In his January 16, 2019 letter, Mr. Tripp deflects, attempts to distract, and misleads the public about the real issue. Audits are a true indication of a City’s financial well-being.
Looking at the Federal and State Single audit recently completed for the City of Ansonia, you find that t there are significant red flags that need to be taken seriously, addressed and be corrected.The audit says there was a breakdown in communication. More specifically, the Board of Education failed to cooperate with the City of Ansonia and the taxpayers who fund them.
That’s the real issue. With the FY 2018 Federal and State Single Audit, every finding recommends the same thing – communicate accurate information with the City.
We now have external auditors calling upon the Board of a Education to accurately and truthfully provide information to the City and the Board of Aldermen.
Mr. Tripp is now falsely telling taxpayers that the engineering funds for Wakelee Avenue were somehow extracted from the Board of Education’s budget. Mr. Tripp you were President of the Board of Alderman, when the Board of Alderman voted on the funding for the Wakelee Avenue project. That funding had to be available in 2015 in order to apply for the grant funds in 2015. A request was made in 2015 from the Grant’s Administrator to the Board of Taxation and the Board of Aldermen to approve the grant cost sharing agreement. Mr. Tripp – you voted in favor of funding the grant in 2015.
Mr. Tripp, healthy cities work together with their Boards of Education, not against each other.
Mr. Tripp, you and others have chosen to wage political campaigns, create false rumors designed to scare our parents and children with rumors of school closings or football teams being sidelined (depending on the budget year). We are tired of you and your political allies on the Board of Education thinking that you can use the children and the parents as your pawns.
We want a city and Board of Education that work together to create a budget that makes sense for every one of the 18,950 residents in Ansonia.
In the December 2018 meeting of the Board of Aldermen, Phil Tripp said “we don’t need the City trying to micromanage the Board of Education” and in January of 2019 you stated “not a single member of the Board of Education is willing to participate in mediation with the City.” If there is nothing to hide Mr. Tripp why do you and the Board of Education work so hard to make sure the public doesn’t get any information?
Your campaign for the interests of yourself and your political cronies on the Board of Education against the best interests of children and parents of Ansonia is over.
The answer is in black and white – there has to be a sharing of information, a strong line of communication and there has to be transparency on both sides. Until that happens, the residents of Ansonia suffer – all 18,950 of them.
We support President Vaccaro’s offer to open up a dialogue, and believe that is a step in the right direction.
There’s a very simple recipe for a successful and healthy city, and it starts with open and honest communication. It’s something we all deserve.
Respectfully,
Chicago Rivers, 5th Ward Alderman
Joseph Jaumann, 5th Ward Alderman
Joseph Cassetti, 3rd Ward Alderman
Domenic Filippone, 3rd Ward Alderman
Daniel King, 1st Ward Alderman
Charlie W. Stowe, 1st Ward Alderman
David Blackwell, Jr. 7th Ward Alderman
Frank DeLibero, 7th Ward Alderman
Lorie Vaccaro, President, 2nd Ward Alderman
Views expressed in letters to the editor do not necessarily reflect the views of ValleyIndy.org. There is a 550-word maximum. Graphs and charts will not be published. Please keep external hyperlinks to a minimum.
