I wonder if his wife wrote this too...

Members of the Portsmouth Fire Department, members of surrounding fire departments and many residents already knew how good Chief Cranson is without some outside firm telling them. "Michael now knows how good he is?" Really, Mr. Robicheau? Do you really think he needed the approval of you and your "professionals" to validate his accomplishments over years of education, training, dedication and sevice to the community or the respect of his colleagues which he has earned over that time? You speak of him as if he's a child. His "pride, self esteem and confidence" do not stem from passing your selection process. To speak of a grown man in such a condescending tone is insulting. Contrary to your beliefs those who oppose outsourcing the selection of a fire chief do not want a hire based on "seniority, familiarity, popularity of local ties", that is a simplistic notion. What they want is a Town Council and Administrator that can put those factors aside, as they're supposed to, and make the choices they were elected/hired to make instead of outsourcing it to some unknown firm. Are we going through this process again for the Deputy Chief? If it's so essential to good government why didn't we use it for the Tax Assessor/Collector who handles millions of dollars? It seems to me that your vision for the future of Portsmouth is to turn it over to unknown technocrats because of your paranoia about a "good ol boys" network, so that Councilors are not held accountable for anything.

I'm confused - are you complementing our new Chief or between the lines insulted that he was hired? I ask based on the sentence in the third paragraph above "However, having just hired the new Town Administrator with the aid of professionals, I am convinced that all top management positions should be filled in this manner." One would assume that the Chief should have been selected by professionals?

Either way - the new Chief has done a great job and I believe he was a great choice.
".

This is another lame attempt to try to make people forget how poorly he has performed on the council. 8 hour meetings, no knowledge of roberts rules, can't wite a letter. Joe must go.

Vote Joe Robicheau stop TOBN (The Old Boy Network)

Portsmouth has a group of people who think they are social elites. For years previous to Joe Robicheau becoming Portsmouth Town Council, President it was :'It's not what you know, it's who you know'

The town has for too long had an informal, exclusive system of mutual assistance and friendship through which men belong to a particular group. The group usually excludes women.

You've all seen what happened when the town "exclusive group" quickly decided to be the only municipality in Rhode Island to buy a wind turbine ! The Democrats that voted in that turbine got the town taken to the cleaners!

Vote for Joe

What a joke, vote him out!

(old timer, I could not agree more with you) Mr. Robicheau, I too find your comments regarding the hiring insulting! For the record, I was on the Council that hired Mike as a probationary firefighter. That's right, we did our job.....we interviewed, we hired. We did not pass off these responsibilities to paid consultants. We knew at the time that we were hiring a good firefighter with lots of potential. We also interviewed and promoted within the ranks. That is, Lt, Capt. etc. In that way, we could see how an employee progressed and when they could/should be promoted. I have to question why so many people have "retired" or just left the town's employment.....Something is wrong and those at the top need to be held responsible. Job well deserved Mike! I'm sorry they put you through all the unnecessary stress. Good Luck, I'm sure you'll be outstanding.

Beware -OBNAW -Old Boy Network At Work

This are what the Democrats told the town voters about buying a wind turbine :

"Although the Town may borrow money for this project without specific voter approval, we want to make sure we have the approval of the majority of our citizens on this project."

The truth be told only a minority of the town approved a bond for the turbine .

What happened to the majority of our citizens on this project ? Democrats again !

I'll bet the majority of the town didn't known their was a vote for a bond issue on the turbine.