Wednesday, April 20, 2016

When Products Compete

William Fraser long time City Manager Montpelier Vermont

While it has now become somewhat of a joke the correct pronunciation of Amherst minus the h actually served a purpose a generation or so ago before social media and a t-shirt slogan let the cat out of the bag.

My Irish mother pointed out to me that it was a simple way of telling townies from outsiders, from folks who had roots in our little town (even back then a "college town") and folks who may not care as deeply as we do.

Last night the Select Board held an interesting public discussion of questions they will ask the three Town Manger wannabes next week.

 Amherst Select Board reading interview questions for 3 Town Manager finalists

Interesting because they were in open public session and did not want to divulge the actual questions since the three candidates could simply watch the Select Board meeting over the next few days on Amherst Media and prepare themselves for the questions.

But one word from one question was divulged --"outsider" -- because Connie Kruger wanted it changed to "newcomer."  Fair enough.  All three candidates are on level ground because, unlike Assistant Town Manager Dave Ziomek, none of them are townies.

 Click to enlarge/read

Mr. Fraser will by carrying additional baggage, however, since some people will see his recent actions as playing one community -- that he has served for 21 years -- against another.

Others will simply note he would be coming to our awesome community with a 50% raise, so more power to him.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

It's a Good Life.

Anonymous said...

What is the product that is competing? The product (the town manager) is the same, it's the consumers (the towns) that are competing. There's nothing to get better by the competition. It just raises the price in a bidding war.

Anonymous said...

If people think this is not about renegotiating his contract renewal with Montpelier, they are being naive. We ate a bargaining chip.

Anonymous said...

*are* a bargaining chip...

Unknown said...

Mr Frazer is just trying to balance the needs of both communities. lol

Anonymous said...

Actually, it should be "is" not "are" because Amherst's willingness to pay him more (why???) is singular.

Anonymous said...

If he's already signed a contract at a set amount, how is Amherst a bargaining chip?