Charity Begins At Home?

Craig's Doors seasonal Homeless Shelter @ First Baptist Church recently added new trailer in back to serve dinners

Over the past four decades, up until 2009, Amherst has probably donated over 2 million in tax dollars to privately run charitable organizations performing valuable social work with the less fortunate citizens in town -- low income residents, the homeless, hungry, cold,  etc.

The town redirected Social Service spending to come out of Community Development Block Grant Funding back in 2009.  Since that grant is Federal money, the state anti-aid agreement would not apply.

But Amherst did briefly lose its CDBG eligibility last year (for FY15) and Vince O'Connor convinced Town Meeting to once again use regular General Fund tax money ($125,000) to fund the agencies.

Amherst is, to the best of my knowledge, the only municipality in Massachusetts to spend public money on private non-profit charitable agencies.  Which of course makes Amherst a "good guy" (or gal).

But is it legal?

Apparently a few people in town think not, and as a result Finance Director Sandy Pooler asked Town Council to look into it.

   Amherst Charity Spending Illegal?

I asked Sandy if it turns out the naysayers are correct and we should not have been donating the money all these years would the town be forced to ask those agencies to return the funds?

Said Sandy:  "That is a good question. I don't know the answer to that.  If the lawyers come back with an opinion that we have violated the anti-aid amendment, we will get to that."

Although he does close on a reassuring note:  "I do not think there is a violation, but we will see."

Streamlining A Sloth

Amherst Town Meeting 5/13/15

This past session of the 257th Annual Amherst Town Meeting ran eight sessions, but two of those sessions would have been unnecessary if the ancient body had been using time saving electronic voting devices.

With Tally Votes averaging close to 11 minutes to complete and even simple standing votes requiring 5 minutes, it's not hard to do the math.

In Brookline, which has a Town Meeting the same size as Amherst, using electronic voting reduced the time for those types of votes to less than a minute and a half per vote. 

Yesterday the Town Meeting Electronic Voting Study Committee heard a remote presentation from Options Tech International a company who supplies electronic devices to New England town meetings for the past five years.

 Base unit in center

The small hand held battery operated units register a yes/no/abstain vote instantly and gives the user confirmation that their vote has been received and confirms how they voted.  One small base station can handle up to 500 individual voting units and it runs on 2.4 gigahertz radio frequency.

 Votes are projected on screen for entire body to see

The idea is to keep Town Meeting operating as close as possible to current customs simply inserting the use of the electronic devices for the time consuming verification of votes and possibly attendance and quorum verification.

 Study Committee was appointed by Town Meeting Moderator Jim Pistrang

The committee hopes to have a warrant article ready for the Fall Town Meeting requesting the funds necessary to purchase the package, expected to be in the $20,000 range. 

Sad thing is obstructionism will only become more efficient.

Time, Time, Time For A Change

Amherst Town Meeting aka The Vince Show

The 257th annual Amherst Town Meeting concluded last night with pretty much a half-session compared to the previous seven nights that went the full three hours and change.

As usual we started late by about seven minutes, but still the earliest start time (by a minute or two) of all eight sessions.  In total an hour of time wasted for those who showed up on time.  And it was not because members needed to shower after walking, jogging or cycling to get the meeting.

Also, as usual, we concluded the night with an anti-business (non binding) vote to oppose the Kinder Morgan gas pipeline.  The original voice vote was so overwhelming I'm pretty sure only 2 or 3 No votes could be heard.  Still, someone from the floor "doubted it" so a standing or Tally vote could occur (137 yes to 7 no).

In all we had nine Tally Votes, each requiring a minimum of ten minutes or 1.5 hours total.  Throw in the standing votes, which also require about ten minutes, and you have the total time for an entire night's session.

Yes, electronic voting will do away with these time wasting inefficiencies.  And provide much better accountability.

But the real problem is the institution itself, which is non representative of our little college town that borders on being a city.

Amherst has the lowest median age in the entire state with over 50% of our population "college aged youth," almost all of them renters.

 See any college age youth?

While Town Meeting is on average retirement age homeowners.

Diversity of race, creed, color or sexual preference?  As my Italian friends would say, "Forget about it!"

Since Amherst has only a pathetic 10% commercial tax base the equally pathetic number of Town Meeting members with small business experience is probably not all that far off.   But still troubling.

Even my 8-year-old gets the simple formula of supply and demand (especially with candy around Halloween), which seems to stump Town Meeting time and time again.

Virtually all of the zoning articles (which require a two-thirds majority to pass) failed.   And in the future zoning tweaks will be required to bring about the positive smart growth this town so desperately needs to address our lack of housing and commercial enterprise. 

The BANANA/NIMBYs used to be an obstructionist fringe that could barely muster the one-third required to kill a zoning article.

Yet both their anti-business zoning articles, either of which would have detonated a dirty bomb in our town center business district, managed to muster a MAJORITY of Town Meeting support.

Paging Dr. Kevorkian!

Bite The Hand That Warms You

 Amherst Select Board:  Head of the class at Town Meeting

All Amherst Town Meeting members received an email last night from the supposedly non partisan Town Meeting Coordinating Committee begging us to show up for tonight's final meeting so the esteemed body would have a quorum and could then dispose of the last three citizen petition articles on the warrant. 

The cheerleader email was directed specifically at the final Article 30, a non-binding advisory ditty opposing construction of the Kinder Morgan/Tennessee Gas Pipeline through our neighboring counties to the north.

Apparently not "only in Amherst"

Since the pipeline is not scheduled to ram its way across the Town Common you might be tempted to thing it's not town business.  But it is.

Amherst businesses are already being hurt by the moratorium imposed by Berkshire Gas on any new hook ups in town due to supply constraints.

Last week Joe Bowman the owner/manager of Fratelli's Ristorante appeared before the Zoning Board of Appeals to secure permission to place a 1,000 gallon underground propane tank on site at 30 Boltwood Walk.

Not only an expensive capital construction project, but a more expensive routine supply cost as well.

Even the town -- a major customer of Berkshire Gas -- is being impacted as a renovation conversion project at East Street School from expensive, more environmentally harmful oil to natural gas is now in limbo because of the moratorium. 

One simple rule of, gasp, capitalism that Town Meeting never seems to get is the sacred law of supply and demand.  If you have high demand for housing and NIMBY/BANANAs constantly strangle the development of new housing, then the price goes up.

Or if you have a huge demand for clean, efficient, cheap energy and the pipeline is too small  to satisfy that demand, then you have a moratorium ... which is bad for business.

Thus Town Meeting should vote down the obstructionist article targeting the new pipeline.  IF we get a quorum.

 Select Board supports anti-pipeline petition, but dropped the ball on solar

About 20 years ago when an Annual Town Meeting stretched on forever and town officials were worried about a quorum on the final night they offered free coffee, hot chocolate, cookies & milk to entice members to perform their civic duty.

Maybe the Select Board should offer up fresh fruit tonight.  I'll spring for the BANANAs.

Abandon All Hope Ye Who Enter Here

Town Meeting time consuming standing vote last night

So once again by majority vote (88-66) against dismissal of Article 25 Amherst Town Meeting showed their true anti-business colors:  yellow.

The Build Absolutely Nothing Anywhere Near Anything BANANA crowd led by Vince O'Connor and Mary Wentworth, who never met a payroll in their life, are now no longer the radical fringe of our antiquated legislative body.

 Vince O'Connor: Amherst's Dr. Strangelove

While they may not have the numbers -- as evidenced last night -- to pass a business killer zoning article, which requires a two-thirds vote, they certainly have enough to block any future pro development zoning articles, which we've already seen them do time and time again over the recent past.

Amherst is more than half owned by tax exempts (mainly Amherst College, UMass, Hampshire College and our Conservation Department) thus shifting twice the burden to the other half who do pay property taxes.

And unlike non-bastions of higher education Amherst has a decidedly unbalanced 90/10 split between residential (90%) and commercial (10%) property tax base.

So "mixed use" commercial/residential development is the perfect answer -- especially in the downtown where our anemic commercial sector is slowing starving.

Amherst:  Where even the h is silent

Anyone who has ever run a small business knows the last thing an entrepreneur needs is a local government micro-managing their operation, or macro-managing the playing field. 

Especially one where almost none of the "elected" members has ever run a business. 

You're All Under Arrest

Amherst Town Meeting

Another good reason to replace Town Meeting with a professional more accountable Mayor/Council is that -- like the Mass State Legislature -- Town Meeting members are immune to Open Meeting Law, and to a large extent, Conflict of Interest Law.

The privately owned Amherst Town Meeting listserve has over 200 members (w-a-y more than a quorum) and we can discuss at length among ourselves the business of The People.  And not just over the newfangled Internet.

For instance yesterday late morning, leading members of the BANANA/NIMBY crowd met with Amherst town officials in Town Hall for a private pow wow concerning Inclusionary Zoning Articles 21 & 22.  Which only further strengthens my hunch that both are now destined to fail.   

   Amherst Self Interest

So I somewhat sympathize with exuberant member Kevin Collins, and he certainly does have a point about rookie member Claudia Brown having a h-u-g-e conflict of interest. 

If Town Meeting membership was purged due to NIMBY self interests it would end up being not much larger than a City Council.   Which would of course be a good thing.

#####

Apparently Mr. Collins got their attention:

Click to enlarge/read

List serve owner weighs in (this is getting better by the minute):

Bad Omen?

Town Meeting standing vote last night (which will be negated with electronic voting)

After a somewhat contentious 1.5 hour discussion Amherst Town Meeting narrowly approved hiring a $85,920 Economic Development Director, the pride and joy of Town Manager John Musante's FY16 budget.

The Tally Vote (another thing that will be negated by electronic voting) was 99-88. So if only a half-dozen people had changed their vote ...

I actually thought about voting NO simply because I think UMass should cover half the salary of this position since it was one of the main recommendations of the $60,000 Town/Gown consultant that UMass contributed $30,000 towards.

But I'm certain that the vast majority of NO votes represents the dyed-in-the-wool Build Absolutely Nothing Anywhere Near Anything (BANANA) crowd.

Which is a bad sign for the other favorite articles promoted by the Town Manager: Articles 21, Affordable Housing Property Tax Incentives and Article 22, Inclusionary Zoning which requires 10% of units in developments bigger than 9 units be "affordable."

The pro-business "sensible center" types (of which Town Meeting has far too few) are already being told to vote No on Article 22 (IZ)  if the tax incentives in Article 21 fail. 

Article 22 is a zoning article that requires a two-thirds vote so it stands little chance of passing if Article 21, which requires a majority vote, fails.

And with left wing ringleaders like Vince O'Connor, Mary Wentworth and Carol Gray portraying the tax incentives as "corporate welfare" it could get dicey -- as in hacked to pieces. 

Then There Were 24

Town Clerk Sandra Burgess (standing) distributes ballots with 2 names on them

Town Clerk Sandra Burgess held a special election in Town Hall this evening whereby a 4-4 tie vote from the March 31st election was broken by a vote of current Town Meeting members to elect the 24th member to represent Precinct 5.

Amherst has 10 precincts with 24 members per precinct.

Current Precinct 5 Town Meeting members

Interestingly 13 of the 23 members (54%) showed up for the 5 minute election.  Nina Wishengrad won a narrow decision 7-6 over Mark Kelly.  In the March 31st election a whopping (sarcasm) 7.5% of Amherst voters bothered to turn out. 

Town Meeting starts April 27 and drones on until all 30 articles are acted upon.

Open Space Slam Dunk

Owen's Pond top center

The acquisition of open space is a double edged sword, especially in a town more than half-owned by tax exempt entities.

Yes, it's beautiful and adds to the quality of life -- especially for immediate neighbors -- but it does not financially contribute to the General Fund for basic services like police, fire and DPW.

Regarding the 32 acre Hall property purchase for "conservation and public passive recreation purposes" Community Preservation Act Committee Chair Mary Streeter repeated stated that her committee has never seen such public support for a proposal.

 Gull Pond (right) Stavros Center, also a tax exempt, on left

And since the state is financing two-thirds of the $340K purchase price the $105,995 requested from CPA funds will fly through Town Meeting faster than a seagull targeting junk food.

The property near Owen's Pond was approved for a 14-house subdivision 25 years ago but is no particular "danger" at the moment of being developed.  And of course that is the #1 reason why Amherst housing is so damn expensive.

Too much demand and not enough supply.

Yet when a developer comes along and tries to increase density in the Village Centers, so that we can safely preserve outlying open space, the NIMBY machine gears up for war. 

Life is a balance, and Amherst land use is out of whack.

The much maligned 5-story mixed-use Kendrick Place (top center)

257 & Counting

Town Manager & Select Board get to sit at the head table

The Select Board signed the warrant last night and Amherst police posted copies this morning at all the precincts in town so there's no turning back now.  The 257th annual Amherst Town Meeting starts April 27 and runs for as long as it takes (usually two meetings per week) to get through all 30 articles.

A significant reduction from the 42 articles appearing on the warrant last year, which prompted a much talked about editorial in the Springfield Sunday Republican criticizing the molasses like pace of Amherst Town Meeting.

Click to enlarge/read

That year we finished up on June 2nd. 2013 was even worse with 45 articles on the warrant and a dissolving date of June 10th.

30 is not a new record for least amount but it shares that distinction with 2012 and 2009.  At the opposite end of the spectrum 2008 was the largest over the past ten years with 47 articles.

Our $70 million budget is balanced so not much controversy to be generated there.   Additionally, last night the Finance Director told the Select Board that enough savings had been found in health insurance and long term debt payments to cover the cost of the Town Manager's pet project:  A new Economic Development Director.

Police will see a paltry increase of one position but the beleagured Fire Department got burned with no additional staffing.

8 of the 30 articles are via "citizen petition" (it only takes 10 signatures to get on the warrant) and three of the eight are zoning related so they will require a two-thirds vote of Town Meeting to pass.

 Tedious standing vote

One thing that takes up tremendous time every meeting is the procedural process.  Standing votes and tally votes can require 10 or 15 minutes each, and some nights we can have nearly a half-dozen.

Although not in the budget for this year's annual meeting, Finance Director Sandy Pooler did set aside $25,000 for the Fall Town Meeting to buy electronic voting devices for the entire 240 member body.

Which should help speed things up.

Of course the best solution is to reduce the size of the legislative body by 75% and hope some of the more loquacious members do not survive a competitive election. 

 

A Million Here & A Million There

Crocker Farm Elementary Pre-school playground will get $25K to meet ADA requirements

The Joint Capital Planning Committee voted unanimously this morning to support the $3,070,457 FY16 spending plan shepherded to them by Finance Director Sandy Pooler, representing 7.5% of the total town tax levy.

 Sources of funds:  taxation, ambulance revenues, Chapter 90 state aid, CPA, borrowing

Although the committee still pines for the day when the capital spending rises to 10% of the tax levy.

The only changes from last week were a result of push back by the JCPC on Mr. Pooler delaying $25,000 in to make playground equipment at Crocker Farm Elementary School ADA compliant and $10,000 (out of original $35K proposed) for studies and improvements to a resurging North Amherst Village center.  Both items are now back in for FY16, which starts July 1st.

North Amherst Village Center

Saying that this has "emptied the coffers" to cover all the requests from department heads, Mr. Pooler did point out that he reserved $25,000 for Fall Town Meeting to cover the cost of electronic voting devices for 256-year-old Amherst Town Meeting.

Looking down the road Mr. Pooler unveiled a graphic data base that depicts the impact of four major capital projects (South Fire Station, DPW, Wildwood Elementary and Jones Library expansion/renovation) on annual spending if all $57 million were to be covered by borrowing, although some of the projects will probably be financed via a "Debt Exclusion Override".

Since Amherst Fire Department has to protect all this future development it would make sense for the forever talked about new South Fire Station to go first.

Unfortunately, Town Meeting and making sense do not always go hand in hand.

Click to enlarge/read.  Red is new fire station

 Annual debt payments would triple, but decline over time

Current debt with a couple of small projects included (Fort River School roof, Kendrick Park renovation)

 Numbers for four major construction projects

And The People Shall Lead (Sort Of)

Amherst:  Where even the h is silent

Only three "citizens petitions" were filed yesterday in Town Hall prior to the noon deadline for placement on the upcoming annual spring Town Meeting warrant, which begins April 27.  I say "only" because the barrier to entry is so low, requiring "only" ten valid signatures.

Amherst is a town that prides itself on speaking out about issues great and small.  Town Meeting is supposed to be the ultimate platform for the common man or woman.  Although in our case that commonality seems all too restricted to older, white, upper-income homeowners.

Click to enlarge/read

The petition article to bring paid sick leave to part time town employees was made moot by the Select Board last night, who voted unanimously to support the recommendation of the Personnel Board for part time town employees who work year-round.

The $28,000 required will be added to the  budget that goes before Town Meeting and once passed will go into effect July 1st.

Proclamation articles are advisory and enacted to pretty much to make a feel good statement.  Since nobody can argue -- at least successfully anyway -- against "civility, respect, kindness and friendship" pretty safe bet "Race Amity Day" will pass unanimously by (overwhelmingly white) Amherst Town Meeting.

And what would the annual Amherst Town Meeting be without at least one petition article from Vince O'Connor?  Last year he had five, four of which were voted down or referred back to a committee.

Although his article to double the Community Preservation Act surcharge from 1.5% to 3% did pass handily, adding to the already outrageously high annual property taxes in town.

Apparently Vince has been studying engineering in his spare time and he considers the closed Mill Street Bridge safe enough to reopen for two way traffic.

And these three petitions that came in on the final day will join the other two filed last week: an anti-fracking advisory article and a feel good human rights declaration.  As of this morning all five petitions had the required number of signatures certified for placement on the Town Meeting warrant.

Pro human rights

Anti-fracking resolution

The Electronic Age

Jim Pistrang pitches his electronic voting idea to Amherst Select Board

256-year-old Amherst Town Meeting could amble into the 21st Century if a majority of the 240+ members support the recommendation of the newly announced Amherst Town Meeting Electronic Voting Committee this coming fall.

The seven member group is the brainchild of Town Meeting Moderator Jim Pistrang, and he will be joined by Town Clerk Sandra Burgess, an IT staff person, one member of the Town Meeting Coordinating Committee and three at large members (not necessarily current Town Meeting members).

According to Mr. Pistrang electronic voting will serve to facilitate three equally important crucial things: accuracy, accountability and efficiency.

The committee will research the best system to fit the needs of Amherst, determine the total cost, and come up with wording to revise current bylaws governing Town Meeting to allow for electronic voting.

And they will draft a warrant article for the 2015 Fall Special Town Meeting to purchase the gadgets, which, if approved, would then go into full use at the 2016 Spring Annual Town Meeting.

As a sales pitch the committee will also put on a demonstration for the Fall Town Meeting showing how the system works prior to their vote (taken in the old fashioned manner -- either voice vote, standing vote, or tally vote).

 Standing vote 5/7/14 Town Meeting

The Select Board unanimously supported the idea to form the committee.

Now if we could just downsize Town Meeting by w-a-y more than half, to say 60, we could save money on the new system, increase accountability even more, and actually make members compete for their seats.

Inclusionary Zoning Zapped

Amherst Planning Board

After an hour and a half of somewhat contentious discussion, including a failed motion made by the Planning Board to refer the inclusionary zoning/affordable housing article back to them, Article #5, a citizens petition signed by 150 residents failed to garner the required two-thirds vote.

Although it did gain a clear majority 111 yes to 79 no.  The previous motion to refer, which would have only required a majority to pass, failed by a tally vote of 83 yes to 107 no.

Supporters described it as an "interim" measure just to cover the next six months while the Planning Board works feverishly to craft their own long promised inclusionary zoning bylaw. Opponents swore their allegiance to affordable housing but warned about "unintended consequences" whereby developers take a walk and no housing gets built.

 Select Board and Town Manager unanimously endorsed referral back to Planning Board

Article #5 would have had an immediate impact on the proposed One East Pleasant Street mixed-use project in the north end of the downtown. That 84 unit project is still before the Planning Board and they are seeking two Special Permits, one for extra height and the other for increased lot coverage.

Had article #5 passed any Special Permit, even for minor concessions, would trip the affordability clause, requiring them to provide 10 affordable units.

The Town Attorney suggested such a requirement could be considered an eminent domain "taking"  thus exposing the town to liability. Retired attorney and proponent of the measure John Fox told Town Meeting there's "always the risk of a lawsuit."

Amherst Town Meeting, via a dedicated minority, has turned down a bevy of zoning measures over the past ten years out of fear and mistrust over development -- especially if it involves student housing.   Which is why Amherst housing market is so overpriced and exceedingly understocked.

This time the high hurdle for passing a zoning article worked against the anti-development folks.

 Carriage Shops:  Proposed site for One East Pleasant Street project

Bait & Switch?

Clearly petitioner Vince O'Connor told Amherst Town Meeting that Article #38 was not a vote to increase the Community Preservation Act tax -- I mean "surcharge" -- from 1.5% to 3%. 

It was instead that most cherished of Democratic principals to simply allow the voters of Amherst the God given right to double the tax, err, "surcharge."

But if you read the state "summary" for Question 5 on the November 3 state ballot it clearly gives the impression that Amherst Town Meeting supported the tax increase itself. 

Kind of like the confusion that takes place every year at Town Meeting when the Finance Committee unanimously supports CPA spending articles.  What they are really supporting is the fact that the appropriation is "an appropriate use of CPA money."  In other words it's not illegal.

But isn't that why we spend $100,000 per year on a Town Attorney?  The Town Attorney does vet Community Preservation Act articles for anything that could be challenged so why do we need the Finance Committee's opinion when they are not legal experts?

Such is the charmed life of all things CPA.

Attempted Coup d'état

Tellers huddle with Moderator at June 2 Town Meeting

Apparently members collaborated before the final session of Amherst Town Meeting Monday night, although all the usual suspects were involved so probably not much more collaboration than usual.

The Planning Board wished to refer a hot potato zoning article they had placed on the warrant back to themselves for further study after it was not overly well received by the business community.

With Vince O'Connor absent, his mini-me Jim Oldham led the sneak attack by asking Town Meeting to vote down the "motion to refer" so the article would stay on the floor and he could then make a simple amendment (although with zoning nothing is simple) "within the scope of the article" targeting mixed-use developments in the downtown.

After an extra unanticipated 55 minutes of discussion, Town Meeting did pass the motion to refer 86 Yes 70 No, which actually sounds kind of close.  But since a zoning article requires a two-thirds vote to pass, not close at all.  Keep in mind this gerrymandering occurred in the final hour of the 9th and final session of the 256th Annual  Town Meeting, which started back in April.

The real scary overthrow of decorum occurred just before this article, when once again Vince O'Connor caused Town Meeting to waste over an hour-and-a-half discussing citizen petition zoning articles that had been ruled illegal the week before.

 Vince O'Connor strutting to the podium last year

Since O'Connor had submitted his 100 signature petitions too late for the Planning Board to hold a Public Hearing and issue their required report, the Moderator ruled the two articles could only be "refereed back to a committee" or "dismissed."

Mr. O'Connor demonstrated supreme hubris by not only refusing to make the motion to refer but he did not even bother to show up to Town Meeting.  The Select Board made the motion to dismiss.

 And then the drones took over and squandered even more time.

Each motion to dismiss was adamantly opposed and each required a Tally Vote (which takes up another ten minutes) because of doubters who could not accept defeat.  The first motion to dismiss passed 88-78 and the second one 87-77.

 

Usual Suspect:  Hipster Rob Kusner

Now put that together with the final vote (86-70) on Mr. Oldham's attempt to hijack the Planning Board article at the end of the night and you get an idea of the overall strength of the drone bees.

While 70 or so out of 250 is a distinct minority -- they are dedicated.  The average turnout on any given night is under 200, so those 70 can block any zoning article that requires a two-thirds vote.

Usual Suspect:  Mary Streeter

Unfortunately, any pro-development zoning article is viewed as a conspiracy to benefit the rich and powerful while trampling upon the rights of "the people." 

Or the folks with too much time on their hands.

 Jim Oldham at podium, David Webber, beleaguered Planning Board Chair in front