So the town can afford to bring in a part time "climate communications specialist" at $48,000 per year to keep the KKK at bay, but we can't afford to hire a full time police officer at $41,500?
The Amherst Police Department has lost five sworn position (patrol officers) since 2007 when they were at 52. Today they are at 47 sworn positions, compared to Umass police department with 62 sworn officers. And UMPD starting pay for a sworn officer -- $45,813 -- is a tad better. Differences worth swearing about!
Town Manager Musante stated in his "Long Term Staffing Plans Recommendations":
Of course what the Town Manager fails to mention is APD is losing a "crime analyst" position after two years of state grant funding. And part of her job assignment was to provide police administration with facts and figures that would lead to "problem-oriented policing with sector-based assignments."
To make matters worse, a 2-year-old federal grant that funded a Domestic Violence/Sexual Assault investigator will not be renewed at previous funding levels, so the officer (Detective Lopez) will be reabsorbed back into routine police duties.
The new officer hired to backfill her position over the past two years will not be laid off, but after the next retirement or resignation the position will not be filled.
Sounds complicated, but the net result is APD loses yet another sworn position.
So even if the Regional Dispatch saves enough money next year to hire 1 sworn police officer, that simply brings us back to where we are today.
Which is w-a-y too low.
14 comments:
Thank you Larry for continuing to report on this BS. I can hardly stand to live in Amherst anymore, the way they are squandering our tax dollars.
Besides the current "climate" specialist, take a look in the town's open checkbook at some of the other salaries paid to administrators and "coordinators" of various kinds - few of whom actually produce anything but internal memorandums.
And this fall they want to RAISE OUR TAXES even more with CPA increase, none of which $ can be use for public safety, road maintenance, etc!
I don't believe the savings of a regional center is immediate, it takes a few years like the one out our way in Rutland. So those savings wouldn't be realized for some time.
Someone please explain what a climate communications specialist is. This person talks to people then reports back to the town manager and superintendent what they are saying? I don't get it.
The town should find money elsewhere to continue the work of the domestic violence/sexual assault worker. It's important for victims to have someone trained available to help them.
This is the first thing I hit upon doing an internet search:
"Communications specialists create and maintain positive relationships between their clients and the public often using media outlets. They produce press releases and manage public events.
Communications specialists, also known as public relations specialists, establish positive associations with the public and mass media on behalf of their clients. Their job incorporates a number of skills from different fields including marketing, journalism, business administration and more.
Communications specialists draft and send press releases that contain important updates about their clients to print and broadcast media outlets. They also organize events at which their clients can meet with the public to increase product awareness or knowledge of their services or recent developments. In addition to controlling information output, communications specialists handle incoming requests for information from media outlets. Their general goal is to promote cooperative relationships between their clients and those who use their clients' services."
I agree with anon 9:38, we hire specialists and have vigils and assemblies and protests against the anonymous scrawler when an adult teacher is the victim of bathroom graffiti, meanwhile some of the SAME PEOPLE engaging in those protests are actively supporting others--calling them innocent-who have engaged in violent assault against their pregnant girlfriends and are selling cocaine and are waving knives around at elderly residents.
Something is amiss.
I notice she deleted that post from her Facebook page.
Progressivism’s never-ending zeal to force us all to march to its grim beat. Welcome to liberal lefty world, Amherst USA.
That's OK, I saved it for future use.
"Someone please explain what a climate communications specialist is. This person talks to people then reports back to the town manager and superintendent what they are saying? I don't get it."
It's a person that has to get on their knees at times, crawl, breath, and possibly climb steps, and may have to use their wrists as the job description explains.
Only in Amherst does one needs a thesaurus to translate a job posting.
In reality the job is simply a way to continue the leftist agenda that says any group that achieves is privileged and any group that doesn't is underprivileged. It's the leftist victim mentality that creates terms like "gap" and "differences" and all the other words that actually do more to divide than anything the left preaches against. Both the progressives at the beginning of the 20th century and the liberals at the end started from the same false premise — namely, that there is something unusual about different racial and ethnic groups having different achievements.
The women hired for this position will continue this agenda until she gets a better job as she already hints in Masslive, she'd rather be somewhere else.
Shame that the town hires a specialist to clean up the school board's messes and cuts down on the ones cleaning up our streets. Hiring priorities indeed.....
It's actually not the SC's mess. This was created by the likes of Kathleen Anderson and her minions. Amherst has no more of a race problem than any of the surrounding communities. Last year's episodes were manufactured crises.
This was created by the likes of Kathleen Anderson and her minions.
And they threatened at the last (legitimate) SC meeting that "WE WILL BE BACK!"
It was Carol Ross who spoke in response to Jean Sherlock's rants during public comment, which were directed at the school administration and committee members, in regards to PARCC and MCAS testing. Sherlock sought to inflame the discussion and place blame on leadership for the existence of "high-stakes testing". Ross spoke with civility and reason, reminding all of us that the members of the SC are also parents who do not support high-stakes testing.
It is unfortunate that we have to spend money right now on this position, but I believe Ross will provide a necessary and a civilized, reasonable counter to the groups who have manufactured the crises in town, and she can do it honestly and without compromising the integrity of the overwhelming majority of black community members in Amherst who do not engage in divisive and negative behavior--we did not currently have an honest, civilized voice for the black community in school/town governance/administration prior to her hiring, now we do.
Maybe she can get rid Ms. Custard fired? That alone would be worth the salary.
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