she is trying to push forward the political agenda shared with her cronies in that New Hampshire Association of Mayors that Jim and AJ told us all about because they are the only two who are really paying attention to what the hell is going on. I have heard rumors that Lovett is trying to get a paid position in the governor’s administration, I don’t doubt it for a second since she is a social climber. All of these political agendas at play are contrary to what is best for Claremont.

• Gail (Tuesday, January 14 20 11:16 am EST)

  The placement of the sober house in Downtown Claremont will be the death knell for Claremont. What business is going to want to locate either in the Downtown region or anywhere in proximity to a community that welcomes with open arms ex-convicts with a history of drug abuse, runaway teens who also may have drug abuse issues and illegal immigrants and refugees? This is not the demographic of a vibrant community and Claremont already has terrible demographics in regards to the highest property tax rate in the entire state of New Hampshire and one of the lowest per capita income numbers in the whole state also. Crime is on the rise and Claremont is becoming a community that law-abiding citizens and their families will want to stay clear of and for good reason. Mayor Lovett, Allen Damren, Nick Koloski and Abigail Kier do not seem to understand that and I’m not so sure that Claremont’s very inexperienced city manager Ed Morris does either. Claremont is definitely going in the wrong direction and the voters are electing the wrong people to lead us.

• James Contois and company !!!!!! (Tuesday, January 14 20 09:09 am EST)

  james contois where are we on the sober housing and our elite planning board all on board i see we write articles to the valley news about a business and SEX TOYS but silent on the scumbag housing i mean sober housing just another liberal policy from our elected or hired ignorant representation !!!!!! how about our Planner or city police chief or some leader anywhere just cower to the county lets see how this goes !

• Wake the f@!k up Claremont (Tuesday, January 14 20 07:06 am EST)

  If we let the ignorant liberal barrette and ferland push this county sober house down Claremonts throat we can kiss claremont goodnight once and for all. Where is the city leadership or lack there of on this issue just silent allowing these idiots do what they want with our city

• Jim Sullivan (Tuesday, January 14 20 06:16 am EST)

  Five new articles published today.
  
  1) Another Sober House Public Forum scheduled.
  
  2) Filing Period for Claremont School Board seats, other School District positions.
  
  3) Student meal debt giving taxpayers indigestion!
  
  4) Is a Wind Farm Project coming to Claremont?
  
  5) Sparks fly at the latest City Council meeting!
  
  Full details on the News Flashes page of this website.

• Jill (Saturday, January 11 20 03:15 am EST)

  Most likely the school leaders will do the same ploy they always do and back load the pay raises for the teachers. Small increase for year one that appears on the ballot and much larger increases for later years of the multi-year contract. The idiot voters fall for it every time.

• Part of the system (Friday, January 10 20 08:47 pm EST)

  Teacher raises coming too! Negotiations are under way that would bring our teacher salaries in line with Lebanon; allowing Claremont to retain talent instead of being a training ground.

• 3rd world sh@@hole (Wednesday, January 08 20 08:06 pm EST)

  Paul not sure but any idiot in last 15 years that is proud they served on city council oh my they dont get it but they have helped turn us into a 3rd world sh@&hole with there ignorant policys and rubber stamping they have done for the crooked bureaucrats that we hire not a brain in the bunch when you really look at any of them what have they ever accomplished I could answer that but we will let you all answer for yourselves I guess maybe time to get active encourage real people to run against these morons and help !!!!!!!!!!! Gonna take alot to weed these morons out!!!@ drive around and look really look at this city wow not how it was before santagate and the liberal bunch took over I can tell anyone that

• Paul (Wednesday, January 08 20 04:28 pm EST)

  What's going on in Claremont is unfortunately eerily similar to what took place in Rutland Vermont. A few years ago Rutland's mayor Christopher Louras bamboozled the public by preaching diversity and inclusiveness, saying migrants
  will bring economic prosperity under the guise of being called a welcoming city, shortly after Rutland had workforce housing built( sound familiar Claremont) over
  a hundred migrants were bussed in overnight and when local tax payers found out they were the ones paying for it , they wanted a investigation so In October 2016, Judicial Watch made public 128 pages of documents it obtained from the mayor of Rutland, Vermont, showing a concerted effort by the mayor and a number of private organizations to conceal from the public their plans to resettle 100 Syrian refugees into the small southern Vermont town. The mayor and resettlement organizations shrouded the plan in such secrecy that not even the town’s aldermen were informed of what was taking place behind closed doors. The aldermen eventually wrote to the U.S. Department of State protesting the plan and opened an investigation into the mayor’s actions. Add
  insult to injury it was found that Vermont Board of Health
  was hiding the fact that 35 percent of refugees in
  Vermont tested positive for LATENT TUBERCULOSIS!!!!!
  unfortunately our mayor is a wolf in sheep's clothing that hides behind a smile, she works for the elites who are pushing the globalist agenda
  not the citizens of Claremont, and when Claremont turns into
  a 3rd world socialist S**tHOLE
  it will be mission accomplished, and she will conveniently move on to greener pastures. There seems to be a incentive like a
  higher political position or it could be financial maybe that's why she was opposed to
  a forensic audit. - makes one wonder. Remember terms like
  refugees and welcoming city is designed to pull on the heart strings of the ill-informed, there not refugees they economic migrants, It's
  time to investigate our local
  government!!!

• Charles (Wednesday, January 08 20 02:08 pm EST)

  Is it true that 50 families are being brought here that are from Congo and Sudan?
  Why? How much will this cost over time? More cops,more teachers,most certainly more administrators,more school breakfast and lunches,free housing,and more...

• April (Wednesday, January 08 20 12:46 pm EST)

  I think Morris is a big time loser that Lovett and Damren convinced the dolts on the council to hire because Morris is ignorant and easily manipulated so Lovett and Damren can secretly control Claremont. It’s all one big power trip.

• Todd (Wednesday, January 08 20 11:40 am EST)

  Ed Morris is a failure as a city manager and he has burned his bridge as his replacement was just hired in Wethersfield.

• Educator (Wednesday, January 08 20 11:35 am EST)

  What are you people complaining about? You're making more money than ever and your stock portfolios and 401k's are prospering.

• Linda (Wednesday, January 08 20 10:28 am EST)

  Do not forget the special vendors that certain directors like to line their corporate pockets with our tax dollars.

• Tom (Wednesday, January 08 20 10:13 am EST)

  What do we get for our taxes? Not a heck of a lot unless you are a city worker or a special interest.

• Travis (Wednesday, January 08 20 09:29 am EST)

  Most of the councilors are the scum of the earth. Yet the stupid voters keep reelecting them so they must like paying higher taxes so their tax money can go into the pockets of friends and special interests and being screwed at every turn. As Forrest Gump said stupid is as stupid does and Claremont is the homeland of stupid people.

• Lisa (Wednesday, January 08 20 08:16 am EST)

  I watched a Geico commercial today regarding Pinocchio and his growing wooden nose. It’s too bad the councilors don’t come with that feature then we know when they were lying which is probably every time their lips are moving.

• Keith (Wednesday, January 08 20 06:21 am EST)

  Don’t forget all the special interests these councilors represent. Look at all of the public money that is given to them through the Claremont City Council when the public cannot even get their roads paved. You want corruption, there’s corruption.

• William (Tuesday, January 07 20 06:09 pm EST)

  Mayor Lovett is a real piece of work. She wants to bring in refugees by the truckload and give huge raises to all city employees but she will not give elderly residents who have lived here and paid taxes for years a fair elderly exemption. She and her cohort Assistant Mayor Damren are working diligently behind the scenes to undermine the entire process and screw all the elderly people who should qualify for a legitimate elderly exemption program. Lovett, Damren and their other cohorts on the Council are all despicable people. Only worthy of our contempt.

• Mike (Tuesday, January 07 20 04:39 pm EST)

  Claremont has always been a corrupt community and the sorted saga of the Topstone building is a prime example. City Hall has been rotten to the core for quite a while. The players may change but the corruption never seems to stop.

• ted got that right!!!!!!! (Tuesday, January 07 20 04:10 pm EST)

  Ted hit that right on the head that is the way it is the stupid leaders of this city who hire the mcnutts of the world are to blame for allowing this crap in a town that cant afford it get real people

• Conman (Tuesday, January 07 20 03:13 pm EST)

  Many people can see Mr Koloski is a Con-Artist. The rest see him as a saint. Con-Artist is my guess.

• Gary (Tuesday, January 07 20 03:02 pm EST)

  I’m more concerned about the hazardous nature of the building. It sounds to me that the building is unsafe yet a restaurant and bar is allowed to do business there. If a City Councilman who kowtows to the administration did not own the establishment, I believe it would have been closed long ago.

• Ted (Tuesday, January 07 20 01:41 pm EST)

  I am not so sure that the building may be as bad as Mr. Lessard the MRI assessor said it was or as bad as he rated the property on the tax card to justify the large property assessment reduction. Because it does not match up with the absence of lots of code infractions of both varieties fire and building. I think the whole thing was a well thought out scam to save the building from tax seizure that is owned by Councilman Nick Koloski’s absentee out-of-state property landlord investors. The result of this scam was came at a huge cost to the taxpayers with the nearly quarter of a million dollars in property tax waivers that no other property owner ever received ever. Councilor Nick Koloski’s involvement in the building certainly had something to do with this special treatment no matter how much he tries to deny it.

• Ken (Tuesday, January 07 20 12:48 pm EST)

  I think the Topstone building should be condemned and it would have been long ago if Councilman Koloski were not a tenant of the building. I suspect that Nicholas Koloski has used whatever political influence he has available to stop any actions taking on the building whether it be code enforcement, property assessment increases or tax seizure. I believe Nicholas Koloski to be the biggest obstacle to closure of that building.

• Jim Sullivan (Monday, January 06 20 11:31 am EST)

  Two articles published today.
  
  1) Is the City's political agenda moving full speed ahead now that the election is over?
  
  2) Topstone property environmental study report released.
  
  Full details on the News Flashes page of this website.

• Tom (Wednesday, January 01 20 10:03 am EST)

  Anyone who thinks that the Claremont city government is conducting city business honestly, ethically and professionally is out of their minds. Look at what Victor St. Pierre and Mary Walter are doing with all the waivers of the bid purchasing process. Look at all the public money flowing to the nonprofits and to wealthy developers with close political connections to the city. Look at the out of whack property assessments where councilors and associates of councilors are rewarded while others with no political connections get extensively higher property tax bills to pay for all the tax breaks that are quietly given out without the public’s knowledge if it wasn’t for the Sullivan Report. How can anyone look at the Claremont government and not see it as corrupt?

• Good choice (Tuesday, December 31 19 07:26 pm EST)

  Morris is only in the job because Lovett and damren can control the idiot they were afraid to get a real manager like the one there search committee actually wanted but of course we get this idiot !

• Dennis (Tuesday, December 31 19 05:40 pm EST)

  I have heard that Mr. Morris’s isolates himself in his office a lot and redirects phone calls and people seeking a meeting with him to other city employees so he can avoid dealing with the public and the day-to-day dilemmas of the job. If this is how he is going to manage the city then do we really need a city manager?

• Greg (Tuesday, December 31 19 02:29 pm EST)

  Kenneth is right. No one is going to file a property assessment abatement claim for you. If you do not step up for yourself and your family who will. I am going to file a property assessment abatement claim in January because my property assessment went up nearly $26,000 and I have not done anything to my property in the past year except a few small routine maintenance repair items inside the home that did not change the value. Then Councilman Scott Pope gets a $2,000 tax break on his beautiful home. How the heck is that fair?

• Ray (Tuesday, December 31 19 12:56 pm EST)

  I have many friends who work for the city and all of them tell me that Mr. Morris is very slow to come to a decision on anything and he tries to delegate the decisions to his directors and staff workers. Everyone seems to think that Mr. Morris has no idea of what he is doing and it is beginning to show.

• Kenneth (Tuesday, December 31 19 10:39 am EST)

  The property assessments are all screwy. City Councilors and their landlords collect phenomenal property assessment reductions and property tax breaks while many others receive much higher property assessments and greatly higher property tax bills. How is that fair! Then the councilors balk at increasing elderly exemptions because they want to keep the money in the city’s treasury and to hell with the public elderly or otherwise. The system seems rigged and I urge everyone who thinks they are being overcharged on their property assessment to file an abatement form with the city assessing office in January.

• Kevin (Tuesday, December 31 19 10:11 am EST)

  Mr. Morris is a complete failure as a city manager. If the job is still open he should go back to Weathersfield, where he might be better suited to managing a very small town because is incapable of running a small city the size of Claremont.

• Todd (Tuesday, December 31 19 08:06 am EST)

  New City Manager Ed Morris is not doing anything to move the city forward. Morris has not dealt with Victor St. Pierre’s cavalier approach to spending the taxpayer’s money with large contract awards many times without a bid at all. Morris also seems to be ignoring the fact that a lot more of our tax dollars is going to St. Pierre Inc. since Victor St. Pierre became the DPW Director. Morris seems to be looking the other way in regards to Mary Walter’s constant waving of policy requirements so that no price comparisons are done before thousands and hundreds of thousands of dollars that belongs to the taxpayers has spent on big-ticket purchases. Morris has also not initiating any new policies to bring about the betterment of Claremont. All he seems to be doing is collecting a very sizable paycheck for doing absolutely nothing. Is this what the city council wanted? It is certainly not what the taxpaying public wants or needs.

• Jim Sullivan (Tuesday, December 31 19 07:34 am EST)

  Claremont's tax rate set– the full story.
  
  Full details on the News Flashes page of this website.

• Bob (Sunday, December 29 19 01:40 pm EST)

  The people of this city keep voting in these types of people tax and spend and the good ol boys. We had a chance to get people on the council that would look out for the tax payers but again they voted for the same thing...you reap what you sew

• John J. O’Connor (Sunday, December 29 19 07:58 am EST)

  Jeri... I’m not sure any reason that the city give will be sufficient. It seems instead of doing what is right for the city , the city is now doing what they feel is right for the individual.
  I would like to know how much residential and commercial property New England Housing owns in Claremont?
  Common sense tells you if the repairs cost more then the actual building, you take down the building.
  Is the building they are trying to save, worth saving ?
  In my opinion, it is not.
  Take the both down to the ground.

• sorry jeri (Friday, December 27 19 05:02 pm EST)

  the explanation to this jeri is the incompetent leaders of this city!!!!! rooted in the city for years people that are bureaucrats or just don't know how to run a checkbook themselves or even worse a combination of both which fits most of them. . we are never going to get anywhere with this manager whom was not even the pick of the people in the search committee then add the new list of incoming council oh lord not good !!!!!!! Morris has done nothing and is not capable to do anything are we kidding ourselves!!!!!!

• jeri kangas (Friday, December 27 19 02:35 pm EST)

  I cannot believe that the city is going to help pay for 147 main street. New England Housing knew when they bought that building that it had a shared wall. He gambled on that building and lost money. Why should taxpayers be held responsible for the repair, and now to find out he may get help in remodeling the building and a tax freeze. Talk about corruption. I would love to hear the reason behind this give away.

• Ken (Wednesday, December 25 19 01:35 pm EST)

  I am really angry about the $33,000 that was literally thrown away with the rail trail project. That money could have repaired and upgraded a lot of the city’s rail trail system. Better that than increase the profits of a construction company, whose employees have ties to certain city administrators. It is not right and I cannot believe that the city councilors are just sitting back and doing nothing about this. They are all taxpayers for heaven sake but I guess their true loyalties lie elsewhere.

• Tom (Wednesday, December 25 19 12:34 pm EST)

  Everyone knows that the condition of the roads in Claremont are atrocious. Mr. St. Pierre and Mr. Clay informed the city councilors that over $1.5 million was the necessary amount to budget every year to repair and maintain Claremont’s roadways. Our imbecilic city councilors blocked their ears and unwisely chose to allocate only $434,000. Instead of squeezing every penny out of the $434,000 as possible Mr. St. Pierre awards $324,335 of those funds to a Newport NH based company in a private award where only one price quote was collected. How can anyone honestly know that the price charged was a good deal if only one price was collected? In my humble opinion, Mr. St. Pierre is giving one sweetheart deal after another to a small group of friends and colleagues and squandering our limited tax dollar resources in the process. The shame of it all is not only Mr. St. Pierre’s callous actions but with the actions of the city manager and the finance director and the city councilors who together allow Mr. St. Pierre to do whatever he pleases with the public’s money.

• Liz (Wednesday, December 25 19 11:38 am EST)

  Perhaps Ed Morris is over his head since he does not have much experience with city administration.

• Lynn (Wednesday, December 25 19 10:28 am EST)

  I also want to see the forensic audit completed just like Jimmy and AJ laid out. It’s a short enough timeframe and it only concerns a few municipal departments so the price tag should not be that high but with all the shenanigans going on at the DPW I do not see how our elected leaders can cast a blind eye about this. If they do then they do not have an ethical bone in their body. Do we really want elected representation like that?

• Gary (Wednesday, December 25 19 09:33 am EST)

  Victor St. Pierre seems to be running the DPW like his own little kingdom doing whatever he wants with millions of dollars of our tax dollars and rate fees. No one at City Hall seems to be paying attention or they are acting as willing accessories to these unprofessional actions. It is appalling and very upsetting to see our tax dollars treated with such a disrespectful manner. I agree that a forensic audit is in order that I also think that sterner measures need to be taken such as the termination of the DPW Director.

• Shawn (Wednesday, December 25 19 08:44 am EST)

  St. Pierre seems to be choosing certain companies and entering into sweet deals with them that seem to benefit the vendors over the city. A 555% increase in billing revenue for his family’s company? Come on! What vendor gets free parts from the DPW garage anywhere else but Claremont? If Jim did not send in right to know requests, I am willing to bet that the city would have paid for those parts. I am wondering how much of the labor the DPW crew did? Sweet deal for the vendor crappy deal for the taxpayers. I wonder what is going on with the airport project since the same company is working there. I am glad Jim and AJ are looking into it because our city officials that we elect do not give a crap about the wasted money or the taxpayers.

• Amy (Wednesday, December 25 19 07:18 am EST)

  I can understand waiving certain aspects of the purchasing policy when it benefits the taxpayers but not when it benefits vendors who seem to have cozy relationships with those making the decisions to award profitable local government contracts.

• Henry (Wednesday, December 25 19 06:57 am EST)

  St. Pierre Inc. certainly had a Merry Christmas this year. Before Victor St. Pierre became the DPW Director St. Pierre Inc. collected less than $19,000 from the City of Claremont in 13 months’ time. Once Victor became the DPW Director St. Pierre Inc. raked in nearly $105,000 in 11 months’ time from the City of Claremont. Talk about a nice fat Christmas stocking full of money. Taxpayer’s money to boot. What do I say to that? Bah, humbug! Why has Mary Walter the Finance Director and Ed Morris the City Manager allowed this to happen? Are they asleep at their desks with sugarplums dancing in their heads or what? Is Victor spiking their eggnog? On the other hand, is it that they simply do not care?

• Brenda (Wednesday, December 25 19 03:46 am EST)

  It looks like the goods and service contracts for the public works department are handed out to friends and family instead of the low bidder. This is not right. I believe our tax dollars are being wasted by Mr. St. Pierre and Mrs. Walter and the latest string of city managers are all allowing it to happen. The city councilors just approve the money to be spent and then they no longer care how that money is spent. Ignorance is no excuse. Our city management needs an extreme makeover.

• William (Tuesday, December 24 19 07:32 pm EST)

  I don't understand how Mr. St. Pierre can do things like give so many orders to his families company and give parts and maybe manpower all belonging to the city and the taxpayers to a company that was hired to provide the labor and parts for the job themselves. What did they do with the $26 K they were paid? All of this stinks to high heaven.

• Laura (Tuesday, December 24 19 06:26 pm EST)

  Why are there no checks and balances with the city's finances? Not everyone is an angel and if they have access to large sums of money with no one looking over their shoulder then the opportunities for graft and corruption become exponentially higher. It is common sense and sadly human nature. If the City Councilors decide to just sit on their hands and do nothing about this then it will show all of us their lack of good character. A new purchasing policy with stronger controls and improved transparency and oversight is needed right away. The City Manager should also have his feet held to the fire because he is not overseeing his help the way he should be. So far I am not pleased with his performance.

• Joel (Tuesday, December 24 19 04:27 pm EST)

  Ed Morris seems to be a failure as a city manager. Jim and AJ know more about what is going on in the city government than anyone else. How is that possible when they have not been on the city council for well over a decade? It is because they pay attention and they care about the public unlike the self-entitled slime balls the voters keep reelecting.

• Keith (Tuesday, December 24 19 03:10 pm EST)

  It seems obvious that Ed Morris is going to be a do-nothing caretaker that just sits back and collects his fat paycheck from the taxpayers. I think the firefighters and the department directors are going to get sweet deals on their contracts and those pay increases and over-the-top benefits will spread to the other municipal union contracts as well. Tax-and-spend will be the order of the day every day at City Hall.

• Steve (Tuesday, December 24 19 02:29 pm EST)

  I am so sick and tired of our public funds going to wealthy contractors and real estate developers. Mayor Charlene Lovett and her councilor comrades cannot help themselves when it comes to wasting tax dollars whether it be from Claremont or the federal government and use those dollars to line the pockets of close friends and associates. Anyone who thinks Mayor Charlene Lovett and friends are looking out for the public is sadly mistaken.

• Ryan (Tuesday, December 24 19 01:02 pm EST)

  I cannot believe how unprofessional our city administrators are with the handling of our tax dollars. Victor St. Pierre the Department of Public Works Director seems to be doing whatever he wants without any supervision. Mary Walter the Finance Director is practically waiving the purchasing policy with every major purchase. How will city directors purchase products for the best price if they do not collect price quotes from many vendors? Laziness seems to be the common thread. I am hoping it is not more than that. Ed Morris has not been the City Manager for very along but he is not doing his job overseeing his staff and scrutinizing their work when necessary. I am not convinced that he is the right man for the job.

• Industrial Property Owner (Tuesday, December 24 19 10:30 am EST)

  Amazing exposé about the city’s purchasing policy deficiencies. You can tell they were written by a power-grabbing bureaucrat, who wanted no city council or public oversight with respect to the awarding of thousands or millions of dollars of public funds that belong to the taxpayers of Claremont. I remember the council of 2003, I seem to recall that Scott Pope was a member of that council that consistently approved everything placed before them by city administrators with little thought or debate. Unfortunately, little has changed except that the debate lasts a little longer perhaps for the sake of keeping up with phony appearances but the outcome is usually the same. I was astounded to see the incredible increase in billing for St. Pierre Inc. in regards to the City of Claremont since Victor St. Pierre became the DPW Director a little more than a year ago. There are clearly too many one-quote contract awards. The paving contract award is definitely a red flag. In the business world this mishandling of funds would never do. Heads would roll and the excuse of I did not know would not be accepted because this is a clear case of dereliction of duty for those who should be providing oversight in regards to the spending of public dollars. I suspect the councilors will try to avoid this issue by throwing up their hands and claiming there is nothing they can do, as they are not allowed to involve themselves in day-to-day affairs regarding the running of the city government. While that may be true, they are responsible to the voters and taxpayers of Claremont. They do control one employee the city manager and the councilors can certainly hang this mess around his neck like a millstone and order him to fix this and if he is unable to then the councilors should begin searching for a new city manager. The council’s policy committee should immediately begin rewriting the purchasing policy and tightening up the language to prevent these abuses from ever happening again. Oversight by the city councilors on large purchases must be included in language. The taxpayers deserve better representation that they have received so far. Jim Sullivan and AJ Maranville are two former city councilors, they know how the job of city councilors should work and they have intimate knowledge of the running of Claremont’s city government. I would presume to say that they know more about what is going on within Claremont city government then the very administrators themselves as proven by their multitude of exposés. I firmly agree with their recommendation in regards to a forensic audit of the Department of Public Works during Mr. St. Pierre’s time as its Director. The scope and the timeframe would be limited as Auditor Robert Vachon suggested and given the damning evidence published by the Sullivan Report in today’s exposé I would say that a forensic audit of the specific data is in order.

• Charles (Tuesday, December 24 19 10:05 am EST)

  Both new articles were shocking. I did notice a common theme of funneling public monies to the pockets of developers and vendors with close connections to city personnel and city councilors who do not give a care in the world about the overtaxed citizens of Claremont. Jim and AJ are correct that Claremont’s municipal officials both administrative and elected are more interested in helping special interests than they are the common folk. It’s a shame but the voters elected ethical representation so I guess it should be expected.

• Jim Sullivan (Tuesday, December 24 19 08:50 am EST)

  Two articles
  
  1 ) City Officials find "Funding Mechanism" to bailout 147 Main St.project for private developer. This article can be found on the News Flashes page of this website.
  
  2) City's pathetically weak Purchasing Policy is not protecting the taxpayers! This article can be found on the Purchasing Policy page of this website.

• Art (Monday, December 23 19 05:49 pm EST)

  So the Killay group against the religious display on town square has a new display that further diversifies the number of items on the common. I kinda like it. As in all art it is what you make it. To me this display connects the founding fathers to their strong Christian convictions connecting them to the Bill of Rights. This is an indication that would lend credibility to the argument that the founders clearly meant to keep the government out of the church and not the church out of the government.

• Tom (Saturday, December 21 19 10:44 pm EST)

  The Eagle Times really sucks. Some of the lame reporting may have to do with one of the local reporters being Patrick Adrian, a former member of the school board for Claremont. His wife works for the city in the planning office as a business coordinator of some sort. Patrick is very biased and very pro-government and pro-tax and spend liberal. Nuff said.

• Steve (Saturday, December 21 19 02:14 pm EST)

  @Gloria EAGLE TIMES DISAPPOINTING AS OF LATE lol ya like the last 10years. Half or no truth is more like it. Poorest reporting ever.

• Gloria (Thursday, December 19 19 08:43 am EST)

  The Eagle Times is very disappointing of late. It contains far less news than before. The last few editions have contained no Claremont local news at all. This new editor must not be a real journalist because he does not seem to fathom what a local newspaper should contain and that is mostly local news. I am cancelling my subscription. The Sullivan Report may have limited scope but at least they focus on local government news that is insightful and informative. They are also not afraid to upset the applecart by refusing to publish only government sanctioned politically correct fake news as the other local news media routinely does.

• Kathy (Wednesday, December 18 19 02:36 pm EST)

  It should be no surprise that the new city manager is calling the shots in regards to his job performance review criteria. The problem with the city councilors is that they all act like ignorant lemmings jumping off a cliff because they blindly follow whatever the city administration tells them to do. Because they are trained to do so through their orientation/brainwashing they are incapable of independent thought and because of this the public suffers. This is why the seniors will not be receiving more than a small increase in the elderly exemptions if there is even an increase at all regarding the exemption itself. I believe Alan Damren is going to use his math acumen to create a complicated system that will end up lessening the number of annual beneficiaries and greatly reduce the annual cash payout for the city in regards to elderly exemptions. These funds will be transferred to salary increases for presently well-paid department directors and other city employees. The roads are not being done and citizens are not being well represented. The same cannot be said for municipal employees, certain nonprofits, and certain developers that have close personal relationships with members of the city council and administrative staff. Claremont’s municipal government system is clearly broken.

• Carolyn (Wednesday, December 18 19 01:01 pm EST)

  I am stunned to see that Mr. Morris can dictate what he will be judged on in regards to his job appointments. It seems like showing up for work and looking spiffy is about all he needs to do with the councilors we have. Give big raises to the staff and keep pampering the special interests that the councilors have special relations with and everything will be hunky-dory. Mr. Morris can just sit in his chair put his feet up on the desk and take a nap if he wants and collect that very large paycheck, which is more than Guy Santagate ever received. The Claremont taxpayers are being taken to the cleaners once again by the very people they foolishly elected.

• Lynn (Wednesday, December 18 19 11:42 am EST)

  The Scrooges on the Council are truly evil people. It only costs $.15 on the property tax rate to support this valuable program for our senior neighbors. This should be a no-brainer. I would like to see the income and asset limits raised a little higher and the benefit amount raised up higher. Even if this cost $.25 on the property tax rate it would be worth it. I am not interested in having my tax dollars going to the greedy city employees in the form of higher raises when they already receive benefits that far exceed anything any of us received from our employers in the real world. I just do not have any empathy for the city employees because they are well paid. We also need more money invested in roads to meet that $1.5 million figure each year that the DPW heads calculated out as what we need to keep the roads where they should be. The councilors have their priorities all wrong and the voters do as well. The voters that stay home need to stop staying home and start voting to change things around.

• Charles (Wednesday, December 18 19 11:28 am EST)

  I meant the building next door to the 1 being demolished.
  
  An edit button would help a lot on this site

• Charles (Wednesday, December 18 19 11:25 am EST)

  If $200,000 is going to be used to shore up the building scheduled to be demolished,will that $200,000 be worked into the assessment?
  Is that building even worth $200,000? I don't think so.
  Why not just tear down both if the adjoining building can't stand on it's own,should it even exist?

• Mike (Wednesday, December 18 19 11:14 am EST)

  Welfare expenses are going up through the roof. A clear indication of the true state of the local economy. Increase social services for a growing population of poor. The councilors choose to ignore these facts as they pushed forward to turn Claremont into a welcoming community for refugees and illegal aliens and ex-convicts with a drug habit. These councilors must secretly hate Claremont to do this to our wonderful community.

• Peter (Wednesday, December 18 19 10:21 am EST)

  I am concerned that the city manager and the councilors will secretly use the public’s tax dollars to pay for the repair of that common wall on Main St. for wealthy developers, Mr. LaCasse and his company at the cost of over $200K. I think most of our leaders are shady and the few that are somewhat honest are too afraid to stand up to the others. We really have no true representation on the council. The new batch of councilors coming in will not be any different.

• Kevin (Wednesday, December 18 19 09:44 am EST)

  Thank you Jim and AJ for educating the public about the true cost of the elderly exemption. I am only in my forties but I believe that our seniors deserve a tax break so they can remain in their homes during their golden years. It is shameful that our elected leaders are willing to dissemble so casually to lessen the number of recipients and to destroy this humanitarian program at Christmastime to raise more money for they unionized friends who work for the city. If you watched the last meeting or read the current Sullivan Report article then you know that a majority of councilors want as their top priorities to give the unionized and merit plan city employees large raises. Our councilors are really representing these people. These councilors do not represent the citizens of Claremont who do not work for the local government but pay extremely high taxes to support the government’s spending. Scrooge and the Grinch are pikers compared to the Claremont councilors.

• Robert (Wednesday, December 18 19 09:29 am EST)

  Since we are talking about stupid councilor tricks, the Burlington Vermont city council approved 9-1 a ballot item asking whether Burlington residents who are not citizens but who resides in the United States on a permanent or indefinite basis in compliance with federal immigration laws should be allowed to vote in municipal elections. Since our councilors want to change Claremont into a welcoming community and will probably follow Lebanon’s lead, will Claremont be the next community to decide about non-citizen voting? What worries me is the voting records of the 24% of the registered voters who go to the polls and vote. They approve practically every spending measure, tax increase and elect candidates who support increased taxation and increased government spending. Scary stuff.

• Dennis (Wednesday, December 18 19 09:16 am EST)

  Keene is looking to solve their housing problems by greatly lowering zoning standards to allow developers to do whatever they want. The liberals have taken over there and I fear the same will happen in Claremont with our liberal leadership.

• Travis (Wednesday, December 18 19 07:54 am EST)

  Happy to see Claire Lessard and Scott Pope retire from the city council. Neither of them did anything of benefit for our community. They simply voted to raise our taxes and maintain our unstainable status quo. Good riddance I say.

• Greg (Wednesday, December 18 19 06:37 am EST)

  I see that Lebanon is considering welcoming refugees to their community to try to get their hooks into some of the public funds available. I hope Charlene Lovett and Allen Damren and Abigail Kier and Nick Koloski are not planning the same for Claremont. Legal or Illegal we do not need any more poor residents in need of massive amounts of social services and Welfare to move to our community. Our taxes are high enough.

• Jim Sullivan (Tuesday, December 17 19 10:42 am EST)

  Three new articles published today.
  
  1) Voters approve spending for education programs for the second time.
  
  2) County Manager clarifies actual ProShare Fund receipts. Another public forum regarding the Sober House Project tentatively scheduled.
  
  3) December 11 Council meeting synopsis.
  
  Full details on the News Flashes page of this website.

• last thing derek!!!!!! (Saturday, December 14 19 09:17 am EST)

  thats a fact give it to newport where you rent and own complexes for courts and offices we get nothing from the state or the county dmv leaves goes to town next door we get to keep welfare great thanks state of NH and county

• John J.O’Connor (Saturday, December 14 19 08:51 am EST)

  Derek,
  Use your common sense, the last thing Claremont needs downtown is a Halfway house.

• Derek Ferland (Thursday, December 12 19 12:58 pm EST)

  Hi Gary,
  
  I'm happy to listen to your concerns about what's happening in the County and answer any questions you have.
  
  My office number is 863-2560.
  
  If you wish to contact the County Commissioners with concerns about my performance, please email them at commissioners@sullivancountynh.gov.
  
  Hope to hear from you soon.
  
  Derek Ferland
  Sullivan County Manager

• An insider (Wednesday, December 11 19 09:04 pm EST)

  More bad news coming: if we think things are bad now...the 2 largest employers in the area are getting ready for big time layoffs...both the VA in White River and DHMC are going to be letting a sizable number of people go...the VA needs almost 500 fewer people thanks to the MISSION ACT, which allows Veterans get care in the community and DHMC is going to contract out all ancillary services like housekeeping, HVAC, grounds, etc. This side of the state will never recover.

• Beezelbub (Wednesday, December 11 19 01:53 pm EST)

  Where exactly are 50 druggie felons that have F***ed up so bad their families won't even have them going to find work in downtown Claremont?
  
  I know the payroll for the Dept.of Education is forever expanding,like the Universe,depite falling numbers of students,but like the City payroll you need family connections for employment.Perhaps our fat,too old for manual labor workforce(that's a laugh)can sub out their own jobs for snow clearing? They get paid $25/hr. and in turn pay their replacements $10/hr.
  Perhaps you could couple it with Special Ed work training as well? Have someone with a Masters Degree show them which end of a shovel picks it up.Mock up cart gathering comes to mind too.

• Gary (Wednesday, December 11 19 01:30 pm EST)

  Mr. Ferland seems like a dud. He cannot keep his story straight as he consistently changes the cost of projects, always in the upward direction and he consistently changes other important aspects of projects such as number of residents in the sober house, originally 30 now 50 and budget numbers are constantly moving up higher. I do not understand how the commissioners and the delegates can trust anything Mr. Ferland says because nothing stays the same with him. I think it is time that county officials begin looking for a new county manager.

• Mike (Wednesday, December 11 19 11:05 am EST)

  My niece works for the city and she told her mother who told me that the firefighter’s union contract has been agreed upon awaiting Council approval. As I understand it this contract was stalemated under the leadership of Mr. McNutt and Mr. MacLean because the firefighters were too greedy in regards to their demands for salary and benefits. Mr. Morris a former career firefighter reached a settlement agreement rather quickly making the highly suspect of what has been agreed upon. I noticed that the councilor’s information packet for tonight’s meeting had zero information within it about this contract. What is Mr. Morris hiding? How generous is he with the Claremont taxpayer’s money? I hope the Jim and AJ will eventually find out and report that to us because I have little hope that neither the Council nor the local press will have any interest in revealing the true cost to the taxpayers for this contract if the Council approves it tonight as I suspect it will be.

• Laura (Wednesday, December 11 19 10:52 am EST)

  Thank you Jim and AJ for keeping track of the state of finances for the County, City & Claremont School District. I know that takes a lot of work and effort and I know many of us citizens really appreciate it. I am very disappointed with the Eagle Times. I was hoping with the new Publisher Mike Gonyaw and the new Editor Jordan Phelan that positive changes would be forthcoming. Instead, the paper is publishing more national and international news and less and less local news. Many days there is nothing about Claremont in the new section of the paper except for possibly the obituaries. It is disheartening because Claremont in the surrounding communities that the Eagle Times serves needs a solid local newspaper and it seems with every new management change the newspaper moves further and further away from that objective. Patrick Adrian is incredibly pro-government biased as a former Claremont school board member, who supported everything the school administration wanted and his wife works for the City of Claremont in the Planning Office and as I recall she did not have the credentials for the position, which made her hiring seen more as a political favor than anything else. It is unlikely that Patrick Adrian would ever say a contrary thing about Claremont’s City Government as presumably a large portion of his family income is derived from the taxpayers creating a conflict of interest. The Sullivan Report is the only source of local news that is not compromised by conflicts of interest, pro-government bias or generally lazy and ignorant reporters.

• Jim Sullivan (Wednesday, December 11 19 09:42 am EST)

  Two new articles published today.
  
  1) George Caccavaro pleads not guilty.
  
  2) County Manager reveals new information about County finances.
  
  Full details on the News Flashes page of this website.

• Derek Ferland (Thursday, December 05 19 02:09 pm EST)

  Hi Tom,
  
  In reference to your comments on November 29th, please feel free to call me if you want to talk about your concerns.
  
  I will make time to respond to concerns from you or any other citizen of Sullivan County.
  
  My office number is 863-2560. Hope to hear from you soon.
  
  If you'd rather email, you can reach me directly at dferland@sullivancountynh.gov.
  
  Thanks.
  
  Derek Ferland
  Sullivan County Manager

• Jim Sullivan (Wednesday, December 04 19 07:26 am EST)

  New article.
  
  School do over.
  
  Full details on News Flashes page of this website.

• Patricia (Tuesday, December 03 19 02:36 pm EST)

  I know Jim and AJ are giving both Mr. Morris and Mr. Tempesta the benefit of the doubt because they are new to their jobs. That is admirable, but I think their faith might be misplaced in Mr. Morris. Look at the difference between the two men. Mr. Tempesta has hit the ground running and has already put forth a cost saving program that will provide a better education program for these special education students and eliminate their long commute to school. What has Mr. Morris proposed or accomplished? The answer is absolutely nothing. See the difference?

• Jon (Tuesday, December 03 19 11:32 am EST)

  I left Claremont two years ago and I do not miss having to pay the high taxes for one minute. I am now living in of all places Duluth Minnesota but I still have family and friends who still live in Claremont and are trapped by the high taxes. Let’s face it, lunatics run Claremont. Mayor Lovett is leading the revolution to change Claremont into a safe harbor for illegal aliens by calling it a welcoming community when it is really a sanctuary city that she is trying to create with other members of Claremont’s misguided and extremely liberal city council. Allen Damren, Nicholas Koloski and Abigail Kier were all reelected to their seats and they are proponents of changing Claremont into a sanctuary city. AJ and Jim are right on the money with their conclusion that public apathy is destroying Claremont. Think about it, only 24% of the voters are controlling 100% of the vote in determining who is elected and what spending initiatives are approved apropos to school matters. This voting block does not even represent one quarter of our city’s registered voters but they are controlling things and it is not even the full 24% fiscal conservatives and liberal minded folks. It is just unfortunate that of that 24% majority of these voters are in the liberal category. This is what is destroying Claremont and one of the reasons why my family and I left.

• Bill (Tuesday, December 03 19 09:00 am EST)

  Interesting premise Pete. I think you might be onto something. I have another premise I would like to spring on everyone. I now live in Claremont but I originally come from Keene and I still subscribe to the Sentinel. I read an article this morning in the Sentinel about how Monadnock Economic Development Corp. is spearheading the proposed project to bring in an arts and culture corridor spanning from Gilbo Avenue, across Main Street and down Railroad Street. The plan includes artist residences, a visitor center, performance spaces, a skate park and a pedestrian plaza. The cost is $30 million minimum and the hope is that grants and tax credits will pay for most of it. Is this what is subtly happening in Downtown Claremont? The old Pleasant Restaurant is now owned by the super secretive Claremont Development Authority after they bought at for one dollar from the City Council and the property will be leased out to a local non-profit W. Claremont Ctr. for Music and the Arts that is operated by Melissa Richmond a former Director of the Claremont Chamber of Commerce, who was in tight with the folks running the Claremont municipal government. Then in Downtown Claremont at their 31 Pleasant St., location is Amplified Arts operated by Shelley Hudson another former Director of the Claremont Chamber of Commerce. Will some of the Goddard building’s apartments be reserved for artists? Will more city funds generated by the taxpayers be going into the arts and other nonprofit endeavors instead of where it should be going into repairing our embarrassingly deplorable streets and roadways? The priorities set by our leaders regards to spending our tax dollars are all skewed in the wrong direction.

• Pete (Tuesday, December 03 19 08:39 am EST)

  I read a few things online today and putting two and two together I am not sure I like the answer equation that is forming here in Claremont. Bear with me a moment and this will all make scary sense. I read in the latest edition of the E- Ticker News that Gov. Sununu is agreeing to accept immigrants into New Hampshire and any city can take part if they want to have them migrate to their community. Then I read in today’s edition of the Eagle Times about the completion of the construction project for the Goddard property on Pleasant Street, Downtown Claremont and that applications are being accepted for residency. Most of the apartments are below average income standards or simply put very low-income housing. Then I remember how Mayor Charlene Lovett and others that will remain on the city council in 2020 namely Abigail Kier, Nicholas Koloski and Allen Damren were all super supportive of the notion of transforming Claremont into a welcoming community. A pseudonym for a sanctuary city. There is also plans in the works within the city government to spend over $5.5 million on changing the Downtown to accommodate more parking and more apartment dwellers. I think you can all see what I am going with this and I cannot help but wonder if this is been the plan all along. Will Claremont becoming a welcoming community for an unknown amount of immigrants and possibly illegal aliens as well not to mention the 50 DX-druggie ex-convicts that will be living in the Downtown too. I think Claremont’s elected officials are playing us. It is time we all wake up and tell them hell no.

• Charles (Tuesday, December 03 19 07:43 am EST)

  Public unions reflect workers in near monopoly situations. Public schools are practically the only option for loads of folks. So wages go up even when worker performance is atrocious as it is in our school districts, when compared to private schools within the same general area. More fundamentally, it's the taxpayer--often himself or herself a competitor in ruthlessly competitive markets who's asked to pick up the tab for overpaid government workers who face no negative consequences for failing to deliver at par with private company results. The old saw, "good enough for government work," just isn't good enough in global markets with growing automation.
  The Shire

• Kevin (Monday, December 02 19 08:44 pm EST)

  Excellent articles today guys. I especially like the second article that offered an insightful look at our three local governments, separate but similar because of bad management and bad elected leadership. I love your solutions and I agree with your conclusion that most of these ideas will never be implemented because our current elected leadership is compromised as they have sold their souls and thrown away their ethics if they ever had any to begin with to the unionized employees and the special interests. That will only change when ethical leaders are elected to replace them. Until then Claremont taxpayers are just gonna have to grin and bear it.

• Jim Sullivan (Monday, December 02 19 06:26 pm EST)

  Bob, thank you for the compliment it is greatly appreciated. The article you inspired was published today (Article # 2).

• Bob (Monday, December 02 19 05:36 pm EST)

  Jim: no worries I was just checking in. I see that you have been busy. Keep up the good work.

• Alfred (Monday, December 02 19 03:10 pm EST)

  I've heard that the school wants another $1 Million to cover free school breakfast and lunch for all students and staff.Tey say it's particularly important because of the new influx of children of color.They say there's a problem with children strong arming local children for their lunches because they don't have any money.So pony up people.

• Jim Sullivan (Monday, December 02 19 02:44 pm EST)

  Dennis, great question and yes we do have a simple workaround. All the Council has to do is make and pass one standing motion ordering the City Manager to see to it that the appropriate Department Directors are present for any meeting that there is an agenda item and has anything to do with their respective Municipal Department. It doesn't get any easier than that.

• Credentials ???? (Monday, December 02 19 01:41 pm EST)

  how would he wow us with putting out a fire maybe!!!! he is a puppet for a select few and no one has the balls to say it he cant have a plan the plan in weathersfield is the 2 highway guys need to take friday off how do we do that and where are we gonna plant those 4 trees that were given to us by ms. treehugger get real we are doomed this guy is a useless mess and status quo fat mary is running the city with her financial antics Morris probably has no idea where to start that is the beginning start looking at the money but no the idiot buying new fire car 1 nice black tahoe agrresive tires to hammer there way to big fire Chiefs in Unity to his residence perfect. Good luck fixing this city with these bumbling boobs !!!!!!!! Morris cant count that high the budget in weathersfield a little different they need to buy a bulb for there one traffic light all us in claremont go by to get to the interstate to get to work

• Dennis (Monday, December 02 19 01:33 pm EST)

  Jim, does this mean that the Council will have to pass a vote every time they want to have a director talk to them? That seems to me to be very unproductive and the case where the city administration and the city council and not working together. You were on the Council with AJ so do either of you guys have any idea how to work around that situation?

• Anthony (Monday, December 02 19 11:18 am EST)

  I saw in the news today that the Mayors of Manchester and Concord are both agreeing to bring in even more refugees into their respective communities. Hopefully that liberal numbskull Mayor of ours Charlene Lovett and her sanctuary city loving followers on the council don't join together in the side to join the sanctuary city bandwagon and rope Claremont into bringing in illegal aliens here. The taxpayers cannot afford more higher taxes to support people who probably don't even pay taxes.

• Industrial Property Owner (Monday, December 02 19 09:41 am EST)

  I am not very impressed with Mr. Morris. He does not engage in the meeting as past managers Guy Santagate and Ryan McNutt did. It is as if he has very little interest in Claremont affairs and he is just sitting there doing as little as possible to collect a nice fat paycheck and nothing more. I am also displeased with his high-handed methods of trying to control information leaving City Hall via the airwaves on CCTV during televised city council meetings. Requiring a city council vote every time one or more of the councilors wish to ask questions to one or more municipal directors of departments is an unnecessary bureaucratic obstacle. Mr. Sullivan and Mr. Maranville are correct that this is a devious and unethical way to abuse authority. If the city manager has a controlling number of councilors in his or her pocket that will block access to any director for any reason. So far, Mr. Morris has done nothing to wow us. No plan of action know anything he is just going through the motions and producing nothing of benefit to the public although he is receiving compensation that exceeds the compensation of Mr. Santagate and Mr. McNutt. Is this really taxpayers money well spent? I think not.

• Jim Sullivan (Monday, December 02 19 07:55 am EST)

  Two new articles.
  
  1) Is a power struggle brewing?
  
  2) The heavy price of apathy!
  
  Full details on the News Flashes page of this website.

• Greg (Friday, November 29 19 11:01 am EST)

  Typical Claremont. Hire friends for big paycheck positions no matter what their credentials, background, or history with the community is because it is insiders first and taxpayers last every time. Seaman is just the latest in a very long line.

• Randy (Friday, November 29 19 09:36 am EST)

  I agree that Derek Ferland is bad news but this Richard Seaman character is no prize either. I cannot believe that new Superintendent Tempesta hired Seaman to be the head bookkeeper as well as something to do with human resources. Seaman is a big-time liberal tax-and-spend bureaucrat and he is proving it with this cockamamie idea of his giving free breakfasts and lunches to all the students so the school administrators can do less work and the taxpayers will foot at least part of the bill for all these free meals. How much you ask? Damn good question but Seaman has no idea but he wants the School Board to move forward with the idea anyway because hey it’s only taxpayer’s money that would be spent, so in Seaman’s twisted mind it really doesn’t matter.

• Tom (Friday, November 29 19 08:31 am EST)

  That Derek Ferland certainly is a piece of work. A true bureaucrat through and through. In his mind, everyone in the public is stupid except for him of course and he deflects all of Jim Sullivan’s questions because Jim is asking the hard questions that our elected officials and local news reporters should be asking and are not. It seems to me that based on all of the documented evidence that Jim Sullivan and AJ Maranville exposed and published on the Sullivan Report website, that the Sullivan County Government is in a complete shambles and nearly in financial ruins. Sadly, the only solution that this buffoon of a County Manager along with all of the imbeciles on the County Delegation and the three dimwits on the County Commissioner Board seem to have is to spend millions of dollars more of the taxpayer’s money. Millions of dollars that the taxpayers cannot afford on a County Nursing Home renovation and a new Sober House property in Claremont’s downtown merchant and restaurant business district that nobody here in Claremont wants located there. Mr. Ferland claims that neither multimillion-dollar project will add anything to the County property tax rate but that appears to be one gigantic lie. The biggest chunk of money that tax-and-spend Ferland is saying that he will use to keep the nursing home project debt off the County property tax rate is money that he has already spent in this year’s budget to the tune of over $1.3 million. If tax-and-spend Ferland uses that money for the nursing home project, that will leave a $1.3 million deficit in the budget for next year. Then here is the kicker, that ProShare money may not even be available next year or ever again. Nevertheless, that is okay, bureaucratic wisdom, an oxymoron if I ever heard one, tells these country bumpkin clods running our County government to move forward anyway and get the County fall even further into debt. Then for his next stupid County Manager act, tax-and-spend Ferland wants to move forward with the Sober House project claiming that the $100 per week rent money collected from the ex-convict residents will cover all of the Sober House’s expenses including the debt service to repay the loans that the County government will borrow. Then tax-and-spend Ferland pulls a classic bait and switch and changes things up again by saying that he will allow the ex-inmates living in the Sober House to perform volunteer work so they do not have to pay the full rent. If that is the case then the County government will not collect enough money to repay the millions of dollars of debt that the County officials borrowed to buy and renovate the old Eagle Times building, so it looks like the taxpayers will be stuck again with higher property taxes to make up the difference. What are our elected officials doing letting this County Manager keep pulling the wool over the taxpayer’s eyes. If it wasn’t for Jim and AJ we would never know the truth because our elected officials seem to be colluding with this County Manager to separate us from even more of our hard-earned money for them to spend on their harebrained bureaucratic expansion building programs. It looks like the City of Claremont and the School Board are not the only places where we need all new leadership.

• Jim Sullivan (Thursday, November 28 19 05:51 am EST)

  Apologies Bob, the week before Thanksgiving is usually a very slow local news week. This year that did not turn out to be the case as I posted four articles yesterday. The article you refer to is presently half written and will be published the beginning of next week. Sorry for the delay. Happy Thanksgiving.

• Bob (Wednesday, November 27 19 10:17 pm EST)

  Jim Sullivan: How is the article coming???

• Jim Sullivan (Wednesday, November 27 19 06:30 am EST)

  Four new articles today.
  
  1) Traffic alert.
  
  2) Voters approve spending for education programs.
  
  3) School meals debt grows again.
  
  4) County Manager responds, sort of.
  
  Full details on the News Flashes page of this website.

• News Flash (Sunday, November 24 19 07:40 am EST)

  The Eagle Times has two new leaders. Hope they are better than the last two. Could start by hiring an unbiased reporter. Then start reporting the whole story. They should hire Jim lol. There is a reason why so many people tune in to The Sullivan Report. No other NEWS reports out there. AND ITS FREE

• Watching (Saturday, November 23 19 09:29 pm EST)

  It appears that the group that did not want an in house manager search tried to set us up for failure and that group included many insider council members. They are now in a loose loose situation. My hope would be that Mr Morris would step up fix the runaway spending and right the sinking ship. Those insiders fail. Or should Mr Morris turns out not to be a fit and the insiders fail because they did not take the advise of the hard work the hiring committee did.

• Great JOB Claremont (Saturday, November 23 19 05:19 pm EST)

  how would a councilor be on the search committee and come out and not vote for the overwhelming majority person they already chose because its a sham and we let these ignorant s continue to get away with it just sick group of stupid people with agendas that cant make the right decision in anything so we (ignorant Council) take the weak candidate that way they can continue to feel like they arent ignorant themselves and can control him more than someone who has experience in the field and in the real world not Weathersfield and Claremont what a joke !!!!!!! Unfortunately we will pay and are paying everyday with this lack of real LEADERSHIP most dont understand what that means

• WOW (Saturday, November 23 19 04:42 pm EST)

  WOW
  To: Great JOB Claremont, So if the search committee voted 10-1 for a different manager who gets blamed if this doesn’t work out. There were several councilors on that committee, what changed their mind? Morris was one of a final three out of over fifty applicants. That say something. Does make one wonder how the 10-1 candidate would have done. Maybe he would have exposed some of the back room deals. Isn’t Koloski a fireman in Weathersfield? Hum what’s the next benefit pack coming down the road.

• Jim Sullivan (Saturday, November 23 19 02:06 pm EST)

  Tony,
  
  We do not presume to speak for our readers as they are perfectly capable of deciding on issues on their own. However as far as ourselves we supported Mr. Tempesta's plan for the diverted funds. If you bothered to read our article about this issue you would have known that.
  
  Another thing, we do not try to tell anyone how to vote or how to think. We simply report the news that the conventional local news media are either too lazy, ignorant or cowardly to investigate and publish to enlighten the public about the truth. We may not be professional journalists but we do our very best to try to fill that necessary void.

• tony (Saturday, November 23 19 09:54 am EST)

  Well it is great to see that the overwhelming majority of 70 was able to divert $ 650,000 to the schools without the Sullivan Silent majority taking any action. You know when your great opposition to progress can't muster out to beat 70 voters, you really are a fringe.

• Great JOB claremont (Wednesday, November 20 19 04:59 pm EST)

  well Mr. Morris wasn't even the first pick for the search committee so that begs the question why the first pick who the search committee voted 10-1 wanted over Mr Morris wasn't even really in the running with this incompetent council because they already had Mr Morris picked and the search committee was just a sham like normal the other guy was levels above Mr Morris. Great Pick Councilors!!! Manager of a town 1/4 the size of Claremont with no real infrastructure, he having no real experience in managing anything

• Keith (Wednesday, November 20 19 03:30 pm EST)

  I am not very impressed with Mr. Morris. He does not seem to do a hell of a lot and he is commanding more money than Santagate or McNutt ever received. Frankly, I do not think he is worth the money. Maybe they should hire Morris the Cat instead because he would work for just a few cans of Nine Lives Tuna a week and probably get a hell of a lot more done than our new city manager is accomplishing.

• Steve (Wednesday, November 20 19 01:21 pm EST)

  I never did trust Lovett. I am not surprised that she deceived everyone regarding the taxpayer subsidy for the community center. Anyone who flashes his or her teeth and smiles so insincerely to everyone as often as she does just cannot be trusted. She is like an unscrupulous used car salesperson.

• Dennis (Wednesday, November 20 19 11:23 am EST)

  Yeah, and on the Council it is not looking so good either. It looks like Ward 2 chose another out-of-control tax and spender in the form of Jim Contois. He wants big pay raises for all the merit plan employees at the bottom of the pay scale. He wants to pay them all a living wage including the lifeguards and other entry-level positions. I guess to Jimbo money is no object especially when the money being spent belongs to the taxpayers. I thought he was going to be a reasonable representative for the people so like an idiot I voted for him. I spoke with him and I thought he was going to be a conservative voice on the Council but I guess I was wrong. I feel like I was conned but then con is in his last name so I guess I should not be surprised by this turn of events. Truth in advertising and all at.

• Tom (Wednesday, November 20 19 10:17 am EST)

  Wow! The County finances are all frigged up and Claremont might be looking at a $2.6 million tax bill in another year or so because of all the spending our state reps are doing over at the County. What the hell is wrong with O’Hearne and Stapleton? I thought they at least were on the taxpayer’s side but I guess I was wrong and they are tax-and-spend liberals like the rest of those clods on the County Delegation. Bad times ahead for Sullivan County.

• Jim Sullivan (Wednesday, November 20 19 06:26 am EST)

  Bob, not to my knowledge. Unfortunately, we are stuck with the officials the voters elected and the top administrators that they hired. However, I would like to thank you for giving me an idea for a story angle that I will write over the course of this week and publish next week.

• Bob (Tuesday, November 19 19 05:02 pm EST)

  How do we get an injunction against these idiots to stop them from doing these things. We MUST have some recourse to stop them?????

• Jim Sullivan (Tuesday, November 19 19 03:07 pm EST)

  Two new articles published today.
  
  1) Special vote scheduled for November 21.
  
  2) November 13 Council meeting synopsis.
  
  Full details on the News Flashes page of this website.

• Jim Sullivan (Thursday, November 14 19 11:56 pm EST)

  Bob, good question. Sorry that I do not know the answer to that one. Since a plan is not fully formulated the County Government may not have an answer to that one either.

• Ticked more (Thursday, November 14 19 07:10 pm EST)

  Real people won't run because frankly the incompetence is too deep and they have better things to do then to try to convince these ignorant people to do anything that makes sense

• Ticked (Thursday, November 14 19 06:07 pm EST)

  Elections Have Consequences! Your county delegation and commissioners can be voted out!

• Bob (Thursday, November 14 19 06:01 pm EST)

  @ Jim Sullivan Thank you for the response. I am curious though if there has been any clean up of the building from when the paper was there. If people are going to be living there you would think the County would get a clean bill of health from the State DES

• Jim Sullivan (Thursday, November 14 19 04:11 pm EST)

  Bob, unfortunately the answer to your question is yes. Because the County is a government entity and local Planning rules do not apply to them as they are exempt. Another example is when the City of Claremont built the Claremont Savings Bank Community Center with inadequate parking space. The reason why that happened is because the City of Claremont is exempt from local Planning rules because they are a government entity. The only requirement that the County has to meet is to go before the Claremont Planning Board and show them an informational only presentation of their plan. The Planning Board and residents can ask questions but neither the Planning Board nor the Citizens will have any say in the matter. Essentially the County Government can and is shoving this project down the throats of all Claremont citizens whether we like it or not and they are using our tax dollars to do it. Your government at work!

• wishing (Thursday, November 14 19 03:20 pm EST)

  Please Help this City

• Bob (Wednesday, November 13 19 09:57 pm EST)

  Jim Sullivan: Does the county have absolute rule over the sober Housing..Can't the planning board make them follow the rules of the State and city and require them to satisfy their requests before granting approval for their application or do they not even have to fill out an application???

• Charles (Wednesday, November 13 19 03:20 pm EST)

  Is nobody shell shocked at $1.5 million dollars in merely designing this sober living facility?
  My first question is who's spouse,kid,or brother/sister works for Warren street Architects is connected to the county government? We all know somebody is enriching themselves through connections.
  Why are the people of Sullivan County responsible to pay for the housing of alcoholics and drug addicts? I know that we have plenty of churches and non-profits that should shoulder this responsibility,considering the fact that they enjoy tax free status.How are these organizations contributing? Should we be reconsidering non-profit tax free status of those doing nothing?
  
  Has the county received alternative bids for the design of this boondoggle?
  
  How about a halfway house for the seniors pushed out of their homes due to exorbitant tax burden?
  
  Can the people of Sullivan County say no we cannot afford this?
  
  How about an added tax to drinks and alcohol purchased in Sullivan County's bars and stores to pay for it?
  On the other hand that would just create another tax lien situation for Koloski's dive bar.

• Jim Sullivan (Wednesday, November 13 19 06:14 am EST)

  The real story about the Sullivan County Nursing Home Rehab Project and the Sober House Project, both of which are moving forward.
  
  Full details on the News Flashes page of this website.

• Tony (Tuesday, November 12 19 05:01 pm EST)

  Bob
  
  Which facts? That the republicans invited a hate for profit author and speaker? That Nick got the most votes of any of the candidates? That Jon S got a majority running unopposed?

• Bob (Sunday, November 10 19 08:40 pm EST)

  @Tony spoken like a true DemocRAT. Can't handle facts!

• tony (Saturday, November 09 19 10:03 am EST)

  Numbers,
  
  in a county where the main stream republicans invite a 'Hate for Profit' speaker to an event, Jon Stone getting elected is no surprise. But this site claims to represent some silent majority. Actually it represents a fringe of disenchanted reactionaries and a few sore losers.

• Low Numbers (Thursday, November 07 19 11:05 am EST)

  John O’, Numbers numbers don’t seem to demand respect in my book

• Numbers (Thursday, November 07 19 10:54 am EST)

  Tony. 15% of the registered voter put nick back in. That is not a major accomplishment. 64% of those that voted voted for him. 68% of those that voted voted for Jon Stone. I guess numbers don’t count.

• Charles (Thursday, November 07 19 10:48 am EST)

  At this point it doesn't really matter who gets elected.
  The mill rate is the highest in the state.The property values are rising at a snails pace,certainly not enough to justify the expense of revaluation every 2 years.What were these people thinking?
  
  The most important aspect of taxing and spending is who are the people that pay? Do they have the ability and income to pay more?
  
  The answer in Claremont is a resounding no.They have reached the taxing ceiling in Claremont.It doesn't matter what they vote for.You can either afford it,or you can't.I don't see Claremont even affording it's most basic infrastructure maintenance.

• John J.O’Connor (Thursday, November 07 19 10:14 am EST)

  Tony,
  I think there is some truth to that. As a member of the “Anyone but Koloski” club, I am extremely disappointed in the election results and since then I have been questioning as to why I dislike Nick.
  In a perfect world no one would question Nicks motives when he gets involved in charitable endeavors.
  In a perfect world, people would think it’s just a coincidence that a local paper is always there for a photo op to document his good deeds.
  In a perfect world, people would think Nick is just victim of circumstances in regards to the Topsail building.
  Unfortunately, we don’t live in a perfect world.
  The voters have spoken and Nick now enters his second decade on the Council, respects must be given for his dedication to the City of Claremont.

• Tony (Thursday, November 07 19 09:29 am EST)

  Great to see how effective the Sullivan report is with smearing Nick. He was only the highest vote catcher for the at large. You are really out of touch and unaware of just how small a group you are.

• Telling (Wednesday, November 06 19 01:19 pm EST)

  Telling 2.0 In some elections if a candidate does not receive 50% of the vote there must be a revote. Not good for an incumbent. Just a thought.

• Rick (Wednesday, November 06 19 07:14 am EST)

  Well the Claremont voters did it again. 75% of them stayed home and most of the 25% that voted elected tax-and-spend liberals who will destroy the city within a few years by spending unrestrained and raising taxes, water and sewer rates and all other sort of fees that they can so that the taxpayers can pay for all the new spending. Expect the push on the downtown region with a multimillion-dollar infrastructure improvement-spending plan that will include a new multitier-parking garage. More low income housing that maybe the company that new Councilor Deborah Matteau works for can oversee in some capacity. Let us not forget Councilor Koloski now that he has won again I wonder what he wants. He just got the food-licensing thing for his weenie wagon so it cannot be that. Maybe a free environmental cleanup of the Topstone building on the public’s dime? Maybe something else who knows? We all know what Councilor Kier and Mayor Lovett and other members of the Council want for Christmas and that is sanctuary city status for Claremont. Oh right we are supposed to be calling it a welcoming community so no one will really know that it really means a sanctuary city. My bad. LOL. Of course all of the unionized municipal workers will reap big rewards to because there bought and paid for city councilors will make sure that they get bigger paychecks and expanded benefits that the taxpayers will have no choice but to pay for. The councilors will gladly do it because they must keep their constituency who elects them happy. When the big tax bills begin to come in a year or so from now and the public will then become angry, it will be too late to do anything about it because the damage has already been done. In Claremont staying home and not voting is not a good option because putting trust in the 25% of the voting age public that votes is not a good strategy. Look at what happened yesterday. Claremont voters you only have yourself to blame.

• Telling2.0 (Wednesday, November 06 19 07:08 am EST)

  Stone got 68% of the vote in an uncontested race. Also a message.

• Telling (Tuesday, November 05 19 10:19 pm EST)

  Abigail Kier an incumbent candidate that has a track record recurved 708 votes. 816 voters did not vote for her. That sends a message.

• Jim Sullivan (Tuesday, November 05 19 09:46 pm EST)

  Claremont Election Results can be found on the News Flashes page of this website.

• Blah B. Blah III (Tuesday, November 05 19 09:16 pm EST)

  Cue the fake haters. Damn its almost like no one gives a shit what Jim, AJ and Gauthier have to say.

• Bob (Tuesday, November 05 19 08:24 pm EST)

  Colonskipi, Matteu, Keir, Contois, this city is screwed, you think taxes are bad now just wait, you get what you vote for and this city just voted to screw it's self!!!!

• Slick (Tuesday, November 05 19 07:51 pm EST)

  Hang onto your wallet. Another Topstone deal is in the works.

• Libtard (Tuesday, November 05 19 07:51 pm EST)

  Just here for the post election conservative meltdown.

• Beat Down (Tuesday, November 05 19 07:46 pm EST)

  Looks like the conservatives sat on their hands again. Only themselves to blame.

• Don (Tuesday, November 05 19 01:46 pm EST)

  The high school principal in Concord resigned and the superintendent was fired by the school board over there alleged sexual assault case. In Claremont absolutely nothing has happened because school officials have failed to act at every turn. What is wrong with our school officials? Have they no decency or morals or ethics? Do they condone what allegedly happened? Or do they simply not give a you know what in regards to the students and their safety?

• Charles (Tuesday, November 05 19 11:49 am EST)

  Has anyone considered that this inappropriate sexual contact with Claremont's student population may be more wide spread than this one individual?
  These cover-ups just may be to protect a large group of teachers or administrators sexual proclivity toward children.
  Within the Catholic Church did anyone believe 20 years ago that the organization would be paying out $2 Billion to settle damages by
  the acts of pedophile homosexual priests numbering in the hundreds,if not thousands?
  Epstein just died awaiting trial for running an island dedicated to serving forbidden fruits,catering to the deviant desires of the world's elites.Bill Clinton himself was known to have taken several island trips himself.
  
  I think that this investigation needs to delve deeper into the doings of school personnel.It's obvious that they were(are) not doing the jobs that they are paid to do.So what are they doing with their(our) time?
  
  Remember that Michael Jackson never served a day for his deviant behavior with children.Now the children are grown and have proclaimed that Jackson was having intercourse with all of them.

• Craig (Tuesday, November 05 19 11:00 am EST)

  No accountability equals chaos. The prior SAU management was shamefully run by chaos under incompetent interim superintendent Cory LeClair and the previous equally incompetent superintendent Middleton McGoodwin. A pathetically incompetent finance director was allowed to hold two similar jobs in two different SAU’s. The same finance director failed to file IRS paperwork almost costing the taxpayers a significant amount of money in fines and penalties. The same finance director failed to file lunch program paperwork on time and that did cost taxpayers a very large sum of money in lost revenues for two years straight. Audit reports were not conducted each year for many years. An interim superintendent is literally pushed out the door and secretly paid a cash settlement courtesy of the taxpayers presumably because he was finding out the dirty little secrets of all these incompetent administrators and they teamed up to cover-up their sins against the taxpayers by ousting him quickly. Now we see that school administrators looked the other way and became enablers that set the stage for an alleged sexual assault to presumably occur. Absolutely no one has been held accountable except for any of this with the one exception of the termination of the former finance director. Why is that? What kind of message is the sending the taxpaying public and the students of Claremont?

• Richard (Tuesday, November 05 19 10:03 am EST)

  Pat Barry should have been placed on administrative leave as soon as the story about Mr. Caccavaro became public knowledge. At least one School board member said that she did not learn until about this until just before the new stories began to come out. Administrators most definitely knew and they did nothing presumably because they were all compromised and wanted to cover things up to protect themselves. We do not know when the new superintendent found out about this matter so we should all give him the benefit of the doubt at least for now. It is the only fair thing to do. That being said nothing is being done to hold accountable either Pat Barry or the special education director who also must have known and did nothing. The longer school officials take to act the more their credibility will suffer. This will hurt their efforts at budget time and at election time when they will need public support

• Fair and Balanced (Tuesday, November 05 19 09:06 am EST)

  Dennis, will you be big enough to admit you were 100% wrong when Goddard fills up with non section 8 renters? will any of the self professed economic development geniuses on this site admit they were full of crap? that would be refreshing. and i'm guessing you all preferred the previous Goddard situation--bed bugs, falling down building, empty store fronts...lol. 7 or 8 million invested to make it better and its just bitchbitchbitchbitchbitch glass always half empty. Yawn.

• Dennis (Tuesday, November 05 19 08:35 am EST)

  Ray your comments remind me about the Goddard building and there is something I have been meaning to say about that on the forum. This new guy Morris who the Council hired for city manager is either a numbskull or a liar. The Goddard building is very obviously going to cater to low-level income residents who earn Section 8 income levels as Mr. Sullivan and Mr. Maranville clearly pointed out in the article they published not too long ago. I watched that Council meeting they wrote about and it was like watching an infomercial for the Goddard building. Just whom is this Morris person really representing? To me it does not seem to be the Claremont taxpayers who are paying his salary.

• Ray (Monday, November 04 19 02:30 pm EST)

  Speaking about Frank Sprague, I would like to know more about what is going on with the city contract for the building where school board chair Frank Sprague runs his health club. Is the city even supposed to be doing that kind of work or is Mr. Sprague getting some sort of backroom sweetheart deal on the taxpayer’s dime? I do not like the fact that it was not a real bid situation so we do not know if the taxpayers are getting a good deal or not or if the city is supposed to be doing that kind of work or not.

• Jeremy (Monday, November 04 19 02:16 pm EST)

  I have no faith in school board chair Frank Sprague doing the right thing. He is a former school principal and retired school employees always back current school employees in regards to generous pay raises, increases in benefits and covering up wrongdoing.

• Charles (Monday, November 04 19 10:35 am EST)

  It would really be in Claremont's best interest to get rid of Steven's principal,as well as the director for special education.
  Not only have these people bungled the protection of the most vulnerable,but they are also way up there in the payout for pensions.Getting new people with better structured benefits pkgs. more in line with the income level of Claremont would be beneficial.These people are walking as kings and queens among the poorest population of the state.While I believe educating should be a decent paying job,defined benefit pkgs. exceed taxpayer Social Security by far too much.

• Jim Sullivan (Monday, November 04 19 09:52 am EST)

  Update!
  
  Full details on the News Flashes page of this website.

• Laura (Monday, November 04 19 08:42 am EST)

  Principal Pat Barry must be fired. She admits by her own statements to the police that when allegations of Mr. Caccavaro kissing a special needs student surfaced that she did absolutely nothing to protect the student from further contact. Kissing a student should be grounds for immediate dismissal. Instead Principal Barry issued some advice and did not take any measures to guarantee that Mr. Caccavaro and the student would not ever be together again. Mr. Caccavaro then began having weekly outings with the student and another special-needs student on Principal Barry’s watch yet Principal Barry pleaded ignorance to the outings. Who is running things at Stevens High School? If Principal Barry is an absentee administrator then that is sufficient grounds for her termination. Her laissez-faire managerial approach to this issue led to an alleged sexual assault. That should be grounds for her termination. However the Claremont School Board and the new Superintendent have failed to act so far. Do they condone this type of management that does not protect the students attending our schools? Perhaps it is time to start replacing them as well.

• Dave (Monday, November 04 19 07:58 am EST)

  If you looking for the city councilors to do anything for you then you are deluding yourselves. With the exception of Stone and O’Hearne, all of these councilors support sanctuary city policies that they call welcoming community policies to make it sound better. They want to spend millions of Claremont tax dollars to turn the downtown into a haven for illegal aliens who will swell the school system with lots of kids most of them can even speak English and it will increase the crime rate with drugs and prostitution. This is not even counting the people that will be living in the sober houses and in the transitional housing, that leading liberal Mayor Charlene Lovett is advocating for along with her councilor cronies. Kier and Koloski are bad news it’s time to clean house on the council starting with ousting them on Tuesday.

• Chris (Sunday, November 03 19 01:44 pm EST)

  If Principal Barry is not fired than the next person who should be fired is Superintendent Tempesta.

• Matt (Sunday, November 03 19 12:56 pm EST)

  The city’s spending priorities have been off kilter for a very long time. Purchasing new firetrucks when the useful life of the old one has not really expired yet, failing to properly care and maintain for the city’s roadway infrastructure and being more concerned about giving raises to the highest paid city employees when the retirement fund is woefully and inadequately funded seems to be par for the course with these buffoons on the city council and those working in the city administration. The voters have a chance to vote out two incumbents. Hopefully they won’t blow that opportunity.

• Gary (Sunday, November 03 19 11:57 am EST)

  If enough fiscal conservatives win seats on the Council then this bullshit spending will end and maybe we can get some new pavement on the roads while we still have some left.

• Ryan (Sunday, November 03 19 10:58 am EST)

  This will be Tempesta’s baptism of fire. Will he do the right thing and conduct an internal investigation and put the high school principal and the special education department head on leave pending the investigation outcome. If the outcome is that not enough was done to protect the student then Tempesta should do the right thing and terminate either one or both. Given the media account of what happened, I do not see Principal Barry surviving any scrutiny because of her ambivalence to the situation and her gross negligence regarding her duty to protect all students. She should be fired.

• Ted (Sunday, November 03 19 09:48 am EST)

  This Hamilton character sure finagled the figures around to try to keep the payouts for veterans tax credit and elderly exemptions lowballed as much as possible. Then you have the property assessments that are all over the place. Anyone who manipulates figures that much cannot be trusted as a city assessor.

• Sharon (Sunday, November 03 19 07:48 am EST)

  It’s a shame that the new superintendent inherited this mess about the alleged sexual assault involving a student. It is problems like this that he is handsomely paid to solve. If he does nothing then everyone will know that he is morally bankrupt and not someone who should be running our school districts.

• Lynn (Sunday, November 03 19 05:08 am EST)

  Pat Barry should be put on leave and ultimately fired for failing to protect that special education student from that alleged sexual assault.The system failed because the Principal looked the other way and did not take steps to protect that girl from harm. How can that be overlooked and forgiven by the school board of the new superintendent? What is wrong with these people?

• Jim Sullivan (Saturday, November 02 19 08:54 pm EDT)

  Two new articles.
  
  1) Where is the accountability?
  
  2) Claremont's 2019 MS-1 document reveals several surprises!
  
  Full details on the News Flashes page of this website.

• Wake Up (Friday, November 01 19 09:28 am EDT)

  THE COUNCIL NEEDS TO LOOK BEYOND INCREASING THE POPULATION OF CLAREMONT. HOW MANY ARE THEY PUTTING IN THE WAGON V HOW MANY ARE PULLING THE WAGON. Can they really be that STUPID.
  VOTE OUT AT LARGE INCUMBENTS.
  Vote In
  Pat Lozito
  Bill Kennedy
  Erica Sweetser
  Christopher Fazio
  
  Ward II
  David Pacetti

• Robert (Friday, November 01 19 06:55 am EDT)

  It looks like the assessing office is in complete disarray. Can’t hire a permanent assessor presumably because the pay is too low to hire anyone even reasonably competent. Then the city hires overpriced consultants who totally screw things up. First, we have MRI and then we get the Topstone scandal that helps Nick Koloski and his landlord out immensely with the big almost quarter million-dollar property tax forgiveness break and then a property assessment reduction of over seventy percent. The old manager and the MRI guy that was doing the assessing hire a utility assessor and they use a scare tactic to keep away any pesky bidders with a stiff late fee clause in the bid proposal advertisement that is intentionally kept out of the contract. Then the assessor they hire as a consultant doesn’t turn into his work until over a month and a half late and because there’s no penalty fee nothing happens to him and he continues keeping the contract like nothing happened. This utility assessor that the last city manager hired looks like he’s in big trouble all over the place and he goes and raises the utility assessments way out of proportion and now we have two utilities taking us to court. Then the utility assessor will make more money being paid a high hourly fee to testify in court trying to convince a judge to believe his outrageous property assessments. Undoubtedly, the city will lose the case having spent not only fees for this utility assessor to testify but also big legal fees to lawyers and then we will have to pay back all the extra money that utilities paid in plus interest because they were overtaxed in 2018. God knows with this assessor consultant stuck the utilities with for property assessments in 2019? Will we be back in court next year facing more big expenses? The new city manager’s plan really sucks. Have a low-level employee go to school to become an assessor on the taxpayers dime and then become the new city assessor if he or she decides to stay and not move on to greener pastures once they become a full-fledged assessor. In the meantime, keep the current high paid consultant that seems lackadaisical when it comes to the property assessments. The same guy who oversaw the revaluation that raised a whole bunch of people’s property assessments while giving city councilors like Scott Pope a huge property tax break. Yet we need this jerk around for three more years. If this is the best that this new city manager has to offer and then maybe it’s time we get another new city manager once we install a new city council in January. Don’t vote for any of the incumbents running at large and then we will have a big change on the council perhaps enough to make a good difference going forward.

• Linda (Wednesday, October 30 19 09:04 pm EDT)

  It seems that Erica Rae Sweetser, AJ Maranville and Jim Sullivan are making the folks who want to keep the status quo at city hall really nervous. Good. Keep it up you three and Erica you have my vote.

• A.J. ISA Moron (Wednesday, October 30 19 06:44 pm EDT)

  Delusional would be crafting the same attacks against a people under different names on a fake site with a fake name. Boring. I really like it when Jim and AJ aka Linus and the Fake Sheriff sing themselves praise. Good job guys.

• Katherine (Wednesday, October 30 19 05:11 pm EDT)

  I read Nick Koloski’s comments to his Eagle Times interview in today’s newspaper and boy does this city councilor have deep psychological issues. First, he is a first-class narcissist who thinks he is the Savior of Claremont, which is a load of BS. Then he comes up with this cockamamie story that a huge outpouring of citizens convinced him to run for Council because he is the only one that can save us. One word adequately describes him and that word is delusional. Then Nick Koloski sidesteps every important question asked of him. Typical sleazy Nick Koloski styled actions. Make no mistake Nick Koloski is only there as a councilor to gain more political favors for himself and friends from the city administration in exchange for his constant city administration friendly rubberstamp vote. Vote for Nick Koloski if you want more of the same such as not enough road repairs, high taxes and more big raises for the city staff. If you want positive change then vote for anyone else but Nick Koloski and Abigail Kier.

• Gloria (Wednesday, October 30 19 11:23 am EDT)

  There was an interesting article in the Eagle Times about the Concord high school principal that was put on administrative leave pending investigation because of his poor handling of sexual assault allegations against a teacher. There is a similar case in Claremont and the Stevens high school principal totally mishandled the situation, allowed the alleged perpetrator to continue working in the school system and that person began to take the special education student that he was fixated with on weekly excursions for a few months when eventually an alleged sexual assault occured. Quite frankly this principle should have been fired on the spot but at the very least placed on immediate administrative leave pending a thorough investigation of her lack of action and how that jeopardized the safety of the special education student. Why has the Claremont school board and the new superintendent failed to act? Covering up for one of their own is wrong. The Stevens high school principal should be held accountable for her actions. Isn't the safety of the student population more important than the career of a misguided, inept high school principal?

• Rick (Wednesday, October 30 19 10:38 am EDT)

  I agree with Jim and AJ that there should be increases with the exemptions and with the tax credit for veterans. I am glad Councilor Stone increased the veteran’s credit to at least $500. The Council should do more for the seniors and hopefully they will once the two committees give their recommendations to the Council.

• Charles (Wednesday, October 30 19 08:33 am EDT)

  This community,or at least it's homeowners paying taxes are all so elderly that the shift that you advocate would be more drastic than in the communities you wish to be compared to.They have far more "new blood".Claremont is the old elephant bone yard with a smather of intellectually incapable young welfare recipients.
  The levels of exeptions that you are looking for would have a much deeper impact on the bottom line.Sad but true

• Katie (Wednesday, October 30 19 06:00 am EDT)

  I noticed that no televised city councilor candidates forum is scheduled on CCTV. So much for transparent government.

• Jeremy (Wednesday, October 30 19 05:28 am EDT)

  It is clear to me that Mr. Hamilton the assessor consultant is working very hard to keep the amount of the exemptions and the tax credits that are paid to qualifying citizens down to an absolute minimum. Since he does not have a dog in this fight, I am sure that he is getting his marching orders to keep the payouts down from the new city manager Mr. Morris.

• Jim Sullivan (Tuesday, October 29 19 03:43 pm EDT)

  New article.
  
  October 23 Council meeting synopsis.
  
  Full details on the News Flashes page of this website.

• John J. O’Connor (Tuesday, October 29 19 03:32 pm EDT)

  Phil,
  If you want to debate political issues her, I’m sure you can do it without going so low as to being up frivolous allegations, only mentioned to influence the voters.
  It’s obvious who you are against, but who are you supporting?
  You crossed the line, you embarrassed yourself and your family.
  Shame.

• Joe (Tuesday, October 29 19 08:43 am EDT)

  Sounds like y'all are just one person having an argument with themself

• Phillip (Tuesday, October 29 19 07:05 am EDT)

  John O'Connor - if anyone knows about low blowing it is you. You watch the lies and attacks cast against some just flow by like an autistic fisherman without a pole or a hook or the ability to tell a frog from a trout and mumbles , "It must be the bait's fault".
  
  Sweetser has personal and psychological issues that make her unfit for the position she is running for, that is evident. It is reflected in her ego-driven statement below, "I think the general public would agree with that. .."
  
  She slurred a Claremont Citizen (while asking for their vote) using a word we generally attribute to those who have no message and is used to attack the messenger. In this case, as in most others, she comes off as juvenile and unhinged. She's not Council material.
  
  And, like many here, you lack reading comprehension skills. Sweetser started all this speculation with her rambling, disconnected postings. Then she went after a Mr. Curry and then Sam Porter-Bridges called her out for her display, yet you attack me?
  
  A quick review of your previous posts shows you to be more than just a casual poster John. You have an agenda. So, when it come to me, I'll act like Miss Priss Erica.
  
  You no longer have my attention so STFU.

• John J. O’Connor (Monday, October 28 19 07:19 pm EDT)

  Low blow Phil... you crossed the line.
  Shame on you.

• Rigged Maybe (Monday, October 28 19 07:03 pm EDT)

  Why is Nick listed first on the ballot? Shouldn’t it be alphabetical? Looks like the fix is in.

• Phillip (Monday, October 28 19 05:12 pm EDT)

  To Sam Porter-Bridges,
  I heard similar things about Erica Rae Sweetser caused by what I am told is/was a weakness for certain substances. My brother tells me of a time when he was in a restaurant where she worked when her boyfriend/spouse or whatever came in and caused quite a scene concerning custody and money and such. He said people at that restaurant later told him this wasn't the first time. I am guessing I'll pass on voting for this one.
  
  Do you have anymore info on her that would help a voter to decide? Seems she has decided not to give you any attention either. Seems you have hit a sore spot with her. Pretty soon there will be no one left for her to pay attention to, lol.

• Charles (Saturday, October 26 19 09:05 am EDT)

  TEAR IT DOWN
  TEAR IT DOWN
  TEAR IT DOWN

• Roland (Friday, October 25 19 06:41 pm EDT)

  So this is the place you go to falsely post about others behind a fake screen name. I normally look at this garbage and laugh it off but really some stuff is way over the top.
  
  So when I lost everything I had one of the first people who came forward to help me is one being talked badly about on this page. After we saw help from this community member and others my wife and I decided we would take the opportunity to pay kindness forward and help when we can. We will continue to do so. I recall reading a article when a general store in Vermont was broken in to and all of the Toys for Tots toys were stolen a local person called to find out how many toys were taken. That individual not only replaced all of the toys for tots toys but nearly tripled the loss. My wife worked at Walmart at the time and her coworker was a toys for tots marine. This individual met the marine out front after making arrangements with toys for tots to accept. Store employees helped unload. Walmart agree to house the toys in safe keeping with the help of my wifes coworker until they could be transfered to toys for tots. This is the same person being trashed talk with false information on here meant to hurt someone. I personally have helped out around the holidays and to see the lengths people will go to outright post lies about something in your community is mind blowing. After seeing this I went to find the post referenced. You may want to learn how to read. No where is any credit taken from anyone. I know for a fact what this person has done for toys to tots not only on this one occasion. You state used stuffed animals. When you learn how to read and let the hatred not cloud your vision you would see the request for delivery help is for brand new stuffed animals. I saw another post where its pointed out he will only take new ones with tags. A friend of mine helped box these last year. Credit is always given and you'd know that if you gave of your time to help and not trash. Get over yourself.

• Blow Hard (Friday, October 25 19 04:39 pm EDT)

  I just saw Nick is blowing his own horn looking for someone to donate a truck to deliver used stuffed animals that were given to him to local hospitals. Just heard that the last time he did this one location rightfully tossed them because used stuffed toys are major germ carriers. When will people see right through this guy. The least he could do is give credit where credit is due. Ask him about the time Toys for Tots kicked him out because of his actions.

• Sam Porter-Bridges (Friday, October 25 19 03:02 pm EDT)

  Erica, is it true you don't have custody of a child? Why is that? I think it important to explain since you espouse to be a great parent and give opinions on how others should raised their kids.

• Charles (Friday, October 25 19 01:59 pm EDT)

  Someone create a petition to demo Topstone,I'll sign.The place is a danger to the public and is just inviting lawsuits against the city for negligent code enforcement.Between the asbestos,the lead,ground water contamination,and the general decay this thing would be best bulldozed.The owners can't even afford to put on a roof.So why own something you can't afford to maintain?

• Insider (Friday, October 25 19 07:48 am EDT)

  Erica Sweetser, welcome to the dark side of Claremont. There are posters on here that are on a mission to destroy Claremont. Some whom it will blow you away when they are exposed. You will be an asset on the council. Non Public meetings will expose the negative side of one councilor that is freeloading off tax dollars. Does Topstone ring a bell?

• Lemuel Curry (Friday, October 25 19 07:32 am EDT)

  Erica Rae Sweetser,
  
  You use this site as a mechanism of your political campaign.
  
  You are running for public office. You called a poster here an "ASSHOLE" - one of your constituents. You seem to follow the Jon Stone philosophy of public relations.
  
  You brought me into the drama of your life - now I am here and you can not nor will not silence me by your of ignorance the facts.
  
  The public can easily see in your discourse here that you do not have the capacity to serve any of us - and are assuredly not deserving of a tip but here's one - "You are messing with the wrong person"
  
  How's that for a tip hash slinger....????
  
  Your "No I'm not, you are" line of defense is sophomoric and would be laughable but for what is at stake.
  
  My name showed up in a post signed by and attributed to you and claimed by you - I have never written or uttered your name until then.
  
  You are delusional - all one has to do is scroll down and read your posts here. I can only imagine what you post on other social media.
  
  You wrote "You do not get any more of my attention"
  
  HEY VOTERS - DON'T EXPECT MS RAE TO PAY ANY HEED TO ISSUES YOU BRING BEFORE HER AS SHE SEEMS TO TIRE EASILY WHICH WOULD PRECLUDE HER FROM BEING AN EFFECTIVE ADVOCATE FOR AND OF OUR CITY.
  
  Ask yourselves, do we want another loose canon (and one with no experience or solid ideas) on the council at this crucial moment when the city needs soberness and stability in its leadership?
  
  How's that Ms Sweetser?

• Erica Rae Sweetser (Friday, October 25 19 06:40 am EDT)

  Mr. Curry, perhaps you need lessons in comprehension. You wrote "...you walk the walk the walk and talk the talk of a Koloski hater..." Aimed at me. I did not say you disparaged him. I responded to your comment aimed at me. You do not get any more of my attention. Have a good day.

• Lemuel Curry (Thursday, October 24 19 10:29 pm EDT)

  Erica Rae please take a class in reading comprehension.
  
  Where did i disparage Nick?
  
  I DIDN'T YOU ILLITERATE RUBE!
  
  If you did the research I suggested that you do so you wouldn't look so foolish you would have seen that a few months ago I came to Nick's defense here (without knowing him) because folks at this site were continuously gay bashing him etc.
  
  Did you know that?
  
  No you didn't, because you have a problem with facts.
  
  
  
  So I ask AGAIN - provide the quote where I say anything negative about Mr Koloski - better yet - ask him about it.
  
  YOU CAN'T!!!
  
  So... now add another false claim to the list you are amassing about me - cross the line and get sued.
  
  You already have shown the City what a fool you are and are undeserving of our trust.

• Erica Rae Sweetser (Thursday, October 24 19 07:09 pm EDT)

  Mr. Curry, I called whomever impersonated me an asshole. I think the general public would agree with that. You should also check your "evidence". I have known Nick for over 20 years and worked for him recently. Without any complaints about him or his character.

• Angela (Thursday, October 24 19 05:17 pm EDT)

  Apparently Deb Matteau was on the board at Lakeview condos in Enfield. Residents speak of poorly handled funds for the 131 unit condo complex, and she killed the reserve fund almost single-handedly on unneeded expenses. Not someone I would want on my city council, and my vote will reflect that. Yours should too.

• Lemuel Curry (Thursday, October 24 19 05:15 pm EDT)

  Ms Sweetser,
  
  I was recently made aware that you mentioned my name and made an unsubstantiated allegation against me on a local Claremont website called "The Sullivan Report". This site.
  
  I am forced to wonder why a candidate for Claremont City Council would do so. It reminds me of a few months back when everyone was convinced that I was Nick Koloski. They all wound up looking foolish and now you join their ranks.
  
  Go back in the Sullivan Forum archives and educate yourself. You seem to need educating in a number of areas which preclude you from being qualified to represent the City of Claremont.
  
  If you can't handle yourself without referring to someone as an "asshole" at the slightest provocation, then the voters should view you as a walking lawsuit if elected and reject you out of hand.
  
  If I were a conspiracy theorist, I could easily be convinced (with the evidence at hand) that you are a plant meant to dilute the vote...you walk the walk and talk the talk of a Koloski hater - a Stoner.
  
  
  I just think you are naive, but to others to whom I have spoken, you come across as unstable.
  
  This very unprofessional exchange you chose to drag me into doesn't help your case.
  
  
  
  https://claremont4real.wordpress.com/blog-feed/

• Erica Rae Sweetser (Thursday, October 24 19 01:21 pm EDT)

  You also made up a fictitious customer named Mr. Curry lol....Lemuel might be his first name?

• Erica's Nemesis (Thursday, October 24 19 12:57 pm EDT)

  Erica - You are disqualified from being a City Councilor . How can we be sure you will read the laws and motions and reports etc. brought before you to consider? You responded here without reading thoroughly.
  
  The law is about details and you lack the experience and knowledge to tell the difference between fact and fiction.
  
  You just showed how incompetent you would be as a representative of the people.
  
  NEXT!

• Erica Rae Sweetser (Thursday, October 24 19 12:54 pm EDT)

  And you didn't even get my phone number right.

• Erica Rae Sweetser (Thursday, October 24 19 12:47 pm EDT)

  I apologize, I had not read that in its entirety. It seems some asshole spliced together different things I have written to make some statement, with my name attached. My accurate letter to the Eagle Times can be seen on their website. And it was written by me after filing for city council, long before this teacher story.

• Erica Rae Sweetser (Thursday, October 24 19 12:44 pm EDT)

  While I did write the below to the Eagle Times, I did not publish it here 40 minutes ago. I thank whomever shared it here, however please use your own name, not mine.

• Erica Rae Sweetser (Thursday, October 24 19 12:04 pm EDT)

  I was born in Claremont, but have lived in other areas, both as a child and an adult. I have been trying to live by this personal motto of "putting your body where your mouth is". This brings me to the issue of the molestation of that poor girl by an elder from our community. I find it incredible that Pat Barry, the school principal, witnessed some of these sickening actions, yet did nothing. I know the prep school environment that Mrs. Barry and her family originate from are adept at keeping family secrets. Like stories of that uncle, that one nobody talks about any more since "that day". As she stated, Mrs. Barry saw a few examples of a day like that and did nothing. This woman who is responsible for our children. She did nothing and this girl suffered.I have spent my adult life in jobs like waitressing that have me in front of the public every day. I get to see every social class, every religion, every age group, and I would have noticed and immediately reported what Mrs. Barry observed. IT TAKES A VILLAGE. Schools have a responsibility to keep children safe when they are at school and it is the parent’s responsibility to keep them safe athome, what about in between? Isn’t it up to the community to model good behavior then? Where is our day care center? Pre-school is crucial for working mothers and fathers. We have a deeply rooted problem with our school system and the way it is administered. I will look into that when elected.Yesterday I was told by a few people that Mrs. Barry has a daughter in the Claremont Police Department who is viewed in the community as a bit off, professionally. It was said that she was considered for this position partially due to her family connections. It was also said that she has made a number of questionable decisions due to her inability to seperate her private and professional lives and focus on either. I recall that last month it was mentioned to me by Mr.Curry (one of our regular customers) during a discussion at The Pleasant that many officers do not like to be paired with her because they consider her dangerous from a tactical point of view and a bit of a loose canon who acts entitled. One of my friends who has a cousin who is in the department says she observed Officer Barry make decisions and act differently when dealing with certain families. These are the families, the ones who have taken control of Claremont, that I want to replace. I humbly ask for your vote for council and I assure you I will act to make sure we select a unimpeachable Police Commission and root out the issues I have been approached about. I ask Claremont to give me a chance to listen and be able to act.
  
  
  Erica Rae Sweetser
  Candidate for Claremont City Councilor At-Large
  (603) 558-2574

• Marcus Wilson (Thursday, October 24 19 06:42 am EDT)

  I told everybody about that Humane Society on Tremont St. Those women there seem disconnected from reality. Read the Yelp review where they state that Cheryl Bromley acted like a "mad woman". They even ran out of food recently and had to beg. No wonder the pervert was able to use that location to molest this girl. As is usual with "animal lovers", they lack people skills and live in a "la la land" of unicorns and neutered cats.
  
  https://www.yelp.com/biz/sullivan-county-humane-society-claremont?osq=Sullivan+County+Humane+Society

• Jim Sullivan (Wednesday, October 23 19 02:07 pm EDT)

  New article.
  
  The story continues to get worse.
  
  Full details on the News Flashes page of this website.

• Lemuel Curry (Tuesday, October 22 19 09:29 am EDT)

  Register & Vote – Stop The Intimidation
  
  Let Me Repeat: You can register to vote on Election Day with only your signature on a City-supplied affidavit stating that you are “qualified” to vote.
  
  VOTE!

• John O’Connor (Tuesday, October 22 19 09:02 am EDT)

  Let’s all remember, we are innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
  Let the Court of Law determine his guilt or innocence and not the court of public opinion.

• Brian (Tuesday, October 22 19 08:02 am EDT)

  I am so surprised to hear the news about George Caccavaro. I’ve always known that he’s been a hard-nosed curmudgeon but I’m having a hard time believing that the allegations about him are true. I hope for his family’s sake they are not.

• Jim Sullivan (Monday, October 21 19 09:42 pm EDT)

  Ex-Mayor of Claremont George Caccavaro is charged on one count of sexual assault!
  
  For more information go to the News Flashes page of this website.

• Jim Sullivan (Monday, October 21 19 11:15 am EDT)

  Two new articles published today.
  
  1) MS-1 Update.
  
  2)Claremont's Municipal Government is far from transparent!
  
  Full details on the News Flashes page of this website.

• Lemuel Curry (Monday, October 21 19 10:23 am EDT)

  "American Guard" - A New Hampshire Hate Group
  
  One of the concerns for local citizens should be the fact that Jeremy Herrell resides in our community and functions as a central communications hub, often hosting militants at his residence and helping maintain a network of "safe houses" in the area provided by like-minded individuals.
  
  https://claremont4real.wordpress.com/2019/10/21/american-guard-a-new-hampshire-hate-group/

• Lemuel Curry (Thursday, October 17 19 07:23 am EDT)

  Guns Up, Safety Off
  
  A months-long investigation revealed that dozens of first responders, detention officers, police and enlisted military personnel joined or were added to a Facebook group where administrators and members shared content promoting violence against Muslims, undocumented immigrants, abortion doctors and Democratic politicians.
  
  https://claremont4real.wordpress.com/2019/10/16/guns-up-safety-off/

• Richard (Wednesday, October 16 19 04:14 pm EDT)

  I read an article today on Granite Grok about why some New Hampshire communities are always property tax poor. The author made a very good point that poor decision-making by local leaders is often the cause. Claremont was specifically named as one of those communities with bad leadership. The author states that taxpayers living in other communities should not be paying for those bad decisions. He writes, "After all, their voters put those into office that made the bad decisions (sometimes multiple times) – they are complicit but still have their hands out". I am a Claremont resident but I have to admit that the author is not wrong. Look at the elected leadership on the city council, the local school board and the county delegation. Look at the administrators of those three government entities over the past decade. These imbeciles have made one bad decision after another that has cost Claremont taxpayers dearly. The new city manager and the new superintendent both get a pass. It is time for new leadership all around and the Claremont voters can start by electing new city councilors and throwing out of office every incumbent that we can. Then on to the school board and the county delegation. If we want change then we have to first change the terrible leadership that we presently have.

• Rachel (Wednesday, October 16 19 02:14 pm EDT)

  I like the suggestion of Claremont having their own solar energy farm. The Council should ask for a consulting report from a professional in the business qualified to make such a cost-benefit analysis. This could really benefit Claremont. Just like Jim and AJ’s other suggestions such as turning the special education program into a moneymaking venture by creating a facility that keeps the out of district placement kids in Claremont and has room to bring in on a tuition basis other kids from other communities so special education would be a profit center instead of a giant money drain. They also had an idea about online classes for the high school to expand class offerings and possibly lower the cost of teachers by having computer labs where only a monitor would be required instead of an higher paid teacher. In addition, their idea about outsourcing municipal and school services for large cost savings is also a great idea. Provides needed services at a lower cost to the citizens and that lowers the tax rate and that increases Claremont’s opportunities for economic development. Now that is sound leadership from two former city councilors. The only way that will ever happen is to vote out all the municipal and school union loving elected officials who are there just to maintain the status quo and keep our taxes as high as possible with more and more spending initiatives. Who’s got your back? It’s certainly not the people that you’ve elected lately.

• Tony (Wednesday, October 16 19 10:26 am EDT)

  Nick Koloski is bad news for Claremont. He is a whiny little brat who needs to grow up. It is time for him to be removed from the Claremont City Council. The voters of Claremont have a big opportunity here hopefully they will not squander it.

• Lemuel Curry (Wednesday, October 16 19 09:24 am EDT)

  Where Are The City Council Minutes From May Until Now?
  
  Six months worth of City Council minutes missing. Where is the OFFICIAL record?
  
  https://claremont4real.wordpress.com/2019/10/15/where-are-the-city-council-minutes-from-may-until-now/

• Joe (Wednesday, October 16 19 07:30 am EDT)

  “Teflon “ Nick will have no problem winning his election. He has instilled himself as the “Saint of Claremont “ by making his establishment a drop off point for food and clothing.
  All of you prospective candidates can learn a very valuable political lesson from “St.Nick”, take credit for the good deeds of others and in time people will believe it was all your idea.

• Tom (Tuesday, October 15 19 12:05 pm EDT)

  I think Nick Koloski has big problems with this new election. The scandal with the Topstone furniture building has really hurt what little credibility he had left with the public. He continues to get political favor after political favor whether it is the weenie wagon ordinance or the Keno legislation for Claremont or free environmental testing for his landlord’s property the Topstone building. The very hush hush big property assessment reductions and almost a quarter of $1 million in tax forgiveness for his landlord also at the Topstone building that of course Nick claims he had nothing to do with, etc. It is time for this kind of shameful local politics to vanish forever. The only way to do that is to get rid of the local politicians who continue to benefit at taxpayer’s expense. When it comes to whom to vote for at-large, my suggestion is going to be anyone but Nick Koloski.

• Jim Sullivan (Tuesday, October 15 19 10:28 am EDT)

  Proposed Speedway Campground receive some pushback from neighbors.
  
  Full details on the News Flashes page of this website.

• Lemuel Curry (Tuesday, October 15 19 08:46 am EDT)

  Ultra-Psychonics: How to Work Miracles with the Limitless Power of Psychoatomic Energy
  
  It was written by a man who called himself Walter Delaney, published in 1975. The book's premise, its basic premise, is that just as objects are composed of atoms, thoughts are composed of psychic atoms, or what Delaney calls psychons, ultrons, and egons.
  
  I am actively searching for another copy of this book to send to Jonathan Stone before the Christmas season to keep him occupied and silent over the next two years if anyone come across one there is a crisp $20 in it for you.
  
  https://claremont4real.wordpress.com/2019/10/15/ultra-psychonics-how-to-work-miracles-with-the-limitless-power-of-psychoatomic-energy/

• Erica Rae Sweetser (Tuesday, October 15 19 08:25 am EDT)

  Mr. Lovett, I have to first say that on more than a few occasions I've seen you post on here and on WUC basically speaking for your wife. I can understand if she doesn't want to have an online presense, but I find it odd that the public is supposed to take her husband's comments as her own. Second, the poster Lisa, did not write that she ran into your wife recently. She wrote that she ran into her after a Sullivan Report article about the Goddard Block. The Report has done several articles about the building over a period of time. I can understand the public's confusion over the project. To me section 8 means that the renter is only responsible for a portion of the rent and the rest is paid through a voucher. So the landlord still gets the full amount of rent, the tenant pays no more than 30 % of their income, and the rest comes from HUD. ( Please contradict me if I'm wrong). When we read that a certain amount of the units will be for people under certain income limits it looks as though they would basically be getting a section 8 voucher and that HUD would pay some of their rent. There is also housing where renters have to be below a certain income but still pay the same amount of rent. Then HUD isn't picking up the rest. It basically gives lower income renters the opportunity to have "affordable" housing that won't cost the tax payers, because none of the rent is publicly funded. I have done a little reading about section 8 vouchers and have read that the state only has a certain number of vouchers that they give. This covers the state. So I have been confused as to whether the state is increasing their number of vouchers. That would be the only answer unless the state took Section 8 vouchers from 1 town to give to Claremont. If this building is accepting vouchers. Or if this building is a low income property like Sugar River Mills, in which the renters don't have private section 8 vouchers, but they still only pay a portion of rent and HUD picks up the rest. Am I making sense. Types of housing 1. Private section 8 voucher for private apartment. 2. Low income public housing where HUD pays portion of rent. 3. Low income housing where tenant pays all of rent. If there could be clarification around the tenants' financial obligations to live there it may help the public understand. Will the tenants be paying differing amounts of rent based on their income? Will HUD be paying any of the rent? I thank you in advance if you respond.

• Robert Lovett (Monday, October 14 19 09:48 pm EDT)

  Lisa - I asked my wife about your claim of running in to her and she does not remember anyone asking her about the Goddard Bld expansion for many months. Since you’re implying that this meeting was recent, please provide when, where, and what date this occurred since you are claiming she lied to you. Would be interesting to reconcile facts since you are claiming an event occurred that she has no memory of happening

• Dave (Monday, October 14 19 02:25 pm EDT)

  I watched that meeting too and Nicholas Koloski was acting like the proverbial long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs in regards to the councilor's election. Mr. Koloski usually runs unopposed or when running at large there are usually not more candidates than there are available seats. Now he has to play a game of musical chairs and the poor clumsy boy he has two left feet. I'm hoping when the music stops and the election is over that both he and Abigail Kier are the two left standing without a council seat anymore. Wouldn't that be a great early Christmas present for the taxpayers?

• Jim Sullivan (Monday, October 14 19 01:01 pm EDT)

  New article.
  
  October 9 Council meeting synopsis.
  
  Full details on the News Flashes page of this website.

• Jim Sullivan (Saturday, October 12 19 01:04 pm EDT)

  Here is that Russian translation for those who are interested. Someone is clearly screwing around with way too much time on their hands.
  
  Welcome to Clermont citizens! We have a lot in common. You have corrupt elected officials, and we too! There is a difference. We have agents and operatives in your city. You have no operatives here in Russia. We are wreaking havoc so that Trump can win.

• Ivan (Saturday, October 12 19 11:12 am EDT)

  Приветствую граждан Клермонта! У нас много общего. У вас коррумпированные выборные чиновники, и мы тоже! Есть разница. У нас есть агенты и оперативники в вашем городе. У вас нет оперативников здесь, в России. Мы создаем хаос, чтобы Трамп мог победить

• Jean (Wednesday, October 09 19 09:32 pm EDT)

  Robbin, using the figures you provided a single person would earn $30,391 after federal income taxes are paid. That's $584.44 per week and is very little money to live on these days. That is the maximum they can earn to live in the Goddard building.
  
  A couple the maximum after federal taxes totals $34,848 or $670.15 per week. Again not much to live off of.
  
  These residents will be at best classified as the working poor.

• Robbin Hood (Wednesday, October 09 19 05:20 pm EDT)

  Lisa,
  I don't know what the ET reporter used as source for median family income but this link says it is $73,600. see page 3.
  
  https://www.nhhfa.org/assets/pdf/hudincome_current.pdf
  
  the % income amount changes depending on # of people in family. the majority of units are for 60% rate. if they are single person, that person would be making about $17/hr. That doesn't sound like section 8 to me. the 50% and 30% income levels are pretty low--but they are only 8 apts out of 36--only 20% of the total units. so 80% of the apts are def not section 8. Compared to the previous conditoin the bguilding was in i'd say this is an improvement.

• Gail (Wednesday, October 09 19 02:18 pm EDT)

  I see that the Eagle Times is advertising for a new editor. When that staff change occurs, maybe things will get better there. One can hope.

• Brad (Wednesday, October 09 19 01:16 pm EDT)

  Considering the fact that the City Council is putting a tight lid upon this Arrowhead expansion, I’m very impressed how Jim and AJ was able to gather so much irrefutable information about this internalized secret that our city leaders are trying to hide from the taxpaying public. These so-called city leaders must be livid that the cat’s out of the bag. Although I do not feel too bad about it because they are a bunch of slime balls. LOL!

• Mike (Wednesday, October 09 19 11:33 am EDT)

  Catching up on my reading I like how Jim and AJ got ahold of the meeting minutes that left just a clue they needed to break this secret Arrowhead expansion wide open so now we know about it. Other journalist could have done the same thing but that would have taken initiative, intelligence, and journalistic integrity, which seems to be in very short supply when it comes to the folks at the Valley News, the Union Leader, the E- Ticker News and the Eagle Times.

• Lisa (Wednesday, October 09 19 07:28 am EDT)

  I read the Eagle Times article about the make-up of the apartments in the Goddard building. The article said.
  “When finished, the Goddard building will have a mix of 36 apartments for individuals and families. Nine of the apartments will be market-rate and the other 27 will be “affordable” rental units. Three units will be for tenants earning up to 80% of the area median income; 16 units for tenants earning up to 60% of the median income; two units for tenants earning up to 50% of the median income; and six units for tenants earning up to 30% of the median income. The median family income in Sullivan County is $59,419.”
  That is the very definition of Section 8 low-income housing. Not long after the Sullivan Report exposed this to everyone with the funding requirements for the government money that Mr. LaCasse accepted for the project that required the residents be low income I ran into Mayor Charlene Lovett and asked her about it. She said that Jim was wrong and this was definitely not a Section 8 low-income apartment project for the downtown. She lied to me right to my face. I will never forgive her and I wish I had someone else to vote for as mayor. I will just leave that part of the ballot blank. I will do the same for the assistant mayor seat.

• Erica Rae Sweetser (Tuesday, October 08 19 09:13 am EDT)

  The idea of putting sober housing downtown was completely contradictory to the goal of revitalizing downtown. Thankfully it's stopped for now.

• Jim Sullivan (Tuesday, October 08 19 08:11 am EDT)

  County Officials pull plug on sober housing project. At least for now!
  
  Full details on the News Flashes page of this website.

• Roman (Monday, October 07 19 05:44 pm EDT)

  Dick Seaman,what a name.Perhaps Dick Brown would be more fitting,considering the way he's been giving it to taxpayers.
  We cannot continue with the highest rate in the state.I'm sick of Arrowhead and the community center gobbling up money that I work hard for.I don't even go to these places.I don't mind paying a reasonable tax to support schools,despite not having any children.These recreational places should charge for the memberships and support themselves.

• Ron (Monday, October 07 19 03:10 pm EDT)

  Dick Seaman is one of the reasons why our tax rate and Claremont is the highest in the state. Now he is the assistant superintendent in charge of the money. God help us all.

• Laura (Monday, October 07 19 01:51 pm EDT)

  The problem is Mayor Lovett and Allen Damren is still going to be there come January. The only hope the taxpayers have is that they have no support from the other seven councilors. The only way to do that is to vote Nick Koloski and Abigail Kier out of office and stop any of their supporters such as Debbie Matteau from gaining seats on the city council.

• Tim (Monday, October 07 19 12:55 pm EDT)

  I figure they are trying to fast track this land purchase at Arrowhead before the next Council takes office in January. Because they will not have tax and spenders like Pope and Lessard and if the taxpayers get lucky, they may not have Koloski and Kier on the Council anymore either. The special interests are all trying to move fast to grab up as many tax dollars as they can get their greedy little mitts on before January just in case their access to public money dries up.

• Todd (Monday, October 07 19 10:58 am EDT)

  Jeff I’ll tell you, it’s sucking up to any group that can bring in a lot of votes to the polls so these imbeciles on the Council can get reelected and continue screwing up Claremont.

• Greg (Monday, October 07 19 10:57 am EDT)

  That’s true; Dick Seaman never saw a tax increase he didn’t like. He always seemed disappointed that the school board would not spend even more than they already were.

• Keith (Monday, October 07 19 10:42 am EDT)

  Alice, while Richard Seaman does come to SAU #6 with lots of bad baggage, I’m more worried about Seaman’s cavalier tax-and-spend attitude. Mr. Tempesta will be relying on Seaman for financial advice and I believe that every suggestion out of Richard's mouth will involve higher and higher spending. spending more money was always Richards go to while he was on the school board. I believe Mr. Tempesta made a terrible mistake hiring Richard Seaman.

• Alice (Monday, October 07 19 10:26 am EDT)

  I do not doubt that Dick Seaman is qualified; it is just that after the debacle with Mike O’Neill do we need a replacement that comes with such historic baggage?

• Bob (Monday, October 07 19 09:38 am EDT)

  You will never get change until you change those on the council. By now it should be very clear who should not be elected this November.

• Jeff (Monday, October 07 19 09:25 am EDT)

  The park and rec crowd are out of control. With Jim and AJ pointing out in their article about the Council not coming anywhere near where the budget allocation should be for street paving is very alarming. Where the hell are the Council’s priorities?

• Jill (Monday, October 07 19 08:45 am EDT)

  An expansion of Arrowhead? Seriously? Jim and AJ are right we need roadwork not more ski area.

• Tom (Monday, October 07 19 07:20 am EDT)

  I cannot believe they hired Richard Seaman to be an assistant superintendent. After the shenanigans, he was involved with in regards to Johnson Controls. Remember that nasty piece of business? That is the problem with hiring top staff from out of town when they have no historic knowledge.

• Jim Sullivan (Monday, October 07 19 05:14 am EDT)

  Two new articles today.
  
  1) Richard Seaman named one of two Assistant Superintendents for SAU #6.
  
  2) Is secret Arrowhead expansion underway?
  
  Full details on the News Flashes page of this website.

• Charles (Sunday, October 06 19 10:54 am EDT)

  What is this shit posted all over this board?
  There's only 1 mission Claremont needs to accomplish.Claremont needs to get it's mill rate to the middle of the pack while maintaining realistic property valuations that don't keep us eternally in court enriching lawyers.
  I'm ok with laying off overpriced personnel and farming those duties out to the best bid.I'm ok with laying off some teachers and administrators.I'm ok with privatizing school lunches to a reputable vendor that is capable of collecting the money due them when serving meals.I'm ok with privatizing snow removal to local companies just as garbage collection is.We seem to manage just fine without city garbage collection.We would do just fine with the other services being done privately as well.
  We have plenty of nonprofit churches in the area that can handle the halfway house/unwed mothers situation.Isn't this why charities even exist?

• Justin (Saturday, October 05 19 06:56 pm EDT)

  I haven't believed the truth about myself I haven’t believed I am loved I haven’t believed I am forgiven. it’s a hard thing for me to wrap my head around. I hang my head in shame and I wallow in sadness about the the people who have betrayed me. I’ve toured my whole teenage life, and early 20s, I realized and as you guys probably saw I was unhappy and I don’t deserve that and you don’t deserve that, you pay money to come and have a lively energetic fun night and I was unable emotionally to give you that near the end of the tour. I am now very focused on repairing some of the deep rooted issues that I have as most of us have, so that I don’t fall apart, so that I can sustain my marriage and be the father I want to be. Just wanted to keep you guys updated a little bit hopefully what I’m going through will resonate with you guys. Been struggling a lot. Just feeling super disconnected and weird. I always bounce back so I’m not worried just wanted to reach out and ask for your guys to pray for me. God is faithful and ur prayers really work thanks .. the most human season I’ve ever been in facing my stuff head on. PEACE

• Lemuel Curry (Saturday, October 05 19 12:22 pm EDT)

  Bob,
  
  "Ignore it and it will go away".
  
  Was that advice from your gynecologist or psychiatrist?
  
  Lemuel has been walking these mountains for almost 60 years on and off and knows them better than you, knows the history better than you and understand current events better than you.
  
  You are the problem - not the solution.

• Lemuel Curry (Saturday, October 05 19 12:19 pm EDT)

  Barry,
  
  You should have listened to you mother instead your dad.
  
  That "living in your mother's basement" meme is real old and unoriginal - like you.
  
  I have yet to see you contribute a single intelligent point and I challenge you to create anything 1/10 as good a Claremont4Real
  
  Stoopid Rube

• Lemuel Curry (Saturday, October 05 19 12:16 pm EDT)

  The Consequences Of A Dysfunctional City
  
  The City can't seem to work towards a common goal. A goal as clear-cut as civility within government and respect between our government and our Citizens seems unattainable at this juncture. This lack of civility and the undercurrent of fear from intimidation has, I am afraid, irreversibly tainted our community.
  
  Initiated and continued by the likes of Councilman Jon Stone and his henchmen, this atmosphere shows no sign of clearing.
  
  Read more here:
  
  https://claremont4real.wordpress.com/2019/10/05/the-consequences-of-a-dysfunctional-city/

• Bob (Friday, October 04 19 04:09 pm EDT)

  Ignore Lemmy (the train wreck) and he will go away.

• Barry (Thursday, October 03 19 06:21 pm EDT)

  @Lemuel reading your comments gives me plenty of reason to believe you don’t live in Claremont or you live in your mother’s basement. Most of your comments are obviously inaccurate. My dad used to tell my it is better for an ignorant man to keep his mouth shut and be thought to be ignorant that to open it and take all doubt away.

• Lemuel Curry (Thursday, October 03 19 01:12 pm EDT)

  WHY ARE SO MANY POSITIONS GOING UNCONTESTED OR UNFILLED? INTIMIDATION...
  
  "Chief Chase and Jon Stone are major contributors to the lack of participation in City affairs by Claremont Citizens. Both use intimidation (subtle and overt) and each uses his own unique methodology to achieve their goal".
  
  
  https://claremont4real.wordpress.com/2019/10/03/why-are-so-many-positions-going-uncontested-or-unfilled-intimidation/

• Gloria (Wednesday, October 02 19 11:55 am EDT)

  Abigail Kier and her cohort Nick Koloski both must go. Abby wants a sanctuary city located in Claremont although she is calling it the bureaucratic whitewashed name of a welcoming community. Little boy Nicky likes the idea too and supports it while he continues to benefit from special favor after special favor granted to him by the city administrators.

• Jim Sullivan (Wednesday, October 02 19 09:50 am EDT)

  I just came back from the Assessing Office at Claremont City Hall and I had a brief conversation with Interim City Assessor Stephan Hamilton. According to Mr. Hamilton, the City of Claremont's 2019 MS-1 Report is still unavailable because Mr. Sansoucy, the utility appraiser consultant hired by the City of Claremont, still has not submitted his utility property assessments to the Assessing Office. The MS-1 Report is what the NH Department of Revenue Administration uses to set Claremont's property tax rates so the City Administration can send out the final tax bill of the current tax year in November. Contractually Mr. Sansoucy had a deadline of September 1. Mr. Hamilton has absolutely no idea when the utility property assessments will be submitted. The City's extension with the NH Department of Revenue Administration expired yesterday and Mr. Hamilton has submitted a second extension request, this time for 15 days. He is hoping that the extension is approved. So the waiting for everyone continues! Because the contract with Sansoucy is missing the late penalty language it was supposed to have the City really has practically zero leverage in regards to this matter. This contract should be terminated moving forward for non-performance and if it involves the City Lawyers then so be it. Hell of a way to run an Assessing Office!

• Lemuel Curry (Wednesday, October 02 19 09:05 am EDT)

  Thanks Hank. Here's an article to show how Stone is covered with "stank".
  
  "With Jeremy Herrell The White Separatist In Our City – It’s Time Claremont Gets Educated"
  
  With An Influx Of Outside Agitators Planned For The Election And The Holiday Protests, How Many Locals Know What a “Proud Boy” Or A “Patriot Prayer” Is? What about the QAnon conspiracy flooding Trump supporter websites and chat-rooms and inspiring them to violence? If you doubt this is possible than you forget the Pizzagate conspiracy…
  
  https://claremont4real.wordpress.com/2019/10/01/with-jeremy-herrell-the-white-separatist-in-our-city-its-time-claremont-gets-educated/

• Henry Hill (Wednesday, October 02 19 07:45 am EDT)

  Thanks for the IM Lemmy. I missed the Osgood one so I appreciate the cover. I always get a good laugh when you slay "the rubes". I don't think Osgood has any special connection with "the guy with the beard upstairs", so don't worry about lightning bolts. Folks like him are so wrapped up in their mythology they can't even see the underlying satire. I bet he prayed over transmissions and differentials to get divine intervention when repairing cars.

• Lemuel Curry (Wednesday, October 02 19 07:36 am EDT)

  HEY JOE OSGOOD,
  
  I WASN'T WRITING AT YOU. KEEP YOUR NOSE WHERE IT BELONGS - UP STONE'S A$$.
  
  BUT SINCE YOU TRIED SO HARD - HAVE A DOSE OF LEMMY.
  
  I BET YOU BELIEVE "THE MOOSLIMS" ARE TRYING TO INSTITUTE SHARI'A LAW HERE TOO.
  
  NO ONE WANTS TO READ YOUR POMPOUS PONTIFICATIONS, ESPECIALLY WHEN YOU INVOKE A MYTH AND A MYTHICAL BEING AND TRY TO IMPOSE IT ON OTHERS.
  
  I CAN'T WAIT TO SEE YOUR REACTIONS WHEN CLAREMONT GET SUED FOR SCREWING UP THE RELIGIOUS DISPLAY ISSUE BECAUSE MANY OF Y'ALL WOULD BE WAVING A WAND IF HARRY POTTER HAD COME OUT BEFORE THE BIBLE.
  
  MOST OF YOUR KIDS CAN QUOTE HARRY POTTER VERBATIM, BUT NOT YOUR SACRED BOOK.
  
  IT IS YOUR FAULT, RAISING CHILDREN ON A FANTASY THAT MOST, ONCE THEY CAN THINK FOR THEMSELVES, REJECT.
  
  METHINKS THE EARTH HAS BEEN HERE FOR LONGER THAN 6,000 YEARS.
  
  I was shouting above because it is windy here on the mount and the sermon required volume.
  
  Now, go out and have a nice day and take that grimace off your face I always see you wear around town....and plan a vacation in Florida and get a real tan instead of welder's flash - since you appear on CCTV at every chance perhaps you should get a makeup artist.
  
  And when you get back get your sloppy a$$ed son to clean up his lot over on Grissom.

• Industrial Property Owner (Wednesday, October 02 19 07:06 am EDT)

  Mr. Sansoucy’s career history is frightening. How anyone could legitimately hire this man and his firm with this kind of history is unbelievable. Granted Mr. McNutt and Mr. Lessard both have tarnished reputations here in Claremont. The Sullivan Report’s exposure of their secret dealings with the owners of the Topstone building and the large property tax waiver and property assessment reduction was in my view the death knell for both of their careers here in Claremont. Their snarky attitudes did not help either. To hear that they both played a role in hiring a utility appraiser with such a terrible work-related history is mind blowing. It certainly does make you wonder if the outcome of over $20 million added to the utility property assessments was the goal. Unfortunately, the benefits were short-lived as at least one utility is dragging the city into court to regain some taxpayer justice for themselves. Personally I do not think we have a leg to stand on in court as the state only assesses the property had a little over $11,000 Claremont’s $2.1 million property assessment simply does not hold water. The appraiser also seems to have no more credibility anywhere so I do not see Claremont faring well in court. I think a quick settlement is in order to limit the loss to the Claremont taxpayers. I also think there should be a moratorium on hiring MRI ever again.

• Laura (Wednesday, October 02 19 06:54 am EDT)

  I completely agree that this is the Claremont voter's golden opportunity to regain control of the Council for the people of Claremont and not the special interests who have been ruling the roost for far too many years. With Scott Pope and Claire Lessard stepping down and Abigail Kier and Nicholas Koloski actually facing challengers this time the taxpayers have an opportunity to transform the City Council into a representative body for the people, which it has not been for well over a decade. Personally I will not be voting for Debora Matteau because she is a strong supporter of Charlene Lovett and Allen Damren and we the voters need to weaken that political coalition not strengthen it. Just my opinion.

• Vote (Wednesday, October 02 19 06:14 am EDT)

  @Jessica.. This is an opportunity to fix most of this problem. Get and vote for anyone but Koloski or Kier. This move will go a long way at fixing things.

• Jessica (Wednesday, October 02 19 05:29 am EDT)

  Thank you Councilor O’Hearne for having the good sense to create a placeholder LSR and derail Lovett’s and possibly Damen’s interference to hit the pause button once again on this necessary change to police commissioner appointments. Lovett and Damren are bad news for the city and they have been for many years. While it is true that Lovett works hard she is pushing an agenda that many in our community do not support and many others would not support if they were aware of it. Lovett has the local press wrapped around her little finger much like Koloski. Her propaganda articles grace their pages and the news articles are devoid of real news. The Sullivan Report seems to have little trouble continually bringing new content to their readers about the seamier side of our local governments. This is what real journalists do. The so-called reporters of the Valley News, Union Leader, Eagle Times and the E- Ticker News are nothing more than propaganda dissemination tools for the city, school and county government officials because these publications only print what government officials tell them to print. This is why many local government officials and the special interest groups that support them because they all reap great benefits at the taxpayer’s expense revile the Sullivan Report is because they can’t control them and keep them silent. Thank you Jim, AJ, and keep doing what you do so very well.

• Joe Osgood (Tuesday, October 01 19 08:33 pm EDT)

  Henry Hill. To set the record straight. Christianity is worldly people trying to reach out to the will of God through the saving Grace of Jesus Christ. Being worldly people with flesh desires we regularly get it wrong. Only some Christians call homosexuality an abomination and they are correct when it comes to the Word of God. God does in His Word declare homosexuality an abomination, BUT that is not the only action of the human race condemned by God. We all fail in our actions. Now to expand on that the Spiritual unchangeable Law of God also says while on the earth we are to hate the sin but to love the sinner. That is not meant to condone sin. Now that I have introduced worldly (fleshly) law and Spiritual Law. As just stated one comes from the world and is often tailored to sin nature fleshly desires. Spiritual Law is rock solid and not changeable. Sadly many people are loosing the ability to believe in the Supernatural and the only compass they have is fleshly desires. Thus all the multiple opinions of the worldly laws. Without Spiritual Laws we are destined to fail as a society and it is beginning to show. Jesus is the Way and the Truth to eternal life.

• Jim Sullivan (Tuesday, October 01 19 04:30 pm EDT)

  Two new items published today.
  
  1) Atty. Gen.'s Office amends finding of 2016 police shooting in Claremont.
  
  2) Utility Appraiser Sansoucy's background disturbing.
  
  Full details on the News Flashes page of this website.

• Lemuel Curry (Tuesday, October 01 19 04:04 pm EDT)

  EXTRA! EXTRA! READ ALL ABOUT IT. BREAKING NEWS.
  
  Attorney General Gordon J. MacDonald and New Hampshire State Police Colonel Christopher J. Wagner, announce that the Attorney General’s Office has amended its conclusion regarding the officer-involved shooting incident that occurred in Claremont, New Hampshire, that resulted in the death of Cody Lafont.
  
  https://claremont4real.wordpress.com/2019/10/01/amended-conclusion-regarding-the-september-25-2016-officer-involved-shooting-incident-in-claremont-nh/

• Henry Hill (Tuesday, October 01 19 02:46 pm EDT)

  Todd, You are absolutely correct. Something fishy is going in that PD and there seems to be a number of conflicts of interest as well as a move to stack the City Council and other boards with former police officers. A lot of jockeying for position and alliances being formed.One thing I can tell you, make sure you know which officers and sergeants are union reps, they will pretend to have your interests in mind, but their Union role supersedes what you and I might call "ethical behavior" due to their primary function, which is to represent and protect other officers. Chase has "entitlement syndrome" that is generational and those four stars on his collar have less impact than a Boy Scout kerchief. I have many stories told to me about him over the years by reliable sources - witness intimidation being one of his forte's.
  
  I am going to give his fat ass just a little longer to drop from a heart attack before I dredge up them stories and rent the Opera House for an evening of tales from within the force...

• Todd (Tuesday, October 01 19 02:15 pm EDT)

  I am happy to see that that LSR change for the police commission went through. No board or commission should be self-appointing because that is when shenanigans happen. I am suspicious of the police chief since he wants this old boy network appointment system to remain. Why would he want citizen oversight without at least one commissioner who has police background? Could it be because he is ineptly running the police department and the citizen police commission is too ignorant to see it?

• Rick (Tuesday, October 01 19 11:32 am EDT)

  Adding over $22 million to the property assessments of the utilities to increase the property value of Claremont and lower the city’s highest in the state property tax rate was a risky gamble that I do not believe will pay off. We are already going to court with one utility and probably others will follow. Thanks to Jim and AJ, we now know that it will cost taxpayers a pretty penny to have the person who raised all of the property assessments and who probably can’t defend them appear in court while the attorney for the other side shellacs us. The appraiser’s appearance fees, the attorney fees and any other fees will all come out of the taxpayers as well as a big fat settlement so this is going to be a big loss for the city. Moreover, nothing will happen because the city employees are neither blamed nor suffer consequences for anything they do because we have a weak city council that will only protect these incompetent employees, many who do not choose to live in Claremont. Most of the councilors think to hell with the citizens who elected them and to hell with the taxpayers whose money they are spending large sums of.

• Tom (Tuesday, October 01 19 09:59 am EDT)

  The assessing mess seems to get worse and worse with each new revelation from the Sullivan Report. If it were up to the local press, we would know nothing about anything and believe that everything is hunky-dory when it clearly is not. Thank you Jim and AJ for looking out for us as so few of our elected officials do.

• William (Tuesday, October 01 19 08:47 am EDT)

  I think this Ed Morris character is going to be a loser. Power-hungry control freaks Lovett and Damren run the current city council. They call the shots with the majority of the losers on the council, Lessard, Koloski, Pope and Kier. McNutt was not working out for Lovett and Damren because he called them out on their city charter violating interference in public. I have no doubt that the above named city councilors all chose Morris because he would be an inexperienced, ignorant, good little puppet and know his place, which is to collect the new fat paycheck and benefits he is being paid on the Claremont taxpayer’s dime. Lovett and Damren should both have been removed from the city council for their numerous city charter violations but instead they remained and they are now unopposed in the next election and we will be stuck with them and their wacky political agendas for another two years. The only chance Claremont has to avoid this fate is to vote Koloski and Kier out of public office and not elect any of the cronies of Lovett and Damren who are seeking seats on the council. I for one do not want Claremont turned into a sanctuary city because I have seen the news and I have seen how sanctuary cities destroy communities. Lovett and Damren have done enough damage to our community is time to put an end to this insane farce for the last time.

• Henry Hill (Tuesday, October 01 19 08:33 am EDT)

  HEY JOHN O'CONNOR - DON'T YOU REALIZE THAT YOUR CHRISTIANITY CONSIDERS HOMOSEXUALITY AN "ABOMINATION" - SO EITHER YOU ARE A FAKE CHRISTIAN, A LIAR OR HAVE NO KNOWLEDGE OF THE RELIGIOUS BELIEFS YOU CLAIM TO ADHERE TO...
  
  Or maybe you are just a simple hypocrite.
  
  I'll pray for you and ask God to forgive this low information poster whose attempts at wit preclude his attention to facts and details and who claims the name John O'Connor.
  Amen

• Topstone (Tuesday, October 01 19 05:07 am EDT)

  @ Inside Topstone Employee I was curious how long it would take for the Topstone wound to come up. 750k and many other giveaways hit this community hard and it is never coming back. What’s surprising is that Topstone has employees. I have been under the impression Topstone is a literal tax shelterd low rent LLC for the benefit of many and controlled by Helene

• John (Monday, September 30 19 07:25 pm EDT)

  Helen,
  Best of luck.
  I’m certain you will fit right in with the WUP site

• Jim Sullivan (Monday, September 30 19 04:12 pm EDT)

  Three new articles today.
  
  1) Some surprises in Council race!
  
  2) Lawsuit filed against Claremont!
  
  3) September 25 Council meeting synopsis.
  
  Full details on the News Flashes page of this website.

• Helene Bouchet (Monday, September 30 19 03:49 pm EDT)

  HEY JOHN O'CONNOR - You are not only lacking in neurons, but you are illiterate and act like Mr. Sullivan's doppelganger - but I don't care.
  
  Why would you "welcome" me to this place when I made it clear below about feelings? I guess you border on illiteracy or you skim read so here it is again:
  =================
  "This place is a waste of time and my nephew is coming over today to set up The Facebook for me because he informed me who is behind THIS site and I no longer wish to be associated with it."
  ===================
  And drop the phony piety - it doesn't suit you. Have a nice life, whoever you are...I'm joining "What's Up Claremont", they actually talk about more than Topstone and Jon Stone over there.

• Inside Topstone Employee (Sunday, September 29 19 09:33 pm EDT)

  At least he pays his taxes—-Helene aka Nick

• John O’Connor (Sunday, September 29 19 04:16 pm EDT)

  Helen,
  I am very happy you have become a member of “Sullivan Nation”.
  I look forward to your witty and thought provoking comments.
  I think we all win as a community when dedicated people are elected to local office.
  As far as homophobic comments are concerned, you must have me confused with someone else, I could careless about someone’s sexual preferences. I’m a Christian, I don’t judge people. I’ll let God do that.S8

• Stan (Sunday, September 29 19 09:06 am EDT)

  Helene.. now that is the kettle call the pot black.

• Helene Bouchet (Sunday, September 29 19 07:20 am EDT)

  Stan wrote,
  "Jim.. you are great about non censorship."
  
  Stan then wrote,
  "I would not allow any forwarding to another site."
  
  STAN....Stan...oh Stan....ignorance is bliss so you must be ecstatic. Similar logic is how the Nazis justified their actions during WWII. There sure seem to be quite a few who hang around here and also support Stone who have NAZI tendencies.

• Helene Bouchet (Sunday, September 29 19 07:06 am EDT)

  John O'Connor. I do not know you or your background and I am relatively new to posting here but have been reading for sometime. You seem very juvenile in your posts, and as a teacher I recognize when a child is "acting out". I find it disgusting that you make a joke about a problem as bad as the one we are now experiencing with those nasty chemicals. Don't pretend to care for Claremont, you don't - unless it affects your assessment or when you feel others got a better deal than you. Waaaaaaaa!
  
  And your obsession with Lem/Nick and you past homophobic statements shows that, while you may be able to pick a "winner" - you are far from being one. Let me assure you, I have a vagina and it functioned well enough to produce three children, all under 13 years-old, who have more on the ball than you and most of the contributors here.
  
  
  
  And Winners? WINNERS? Happy you chose WINNERS? This is not a horse race or a lottery. This place is a waste of time and my nephew is coming over today to set up The Facebook for me because he informed me who is behind THIS site and I no longer wish to be associated with it.
  
  Have a nice day,
  Helene

• Helene Bouchet (Sunday, September 29 19 06:42 am EDT)

  Sorry Jim. Your explanation is lacking and your excuse carries no legal weight.You are violating FEC and NH State election regulations by campaigning for a specific candidate - allowing the posting of political campaign advertisements with no attribution. Since you don't take to suggestions I am afraid that I have chosen to take a screen shot of your partisan advertisement that violates at least two State and one Federal regulations. This info will be forwarded to the proper authorities (the Secretary of State)and a complaint is also being filed with your registrar - Go Daddy!
  
  And any confusion is caused by you, Mr. Sullivan. Your only skills appear to be cutting and pasting from government documents accessible to anyone and blindly supporting Mr. Jon Stone. So in the future, your BS will not pass as fact - you are not impartial and you are not a journalist and you can barely write and you require 24 point, all bold text to make yous posts "look" important. A sampling of your "contributors" and their "contributions" shows you attract an audience of very-low information citizens. So no one would ever advertise with you anyway - the association would be devastating for their business

• Stan (Saturday, September 28 19 06:44 pm EDT)

  Let the asswhole Sullivan Report highjackers begin. Like Kipp Damien and Nick.
  Jim.. you are great about non censorship. Thanks. I would not allow any forwarding to another site. That is over the line

• John O’Connor (Saturday, September 28 19 04:06 pm EDT)

  Lem/Nick,
  You crack me up, keep smoking those bath salts.
  Councilor Stone is a proven winner, not one person in Ward 3 had the guts to run against him.
  Considering less that a year ago people were screaming for him to resign and now he runs unopposed.
  Sounds like I backed 2 winners.

• Jim Sullivan (Saturday, September 28 19 02:54 pm EDT)

  Helene, it has always been our policy to neither sell nor accept ads of any kind for this website. The candidate list that we received from Claremont City Clerk Gwen Melcher was as of approximately Friday September 20, 2019 at 11 AM. Councilor Jonathan Stone had signed up later that day so he had not made that list. Since he publicly announced on Facebook, we wanted to give our readers the most up-to-date information possible, which is why I took a screenshot of his announcement and included it within the article to provide documented proof that Councilor Stone had actually filed for reelection. Publishing that screenshot is not to be considered an endorsement of any candidate, as it is also our policy not to endorse any candidates. Hopefully this clears up any confusion that you or anyone else may have.

• Helene Bouchet (Saturday, September 28 19 02:24 pm EDT)

  Dear Mr Sullivan,
  I was looking at your News Flashes for today and noticed a very large advertisement for Councilor Stone's re-election to the City Council. It really appeared to be a political ad to me, however I did not see any of the required information printed on the ad. You also realize that if you did not charge Mr Stone for that ad then it is a contribution "in-kind" and needs to be reported to the State. Perhaps a call to the State on Monday will clear this all up for me - I hope they can determine if you are a for-profit or non-profit entity on the same call and if you have registered with the State as part of a political campaign. You can keep us all from wondering all weekend and answer, but, from what I see below, you seldom reply to any hint of criticism and seem to be in bed with a certain faction.
  Thanks for your time,
  Helene

• Erica Rae Sweetser (Saturday, September 28 19 11:04 am EDT)

  Annie Robinson, perhaps you should check and see how that event actually turned out.

• ‎Anne Robinson (Saturday, September 28 19 08:16 am EDT)

  Erica Rae Sweetser - Perennial failed candidate (loser) and purveyor of really bad ideas had this one:
  
  In the private Facebook group "What’s Up, Claremont?", resident Erica Rae Sweetser posted a statement about bullying, saying it was on the rise as of late and that there has been “a lot of passing the buck” with parents asking schools to do more to stop bullying.
  
  Sweetser said she wanted to set up a “chain of Claremont citizens” who can serve as a role model for students. She asked people to stand on Broad or Pleasant Street from 2 p.m. to 3 p.m. today with “no bullying” signs and to let students sign them as a pledge against bullying.
  
  At Wednesday night’s School Board meeting, Principal Pat Barry told the board that those planning the event, which was announced in a Facebook post on a private Claremont-centric group page, did not consult with school officials.
  
  Barry said, the results may prove harmful.
  
  “It is not coming from a students-centered place and I would urge adults to think about the students,” Barry said. “Seeing strangers and potential police and media presence, for many students, will not be a positive experience.”
  
  ERICA RAE - becoming a representative of the people requires the ability to think things through and determine all the ramifications of one's actions ...
  
  You ARE the weakest link. Good-bye!

• Lemuel Curry (Friday, September 27 19 10:12 pm EDT)

  There's a Nazi Collaborator In Our Midst And He's A Jon Stone Supporter - SURPRISE!
  
  https://claremont4real.wordpress.com/2019/09/27/theres-a-nazi-collaborator-in-our-midst-and-hes-a-jon-stone-supporter-surprise/

• Lemuel Curry (Friday, September 27 19 10:09 pm EDT)

  Hello to the poster who calls itself "Exposed".
  
  Before calling someone dumb you should learn how to spell minute (it is not minuet).
  
  Your second sentence: "And the should read me the people." makes absolutely no sense.
  
  Thanks for the laugh and the verification of the level of intelligence of many of Mr. Sullivan's readers, such as you.

• ANNA WILLIAMS (Friday, September 27 19 09:13 pm EDT)

  Its a pleasure for me to write this testimony about how i got my Genital Herpes cured a month ago. i have been reading so many comments of some people who were cured from various diseases by Dr. Edes, but i never believed them. I was hurt and depressed, I was too curious and wanted to try Dr.Edes, then i contacted him through his email (dredeshome@gmail.com) when i contact him, he assured me 100% that he will heal me, i pleaded with him to help me out. My treatment was a great success, he healed me just as he promised. He sent me his medication and ask me to go for check up after 14 days of taking the medication. i agreed with him and i took his medication and went for check up, to my greatest surprise my result was negative after the treatment, i am really happy that i am cured and healthy again. I have waited for 3weeks to be very sure i was completely healed before writing this testimony. I did another blood test one week ago and it was still Herpes negative. so i guess its time i recommend anyone going through Herpes HSV-1 or HSV-2, HIV, HPV, Hepatitis B, Diabetes, Cancer should reach him through his Email dredeshome@gmail.com OR add him on whatsapp +2348151937428.
  visit his website on; www.edesherbalhome.webs.com

• Charles (Friday, September 27 19 02:26 pm EDT)

  With all due respect Erica,a super power isn't a super power if you don't make things(in mills).If we all had our noses in our phones all the time we'd miss a lot,like young people are missing today.Those mills could run again if Tariffs were in place to protect blue collar jobs.A race to the bottom for the cheapest labor got Johnny on mom's couch.Johnny,like a lot of Amercans is not smart enough for college.If everyone went to college what would stop a "Real" super power from walking right in and slapping that phone right out of our face? Yes we need chiefs,but without injuns we're all done.

• Exposed (Friday, September 27 19 01:48 pm EDT)

  Lemuel Curry / Nick Koloski is getting dumber by the minuet. And the should read me the people.

• Lemuel Curry (Friday, September 27 19 12:47 pm EDT)

  John O'Connor - adds a dated analogy and phrased it incorrectly - but what is one to expect from the likes of you.
  
  Whose kingdom is this? Evidently you perceive it to be your domain since you post edicts. Funny how you must answer for others - seems to be a very low limit to the amount of folks over there that can respond to questions or debate an issue. If you want some examples - check my blog that outed your rube audience.
  
  Additionally, I noted you took all your time to come at me (like you rubes are wont to do), with missives and insults and a quick review of the thread here shows you make no appreciable contribution.
  
  I suggest if you don't like my posts, ignore them - and surely do not respond to them unless you like looking foolish.
  
  NOW:
  
  WE THE PEOPLE...
  
  Hey Stoners - Check This Out
  
  
  https://claremont4real.wordpress.com/2019/09/27/we-the-people/
  
  
  
  Oh, and John O'Connor - there is a dictionary site online for your assistance. See how many words you can find for a$$-kisser. You are Stone's official one.

• Erica Rae Sweetser (Friday, September 27 19 12:44 pm EDT)

  Charles, analogies are not to be taken literally. The point is that a hand up while someone is trying to become productive is different than a never ending hand out. The mills left, period. If you want to keep trying to make Claremont a mill town go out and find some mill that will come here. It's not going to happen again. So, we keep wining about it or embrace and encourage productivity of other sorts. You don't need to go to Yale or Harvard to be a functioning and productive person. There are trades, community colleges, online school, so many options now that were not around 30 years ago or 100 years ago. And perhaps the guy on mom's couch could be a productive member of society if he wasn't enabled and there was a more attractive option than crashing with mom.

• Chales (Friday, September 27 19 10:32 am EDT)

  Job Jobs Jobs
  Those 30 year olds on mom's couch aren't college material.The box stores pay $10/hr part time.
  
  Do you see all these old mill buildings? The had good paying jobs one time,lots of 'em
  It's too far to commute to a decent college from here.Once graduated,why would anyone come or stay in Claremont? No Jobs No money except the usual expensive civil servant class.
  A carbon tax would empty this place for good.

• Erica Rae Sweetser (Friday, September 27 19 09:43 am EDT)

  I would like too see more options for homes in Claremont. We have a changing and more diverse population now. Not everyone wants a house with a big yard in a quiet neighborhood. Personally, I am a single parent with 2 jobs and I'm a college student. If I had the option of buying a condo it would be more appealing than a house with a yard. Older folks who may not be able to maintain their now empty family home but aren't needing assisted living could benefit from home variety here. The newly graduated college student who hasn't started a family yet could benefit from home variety. Meanwhile being productive tax payers. But how many new homes are being built? Is it the tax bill detering new homes from being built?

• Erica Rae Sweetser (Friday, September 27 19 09:26 am EDT)

  You cannot help anyone while weakening yourself. You simply cannot take your rent money to pay for your neighbor's groceries. That is what I see happen here. And then the tax payers pick up the burden of paying the rent. Hopefully my analogy makes sense.

• Erica Rae Sweetser (Friday, September 27 19 09:21 am EDT)

  Charles, I do not want additional services. A few years ago I was set on going to grad school for non-profit management. And then I realized that while we absolutely need some services, the abundance of them hurts private business and enterprise, and in some cases just enables some people to remain unproductive. Some, not all. We do have some wonderful and much needed services in town, but we need to focus on improving them, not adding more. Downtown should not be the place we keep adding services. Downtown is the heart of the city. Do you know any older parents with 30 year old kids and the 30 year old is still crashing at home. Mom and Dad don't charge him rent, pay his speeding tickets, pay his phone bill, give him gas money to take a date to the movies? All the while they are taking out a second mortgage, not contributing to a 401k, not going to the movies themselves? Because they keep paying for their 30 year old? That is what I see happening. Now Mom and Dad could let their 22 year old live at home, rent free, while they go to college, work part time and save for their first apartment. They are offering a service (free rent) that helps them become productive in the future. That is the situation I see in town. Services with the goal of helping people become productive, so that they no longer need that service, are needed. Homes should be assets, investments. A home where the tax bill is higher than the mortgage is not an asset. It has become a liability when you cannot sell your house because the tax bill deters buyers. I won't burden myself with a liability just because buying a home is what I'm "supposed" to do. I will do whatever I can to change the situation so that buying a home would be an asset to me.

• Charles (Friday, September 27 19 08:35 am EDT)

  "I decided I didn't want to pay the high tax bill"
  
  Where do you think River Walks and countless social programs with high paid administrators money comes from?
  
  Hint) not the tooth fairy (can you still say fairy?)

• Erica Rae Sweetser (Friday, September 27 19 08:03 am EDT)

  I wrote this to the Eagle Times yesterday and would like to share here. I am sorry Jim if I am hijacking your page! "I have been trying to live by this personal motto of "putting your body where your mouth is". To criticize without action is useless.
  I was born in Claremont, but have lived in other areas, both as a child and an adult, but Claremont is always home. Almost 10 years ago I moved away for a year and I can remember the feeling of unfamiliar brick under my feet as I walked, and thinking of how well I knew the feel of Claremont under those same feet. We seem to see a number of the same faces in Claremont stepping up to fill seats and boards. I would ask you to ask yourself "how is that working for you?".
  I am remarkably average. I spent a year looking at houses to buy in town and ultimately decided to keep renting because I didn't want to pay the high tax bill, and I know many of you feel the same. I work at two businesses on Pleasant St. and feel that downtown is the heart of our city. While I have not been a career politician I have been involved in a number of area including serving on the Board of Directors for TLC Family Resource center, was involved in the YRBS study committee, been involved with Green Dot, been involved with issues around bullying and domestic violence, have attended meetings regarding early childhood education, I've tried to personally contribute to the city however I was able, including painting in downtown businesses, cleaning up graffiti, etc.
  I truly believe that Claremont needs to be a livable community, not just a place to survive while paying your tax bills. The proposed downtown renovation and river walk would be positive additions to our city. I believe in critical thinking and think that with every decision that is made for Claremont we need to ask ourselves if that one decision fits the bigger picture or are we making a decision that contradicts our vision. I have spent my adult life in jobs that have me in front of the public every day. I get to see every social class, every religion, every age group, and I listen. Isn't that what the an elected official should do, listen to the people, know the people, know the city? I ask Claremont to give me a chance to listen and be able act.
  Erica Rae Sweetser
  Candidate for Claremont City Councilor At-Large "

• Starski (Friday, September 27 19 07:24 am EDT)

  And we need people that will look at the whole picture when making decisions instead of looking at a sole picture. Or worse yet looking out for themselves and we all know that happens. Topstone comes to mind.

• Liz (Wednesday, September 25 19 12:43 pm EDT)

  I’m glad to see new people filing for Council seats because we really need a turn over of leadership.

• Charles (Wednesday, September 25 19 07:01 am EDT)

  @Richard - They're going to have to expand even more than planned.The elderly indigent are the hottest commodity in this county.The close second is teen pregnancies.You need those babies to get that section 8 and an income.

• Richard (Tuesday, September 24 19 02:40 pm EDT)

  What the hell is going on in Newport in the Sullivan County offices? Our elected officials are going over the deep end if they think spending over $2.5 million for just a set of plans is okay just to make a big healthcare complex even bigger so they further add to the bureaucracy.

• Laura (Tuesday, September 24 19 02:14 pm EDT)

  I’m not really sold on this municipal leader coalition. The net metering stance by all the Mayors was the wrong one for the public. This put a bitter taste in my mouth and Jim and AJ are right we are talking about the same people again in a bigger organization trying to expand their political influence throughout the state. Who is backing the real agenda here and what is the agenda does anyone really know besides those were calling the shots? I’m glad that Jim and AJ will be looking out for Claremont by keeping eyes on this group.

• Jim Sullivan (Tuesday, September 24 19 01:14 pm EDT)

  An update to today's Sullivan Report article about Sullivan County has just been published on the News Flashes page of this website.

• Dennis (Tuesday, September 24 19 11:48 am EDT)

  This is in regards to the municipal leader coalition. Charlene is right in the thick of it just like she was right in the thick of the net metering debacle. Thank God, Chris Sununu saved the day with his veto power. I say that and I’m a Democrat but I cannot support a very bad idea that fills the pockets of politically connected utility owners with the money from overcharged electric ratepayers so that municipalities can get a little more property tax money in for them to spend. Charlene Lovett is a power grabber, just ask Ryan McNutt who she and her fellow councilors thought they could control and when they found out they couldn’t they kicked him to the curb. Now these same councilors hired someone with even less real-world experience because in my view they believe that they can control this person because he will be so grateful to get a job that pays so well when he has zero qualifications for the job that he will do whatever these councilors tell him to do. We’ll see how that all works out.

• Jim Sullivan (Tuesday, September 24 19 07:50 am EDT)

  Two new articles published today.
  
  1) Sullivan County Officials continue their unrestrained spending spree!
  
  2) Goddard Building Renovation Project seeks one year extension.
  
  Full details on the News Flashes page of this website.

• John O’Connor (Tuesday, September 24 19 07:35 am EDT)

  Lem,
  You act like your the person with one eye and this is your blind kingdom.
  It wasn’t a shock to hear Mayor Lovette is running for re-election, her passion and pride for the community is obvious. She is a continuous presence down in Concord fighting for the citizens of Claremont.
  Councilor Stone also shows his passion and pride and more importantly, he is not afraid to voice his opinions.
  I find Councilor Stones diligence, straightforwardness and common sense extremely refreshing.
  Whether you like them or not, you can not deny that these two Councilor’s are the hardest working members of the council. They have done the job the voters have elected them to do.
  They deserve to be re-elected.

• Lemuel Curry (Monday, September 23 19 05:57 pm EDT)

  Tony - Sounds like the definition of Democracy
  ============
  David - The ultimate narcissist is in the White House and his mini-me sits on the City Council and his name is Stone.
  
  Surrender power? Is she a dictator? Did she stage a coup? NO - She got ELECTED.
  
  Sorry that inconvenient truth puts your panties in a wad, perhaps you should try Duluth Brand underwear.
  
  ==================
  
  Gail - You know you don't have to vote for her, right?
  
  
  Etc...etc..etc...Rubes!

• David (Monday, September 23 19 11:23 am EDT)

  That’s true, Charlene is a narcissist and narcissists never surrender power.

• Tony (Monday, September 23 19 09:55 am EDT)

  The only way Charlene Lovett will ever stop being Mayor is if someone runs against her and defeats her in an election.

• Bob (Monday, September 23 19 09:13 am EDT)

  My family and I were having dinner at a local eatery over the weekend and I overheard two couples at the next table talking about the Riverwalk project for Claremont. How much do you want to bet that this Riverwalk project is going to cost the taxpayers millions of dollars and these moronic city councilors Lovett, Damren, Pope, Kier and Koloski will all rubberstamp them if they get the chance but they won’t spend any money for road repairs that are needed much more than their BS pie-in-the-sky dream spending. I hope the November election gets rid of at least most if not all of this liberal tax-and-spend mob.

• Gail (Monday, September 23 19 08:37 am EDT)

  I am not happy to see Charlene Lovett running for Mayor again. She should really give someone else a chance since she has bungled her opportunity.

• Jim Sullivan (Monday, September 23 19 04:57 am EDT)

  New articles.
  
  1) So far three Councilors file for reelection.
  
  2) NH Mayors & City Managers form coalition.
  
  Full details on the News Flashes page of this website.

• Robert (Wednesday, September 18 19 11:30 am EDT)

  Just look at one property assessment change and you can see how the property assessments are completely unreliable. The NH Department of Revenue Administration assessed Great River Hydro LLC’s property in Claremont for $11,296. Claremont on the other hand hired a company that was supposed to provide professional utility appraisal services and this consulting company set the property assessment at $2,100,000. Great River Hydro LLC also qualifies for a pilot agreement because the city council opened the door for that when they approved a similar measure for Sugar River Power LLC. It is little wonder that Great River Hydro LLC is taking the City of Claremont to court. I see in today’s Valley News that the residents of Hanover New Hampshire could receive a do over on their property assessments. I believe Claremont taxpayers deserve that same consideration considering the present circumstances with the property assessments.

• Dennis (Wednesday, September 18 19 07:17 am EDT)

  I am tired of all the giveaways to municipal employees and special interests that Claremont’s councilors are prone to grant with our tax dollars. The pilot agreement approved several years ago by present-day councilors Lovett, Damren, Pope and Koloski a liberal tax-and-spend formidable force for the destruction of our city has placed Claremont in a precarious position with at least one of the other two hydroelectric dam owners. This will cost the taxpayers dearly in legal fees and in what I believe will end up resulting with a very large cash settlement. All of the special downtown housing rule changes and other favors granted to the owners of the Goddard Building, who also owns the property on Main Street that is getting a free fix up from the taxpayers because their common wall is part of the building next door that is being demolished. The taxpayers will be spending over $100,000 for this project (don’t forget the approximately $10,000 that will be paid directly to Kevin LaCasse and his firm, thank you Sullivan Report for publishing the agreement so the public would know the truth about these backroom deals). A nine-year tax break for the Main Street building owned by Mr. Laccase’s firm will soon be granted by councilors too. Bailing out real estate developers in trouble is not the taxpayers responsibility but our city staff and councilors have little problem justifying these large expenditures while the roads continue to deteriorate from lack of proper investment. City staff receives raises and now the highest-paid directors will be receiving raises thanks to a very generous city council. Speaking of generosity, Ed Morris must be delighted to be receiving such a lucrative and generous contract when he has practically no experience or educational background in regards to being the city manager. Then of course, there was the Topstone building scandal and the councilors did nothing. They created a board of assessors to appease an outraged public but then they create such huge hurdles for anyone to be on the board and then limit the candidate pool to make it virtually impossible for the board of assessors to ever be formed. I am so glad that the Sullivan Report outed these political shenanigans by showing the difference between Claremont’s requirements and Lebanon’s, which only requires residency. Then there are the problems with the bid contract awards when relationships with family members and past municipal employees seem to be influencing bid awards and costing the taxpayers a pretty penny in the balance because it seems we are not getting the best bang for our buck as the purchasing policy is being either ignored or manipulated for a predetermined outcome. I could go on but you get the idea that our municipal management needs a complete overhaul if Claremont is ever going to become the community we all know that it can be. The taxpayers should be outraged and show their displeasure at the polls on election day by voting out all of the incumbents.

• Amy (Wednesday, September 18 19 06:56 am EDT)

  I am pleased that the public will have an opportunity to meet the new city manager. My husband and I intend to take the opportunity to meet this gentleman. I am less pleased with the choice made by this council. Mr. Morris does not have an educational or career resume befitting an established city manager and this is what Claremont truly needs. My husband and I are wary of the motives of this city council. Mr. McNutt complained of interference from the city council and in particular from Charlene Lovett and Allen Damren if memory serves. Mr. Damren headed the search committee. Mr. Damren stated in the press that he was pleased that the candidate chosen was already in our backyard. Proximity does not equal competence, skill level or experience. My husband and I suspect that the city council valued inexperience, which would require the new city manager to heavily relying on the mayor and the assistant mayor and possibly other councilors for guidance rather than hiring a well seasoned city manager. I fear politics and a thirst for power by certain councilors motivated this decision.

• youknowme (Tuesday, September 17 19 04:13 pm EDT)

  You people on this site really know how to show the hate.We on the council volunteer our time to serve this community.We don't get paid anything to serve.Yes we might have some discussions with the current assessment team,even concerning our own properties.They know if they hammer us on the council they will never be contracted again.Also,so what if we encourage certain companies to perform projects throughout Claremont.Of course we going to favor the companies our family and friends work for,that's the American way.
  
  Don't like it,run for a seat

• Steve (Tuesday, September 17 19 03:44 pm EDT)

  I am wondering what the Community Center / Parks and Recreation Gang are up to in regards to Real Estate. Are we buying or selling this time? How badly will the taxpayers get screwed with this deal? When these tax-and-spend liberals meet secretly behind closed doors, I get nervous. All the other taxpayers should get nervous too.

• Jim Sullivan (Tuesday, September 17 19 02:40 pm EDT)

  Meet and greet to be held for new City Manager. Details on the News Flashes page of this website.

• Dan (Tuesday, September 17 19 02:22 pm EDT)

  Yeah I am very skeptical about that solar project. I am sure the taxpayers will be screwed on that lease but Lovett and her cronies will tell us it is the best deal that Claremont ever negotiated. I sure do not trust her, Damren, or any of the other administration ass kissing councilors namely Koloski and Pope and Kier.

• Aaron (Tuesday, September 17 19 01:17 pm EDT)

  With all the property abatement cases coming forward with the NH BTLA and the Superior Court I’m wondering how much money it is going to cost the taxpayers in legal fees to fight these cases that never should have happened in the first place. The city will probably lose most if not all of the cases and then that will end up costing the taxpayers big cash settlements as well. It sure seems like the property assessments are being used as a political and economic development tool instead of simply assessing properties in Claremont fairly. Because our city officials are so unethical, it is costing the taxpayers bundles of money to make up for their proclivities. It is time to get rid of these do-nothing city councilors.

• Shawn (Tuesday, September 17 19 11:54 am EDT)

  I think Sullivan and Maranville hit the nail right on the head with the Assessing Board. The political rhetoric from the administration and the city councilors is just that. They made the hurdles far too high and the candidate pool far too shallow to ever find enough people to ever get the board off the ground with enough appointees. This whole thing was a sham, a rigged game to appease the people who are outraged with the big tax breaks that Koloski’s landlord’s received in a secret City Hall backroom deal that the Sullivan Report exposed. If city officials had their way, no one would have ever known a darn thing about anything.

• Charles (Tuesday, September 17 19 11:51 am EDT)

  I see that people are complaining about the new manager's $122k salary.
  You would probably all be surprised at the net yearly pay of cops,firemen,and DPW when overtime is revealed.They just love holidays and Sundays!
  Hell,even teachers are making bank considering that they're off for 25% of the year and I think they only pay 2% of their health insurance premiums.
  Why even bother for the 2%?
  
  Who serves who?

• Keith (Tuesday, September 17 19 10:22 am EDT)

  Don’t forget Kevin LaCasse is going to be asking for tax breaks next for that Main Street property. This Council keeps screwing the taxpayers by bending over backwards and catering to the desires of the special interests at the taxpayer's expense. Remember that when you go to the polls in November.

• Lynn (Tuesday, September 17 19 09:57 am EDT)

  I still don’t like the idea of spending almost $100,000 knocking down the building on Main Street to help the developer that owns the Goddard Building to save their attached building next door to the building the taxpayers are now paying to demolish. It smacks of cronyism.

• Todd (Tuesday, September 17 19 09:39 am EDT)

  Nice, four of the councilors that approved that pilot agreement are still at work screwing Claremont up. The voters need to work together to oust Lovett, Damren, Pope and Koloski. They should also remove Abigail Kier just for good measure. Then that would also kill any chance of Claremont becoming a sanctuary city because they are the proponents of that idiotic measure.

• Jim Sullivan (Tuesday, September 17 19 08:39 am EDT)

  Certainly Katherine, this information was easy to find since it is a matter of public record. The approval of the PILOT Agreement for Sugar River Power was a unanimous vote of the Council that took place on December 28, 2016. The Council of 2016 consisted of Mayor Charlene Lovett, Assistant Mayor Victor Bergeron and Councilors Carolyn Towle, Scott Pope, Keith Raymond, Allen Damren, Bruce Temple, Nicholas Koloski & John Simonds.

• Katherine (Tuesday, September 17 19 08:29 am EDT)

  The city councilors who gave out the hydroelectric dam pilot agreement sure set Claremont up for disaster. Now all the hydroelectric dam owners can get a big tax break. Jim and AJ could you tell us who the city councilors were who approved that pilot agreement and did this dirty deed to the general public taxpayers please.

• Dick (Tuesday, September 17 19 06:40 am EDT)

  I wonder if Morris will even last as long as McNutt did.

• William (Tuesday, September 17 19 06:02 am EDT)

  Richard you are absolutely right about the pay for this new wildly inexperienced city manager being disproportionate with his limited background and absence of real credentials. I have no idea what the councilors were thinking choosing the applicant they hired. Another bad decision from a city council prone to making bad decisions.

• Richard (Monday, September 16 19 03:06 pm EDT)

  Thank you for publishing the contract for the new city manager. Wow that is one amazingly generous contract. The city councilors are sure frivolous with our tax dollars when it comes to paying staff but they won't pave the roads and take care of of the infrastructure problems that Claremont has. The taxpayers have never paid a city manager $122,000 a year before and this guy has virtually no credentials. Guy Santagate was well-qualified but Ryan McNutt had far less qualifications and he washed out and Ed Morris has less credentials then Ryan McNutt. What I mean by credentials is educational background and career experience. A 16 year firefighter doesn't cut it. A three-year managerial stint at Wethersfield Vermont that has a very small populace and a tiny budget compared the Claremont and few municipal departments unlike Claremont also doesn't cut it. I don't know what the heck the city councilors saw in this man that made him stand out from the field of about 50 applicants. The councilors sure weren't chintzy when it came to springing for the benefits. A 13% retirement benefit, life insurance equal to a year's pay, a cell phone and what seems to be an unlimited expense account plus regular perks like health insurance, etc. This Morris guy must be pinching himself because it is beyond belief that he landed this cushy job with his sparse resume. I wonder if the Council hired him because they thought he was the most qualified but I can't see that in a field of nearly 50 candidates or if they hired someone that they figure they can all hold and control under their collective thumb. Something stinks here.

• Jim Sullivan (Monday, September 16 19 09:35 am EDT)

  Three new items today.
  1) Council elections.
  2) September 11 Council meeting synopsis.
  3) Ed Morris' contract.
  
  Full details on the News Flashes page of this website.

• Lemuel Curry (Thursday, September 12 19 05:31 pm EDT)

  Anybody ever wonder about Corbin Park?
  
  Get the Real Deal about the private, enclosed shooting preserve with a very limited membership.
  
  https://claremont4real.wordpress.com/2019/09/12/early-memories-corbin-park-the-cold-lab/

• Beezelbub (Thursday, September 12 19 01:33 pm EDT)

  Martha, are you here for the sanctuary?
  or are you a product of the Claremont educational system?

• martha212 (Thursday, September 12 19 11:38 am EDT)

  An old parking fine came back to bite me I forgotten, council wouldn't take the debt back so bailiffs sent me a threat of a visit or pay MORE. My sons possessions at mine for safe keeping and his work stuff and tools. I am not into material wealth or money so son didn't have things at home I would let them in..I am stress and up set as loads more things that are testing..
  Reply: I am sorry to hear this. If you have no money to pay them then unless your son can prove the goods are his and with you for safekeeping they are going to be at risk if the bailiffs (or enforcement agents as they should be called now) do get in.

• John O’Connor (Thursday, September 12 19 11:11 am EDT)

  Jim,
  You must be striking a nerve with some of your recent reports.
  Today, I was approached by a local food truck operator who accused me, in the middle of Market Basket , of posting comments about Nick Koloski and his boyfriend ( his words, not mine) under an alias.
  Those that know me, know I have been a follower of the Sullivan Report since it’s inception. I have frequently commented on this site and those that know me, know I use my God given name.
  There is no shame to my game.
  Jim, I would appreciate if you could do something with your site that could prevent people from using fake names so this mistake does not happen to one of your loyal readers again.
  I will not mention the gentleman’s name, he embarrassed himself enough ranting and raving in the middle of Market Basket , all I would like to say, knowing he is a loyal reader is this;
  You are WRONG and when you find out who actually wrote it, I will not accept your apology.

• Charles (Wednesday, September 11 19 05:59 pm EDT)

  A more positive way to look at the new manager's lack of experience is to be glad that he isn't some recycled retread.The man hasn't been spoiled by public unions or most favored local family connected businesses.
  I think it's important for local taxpayers let him know how they feel.We don't want sanctuary city bullshit,and we don't want to turn this into some welfare paradise.We don't need anymore goddamn firetrucks and the cops don't need new cars every 2 years.We care about more about fixing the roads than merit based pay raise for department heads.You don't like the pay,move on.Next?

• Lemuel Curry (Wednesday, September 11 19 02:12 pm EDT)

  Chris,
  
  I wholeheartedly agree with you.
  
  You should read this expose' on just how unqualified our new City manager is:
  
  https://claremont4real.wordpress.com/2019/07/26/a-quick-introduction-to-our-new-city-manager/

• Chris (Wednesday, September 11 19 09:10 am EDT)

  There's an article in the Union Leader about the new city manager hire. It says that our tax-and-spend city councilors agreed to pay the new guide Morris 12,000 more than the old guy McNutt. Here's the thing, McNutt did not have a lot of experience like Santagate had but he was paid more and eventually fired. This Morris guy has even less experience than McNutt but he gets paid more than either Santagate or McNutt. What the hell are these city councilors thinking? Reading comments on Facebook I see that many locals have had it with the current councilors and say it's time for regime change. I certainly agree and I intend to vote out all the incumbents that I can in November. Hopefully you will all join me and do the same. It is also time for the people who normally choose not to vote to get up off their couches and go to the polls in November because it's time for us to take back our city from these tax and spend morons who have a political agenda that is going to destroy our community by eventually turning it into a sanctuary city. To save Claremont we have to save ourselves by throwing out of office the city councilors that we have today before it's too late.

• Lemuel Curry (Wednesday, September 11 19 08:58 am EDT)

  "CLAREMONT EXACTLY TEN YEARS AGO TODAY"
  
  A look at Claremont exactly ten years ago today through the eyes of the Claremont Villager staff.
  
  This paper had great local flavor along with excellent writing and layout, It's a shame it didn't last.
  
  It is better than any local news source around today.
  
  This article uses only graphics and articles from that decade-old edition, yet it is remarkably relevant.
  
  It talks of taxes and assessments and incompetent City officials - the very topics everyone here loves to debate.
  
  Enjoy!
  
  https://claremont4real.wordpress.com/2019/09/11/claremont-exactly-ten-years-ago-today/

• Lemuel Curry (Tuesday, September 10 19 05:29 pm EDT)

  TOPSTONE BUILDING HAS AN INTERESTING CONNECTION WITH THE PLANNNG BOARD
  
  PLANNING COMMISSION CHAIRMAN HAS FAMILY TIES TO THE TOPSTONE BLDG
  
  https://claremont4real.wordpress.com/2019/09/10/topstone-building-has-an-interesting-connection-with-the-plannng-board/

• Industrial Property Owner (Tuesday, September 10 19 02:31 pm EDT)

  Gentrification is being practiced in Claremont using the property assessments as its primary tool.

• Brent (Tuesday, September 10 19 01:33 pm EDT)

  Lovett and her cronies want the working class to pay for their political agenda to turn Claremont into a sanctuary city. Lovett and her friends want to pay less in taxes and it looks like that is exactly what happened. That is too much to be a coincidence it certainly looks intentional.

• Todd (Tuesday, September 10 19 12:29 pm EDT)

  I think it sucks that Scott Pope gets one hell of a deal with a nearly $2000 property tax break while so many others will get screwed with higher property tax bills to pay for his tax break and tax breaks for wealthier Claremont residents who live in high-class Claremont neighborhoods. This whole thing smacks of class warfare and this may be the intentional reason why the city officials wanted the property assessments done earlier than necessary.

• Your Neighbor (Tuesday, September 10 19 11:51 am EDT)

  1) Yes they did
  
  2) Where are all the volunteers who constantly post on this site complaining about the assessments. That seems to be your main function - assessments.
  
  Sooooooo......you all get a chance to have a direct impact by volunteering for the Board of Assessment and you all sit on your collective thumbs
  
  You are all a bunch of whining losers who will never be satisfied and blame your failings on others.

• Chad Moore (Tuesday, September 10 19 11:20 am EDT)

  Have you seen this/ Someone needs to look into what is going on over at the Humane Society Shelter on Tremont St. Seems to be a lack of inventory management and personnel skills. Saw a few things on the Facebook about them yesterday and it looks like the place is falling apart.
  
  https://www.yelp.com/not_recommended_reviews/sullivan-county-humane-society-claremont

• Jim Sullivan (Tuesday, September 10 19 08:25 am EDT)

  Two new articles today.
  
  1) Did the Claremont City Council violate the City Charter with their approval of the new City Manager's contract?
  
  2) Assessing Board at standstill!
  
  Full details on the News Flashes page of this website.

• Lemuel Curry (Monday, September 09 19 09:27 pm EDT)

  And God bless all those starving pygmies in New Guinea...

• Lemuel Curry (Monday, September 09 19 09:22 pm EDT)

  GOD BLESS AMERICA AND THE FIRST AMENDMENT!!!!

• Ray (Monday, September 09 19 05:30 pm EDT)

  The local press would never touch this story or most any story the Sullivan Report does with a ten foot pole because they are all gutless, scared wimps all posing like journalists when they are nothing more than propaganda messengers for the government officials.

• Tom (Monday, September 09 19 02:21 pm EDT)

  I think the key is the utilities. I privately contacted Jim this morning and asked him who did the 2018 MS-1 report. He said that MRI prepared the report Joseph Lessard signed it but it was prepared by Scott Marsh who also works for MRI. Someone in the assessing office made big changes to the utility values after this 2018 MS-1 report was sent to the DRA. The fact that five of the eight utilities are no longer listed on the Vision website also looks fishy. This smells of a secret backroom deal similar to the Topstone building, because two utility companies got big tax breaks because their property assessments greatly dropped. New England power $3,230,500 and PSNH $16,579,100. That totals $19,809,600 of property valuation lost and the tax revenues generated from that property valuation will have to be made up by the rest of us. Other utility companies in Claremont may have gotten similar deals that we just don’t know about yet. Jim said we would not know until he is able to get a copy of the MS-1 report for 2019, which could take a few more weeks because the city has until October 1 to submit the report to the DRA. Fortunately, Jim is on top of this and he will get a copy and report what it says to us as soon as possible.

• Kevin (Monday, September 09 19 10:28 am EDT)

  Today’s Sullivan Report article has me shaking my head. The fools on the city council agreed to spend over $325,000 that the public really does not have to do a property revaluation three years early. They did this to try to squeeze higher property assessments out of the taxpayers to lower the property tax rate to make it look like the fools on the council and on the school board are not really spending as much of the taxpayers money as they really are. Then the property assessments do not go the way they wanted and it looks like it is only going to increase by about $20 million if they are lucky and that will drop the tax rate only about $1.14 maybe. Big whoop de doo! Looks like the taxpayers are screwed again by the people that we elected to look out for us. It is time for the councilors to be stripped of their jobs if any of them are fool enough to run again in November.

• Jim Sullivan (Monday, September 09 19 08:54 am EDT)

  New article.
  
  Claremont's 2019 Property Assessments yield unexpected results!
  
  Full details on the News Flashes page of this website.

• Ralph (Tuesday, September 03 19 03:16 pm EDT)

  An assessing board was created to give some much-needed public oversight and transparency to property assessments. Yet the councilors have not appointed anyone to this board. I don’t know what’s going on there but there may be some pushback from the administration to quash the creation of this board. I also think they need another board of maybe just citizens on it to look over certain large financial transactions in the city especially when it comes to contract awards and bids to make sure that everything is done properly because it sure doesn’t look like city officials can be trusted with our tax dollars. I’m sure Allen Damren and Charlene Lovett will be adamantly opposed to this as probably Nick Koloski and Scott Pope because they all seem to kiss the administration staff member’s butts on a regular basis. They must all like the smell of ass.

• Gary (Tuesday, September 03 19 08:57 am EDT)

  It is a smoke screen that the council cannot interfere with day to day operations of the city. Santigate and his cronies put the fear of god into previous councils and it has carried through. A councilor has no right to interfere in day to day operations and we all know that has been happening at a great cost to the tax payer. But the council collectively can and should through council directives continue to guide the manager on a path that is the wish of the council and transparent to the public. The council could vote on and issue directives at every meeting if they so choose. This is a long overdue fix. Unfortunately it will not happen under some of these brainwashed councilors that have to involve a lawyer in every move they make short of a commendation.

• Jim Sullivan (Tuesday, September 03 19 06:31 am EDT)

  Councilors who are blindly loyal to and protective of Administration Employees as recently shown during their complete overreaction to only a discussion about the possibility of conducting a forensic audit of the City’s financial records, will probably do the same in regards to the issue of how large municipal goods and services contracts are being awarded. That is assuming that the Councilors even address this important issue during one of their meetings. Since we published the Sullivan Report article that exposed this issue, many of our readers have privately contacted us. They stated their concerns that certain Councilors will immediately publicly state that their hands are tied because they are not allowed to get involved in the day-to-day affairs of the municipal government per the City Charter and use that as an excuse to sweep this all under the rug. While it is true that the Council cannot dictate directly to any Municipal Department Director or any other City Employee, there are however other options available to the Councilors. The Council can demand that the Municipal Department Directors involved appear at a future Council meeting. At that time, the Councilors certainly have the right to ask questions of these Directors and have them explain their actions on camera. The Council can and should hold the Interim City Manager responsible for all occurrences during his watch and give the Interim City Manager a directive to immediately put an end to these unprofessional practices that violate the purchasing policy. The Council should also issue another directive requesting that they receive all bid tabulation summary reports on a regular basis going forward to ensure proper oversight and public transparency. This is what the Claremont City Council should do to protect the best interests of their constituents, the taxpayers of Claremont; however, a majority of the membership of the current City Council is comprised of weak-willed blind followers of Municipal Administrators. So the question is will they?

• Industrial Property Owner (Monday, September 02 19 05:01 pm EDT)

  I just finished reading today’s Sullivan Report article and it is an incredible exposé of poor fiscal management dating back as far as the Ryan McNutt Administration. Mr. Sullivan and Mr. Maranville have done their usual due diligence obtaining hard-hitting unassailable facts that the prior city manager, whom the city council terminated and the current interim city manager, a consultant hired from Municipal Resources Incorporated either cast a blind eye or willfully engaged in poor managerial practices that violated established purchasing policies. The intent of these purchasing policies is to protect the sacrosanct public trust by preventing the very thing that seems to be occurring namely nepotism and favoritism in the conveyance of lucrative municipal contracts for goods and services totaling thousands or hundreds of thousands of precious taxpayer’s dollars. The evidence the Sullivan Report uncovered conveys the incontrovertible impression of a municipal government operating without any checks and balances. The previous and current city managers are not the only two municipal authorities involved. The finance director, the public works director, presumably the assistant public works director, the planning and development director and the parks and recreation director all seem to be involved in allowing public funds to be recklessly wasted by not following the formally established purchasing policies that instituted appropriate safeguards to protect public funds from being squandered. This is devastatingly catastrophic news and as has been stated by prior contributors to this public forum, the current city council has repeatedly represented themselves as weak and ineffective. As we saw with the mere suggestion of a forensic audit to ensure the veracity of the city’s financial accounting records, I suspect that the majority of the councilors who wish to ignore this revelation. I am specifically referring to Mayor Charlene Lovett, Assistant Mayor Allen Damren and City Councilors Scott Pope, Nicholas Koloski, Abigail Kier and Claire Lessard, whom in my opinion will intentionally ignore the truth to protect the administrative staff at all costs, no matter what they have done. Not one of the city councilors are good representatives of the populace whom they were elected to represent. I make this judgment based on their past actions including their voting record, which usually follows the wishes of administrative staff and the desires of certain special interests while many times ignoring what is best for the public at large. I am giving Kristin Kenniston the benefit of the doubt as she is newly appointed and does not have an extensive voting record at this time. I fully expect the aforementioned city councilors to ignore this damning information uncovered by the Sullivan Report. If Councilmen Andrew O’Hearne and Jonathan Stone show the moral fortitude to raise this issue during a council meeting, then I expect a replay of what transpired with the suggestion of the forensic audit and the Topstone tax debt relief and property tax assessment abatement scandal. In short, glowing support from the aforementioned councilors and vague doubletalk from any of the administration officials who should be facing termination if Claremont’s municipal government were managed by ethically honest public administrative and elected officials.

• Ron (Monday, September 02 19 04:19 pm EDT)

  What I would like to know is why Victor St. Pierre did not file the report with the NH DES like he was legally required to do or why he did not inform the US Army Corps of Engineers either? Sure sounds like he may be hiding more than large contract awards to companies with family ties.

• Jake (Monday, September 02 19 04:18 pm EDT)

  I have no intentions of taking away from the good work that the SR does but my recollection of watching the council meetings goes like this. Councilor Stone was asking for answers about the Topstone building regularly and how to go about taking it for tax leans. Week after week Councilor Koloski would have a line of to reasons why this would not be a good idea. His story would change meeting to meeting depending on comments made from the public. One time it’s air quality next time it’s not but contamination in the ground. Back and forth depending on public outcry. Councilor Stone kept pressing for answers and getting constant pushback from McNut and Councilor Koloski. Then out of the clear blue and to the credit of the SR the big tax relief story breaks and all hell breaks loose. The public was in an uproar and Koloski tried without success to wash his hands of the subject but the public had already made up their mind. Now the public wanted McNut to answer for this and he continued to give pushback. The council not knowing their authority was being walked all over and were sitting on their hands. Councilor Stone and O’Hearne did try without success to look into this obvious wrongdoing. The SR kept up reporting on this and the public was not letting up. Then Joe Osgood came into the picture and would not let the assault on the taxpayer go until the council finally admitted in a way they dropped the ball. Joe did a great job but I think he should have kept going when he came to the council and the interim manager agreed that McNut did a poor job of handling the tax forgiveness. The council let us down on this one. Big Time.

• Jennifer (Monday, September 02 19 02:00 pm EDT)

  Today's article strongly indicates that there is nepotism and more going on with the big city projects and large contract awards that are paid for with our tax dollars and the water and sewer rates that those of us are on the system pay to the city. To me this borders on possible corruption and should be looked into by an independent third-party because the city administration and many of the city councilors cannot be trusted.

• Brad (Monday, September 02 19 01:57 pm EDT)

  Actually Jake it was the Sullivan Report that exposed the Topstone fiasco with the secret property tax debt forgiveness and large property assessment abatement. Councilors Stone and O'Hearne took action afterwards. Besides that you are right about everything.

• Jake (Monday, September 02 19 01:31 pm EDT)

  Shortly after Ryan McNut arrived in Claremont it was going around that his goal was to increase the population of Claremont drastically. That excited many until it became apparent that his increase would consist manly of low or no income people. This is when New England Family Housing came into the picture. On the surface it looks like right from the start back room dealings were tapping federal, state and city resources. I believe city heads and some on the council are very aware of this. Councilor Koloski,s fiasco of the Topstone building exposed by actions taken by councilors Stone and O’Hearne and explained by the Sullivan Report put an end to McNut but the HEFH scam was in motion. I also believe city personnel began to see this mess and didn’t know how to handle it. That is why some people left. Now an obviously weak council can’t fix it so they are not doing anything about. Just like they did nothing with the Topstone fiasco till they were backed into a corner. Yup we need some new blood on the council.

• John (Monday, September 02 19 01:23 pm EDT)

  Congratulations, great article.
  Extremely informative and eye opening.
  As our former City Manager use to say, “ this doesn’t pass the smell test”. I’m not sure if this is an area a Forensic Accounting can shed any light on. It seems this is a violation of policy along with a strong case of nepotism.
  Hopefully, this will be discussed in greater detail at the next council meeting.

• Todd (Monday, September 02 19 01:02 pm EDT)

  Without a formal bid process there is no guarantee that the taxpayers are getting the best bang for their buck. The taxpayers are being ripped off by that decisions made by directors and city managers who do not live or pay taxes in Claremont. All the while the city councilors sit on their f***ing asses and do nothing to protect us from being raped by the city administrators. The same city councilors will then run for reelection because in their miniscule pea-brains these entitled false actually believe that they are doing a spectacular job. It is time to do in the insanity by ending the careers of these moronic, snowflake city councilors.

• Shawn (Monday, September 02 19 12:34 pm EDT)

  The Claremont School District and SAU 6 was a disaster area, the Superintendent was fired, and the other incompetent boobs that were running the show either left on their own or were probably fired too. The new Superintendent is coming on board and he will hopefully rebuild the team with competent people that will actually pay attention to the business at hand and stop the embarrassing foolishness. It seems to me that we the taxpayers now have the same problem with the Claremont municipal government and it might actually be worse there because they are just not only incompetent they may be acting in a shady manner. I think it’s time we clean house on the city side as the City Manager was already fired and a new City Manager is coming on board. In my humble opinion the DPW Director, the Assistant DPW Director, the Finance Director and the Director of Planning and Development have all got to go. The same goes for many elected officials beginning with the Mayor, the Assistant Mayor and City Councilors Kier, Pope and that numbskull Koloski. The taxpayers of Claremont are paying too high a price for their gross incompetence and it is time to put an end to this foolishness once and for all.

• Brent (Monday, September 02 19 12:18 pm EDT)

  What about the Assistant DPW Director Jeremy Clay? How could he not know what’s going on? Does anyone honestly think that he is uninvolved in all this?

• Builder Bob (Monday, September 02 19 11:40 am EDT)

  The irony is that Daniels is far superior company to St.Pierre.

• David (Monday, September 02 19 10:46 am EDT)

  There were no bids received for the 139 Main St.’s demolition contract so will that constitute another cock up reason to throw out the purchasing policy and award a high price contract to a company that has family ties to the city? That seems to be what is going on these days with the DPW contracts, the past city manager, the current interim city manager, and the finance director all seem to not give a damn that this is going on. I am extremely irritated at the city councilors who sit up on the councilor’s stage all striking their pose to look oh so important for the cameras yet they do nothing to protect the citizens and taxpayers from these unprofessional practices that are ending up costing the taxpayers more money than necessary. Look at the rail trail project that Michal Lemieux should have received. Look at all the rules and regulations that they ignored and out and out broke to give that contract to Daniels Construction. Where was the professionalism there? How would the best interests of the public served with this project that cost the taxpayers $32,900 more than necessary? That $32,900 would have been better spent elsewhere for the good of our community instead of improving Daniels Construction’s annual profits. I do not think it was a coincidence that the ex-DPW director is a vice president of the company.

• Craig (Monday, September 02 19 09:34 am EDT)

  That’s right; Jim Sullivan and AJ Maranville are showing Councilman Stone and Councilman O’Hearne the right places to perform a forensic audit and possibly uncover municipal corruption at the same time.

• Donna (Monday, September 02 19 09:10 am EDT)

  DPW contract awards is where you can specifically target a forensic audit Councilor Stone.

• Barbara (Monday, September 02 19 08:24 am EDT)

  Something certainly smells doesn’t it.

• Mike (Monday, September 02 19 07:34 am EDT)

  No bid contracts from the DPW for companies that are owned either by relatives of the DPW Director or the employer of a relative of the DPW Director sure looks bad no matter how you look at it. There is no positive political spin for that. I do not know how Ryan McNutt, John MacLean, Mary Walter and Nancy Merrill could even begin to justify any of this. Of course, the councilors such as Charlene Lovett, Allen Damren, Abigail Kier, Claire Lessard, Nick Koloski and Scott Pope will all say that the councilors cannot get involved in the day-to-day affairs of the city and say they put their full faith and trust in the city staffers. Of course, it is a lot of bureaucratic political BS because they all have no scruples like apparently the city administration leaders do not. This is why the next election will be so important in November. The voters have to get out and throw out these morally and ethically challenged city councilors who do not represent the morality and the values of the voters who elected them.

• Dennis (Monday, September 02 19 07:23 am EDT)

  I don’t understand why the purchasing policy has to be waived so many times. It looks intentional.

• Tom (Monday, September 02 19 06:18 am EDT)

  It seems like there is a real cozy relationship between our DPW Director Victor St. Pierre and several local companies that he seems to favor for the awarding of lucrative city service contracts. It looks like these companies are awarded the contracts because city administration officials do not follow the rules of the purchasing policy. Where is the city council oversight? Why do two former city councilors have to do the council’s job for them?

• Jim Sullivan (Monday, September 02 19 05:16 am EDT)

  Claremont’s purchasing policy not being used to the public’s benefit!
  
  Full details on the News Flashes page of this website.

• Charles (Sunday, September 01 19 10:42 am EDT)

  Any bets on the 9 apartments going at "Market Rate" go un-rented?
  
  When I was a child of 7 my parents moved into a brand new building in Stamford Connecticut that was structured for income levels like the Goddard apts. It was called Saint John's Towers,there were 3 buildings.These were originally supposed to be primarily for middle class working families with a small number slated to be low income.
  My family moved out 1 year later.The crime and drinking and drugs in the building made it a dangerous place to live.As it turned out,many more apartments became low income section 8 because minorities were screaming for more housing.The buildings are now all low income and in complete decay.The roaches and rats are throughout.The drug dealers are all through the halls and stairways.The police are being called there every night now.The buildings were a new design in 1971,they were round in shape.As I got older and went to high school in Stamford the buildings were known as "The N***er Barrels" because they were predominantly black by demographic.The place now is a dangerous hub from which crime throughout the area emminates from.
  It appears that Claremont is creating this very same scenario.I can't warn you enough about the things to come.There will be rape and there will be violence and drugs that Claremont has never seen.

• Rae (Sunday, September 01 19 07:36 am EDT)

  This was written by Mayor Lovett herself...not sure how her husband can not know? But here is that proof you asked for Mr. Lovett "While the quality of the apartments will not differ from one unit to another, the number of apartments available to renters of varying income levels will. Nine of the 36 apartments will be rented at market rates, while the majority will be rented according to a percentage of the area median income (AMI) as defined by Housing and Urban Development (HUD) for Sullivan County.Nineteen of the apartments will be reserved for renters who earn 60% of the AMI. For one person this equates to $34,320 and increases by approximately $4,000 for each additional person. Another four apartments will be available to renters who earn 50% of the AMI. For one person, this is $28,600 and also increases about $4,000 for each additional person. The remaining four apartments will be set aside for individuals with disabilities. " https://www.eagletimes.com/news/community/goddard-block-project-on-schedule-for-december-completion/article_6e5be556-2152-5061-bb5f-b2d1cae0d28d.html

• Rae (Sunday, September 01 19 07:33 am EDT)

  "The Goddard Block Apartments, when finished (the estimated completion date is February 2020), will have 36 studio, one- and two-bedroom apartments for low to moderate income families. Nine of the apartments will be market-rate and the other 27 will be “affordable.” The ground floor of the building will continue to be commercial space. " https://www.eagletimes.com/news/breaking-ground-at-goddard-block/article_7296d098-1ba0-11e9-b578-bb0bf9177250.html

• Rae (Sunday, September 01 19 07:30 am EDT)

  "Next spring, the Goddard Building in Claremont will open its doors as a completely renovated structure containing commercial space and 36 apartments (9 market rate, 27 affordable units).
  Since the winter, the site has been the scene of intense activity overseen by the general contractor, Trumbull-Nelson Construction of Hanover, NH, and carried out by numerous sub- as well as sub-sub-contractors."
  
  https://herecast.us/979298

• David (Saturday, August 31 19 11:58 am EDT)

  @Robert Lovett : Go to News Archives 1 of this page and there you will see documented proof that 61% of the apartments for the Goddard block will be for low to moderate income families (Section 8) 22 of the 36 apartments. A far cry more than 8. If this has changed please provide proof.

• John J. O’Connor (Saturday, August 31 19 07:42 am EDT)

  Bob,
  Great points. Next summer will determine who is right.
  Why the name change from Low income housing to Workforce housing , can anyone explain the difference?
  As far as Claremont being a Sanctuary city, isn’t it already ?
  The City has become extremely diversified in the last decade. The Social service rolls have continued to expand and crime has consistently risen in this time.
  So what would be so different?
  Next summer, between “Workforce housing” and the “Halfway House”, Pleasant St. will be a hotbed of police activity.
  Only time will tell.
  Ps. This is my real name. No shame to my game.

• Joe Mcgee from Kankakee (Saturday, August 31 19 07:33 am EDT)

  @Robert
  "the going wage rate for Claremont"
  
  So,it's the sky is the limits for teachers,cops,and fire,with wage raises every year.But everybody else is supposed to work for Chinese cooley wages and we'll give you some cheap housing,supported by people that worked and saved to buy their own homes.That's right,have all kinds of kids,free lunch,free school,free housing,don't worry the taxpayers will pay.More kids means more teachers! That's great for the union.Whata ya hate unions?! It's for the kids damn it!

• Robert Lovett (Friday, August 30 19 09:52 pm EDT)

  Steve....if that is even your real name...where is the facts hat support your claim that incited councilors are advocating for Claremont to become a sanctuary city? I have seen nothing to support this accusation and every councilor has denied they support doing so, so where do you draw this conclusion from? Likewise why do you believe my wife, Allen, Abby, Scott, Nick, and Claire are obstacles to Claremont’s economic growth? It seems you missed naming John and Andy in your scathing comments....why so? Please inform us why they are the only two who are economically moving Claremont forward? BTW there are only 8 of the apartments designated as Section 8 so where is the “greatly increased figure” your citing coming from? Also why are you so negative about blue collar workers seeking affordable housing? work force housing does not equate to low income housing...it equates to affordable housing for real people working long hours and are paid the going wage rate for Claremont. Please provide facts instead of vague Innuendos professing “the sky is falling “ when in fact it is not.

• Alice (Friday, August 30 19 11:47 am EDT)

  While it is good news about the IRS forgiving the penalties and fines for the unfiled paperwork for 2016 it still should have never happened. That is the fault of McGoodwin, LeClair and O'Neil for not doing their jobs and the fault of the members of the Claremont and Unity School Boards for not doing their due diligence to take swift action once this problem and the problem with the lunch program was revealed. Bad management all around. I hope the new superintendent can turn things around with better management.

• Steve (Friday, August 30 19 08:49 am EDT)

  For the benefit of those who do not read the Argus Champion an interesting article appeared this week. Kevin Lacasse appeared before the Newport Selectman because he and his company are stepping in as a new developer for the Newport Mills project in our sister community of Newport. Lacasse is seeking a CDBG grant for the project through Sullivan County. As he did with the Claremont project with the Goddard building, he is changing the scope of the project so instead of 47 market-rate apartments it will now be 68 workforce-housing units instead. In other words mostly low-income housing. The difference is the Newport Selectman are far smarter and very protective of their constituents unlike their Claremont counterparts. Newport Selectman Todd Fratzel is quoted in the paper as saying “I don’t see any benefit to this community”, he says it will put more stress on the schools and that the Newport Selectman needed to do what was good for the community. Four of the Newport Selectman are hesitant about the project unlike Claremont City Councilors who accepted the project with open arms and city officials even went so far as to downgrade zoning regulations to cheapen the project for Mr. Lacasse and his company. Of course, these are the same folks on the City Council who want to change Claremont into a Sanctuary City. Charlene Lovett, Allen Damren, Scott Pope, Abigail Kier, Nick Koloski and Claire Lessard are Claremont’s biggest obstacle to economic development and growth that goes in the right direction. Enabling more social programs and nonprofit entities to buy property and greatly increasing the number of low income/section 8 housing is not the answer because it will only increase the property tax burden because the individuals that are served with these programs do not create property tax revenue for the community they just drain our community’s limited resources. Newport Selectman seem to understand that whereas Claremont City Councilors either do not understand that or they do not care because they have a political agenda that does not represent the best interests of their constituents. This is why November’s election is crucial because we need to oust the six Councilors I named earlier.

• Jim Sullivan (Friday, August 30 19 04:35 am EDT)

  IRS waives school fines.
  Full details on the News Flashes page of this website.

• Felix (Thursday, August 29 19 05:01 pm EDT)

  If these reductions are the norm for the city, it means the tax rate will go up.
  The City of Claremont will never do with less. If -7% is going to be city wide, the overall tax rate will have to increase or the budget will have to decrease by 7%, just for the tax rate to remain as it is.
  Fat chance of that happening.

• Sarah (Thursday, August 29 19 01:07 pm EDT)

  Tony, if Claremont is in such a shambles and the top value properties are reducing in property valuation then should not all the properties in Claremont see a reduction in their property valuation? It's not fair for top value properties to come down in value and other lesser valued properties go up in value. That's the very definition of unfair taxation.

• Tony (Thursday, August 29 19 12:37 pm EDT)

  Well the property values on Nelmar had to come down. the poor condition of the schools, roads and properties in the city will also reduce the values at the top. Being a high price property in a failed city is not a great place to be. If the rest of you would get off the dole and deliver then the values would go back up.

• Barbara (Thursday, August 29 19 11:52 am EDT)

  Charles, thank you for explaining. Your comments were very educational.

• Jim Sullivan (Thursday, August 29 19 10:04 am EDT)

  New article.
  
  Nel Mar Heights Neighborhood’s overall property assessments drop by 7.54%! Several properties see property assessment reduction of approximately 20%!
  
  Full details on the News Flashes page of this website.

• Charles (Thursday, August 29 19 07:21 am EDT)

  @Barbara
  Municipal and state governments have been underfunding civil servant pension contributions for many years now.As with your 401k you need to put money in to earn interest and stock earnings.When you don't contribute as local governments have done,you will drain pension funds completely,leaving nothing for current employees to retire on.Some pensions are only 20% funded,and will probably dry up within 3 years.This leaves pension checks and health insurance bills in the laps of property taxpayers.Harvey,IL. didn't pay their city hall phone bill this last month because most all of the property taxes collected went to paychecks,pension checks,and health insurance premiums for local cops,fire,and DPW.City services there have all but ended.This is just the first to break down,many more will follow.I'm not sure where Claremont is on their pension funding.You should be very freightened about school pension funding,considering the lack of good stewardship school leaders have shown as of late.
  Bottom line is that a lot of these union civil servants think they're going to ride off into the sunset with big monthly pension checks.The truth is many of those checks may be cut in half when all is said and done.

• Barbara (Wednesday, August 28 19 06:41 pm EDT)

  What pension Tsunami are you talking about Charles?

• Charles (Wednesday, August 28 19 05:50 pm EDT)

  @ John ok,so why are the souses of Teachers,fire,cops,and misc. gov. service permitted to hold seats? If they're married it's thge same thing.
  I just can't wait to see the great coming pension Tsunami that public employees from sea to shining sea are just about to experience.

• John (Wednesday, August 28 19 04:39 pm EDT)

  Charles: Every one on a board, council, committee are volunteers no one gets paid. Only the city manager and city staff are paid, and I do believe city employees are not allowed to run for city council. American recycling will be back when they have all thier ducks in a row.

• Joanne (Tuesday, August 27 19 02:31 pm EDT)

  I'm certainly happy about American Recycling's decision to not pursue a transfer station in Claremont that specializes in construction and demolition materials. This would not have been a good fit for Claremont.

• Charles (Tuesday, August 27 19 12:56 pm EDT)

  When the people running the council and the boards get their paychecks and pension checks from the local taxpayers,it's only a matter of time before it's a ghost town.

• Ron (Tuesday, August 27 19 10:58 am EDT)

  I think it stinks that so many city officials are getting property tax breaks while the rest of us are all being screwed with higher property taxes and those of us on water and sewer will soon be getting higher rates there as well. I have a few friends who work at the DPW and say that higher rates are a sure thing because they are going to be passed by our current batch of councilors before the next election.

• Katherine (Tuesday, August 27 19 09:41 am EDT)

  I was shocked to read about Claremont’s changing demographics. I attend many of the same functions as our Mayor Charlene Lovett, she always puts Claremont’s best face forward so to speak, and that is to be expected. Now that I am aware of these terrible demographics in the continued direction that they are going, I look at her actions quite differently. Charlene is not just acting as Claremont’s cheerleader but as Claremont’s Queen of Propaganda. Claremont’s declining population is nothing new but the shrinking labor force and growing population of high-cost residents requiring an abnormally high amount of local government and social services is quite disturbing. Particularly as this change in demographic is being perpetuated by Charlene and several of her colleagues on the city council. If these councilors succeed in their quest for transforming Claremont into a welcoming community, a.k.a. sanctuary, the city of Claremont is doomed to forever be a community that will never reach its fullest potential. November elections will be critical to oust Charlene and her like-minded colleagues from public office.

• Jim Sullivan (Tuesday, August 27 19 04:05 am EDT)

  American Recycling withdraws application!
  
  Full details on the News Flashes page of this website.

• William (Monday, August 26 19 03:37 pm EDT)

  Because of the high statistical improbability that almost all of the city councilors would get tax assessment cuts when so many other residential property owners are seeing significantly increased property assessments, it certainly looks like deliberate manipulation of the property assessments. Thank you Sullivan Report for revealing these facts to us.

• Dennis (Monday, August 26 19 01:17 pm EDT)

  Look at what happened with the Topstone property and Nick Koloski’s involvement even though he says he’s not involved. Nobody with half a brain believed it and now all the councilors are getting either property tax cuts or small tax increases when everyone else will be paying a whole lot more. I don’t think it’s a coincidence.

• Jim Sullivan (Monday, August 26 19 12:55 pm EDT)

  Gary, I loved your throwing darts analogy, it was right on point! Presently no one has been appointed to the Board of Assessors, the City is still advertising for the three open vacant seats and for the one alternate seat. You gave me an idea to send a right to know inquiry to see if anyone has applied for any of the three open seats. It will be interesting to know if anyone has applied or if City Officials are intentionally sitting on the applications so that no one will be appointed to prevent the Board of Assessors from ever being formed to provide oversight.

• Gary (Monday, August 26 19 12:35 pm EDT)

  I was thinking how could a new evaluation done by an outside company be that far off. So I took one neighborhood in question and looked at all the evaluations in that one alone. Now I am thinking. Is there a map of Claremont in the assessors office and a bunch of darts. There in no other way to calculate these increases and decreases. Comparable houses side by side one goes way up the other goes way down. Claremont is in trouble. Is the assessor board up and running yet? They are going to be busy.

• Tom (Monday, August 26 19 11:42 am EDT)

  I think it sucks that almost every city councilor got a property tax break or only a small increase when the rest of us are getting kicked in the rear with big property assessment increases and in all likelihood higher property tax bills. Of course, the councilors will say they had nothing to do with their property assessments but it still has the looks and feel of corruption.

• Lisa (Monday, August 26 19 10:37 am EDT)

  Sullivan and Maranville are plenty sly. The Citizens Bank property sale was a sneaky way to show yet another erroneous property assessment. It seems that VIP’s of Claremont are all getting property tax breaks, as they are not paying their fair share while the rest of us pay our share and theirs too. These property assessments are not set fairly at all.

• Brian (Monday, August 26 19 09:29 am EDT)

  I think I am right and Claremont 4 Real is running out of content. Their latest is a first of a multiple part article about the website owner’s excursion with friends in the search of a marijuana dispensary in Massachusetts. It reads like the new adventures of Cheech and Chong. What the heck does that have to do with Claremont? The Sullivan Report seems to have no problem at all finding new content that is least is relevant to Claremont. So why can’t the person or folks behind Claremont 4 Real do the same thing? Or is it that they do not want to because they do not want to expose or embarrass there close friends and allies in the county, city and school governments? Whom we all think is behind that website is already part of the system that is wrecking the city’s economy and infrastructure and quality of life.

• Mike (Monday, August 26 19 08:25 am EDT)

  My retired parent’s home received a property assessment increase of $26,800 and my sister’s home received a property assessment increase of $19,200. My house was hit for a $32,600 increase and I have done no improvements on the property except for routine maintenance for several years. My neighbor who did some renovation work a little over a year ago had his property assessment drop by $9,100. Another neighbor saw no change at all and another neighbor only saw a $300 increase. To top it all off the city councilors, the police chief in some city board members all get property tax breaks. These property assessments just do not make sense. By the way, my parents are now considering putting their house up for sale because they are not sure they can afford the property taxes on their fixed income. So much for the Claremont dream.

• Brad (Monday, August 26 19 07:46 am EDT)

  Unbelievable! I get a property assessment increase in the neighborhood of $34,000 and that SOB Scott Pope, who has his summers off and gets one hell of a health insurance and pension plan gets a $41,300 abatement on his property assessment. It looks like all the property assessments are all over the place so the overall citywide property assessment and the city’s property tax rate may not change all that much with some property owners paying more while others paying less. If the $42.08 property tax rate were to stay the same, I will be paying over $1,500 more a year in property taxes while Councilman Scott Pope will end up with $1,738 more in his pocket at the end of the year. He and his buddies on the city council spend lots of money, raise our property tax burden while most of theirs goes down. Is this why they spent money to do a new property reevaluation before they had to so they could get this tax break for themselves? How the hell is that fair?

• Jim Sullivan (Monday, August 26 19 06:42 am EDT)

  Three articles published today.
  
  1) Claremont's population declining!
  
  2) Citizens Bank Building sold.
  
  3) Claremont's 2019 Property Assessments – Part #3 – Residential Property.
  
  Full details on the News Flashes page of this website.

• Brian (Sunday, August 25 19 01:12 am EDT)

  Claremont 4 Real must be running out of content ideas. Their last article was about microplastics of all things. Who gives a damn about that? I thought that was supposed to be a website about Claremont news. Next they will be writing articles about why the sky is blue or grass is green. Riveting stuff.

• Jake (Saturday, August 24 19 08:26 am EDT)

  Rae you make my case! Thanks. Would be nice to see how much we are pumping out of the city weekly because of mismanagement and favoritism in city hall with a council that can’t see it.

• Rae (Saturday, August 24 19 05:15 am EDT)

  Jake, city employees can live wherever they want. It would be smart of them to live outside Claremont, lower property taxes.

• Jake (Friday, August 23 19 04:03 pm EDT)

  Just curious how many city employs that make better than 12,000.00 per year part and full time live outside of Claremont and how much taxpayer money that adds up to.

• John (Thursday, August 22 19 12:02 pm EDT)

  John Stone and Andy O’Hearn are the only Councilor’s on the Council that are doing their job.
  Whether you agree with them or not, they are doing their homework and making the City Manager accountable.
  A part of that accountability is to determine if there have been any improprieties with the City finances.
  I am a bit concerned with reaction by city staff. Councilor Stone never accused any person or department of any wrong doing so why the highly dramatic response?
  I hope these fine gentleman decide to run for City Council in the fall, with a new City Manager the city needs experienced Councilor’s. Councilors willing to ask the tough questions and vote with the best interests of the citizens in mind and not Councilors only out for themselves.

• Archie (Wednesday, August 21 19 01:50 pm EDT)

  Hey Luke. Jon Stone has been doing that for two years. I guess he needs help. Hope he gets it.

• Luke (Wednesday, August 21 19 01:45 pm EDT)

  It is time to start calling out capable people with knowledge enough and guts enough to call out the administration on issues that are raising the tax rate above what the lower income and elderly can afford to run for the council. If you can find any residence like that anymore in Claremont. A good start would be to adjust user fees at the Claremont Savings Bank Community Center to put it in the black. The place is already showing heavy wear and tear.

• Travis (Wednesday, August 21 19 01:25 pm EDT)

  It seems the councilors are still in negotiations with this Morris character. Maybe he is holding out for more money because he smells the desperation of this council. They are offering him the job and top pay when he is a rank amateur with little experience.

• Mary (Wednesday, August 21 19 12:14 pm EDT)

  Is Ed Morris taking the manager’s job or not?

• Matt (Wednesday, August 21 19 11:01 am EDT)

  Well said Jennifer. You make perfect sense about a smaller audit with a specific target in mind. I do not know what that target should be but there must be certain aspects of the city’s books that could show if any shenanigans or errors exist within the books. I do not trust our government officials because their actions do not warrant it. They routinely lie to the public and hide things from the public, which is why the Sullivan Report is so hated by local government officials. It is because they do not have Jim and AJ under their control as they do with what accounts for the local press. Jim and AJ routinely data mine government documents and publish the interesting ones that prove the topic of their expose articles. They are like the 60 Minutes of Claremont and that must worry local government officials who are not walking the straight and narrow.

• Jennifer (Wednesday, August 21 19 10:11 am EDT)

  I think we should do at least a targeted audit: a forensic audit or call it whatever you want to make sure that the books are in order. I do not usually watch council meetings but I did see the portion of the meeting about the audit report on the CCTV website. I agree with everyone else that the city leaders sure acted like they had something to hide and Councilors Lovett, Damren, Koloski and Pope all worked together to put the brakes on not doing a forensic audit not only now but never while they are on the city council. Further evidence that these four councilors are not working in our best interests. If they, Lessard and Kier are stupid enough to run for reelection then it is time for the voters to send a message that we have had enough of their political agenda and it is time for Claremont to go in a new and better direction.

• Shawn (Wednesday, August 21 19 08:40 am EDT)

  Ole Nicky boy is also there to feed his insatiable narcissistic need to be the center of attention. In all his years on the Council, he has not accomplished anything of value for the people of Claremont. Unless you count increased taxation on a relatively poor community an accomplishment.

• Amy (Wednesday, August 21 19 08:27 am EDT)

  Nick Koloski is obviously there for his own profit.

• Henry (Wednesday, August 21 19 07:09 am EDT)

  Failure is the sum total of the Claremont municipal government for the past 19 years. The remnants of that failure are still within the city administration and sitting on the city council.

• Don (Wednesday, August 21 19 06:56 am EDT)

  The Jewel Transport closing is another failure for the River Road TIF District.

• Gail (Wednesday, August 21 19 06:28 am EDT)

  It’s true these councilors are not representing the people they are there to represent the administration directors and any special interest people or groups that are pulling the strings. Some of them are there to represent their own best interests as well.

• Lemuel Curry (Tuesday, August 20 19 06:34 pm EDT)

  Brock,
  
  You sure wonder a lot. Perhaps you should do some studying and then you can be sure. Love the fake Marlboro Man name - Brock....I bet you smell like Old Spice or more likely like Wheelabrator exhaust.
  
  You folks just wreak with hatred for this Koloski dude. It amazing that the stinky smell of jealousy drips from your lips, evidently the results of a life misled.
  
  And what's a little asbestos when one has spent a few years in the Tanx building - friable asbestos everywhere - perhaps you should look up the word "friable" and note that building inspectors concentrate on asbestos in that state. Do you have factual documentation of the friable asbestos contamination levels?
  
  You think it is more dangerous than the sand the City uses to coat the roads during snow events with the sodium Chloride or mica chips or whatever those small shiny objects that float on the breeze and onto your shoes and into your house - have you noticed those tiny, shiny specs?
  
  Well that means there are even more of those specks that you can't see and you are breathing them into your lungs where they lodge, damage tissue and don't break down.
  
  Blame that on Koloski too if it makes you feel better.
  
  So in closing, you are not fit to judge who should be called a moron or a rube.

• Jeremy (Tuesday, August 20 19 03:59 pm EDT)

  It is a shame that Jewel Transport is having difficulties. This was one of the few legitimate accomplishments of the Santagate Administration.

• Richard (Tuesday, August 20 19 03:46 pm EDT)

  The annual audits are worthless if the auditors are only looking at 40 transactions out of thousands of transactions conducted each year. To say the books are fine with a half-ass audit that cost the taxpayers about 40 grand is ludicrous. But then that’s to be expected from the likes of Allen Damren and his cohorts on the Council Lovett, Pope and Koloski who all usually vote the same way all the time exactly how the administration leaders want them to vote, or act, etc.

• Brock Lanahan (Tuesday, August 20 19 03:17 pm EDT)

  If you would eat Haddock from Koloski's asbestos and heavy metal contaminated property,you should hardly be calling Sullivan a moron.
  
  Wonder if the cooks FICA was paid for the quarter?

• Tom (Tuesday, August 20 19 02:04 pm EDT)

  With councilors like Nick Koloski, Scott Pope, Allen Damren and Charlene Lovett all desirous of covering up anything that does not look good so they can hide it from the people who are paying the bills how did you expect them to act about this possibility of a forensic audit? There was no doubt they would do whatever it takes no matter how unethical to squash this thing just so nothing would be unearthed.

• Lemuel Curry (Tuesday, August 20 19 01:09 pm EDT)

  Hello Sullivan Report. I recently got wind of your missive, or shall I say "screed" that you aimed at Claremont4Real. Well, I guess you were pretty pissed because you were backed into a corner by the behavior of your regular customers.
  
  From reading your archives, I can see you work hard, but that is all for naught if you credibility is destroyed because you become a "one-trick-pony" site. Your choice.
  
  Oh, by the way, check out my response to your post at :
  https://claremont4real.wordpress.com

• Stephanie (Tuesday, August 20 19 07:35 am EDT)

  I still think Nick Koloski is involved somehow with the Claremont 4 Real site. He might be the city official that is in constant contact with the websites webmaster. On the other hand, they may be one in the same. AJ and Jim made a great point, look at whom the website is targeting and they are all nemeses of Nick Koloski. Coincidence? I do not think so.

• Marcus Wilson (Tuesday, August 20 19 12:19 am EDT)

  Oh and I forgot Pam - in reference to gambling writing: "Nick reached out to have Kenniston make the ask..."
  
  Ha Ha effing Ha - you've been watching the Sopranos again, haven't you - "make the ask" - how Mafia of you...
  
  If I missed anyone, weel, there's always tomorrow.

• Marcus Wilson (Tuesday, August 20 19 12:09 am EDT)

  Archie - you are a fool. I suspect you get DNA all over lotsa' things around you like kleenex and napkins and socks etc. The only thing John Stone has brought to light are stoopid rubes like you.
  
  You along with ole' shucks, homespun Tim just watched Stone be forced to backtrack because he is as stoopid as y'all be because he doesn't (or at least didn't) actually know what a "forensic audit" is. Pretty irresponsible calling for the start of a criminal investigation when no crime was asserted.
  
  And seriously inept of him to not know that a "forensic audit" would cost at least $100,000 and could go as high as $200,000.
  
  And Archie on here calling for even more "forensic audits"...are you all spawn of the same foamy batch of eggs?
  
  Tell me again how fiscally responsible Stone is - I'll crank up my hearing aid so as not to miss a word.