Board of Aldermen 11-27-2018 Page 12
look carefully at the data, this all began on Berkeley Street, if you look at specific houses, and the
specific factual statements that are made to support some of this, you will find that it is just riddled with
errors. Take the Berkeley Street, that’s where we started is Berkeley Street, the number one example
says the assessment never went up in 8 years. You look at it, that is flat wrong. If you go down one by
one by one, a few of them are correct, but most of them are wrong.
| am sure there are mistakes, a common mistake that has been made or misinterpretation I'll call it, is
that around the revaluations of 13 and ’18 that a building permit was not included in the value, well it
wouldn’t be because it wouldn’t kick in until the next April, because that’s the way the thing works, and
then the revaluation factors that in. So there is no change, but the revaluation takes it into effect. So |
will only get into this just because there was — you know | went on too long | am sure but this sort of
implication that there was some sort of improper conduct on my own house, | mean this is again before
| was an Alderman, before | was Mayor, just a private citizen, tried to fix up the house, the value went
up $30,000.00, | figured that out in the last few weeks, just because | looked at the property card and
looked at my file for the first time.
| think we will do the audit, we will give you a report on the assessing office, we may recommend some
changes and | can tell you that they are making a serious effort to look at everything that is taking
place; staffing, all the procedures — everything that is going on down there.
REMARKS BY THE MEMBERS OF THE BOARD OF ALDERMEN
Alderman O’Brien
Thank you Madam President. | would just like to reiterate what the Mayor has said about the Holiday
Stroll, | would like to give my congratulations to Paul Shea, the Board of Director of the American
Downtown and his exhausted staff. | say that kind of tongue in cheek because | know being on the
former board of directors just how much, but I'll tell you, I’d also like to thank all the merchants that
pulled it all together and made it very successful. Even though it was a 25 year celebration it was very
good, it is a great venue for the family to come out, | took comfort in mentioning to Santa that | have
been on my best behavior, so everything has been good.
The other thing that really struck me tonight, what a breath of fresh air to see a young lady such as
Alexis Durant to do the type of work that she has done. | don’t think the little recognition that the Mayor
that you proposed, it was grand, the right thing to do, but probably not enough. I’d like to see more of a
challenge out there to other people of her age to come and step forward. | mean if you want a quality
City or you want any good program, you must be an active participant so | encourage the young people
to probably follow her lead and step forward in this. But it was really a breath of fresh air and | thank
her for it and | congratulate her on getting that award. Thank you.
Alderman Dowd
| took would like to thank Paul Shea and all the people that put effort into the Downtown Stroll. | talked
to several of the business owners down there and that is one of their biggest days of the year. The
more times that we can have the population and the Downtown celebrating the Downtown and taking
part in these businesses, the better the City will be.
Alderman Klee
| too attended the Stroll and it was incredible. Paul Shea, as usual, | call him the Energizer Bunny, he’s
just, he was hopping around and doing all kinds of things. He is an incredible man. |’d also like to take
a few moments and thank Alderman Lopez and Amber Loge for the work that they have done on the
Delaney House getting all the decorations and creating that wonderful atmosphere for them. Thank you
very much.
