Since the main goal of the Taxpayers for Responsible Change Town Meeting warrant article “strongly urging” the Select board to redo their $500,000 in free gray water to Umass is simply to bring the issue before the general public, last night’s Select board meeting was a resounding success.
And to get an (egotistical) board to vote 3-2 on something that advises them to undo something THEY did is downright historic.
Most interesting disclosure of the 55 minute discussion came from Select Man Anne Awad who stated she was “insulted” that the Town Manager signed the Strategic Agreement (knowing the effluent waiver was an important part) and only gave the Water/Sewer commissions a couple days notice to sign off on the waiver.
And obviously the Town Manager didn’t do his homework on the economic impact of the waiver.
Did his Lordship get testy with me (you know the guy who recently whined I had a “chilling effect” on the operation of his board)? Well…just a little. Select man Greeney was speaking directly to me about figures and when someone is sitting at a head table less than 10 feet away and looking you directly in the eyes it’s hard not to just respond when they are done talking.
But since I did not beg permission of His Lordship to speak he said, “please be quiet”. Hey at least Mr. Weiss didn’t say “shut up.”
And for the next few weeks, neither Stan Gawle nor I will “be quiet”. The Truth Is Out There!
Congratulations.
ReplyDeleteIt almost sounds like open government wherein "the people"'s concerns get aired and debated not swept under the rug as an inconvenience to the chosen few and their electoral perogative.
"Select man Greeney was speaking directly to me about figures and when someone is sitting at a head table less than 10 feet away and looking you directly in the eyes it’s hard not to just respond when they are done talking."
Can you request to have the full written agreement and all of the figures made available to the public?
Yeah, the full written agreement--only a half dozen pages--is available on the Umass web cite (google search: Umass Amherst strategic agreement).
ReplyDeleteAnd a few moments ago I hit Umass Public Facilities Planning folks with a Freedom of Information/Mass Public Documents request for consumption rate estimates of the new Powerplant, Integrated Science Building and any other building currently in the planning stage (like the $50 million Recreation Center for instance.)
So we will have solid financial numbers within the next ten days.