Board of Aldermen 09-28-2021 Page 14
Laurie Ortolano
Well | came in and there was no sheet. Nobody came and picked it up.
President Wilshire
Yeah they did.
Laurie Ortolano
Could | ask for public comment?
President Wilshire
You'll get three minutes. Go ahead.
Laurie Ortolano
Thank you. I'm rather disappointed by the letter that was just...
Alderman Caron
Name and address please.
Laurie Ortolano
Laurie Orlando — 41 Berkeley Street. I'm rather disappointed by the letter that was just read into the record by Ms. Kleiner
and | feel the need to comment to it because | didn't know that this letter had been produced. It really shows a lack of
sophistication on the part of some people in this administration, especially leadership people to summarize a public letter
or a citizen’s letter like that in that manner saving several untruths she said. This city isn't capable of recognizing that
citizens carry different opinions. It's not that it's an untruth. It's a perspective. It's an opinion and when Ms. Kleiner talks
about the changes in that office just so you know, | was unaware that those people had left. I've had difficulty recently just
asking for an updated report that | waited three weeks for because | didn't know you only had one clerical staff member in
there. Now, it would be nice if the administration would tell citizens that you're short staffed. Let us know.
You had the same problem in the Clerk's Office. We don't know that the line is eight people long because you only had
two clerks in the office. Tell us. So that's one issue. When your staffing is down and you don't have the citizens, you
don't speak to it. The fourth paragraph of this, “the difficulty arose with the constant unsubstantiated criticisms raised by a
select group”. | think my criticisms were very substantiated. A court ruled in my favor on my property appeal and for the
life of me | don't know why those assessors weren't sophisticated enough in this Legal office to recognize that that
property was incorrectly assessed, grossly incorrectly assessed. Had this city addressed my concerns differently from the
beginning, had somebody opened the door and said Mrs. Ortolano come on in, sit down, and we'll talk to you instead of
slamming them in my face, pushing me away, and reading e-mails about how my brain doesn't work right because I'm an
engineer and | can't understand assessing. It's insulting and that's the quality of the people you had in Assessing. | didn't
enjoy that.
With regard to articles or newspapers in social media...
Donna Graham, Legislative Affairs Manager
30 seconds
Laurie Ortolano
...you were the people who put me on the front page of the Telegraph for wasting money. Ridiculous. That was a poor
move. With regard to following people outside of the workplace, well that obviously didn't bother the employee because
that's the one who stayed who's here now. So you know, this is such an inaccurate - it just reflects perfectly on what is
wrong with this city and | would ask citizens get out and vote and replace these Aldermen in this chamber.
