A Shining Light

"

Umass  three solar parking canopies will save $45K annually

Senate President Stan Rosenberg, a tireless workhorse for Western Mass in general and UMass/Amherst in particular, joined forces with Chancellor Kumble Subbaswamy, outgoing State Rep Ellen Story and Judith Judson, commissioner of the state Department of Energy Resources (DOER), to officially welcome/unveil the first parking canopy solar arrays to our area.

 Good crowd on hand for the 10:30 AM ceremony

Over the next year the University will install two more of these parking lot canopy solar arrays as well as placing arrays on six buildings, a total of 15,576 panels, which will provide 5.5 megawatts of energy and save $6.2 million over the next 20 years.

 Vira Douangmany Cage, Amilcar Shabazz and Stan Rosenberg

Ellen Story:  "This is great advertising for UMass"

Stan Rosenberg:  "Emblematic installation highlighting the green future we desperately need"

Judith Judson:"Partners like UMass help us establish our goal of clean energy"

Chancellor Subbaswamy

Marijuana Quota Met?

169 Meadow St RMD site for GTI

Last night the Zoning Board of Appeals unanimously approved a Special Permit to establish and operate an Off-Site Medical Marijuana Dispensary at 169 Meadow Street, North Amherst by GTI Massachusetts NP Corporation, the second such permit issued over the past four weeks.

 Attorney Tom Reidy presents to ZBA last night

But, in all likelihood, the last such permit to be issued over the foreseeable future.

55 University Drive location received a Special Permit on June 30th

ZBA Chair Mark Parent made it perfectly clear that he considers two dispensaries in Amherst (and the one already operating in Northampton) more than enough to satisfy local demand over the next five years, saying "I don't see anything beyond two in Amherst.  I cannot image giving a 3rd permit for a dispensary given the numbers I've seen."

A Special Permit requires a unanimous vote off all three ZBA members.

Seated in the audience UMass community liaisons Tony Maroulis and Eric Beal seemed relieved to hear the ZBA Chair's candid remarks about maintaining a cap of only two dispensaries in Amherst, thus leaving out in the cold two remaining non-profits who have applied for locations on University Drive, the main gateway to UMass Amherst.

85 University Drive was the first to get Select Board approval but has not yet appeared before ZBA

Mr. Parent also made it perfectly clear the Special Permit was for medical use of marijuana, NOT recreational use. 

So if the recreational pot legalization ballot question passes on November 8th any dispensary in Amherst already issued a Special Permit would need to come back to the ZBA for a change in conditions.

Rafters,  a local landmark for 25 years, is a proposed site for Happy Valley Ventures, the 4th entity to get Select Board approval but has not yet appeared before ZBA

Letter from Select Board read into public record last night:

Click to enlarge/read

Growing In The Way Of Progress

Linden Tree will be removed for a sidewalk/crosswalk project

At the joint meeting of the Planning Board and Tree Warden last night all six trees scheduled for demolition received a stay of execution, but not because of any of their actions.

Because of Mass state law if one person files a letter of protest over a tree removal then the matter is automatically diverted to the Amherst Select Board our "keepers of the public way."  And by last night there were two such letters filed.

The Planning Board did vote anyway and unanimously approved removing the Linden tree in front of the Jones Library for placement of a sidewalk and all but one of the trees along the north border of Kendrick Park.


Three of these four on Kendrick Park will go to make room for a new roundablut

This entire island will be removed for new roundabout

But not without some badgering of DPW Chief Guilford Mooring concerning the roundabout approved to go in that location.

New PB member Michael Birtwhistle more than once demanded to know if the town has a funding source in place for the new roundabout, to which Mooring responded he honestly did not know.

The motion that passed unanimously (but cannot be carried out until Select Board decides) allowed for the removal of three of the four trees, but only after a funding source has been confirmed for the construction of the roundabout.

 A roundabout has been approved by Public Works Committee and Select Board

Just Another Day For Public Safety Dept

AFD & APD on scene Brandywine Apartments

Who said summers in Amherst are boring?

Our first responders rushed to Brandwine Apartments in North Amherst for a complaint about a resident "cooking chemicals on a stove."

  Nikolai James being escorted to ambulance

Before it was over almost eight hours later APD, AFD, a State Police helicopter and a HazMat team coordinated a response.

The perp, Nikolai James, was apparently cooking his own urine and that was only one of many unidentified chemicals found in his apartment.  And yes, ammonia/uric acid is an ingredient for crystal meth.

He was transported by ambulance to Cooley Dickinson Hospital but then flew the coop. 

Click to enlarge/read

They've Got A Secret

Regional School Committee and their attorney Tom Columb this evening

The joint meeting of the Amherst Pelham Regional School Committee and Union 26 met in open session this evening at the Regional Middle School from 6:00 PM until 6:04 PM and then retreated into Executive Session until 9:34 PM, even though the published agenda called for only 55 minutes.

Last week they also went into Executive Session for two hours and fifty minutes for the same stated reason:  "To conduct strategy sessions in preparation for negotiations with nonunion personnel."

 Which is of course Superintendent Maria Geryk, the highest paid employee in the town of Amherst.

And yes she still has two years (with an option to renew for an additional year) left on her contract so obviously the "negotiations" they were discussing is not simply a contract renewal.

At last week's meeting the Committee was supposed to discuss and release the Superintendent's annual evaluation due June 30th,  but that was put off until Monday, a meeting that was then cancelled at the last minute.

Since Ms. Geryk was not present either last week or this evening (or at last night's Wildwood School Building Committee meeting) no discussion could take place -- in open or closed session -- of her job performance.

But something pretty darn interesting must have been discussed.  For over six hours now.  In secret.

DUI DIshonor Roll

MADD statistic:  Every two minutes a person is injured in a drunk driving crash

Only one impaired driver in the town of Amherst was taken off the road last weekend by UMass police, but statistically speaking a few more managed to escape the long arm of the law.

Hadley police bagged two.

All three individuals had a plea of not guilty entered in their behalf by Judge Thomas Estes in Eastern Hampshire District Court on Monday morning and their cases were continued until next month.

Sam Tang age 20 is arraigned in Eastern Hampshire District Court

Click to enlarge/read

Ariel Barnett-Soleil, age 26, arraigned before Judge Estes

Click to enlarge/read

Aaron Braithwaite, age 50, arraigned before Judge Estes

Wildwood Gone Wild

Wildwood Building Project now expected to cost $33 million in town funds

 

Wildwood Building Committee yesterday afternoon

A day after the Select Board agreed to place a Debt Exclusion Override on the November 8 ballot the Wildwood School Building Committee heard what the possible amount would be:  A lot.

 Presentation to Select Board Monday night

$33 million to be precise, or perhaps the word precise is a tad too precise at this moment.

The Committee also heard about estimates that already came in almost $2 million too high, so the OPM and architects had to delete or reduce items.

 Recent cost cuts

When Assistant Town Manager Dave Ziomek questioned why the building will only be LEED Silver vs LEED Gold certified, he was told that too was a trade off due to cost constraints.

The November 8th ballot question will not have an actual amount but by then a more precise number will be known and the November 14th Town Meeting will need to vote a bond authorization for a precise amount.  That requires a two-thirds vote.

By then the project will only have a 6% contingency built in, so if in the final stages of construction  that gets overrun the additional amount needed will not be funded/reimbursed by MSBA.  Currently the overall reimbursement rate is projected at 50%-55%.

 Click to enlarge/read

The town will pay as we go the entire $67 million, but will also get the reimbursements within weeks of submitting bills for eligible costs bringing the total town spending down to, maybe, $33 million but that does not include interest.

Embattled School Superintendent Maria Geryk, a member of the Wildwood Building Committee, was not at the meeting and did not attend the Select Board meeting on Monday night.

The Amherst Pelham Regional School Committee meets later this afternoon in Executive Session for the second time in a week to discuss her future employment.

Yours, Mine & Ours

Hobart Lane Gilreath Manor (3 buildings on left)

Yellow shows town right of way property

The Amherst Select Board, acting as "road commissioners", voted to allow the Temporary Town Manager to negotiate an annual "license fee" for Gilreath Manor in North Amherst after officials became aware they borrowed land in the public way for a parking expansion over the years that will also require Zoning Board of Appeals approval.

Lincoln Real Estate attorney Tom Reidy suggested $100 per year but since the Lord Jeff in town center pays $8,000 per year for the same type of license the price may end up a tad higher.

Gilreath Manor was built in the early 1970s back in the good old days when UMass had e-x-p-a-n-d-e-d exponentially and housing was a gold mine market ... as it remains today.

The reason the Lord Jeff pays such a high fee is they are taking as their own seven metered parking spaces and ten permit parking spaces on Spring Street which formerly generated revenues to the town.

And Hobart Lane is a tad off the beaten path for parking meters, one of the reasons it has a party central reputation.

Crowd of 1,000 behind 17 Hobart Lane Sunday April 17, 2016

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow ...

Amherst College Johnson Chapel

The American flag is again in that unmistakable position of mourning, this time for three police officers in Baton Rouge gunned down in a cowardly ambush that would have take the lives of any of us.

 Click to enlarge/read

Over the past two weeks, after the mass police killing in Dallas and the truck slaughter of civilians in France, our flag has been at full staff for only a day.  

In this despicable time of terrorism it easily could have been any of us. If you target those who protect us from evil, surely we all could be next.

As we saw so graphically illustrated that terrible morning 15 years ago.

Party On Dude

APD Captain Jen Gundersen, UMass Associate Dean  of Students Sally Linowski

The Amherst Select Board, although they never formally voted on it, gave their wholehearted support to the new joint initiative between UMass officials and Amherst police to start a weekend Party Registration Pilot Program in September for students living off-campus.

More than half of the 29,000 students who attend our flagship University live off campus.

According to Captain Jen Gundersen APD responds to between 700 and 1200 noise complaints annually and each one requires at least two officers, sometimes as many as four.

And in the vast majority of cases a simple verbal warning solves the problem.

Now that verbal warning can come first via a telephone call to the registered party house giving them a 20 minute deadline to end the party or at least quiet it considerably.

With the advent of Rental Registration Permit Bylaw the town has already seen a dramatic reduction in Party House rowdy behavior, so this experiment can be the icing on the cake.

The Select Board will hear a report in January about how well the program performed over the Fall semester.

Blarney Blowout 2014:  Party gone bad

The Die is Cast

Amherst Select Board

Only figure mentioned last night was "$30 to $35 million"

With almost no discussion the Select Board rolled the dice last night and unanimously voted to place on the November 8th ballot a blank check Debt Exclusion Override rumored to be in the $30-$35 million range.

That is of course if it comes in on budget.  And we know how super reliable government building projects are at coming in on budget.

Since the authorization from the voters simply says the town can have enough money to construct "two co-located schools on the Wildwood site" that means no matter what the projected/estimated amount is, the taxpayers are clearly on the hook for any cost overruns.

The less than dynamic presentation to the Select Board included a brief presentation from the Wildwood Building Committee and Amherst School Committee Chair Katherine Appy, who admitted the School Committee never voted on a formal request to the Select Board regarding the Debt Exclusion Override.

Embattled School Superintendent Maria Geryk was not at the meeting.

The main reason the Select Board is hurriedly placing this epically important question on the the November 8th ballot (although they have until August 1st to do so) is to save $20,000 it would cost to hold a special election.

But long time Town Meeting member and poll worker Hilda Greenbaum pointed out this coming election is going to be overwhelming the Town Clerk's office as it is with the Presidential contest and marijuana legalization question already on the ballot.

And since this is such a vitally important issue, paying $20,000 for a stand alone election a little later in the process, allowing more time for public education,  is a wise investment.

In 2004 the Select Board authorized a Pyramid Override where two stand alone questions appeared on the same ballot, one for a $2 million amount and the other for $1.5 million.  The larger amount failed but the smaller amount passed.

But a Debt Exclusion Override can only authorized a project and not the actual dollar amount.

Which is kind of like sending your spouse out to "buy a new car" without giving them a firm dollar amount cap.

Public Schools Disarray Continues

Wildwood started out a single school renovation but turned into "reconfiguration" with a 2-schools-in-one $65 million new building

UPDATE Sunday night:  As Fox News would say "breaking news".  The Regional School Committee meeting for Monday night has been cancelled.  Things are getting curiouser and curiouser.

Click to enlarge/read

ORIGINAL post:

On Monday night a potentially earth shaking Regional School Committee meets for their "retreat" at ornate Valentine Hall while a couple hundred yards away the Amherst Select Board will also take up discussion of another somewhat historic school related issue, whether to place a $30+ million Debt Exclusion Override on the November 8th ballot for the construction of the $65 million Mega School.

This would be only the second time in history an Override question has gone to the voters prior to a Town Meeting vote, which requires two-thirds super-majority to pass.

Yes, I'm going to have to figure out how to clone myself in the next 24 hours.

But the simple fact these two important meetings are happening at the same time underscores the hasty, not-overly-well-thought-out situation our elected public officials find themselves in at this defining hour.

 Maria Geryk at June 14th RSC meeting, her last public appearance

According to Maria Geryk's $150K annual contract she should have received her School Committee evaluations -- which are supposed to be a "public" process -- by June 30th.    And she has to be present in the public meeting for the evaluation discussion to take place.

Thus the most recent July 13th meeting where her evaluation was on the agenda that discussion could by law not have taken place since Maria Geryk was Missing In Action that night.

 June 14th RSC meeting where Laura Kend ousted Trevor Baptiste as Chair

In fact under questioning from former Chair Trevor Baptiste rookie Regional School Committee Chair Laura Kent admitted the individual evaluations were not even available that night so even if Ms. Geryk was at the head table the Committee was ill prepared for that discussion to take place.

I asked Ms. Kent on Friday morning if Superintendent Geryk would be present Monday night and as of yet have not received a reply.

Click to enlarge/read

The Amherst Select Board has the ultimate authority to place an Override question on the ballot, so it's not highly unusual for them to have that on their agenda, although it has not happened in the last half-dozen years.

However, the Select Board is doing it as a favor to the Amherst School Committee who never officially asked them to do it via a Committee vote.

And up until now even though they have had a couple updates from the Schools regarding the Mega School, the Select Board has had zero discussion about this important expensive matter.

Monday night could be a very l-o-n-g meeting.