At the last Council meeting we saw (again) tempers flare and the bad blood and animosity that exist between the City Manager and Councilor Elliot spill onto the floor of the council for all to witness. Both men took their shots and both made the meeting more of a circus than it needed to be.
Councilor Noun summed it up pretty well when he stated if the children were watching, the adults (Council / Manager) were behaving badly and pointing fingers and it looked bad and sent a bad message.

On one hand I wish that Councilor Elliot had NOT spoken, especially when it was clear that the motion for the sewer line was going to overwhelmingly pass. I would have liked to see him let the motion pass and be happy with the outpouring of support from his fellow councilors. He should have taken the victory for the LYSA and moved on.

On the other hand I can understand his frustration with this situation and how the City handled or mishandled it.

Did you notice at the meeting the Manager stated he didn’t think this was a big deal up until two weeks ago but then he referred to a February Letter and stated HE ASKED for a price for the city to do the tie in because he had a feeling it might come up?.

Sorry Mr. Manager when you reference a February letter that you were aware of and also state you asked for and received an estimated cost in FEBRUARY of $27,000,it appears you knew this was important, otherwise why did you ask for a cost?

You indicated on WCAP that you “wished” the letter to the Editor was instead sent to you or another department head and then again you state that Asst. Manager Baacke did respond to a letter in February that you were aware of and you stated City Engineer Lisa DeMeo at some point was also aware that the Lowell Youth Soccer thought this was important. So you were aware of this and its importance more than 2 weeks ago.

I have to ask – Why didn’t YOU pick up the phone and call the President of the League in February? Had it been any other Councilor or Youth Leader I’d bet you might have made that call. Especially after receiving an email and informing someone a tie-in wasn’t taking place.

Why did you indicate at the council meeting you were instead waiting to see how big an issue it was?
Why wait? Especially if as you said at the Council meeting and on WCAP – YOU wanted to get it done ! YOU got a price in February! What exactly is it you were waiting for?

I’m sorry, I usually agree with you and with the way you run the city and usually disagree with Councilor Elliot and his behavior and antics and have said so on many occasions but no matter how you spin this issue and try to paint yourself as the slighted party, you are not.

No matter how much you try to accuse Councilor Elliot of trying to make this political, he hasn’t.

If anyone has it is ME and YOU! I’m the one who mentioned on WCAP and my BLOG that this appeared to me to be political payback. I have NOT heard Councilor Elliot once say anything close to that.

Councilor Elliot’s letter does not once mention you at all. Read it, the word City Manager never appears nor does it state the city hasn’t been a supporter of Lowell Youth Soccer.

You however in your statements at the Council meeting and on WCAP are the one trying to spin it that you and your administration are the political victims here and are and have been supporters of LYSA. No one to my knowledge has said you are not, except you!

You are also the one who went out of your way to state to the public on both occasions exactly how many times a year the tanks get emptied, point out that a Action King Sewer empties it at no cost and also point out “the city doesn’t charge” for the disposal nor should they. You tell us how the city helped fixed the stand and spent money on irrigation.

You are being overly defensive and have driven me to the point of defending Councilor Elliot after so many post blasting him. That alone should indicate that in this particular case MAYBE just MAYBE you did not react / respond in a timely or proper manner.

Communication is a two way street and in this case because of who the president of Lowell Youth Soccer is, you and your administration it appears to me chose NOT to have the developer include this tie in and instead chose other items that you felt where more important. You even stated on WCAP that the Developer stated he couldn’t do everything and the city wanted other priorities.

It looks to me that YOU wanted Councilor Elliot to call YOU! YOU wanted him to be the one to approach you, you say that in the WCAP interview. I wish he had contacted my office, I wish he had communicated with me.

Mr. Manager it takes two to communicate.

Yes he in his Councilor role has been a royal pain in the butt! He has been disrespectful to you and to Tom Moses and others. No argument from me and I have posted about that many times and beaten him up on it many times.

You also probably knew that he would not call you because he doesn’t want to be indebted to you. So not forcing the Developer to do the tie in or bringing it forward yourself was a way to extract some political payback on someone who was been your chief antagonist.

I’m sorry Mr. Manager I know you, Adam, the Mayor, Jack and others will be upset that I am laying 75% of the Blame for this on you but as an impartial observer who comments on what I see, this whole thing still appears to me and I am sure others as nothing more than political payback that has blown up on you and you are now trying to make Councilor Elliot the bad guy (and he helped you do that at the meeting by letting his personal feelings get in the way of his role as LYSA President and lose his temper). He made himself look bad because he was angry that you were trying to shift the blame on him and the LYSA.

He is partially to blame for not contacting your office directly when he received the February letter to see if something could be worked out. At the very least he should have asked the VP or another board member to step in and contact you. He did not and bears the responsibility for that.

But YOU bear a larger responsibility by letting politics get in the way of common sense and the better good of the city by making the tie in happen before the road was paved so that the bathrooms could be opened during the week.

I’ll be accused of turning on the Manager or sucking up to Rodney and Campy or “old Lowell” but here in the cheap seats,the view I see is this fiasco largely falls on the Manager and his Administration and NOT Councilor Elliot.