This is FU

SUBMITTED TO US VIA EMAIL
AUTHOR WISHES TO REMAIN ANONYMOUS

Last week during Ashland Select Board meeting on Wednesday April 20, 2022 at the very beginning of the meeting at 7:05 min in, there was brief off-microphone awkward discussion between the Town Manager Herbert and Chairman Joe Magnani.

Magnani as you know was a former police officer in the Town use that term loosely, he was known around town as the bumbling Detective who didn’t know to Detect…or arrest. Herbert then went on to provide a non-update to the update of the Police chief search that there would be no announcement that night. Magnani went on to make an off hand comment that it was brief update and “hopefully we will get an answer from the Investigator”.

• What answer was he referring to?
• And for what candidate?
• Is there a problem with the background investigation?

From your other records request you posted there was an email regarding the background investigation of Rossi being done.

Why is a select board member personally involving themselves in the status of and process of a background investigation for a Police chief candidate?

Further, searching on Town website there is no information or posting of the resumes of these Police chief candidates, why is that?

If they were submitted they should be available under open records law and available for the public to see.

What don’t they want people to see? 

Additionally, if you look at the open and public Facebook profiles of some of these people it is apparent that one Police chief candidate Cara Rossi is a lifelong family/friend of the Magnani’s, to include his wife Donna and their daughter Kim Goodwin Miller. To the point she refers to Him in open postings as “Papa” and his wife as “Nana”.  

How is this not a conflict of interest that the Chairman of the Select Board is involved in this matter at all and appears to openly be advocating for a Police chief candidate who appears to be a family member or god-daughter in some familial life-long relationship?

Searching around the town website it appears Joe Magnani has used the email j-j-m-j-r-mags@msn.com for town business as a Select-board member. How is a personal email allowed for use as a Town member, how are records obtained under state law? I would request records related to the email as well.**

In related record requests you have made and posted it was clear that Rossi has used her Natick Police email for purposes of trying to get the Ashland Chief job, this also feels like a conflict, but maybe easier to request records directly from the Town of Natick for all her email related to this matter. And calls from any town owned phone she uses.

They are doing this with no fear of repercussion right in front of everyone literally on video, imagine what’s being done behind the scenes to engineer the result they want for this kangaroo court process.