Monster misstep in DA race

So I've gone out and collected signatures over the past 25 years with more petitions and campaign forms than I care to remember. And yes, on occasion somebody simply refused to sign, saying they did not support the idea--sometimes even saying they hated the idea.

My response was always something to the effect that by signing this preliminary form you are not voting to support it, only getting it (or me) on the ballot for the electorate to decide; and isn't that what grass roots democracy is all about?

And of course one of the sacred rights in America is the secrecy of your voting ballot. Although the state decided long ago that campaign petitions to get things on the ballot are public documents. So beware what you sign, because most folks will consider that a sign of support.

Michael A. Cahillane is doing major backpedaling at the moment--today's Daily Hampshire Gazette front page article and a live appearance on the Cantara show, my favorite WRNX radio program this morning, trying to explain why he signed the referendum petition to ban gay marriage back in 2005.

Ironically he worked as a prosecutor in the DA's office--a position he now seeks--and one of their responsibilities at the time was to enforce the Open Meeting and Public Documents Law. So you would think he would have known better, although his boss Betsy Scheibel was pretty well ensconced as DA--and most insiders would not have predicted her retirement only five years later.

Of course this major misstep would never have seen the light of print/bandwidth over the past 12 hours if two citizens did not take the time to write a 'Letter to the Editor' of the venerable Gazette.

The main mistake Mr. Cahillane made was to ignore their legitimate concerns--probably hoping the issue would never get out of the closet--rather then addressing it head on many months back, when apparently one of the letter writers first brought it to his attention.

A template of possibilities

clockwise: Peg Roberts, Larry Shaffer, Aaron Hayden, John Coull, Jonathan Tucker

The Amherst Redevelopment Authority along with Town Manager Larry Shaffer and head planner Jonathan Tucker took a roadtrip on Friday as a fact finding mission for the proposed Gateway Project in partnership with Umass to develop the former "frat row" into a mixed use commercial development with high-end student housing, thus seamlessly connecting our downtown with the main campus.

Like Amherst MA, Hanover NH is dominated by one major higher educational institution: Dartmouth College. Although compared to Umass, their total student population of only 6,000 seems dowright intimate.

Interestingly Wikipedia describes Hanover as a "rural town." I found their downtown to be larger and more vibrant than Amherst town center. and I also noted a distinct lack of vacant storefronts and a lot of construction underway.

Hanover Town Hall cloaked under cover of ivy

But their Town Room was spacious and well cooled. Town Manager Julia Griffin far left.

Perhaps because of the involvement by Dartmouth College, who owns a large stockpile of commercial property and housing for students and staff--all of it on the taxrolls.

Yes, downtown Hanover even has a hardware store, situated in a building owned by the college (actually the entire block) where the rents are below market rate because they understand that a lively downtown requires a good mix of offerings.

Mixed use block (retail on ground, housing above) owned by Dartmouth College in town center
And they even have a hardware store!

And all of the soon to be proposed Gateway Project would be on the taxrolls.

The ARA meets this coming Wednesday night and we will discuss in open session what we learned on our one-day summer vacation.

The sad saga continues and continues...

So I could not cover the "final meeting" last night of the Library Director Evaluation Committee's supposed final meeting, but fortunately Jones Library Trustee Chris Hoffmann (who is not on the subcommittee--and they hate it when he shows up) is a glutton for punishment and attended, even writing an overview that he sent out to a private listserve of 24 concerned citizens. One of them forwarded to me and he gave me permission to publish.

I think before this Jones Library Trustees snafu has ended somebody should award trustee Chris Hoffmann a Silver Star for going above and beyond the call of duty. Or maybe a Purple Heart. Considering his field dispatch I'm kind of glad I could not make the Evaluation Subcommittee meeting last night at 7:30, supposedly their final one. But, apparently not.
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Jones Library Trustee Chris Hoffmann reports:

Thank you Pat, Sarah, and most especially Carol, for wasting three hours of my life. We got out at 10:35pm.

I never knew a meeting could be excruciatingly boring in content while simultaneously being infuriating in tone.

They spent three hours crafting a letter to the editor/column for the Gazette. Some of my notes:

"Should this be a comma or a semicolon?" "Capital M or lowercase m?"
Pat: can't we each draft our own letters in the comfort of our homes and meet later to merge them?" Carol: "C'mon just give me 10 minutes. I can do it."
Pat: "I don't know if that's important. Hey, Chris is here. Perhaps he could tell us what he thinks the most important parts of his memo were." Me: "No, I think I'll leave that for you folks to figure out."
blah blah blah
"Wordcount?!
I think they are just trying to bore us to death
Pat: "Carol, couldn't you just write the draft yourself? Here in the Police Station if your house is a mess. Then let the rest of us go home?" Carol: "But then we may not make the deadline for the Bulletin"
"Wordcount?!"
Sarah: "Carol, only lawyers would use the word 'jurisdiction'"
Carol: "A certain other trustee has disagreed with our report". Me: "Carol, I don't mind if you use my name". Carol: "No, we're taking the high road."
Carol: "I really think we should say something about X", Sarah: "Let's see... wordcount is 649. NO!! That's it! No more!!!"

Basic summation -- I have never seen three people who so completely miss the point. They thought my report was entirely about a formal process, and their column is almost entirely about how they followed a process to the letter of the law: how they interviewed people, what they said to them before the interview, what an executive session is, with an extended quotation from the lawyer's letter proving they needed to go into executive session, and so on. Even if the Bulletin prints it, I can't imagine anyone actually reading past the first paragraph!

Pat jumped ship around 8:30pm. Carol begged her to stay, and told her she could just go home, get her hearing aids, and come right back. "That's NOT the problem, Carol!", Pat snapped back.

One thing I found grimly amusing. Since they are the only Evaluation Committee in Bonnie's tenure to insist on creating a confidential document as their evaluation, they are now forced to tie themselves in knots to find ways to talk about out in a public way! As ye sow, so shall ye reap, or similar aphorism comes to mind. Pat had a mini-meltdown while trying to convince Carol there must be a legal way to tell people what the Director's goals are, at least. God bless her, Tina even suggested they create a separate generic summary of the goals as a public document, but Carol would have none of it.

Believe or not, they are going to meet at 8am on Wednesday so Pat can read it and then all of them will formally approve it. They said they're going to contact the Bulletin right away and ask for space for a column if the paper will wait until Wednesday morning to see it!

For what it's worth, it's all on video. As is the public comment section of our Trustee meeting. The part covering Carol's remote participation didn't come out. Once I figure out how to get the video off the camera, I may post bits to YouTube.


Tiredly,
Chris

Attention: Jones Library Trustees

Click the link to the petition presented at Public Comment period 8/3 Jones Library Trustees meeting.

A petition to make nice

Amherst Inquisition nears the end

Carol Gray center (hiding behind monitor) Pat Holland (Chair) to her right, Sarah McKee to her left.

UPDATE: 5:00 PM. So the original post went up just before high noon. The meeting went from 9:00 until 10:03 AM. Somebody sent me a PDF of the full Jones Library Trustees minutes from 3/19/10 and since I'm having so much fun with Google Docs I floated them for your perusal. Down at the bottom of the original post.
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The Jones Library Evaluation Subcommittee met this morning and spent the entire hour drafting a letter to the Springfield Republican demanding corrections on an article published last week covering their previous meeting.

And since this particular item was not on the agenda, a rather clear violation of the new-and-improved Open Meeting Law, which requires any issue to be discussed should appear on the agenda 48 hours before the meeting.

Attorney Carol Gray was concerned about reporter Diane Lederman quoting Select Board member Alisa Brewer calling the meeting "bizarre" for going into executive session to discuss the "process" of skewering longtime Library Director Bonnie Isman.

Ms. Gray was particularly upset the reporter did not mention that they went into executive session under the written advice of town council, although later in the meeting seemed to indicate that they could have done that business in open session thus making it public.

And Ms. Gray essentially called fellow Trustee Chris Hoffmann a liar for telling the reporter that in a conversation at their 4/23 meeting Ms. Gray stated she had researched the library director's time of service and amount of retirement benefits accrued and hoped the Director would indeed retire rather than "take on" the subcommittee.

Mr Hoffmann was in the room but since there was no "public comment" on the agenda was ruled out of order a few times by Ms. Gray and Chair Pat Holland. In their letter, the subcommittee calls the quote "very mean spirited" and denies it was ever made.

Classic case of he-said she-said.

Their "Final Report" will be presented to the entire Jones Library Board of Trustees at the August 10th meeting under the cloak of an executive session. Tonight the full board meets and apparently a petition from former Trustee Nancy Gregg will be presented during public comment period. Safe bet it defends longtime Library Director Bonnie Isman.

Also tonight they will discuss the Open Meeting Law and consider whether Ms. Gray can participate in meetings via Skype (instant video conferencing) as she is headed to Egypt soon for an extended period.

A few years back the state ruled that committee members cannot participate in meetings via speakerphone, so the current rule still in effect does not allow "remote participation".

But since the Attorney General is now in charge of Open Meeting Law, it will be interesting to see how she rules on this--although that may take six months or more.

I'm sure at this point, the Jones Library can get along just fine without Ms. Gray.


The subcommittee dissecting media reports of their last meeting. Library Trustee Chris Hoffmann seated center audience

The Springfield Republican Reported

Minutes from the 3/19/10 Trustees board which speak volumes!

What could have been...

The Charter revision attempt to streamline and professionalize Amherst town government by switching to a modern Mayor/Council replacing the antiquated volunteer form of dogooders-- Select Board, Town Meeting, and highly paid Town Manager--form we currently endure had another benefit that would come in handy about now:

A common sense recall provision that would already be underway in the Library Trustees travesty now unfolding.


SECTION 8-11: RECALL OF ELECTED OFFICE HOLDERS
(a) Application - Any holder of an elected office in the town, with more than six months remaining in the term of office for which the officer was elected, may be recalled therefrom by the voters of the town in the manner provided in this section. No recall petition shall be filed against an officer within six months after taking office.

(b) Recall Petition - A recall petition may be initiated by the filing of an affidavit containing the name of the officer sought to be recalled and a statement of the grounds for recall, provided that the affidavit is signed by at least two hundred fifty voters for any officer elected at large and signed by at least fifty voters from the district represented for a district councilor.

The town clerk shall thereupon deliver to said voters making the affidavit, copies of petition blanks demanding such recall, copies of which printed forms the town clerk shall keep available. Such blanks shall be issued by the town clerk, with signature and official seal attached thereto. They shall be dated, shall be addressed to the town council and shall contain the names of all the persons to whom they are issued, the number of blanks so issued, the name of the person whose recall is sought, the office from which removal is sought and the grounds of recall as stated in the affidavit. A copy of the petition shall be entered in a record book to be kept in the office of the town clerk. Said recall petition shall be returned and filed with the town clerk within five days after the filing of the affidavit, and shall have been signed by at least five per cent of the active voters of the town for any officer elected at large and signed by at least five per cent of the active voters of the district for a district councilor.

The town clerk shall forthwith submit the petition to the registrars of voters, and the registrars shall, within five working days, certify thereon the number of signatures which are names of voters.

(c) Recall Election - If the petition shall be found and certified by the town clerk to be sufficient, the town clerk shall submit the same with such certificate to the town council within five working days, and the town council shall forthwith give written notice of the receipt of the certificate to the officer sought to be recalled and shall, if the officer does not resign within five days thereafter, order an election to be held on a date fixed by them not less than forty-five and not more than sixty days after the date of the town clerk's certificate that a sufficient petition has been filed; provided, however, that if any other town election is to occur within sixty days after the date of the certificate the town council shall postpone the holding of the recall election to the date of such other election.

The Mayor Council Charter (that failed by 14 votes--less than 1%) in 2003

Trustees Carol Gray and Pat Holland both made 'Hall of Shame' for voting against American flags

Library Trustee issues SOS

The great thing about the Web is you can generate a dispatch of distress, turn it into a PDF and instantly email it to those gatekeepers of all things news and get the scary story out to thousands, almost overnight.

Jones Library Trustee Chris Hoffmann is just such an example: Click on his report below.

Chris Hoffmann reports