From One Command To Another

A news junkie’s disadvantage is that reading a headline in the morning newspaper seldom elicits surprise.

Not today. I was amazed Sarno beat Mayor Ryan in Springfield. And apparently the venerable Springfield Republican was too as the headline used the appropriate term “stunning upset.”

But the other one was a pleasant surprise: Michael Boulanger becoming Mayor of Westfield.

I first met the Colonel at a Memorial Day ceremony in Southwick, Donna’s hometown, when he was still commander of Barnes Air National Guard 104’th Fighter Wing. We have one of those husband/wife deals where we spend July 4’th in Amherst and Memorial Day in Southwick.

It was one of those numerous picture perfect days of 2001; and I remember thinking, “who is this guy”? Probably a pencil-pushing military bureaucrat who will give the stock, monotone speech that I endure all too often on the floor of Amherst Town Meeting (except never having to do with patriotism of course).

The person who introduced him at the microphone briefly ran down his accomplishments--not just as base commander--but as a fighter pilot and all the conflicts (some recent) he had served in; not too mention being one of the first to test night vision goggles, and survive.

He gave a heartfelt speech. I’m not sure if I was more impressed with his resume or that speech. Three and half months later, on another picture perfect day, the world changed.

The Amherst Veterans Agent planned a Veteran’s Day ceremony (2001) on the town common for the first time in memory, so I contacted the Colonel and requested a fly-over. He said he would love to, as his son was attending Umass at the time and he often buzzed Amherst.

Naturally, this being the People’s Republic of Amherst, peace protestors (the US had just begun the bombing of Afghanistan after they refused to give up Bin Laden) crashed the solemn event and the arguments got so heated that I thought for the first time ever I would have to physically intervene between two opposing participants.

Just then a pair of those gorgeously ugly A-10’s came SCREAMING up South Pleasant Street directly overhead, flying wicked low and wicked fast with their wingtips almost touching. The entire dumbfounded crowd went silent. War averted by fighter jets.

The Colonel retired just before the A-10s were retired and Barnes now has F-15’s out of Otis Air Force Base, probably including the very same two who scrambled that awful morning and chased the wayward commercial jets all the way to New York.

If Colonel Boulanger runs Westfield half as well as he ran his command (and I’m sure he will) those folks are in very good hands. I only wish he had became Amherst’s Mayor.

The Way We Were

Who needs first run airings of Jon Stewart’s “The Daily Show” or Stephen (I could have been a contenda) Colbert’s “The Colbert Report”, Amherst Town Meeting is back. Ah…the humor, the irony, the ZZZZZZZZZZZ.

And we're off to a typical start. Town Meeting (supposedly) begins at 7:30 pm; the required quorum didn’t happen until 7:45 and we didn’t start discussing article #1 until 8:00 pm.

If you want the blow (hard) by blow (hard) description then go to Stephanie’s Town Meeting Experience (whenever she awakens and posts).

Last night’s most interesting presentation goes to feisty Nancy Gordon who dared to speak against spending a quarter million to add modular classrooms by suggesting we close down Marks Meadow the smallest of our four elementary schools.

Marks Meadow overhead consumes over $1.5 million and the structure has aged into obsolescence. Umass owns it and they refuse to give Amherst any more space nearby or renovate or expand the building.

The Town Manager admits he spent most of his time on Marks Meadow while negotiating the “strategic agreement” with Umass; resulting in the same status quo going back a generation--except an acknowledgement from Umass that these kids do exist and do cost Amherst taxpayers significant tax dollars (estimated $600,000 annually)

1. “If, in the future, the Town builds a new elementary school and vacates the Mark’s Meadow facility, the Town, AES, ARPS and the University will negotiate a new agreement in which the University may reimburse the Town for a portion of the net costs of educating students living in University tax-exempt housing.

Don’t you just love that waffle term “may reimburse.”

Heck, for the $600,000 Umass annually costs our education budget they should donate us the darn building.

And pay for their effluent, and the local hotel/motel tax, and the property tax on recently demolished Frat Row property, and Amherst Police World Series overtime ...

History, unfortunately, repeats itself.

A “a fed up taxpayer” anonymously mailed me the three-year agreement between Amherst and Umass circa 1995 with the observation that it was a better pact for the town than the one Town Manager Shaffer is currently crowing about.

My anonymous friend multiplies the $6 for each student by 20,000 rather than the 11,000 it actually covered (“student resident of University owned housing") and also multiplied $50,000 in “economic development and planning services” by three when in fact that amount was the total maximum for all three years combined.

So they came up with $510,000 when in fact the total was about half that. And what really brought Umass to the bargaining table in the first place was the fear of a lawsuit over $203,000 in misrouted moving violations money the Northampton Court Clerk had accidentally sent to Umass rather than Amherst over a ten year period.

Umass said they had already spent the money on student scholarships. I said it doesn’t matter if you used it to save the whales or cure cancer; it was not your money and please give it back (with interest).

So I filed a warrant article with Town Meeting calling for them to immediately suit the University to recover the money. And, amazingly, it passed. Umass came calling the very next day.

But Selectman Hill Boss and Town Manager Barry Del Castilho got taken to the cleaners by Umass negotiators (in a series of meetings at Hill Boss’s private home that the DA declared “violated the spirit of the Open Meeting Law)”, flushing away the $200,000 lawsuit that a judge already said was the town’s money for $50,000 in trade (something we probably could have gotten out of a Grad Student for free anyway).

But the $66,000 in ambulance money was new, although we postponed pursuing the Hotel/Motel tax on the Campus Center Hotel (estimated value $50,000 to $75,000) and to “confine differential in water rates to 20 cents per 100 cubic feet.”

In a later agreement the differential went away completely; but if our Water Commissioners simply reinstituted that 20 cent difference at tonight’s Select board meeting it would cost Umass about $75,000.

And of course there was much talk about Umass helping to advocate for an “equitable” PILOT (Payment In Lieu Of Taxes). All talk and no action.

Today’s PILOT formulae is the same as it was ten years ago, repaying towns with state property simply by the square mile with no difference between the Wendell State Forest and a densely populated areas like Umass.

This one-page pact certainly demonstrates how easily Umass, in the current “strategic agreement”, built on its previous outmaneuvering of Amherst Town officials.

Camp David

Keenan that is. Sunday night.

Those who live in glass houses...

So we bust a former Select board member for having an unkempt home but a current Select board member can store scrap metal in his driveway for years on end.

Handwriting on the wall...

Amherst certainly didn't waste any time condemning Mr. Keenan's humble abode...or should I say the town's humble abode.


And I couldn't help but notice a portable heater/grill unit (looking a tad tired) a chair and tent equipment sitting on the front steps. Hmmm.

Mi Casa, Su Casa

So as predicted, the town found enough structural defects in Dave’s castle to bring down a skyscraper and probably by the close of business today will condemn his Happy Home. Funny how quickly the system works when hassling a Gadfly.

I don’t think the Springfield Republican reporter quite realized that Dave was serious when he said perhaps he would relocate into the Town Hall stairwell (after all, it is currently covered by a plastic sheet,)

This incident reminds me of another infamous Barry Del Castilho episode, now South Hadley’s $65/hour interim town administrator. Del Castilho desperately wanted a multi-million Override for Town Hall renovations (where his office was located) so he made a HUGE health issue of pigeon poop in the attic.

His secretary Laurie Benoit (whom he later married, after divorcing his then wife Linda) was posed for the Front Page of the crusty old Amherst Bulletin wearing a surgeon’s mask to filter out the supposed biological hazards.

And the two of them used a mail order air quality test kit (that at the time was about as reliable as a coin toss) and submitted samples from the back filter of an air conditioner (Gee, you think maybe that turned up a few beasties?)

Del Castilho then commissioned a $10,000 study by a reputable consultant to study the air quality in and around Town Hall. Hilariously, the study revealed the BEST air quality in the building was located in the attic because of the hot dry air up there (and all the poop was stuck to the floor so it didn’t go airborne).

And the WORST quality air was directly outside the building (called normal New England air in late Spring or Summer).

Along comes Dave Keenan suggesting volunteers simply clean up the poop for free and fix the broken window that the pigeons were using to enter the nice warm attic for the winter. The Town Manager, not wanting to grant Keenan a positive headline for selfless volunteerism, unequivocally said No.

Dave then crashed a Select Board meeting with a few friends (no, not me) dressed in space suits singing the song Ghost-Busters. Although changing the key word to Pigeon-Busters.

The town went on to spend over $100,000 to clean up the poop. And about then Dave stopped paying his taxes.

Town Meeting later overwhelmingly voted a $2.7 million Override with only two out of 155 or so voting No. I was one and Hill Boss the other. A week or so later Boss Hill wrote a Letter To The Editor of the crusty Bulletin saying he changed his mind and now supported the Override. It got walloped at the ballot box.

Town Meeting tried again; and again voters said take a hike. Town Meeting then used a loan to pay for it (thus bypassing voters) and by then it had grown to around $4 million. And even then a couple years later, Town Hall required a $200,000 more for roof repair and next week Town Meeting will be discussing how to pay another $600,000 for the current exterior repointing.

Only in Amherst.
http://www.masslive.com/hampfrank/republican/index.ssf?/base/news-12/1193989899272420.xml&coll=1