Kensington residents have an important election coming up, on Tuesday we’re voting not for people so much as for the positions they hold.
Toombs/Gillette are running on calling Kosel names and preventing oversight of our police force.
Kosel/Hausken are running on fixing all the problems Chuck and his majority board have bequeathed us, which are legion, including instituting spending rules for our employees, and developing a long term budget that will prevent bankruptcy, and, if the money isn't already gone, funding the projects we want, like the now unfunded path’s project, and the still unfunded buildings project. The Contra Costa Times acknoweldged that Kosel and Hausken are great choices, while Toombs and Hausken were rejected out of hand as the worst possible choices:
http://www.contracostatimes.com/ci_21889539/contra-costa-times-editorial-kosel-and-hausken-kensington?IADID=Search-www.contracostatimes.com-www.contracostatimes.com
I wrote a letter to the editor of the Outlook, Joel Koosed, asking my fellow residents to retire Chuck Toombs, so we could get started working on solutions, and Joel published it, but he put in his own footnotes, to supposedly dispute my facts. (Not all of them, but plenty.) I can take issue with them all, but one is a clear lie, that Joel knew (as I had previously sent him corroborating data) but that Joel allowed Chuck Toombs to deny.
I beg to differ, and I have proof.
Me: "Mr. Toombs admits he was uncomfortable with the way (zero tolerance) was passed, with little discussion.”
Chuck: “She is wrong, I was perfectly comfortable with the way the Board passed the policy.”
Here is a letter I received from Mr. Toombs dated July 31st:
Dear Ms. Shane:
Thank you for your note below which I am sharing with Chief Harman.
I got your initial correspondence from Sunday and had already specifically asked Chief Harman to go back to our archives and look at the video tapes to review the scope of the resolutions taken by the Board on this matter. I did this because I was not comfortable with the limited discussion of the zero tolerance policy at the May 2010 meeting whose minutes are available in the June 2010 agenda packet.
I have been unable to spend any significant time on this matter since you first raised it on Sunday however because of a client emergency that required my full attention. Please do not take my silence as an opinion on this matter one way or another. I certainly do take your concerns seriously much as I do the entire traffic safety issue, which has been a major public concern in Kensington since my tenure on the board began. And I am heartened that you wrote to this board, and appreciate your perspective as a long standing resident of Kensington.
I will get back to you once the Chief has concluded his review of those archival tapes and advise you of the substance of his research.
Thank you for expressing your concerns.
Chuck Toombs
I immediately sent this to Chuck Toombs, but unsurprisingly I have neither received an apology, nor a promise for a retraction. I am only a citizen, he has a police chief to protect?
"GM/PC Harman reviewed his estimates for revenue and expenses for the District's current fiscal year. He summarized his findings on Page 57 of the February, 2012 BOD package which are that he is projecting a $109,849 shortfall for the current fiscal year (after receipt of the remaining $88,684 for the COPS grant). He said this shortfall is a function of the BOD'S decision to spend funds that were not budgeted for: 1)$65,000 for consulting expenses related to the park buildings and personnel investigations, 2) $23,100 in Community Center repairs, and 3)$15,000 in legal fees. GM/PC Harman said that the BOD has two options. One is to do a mid year budget adjustment now to include the three aforementioned items in the budget. The second option is for the BOD to do nothing but to know that it has been forewarned that the District is projected to end the fiscal year over budget."