Sunshine Makes The Best Disinfectant

From: Larry Kelley  
To: Kathy Mazur ; Maria Geryk

Subject: Public Document Request 

Please consider this a re-request of my April 7, 2011 public records request for "copies of all separation, severance, transition or settlement agreements made since January 1, 2005 between the School and its employees with settlement amounts in excess of $5,000." 

This would now include any agreements made since April 7, 2011 up until this morning. In other words, specifically, the case of Robert Detweiler. 

Superior Court Justice Thomas A. Connors recently upheld the Public Records Division finding in a case exactly like the one I patterned my April 7, 2011 request on. 

As you may remember, the Public Records Division told you to release the full agreements including names of the 13 individuals. 

If you still insist on keeping these public records secret I will be forced to take it to Hampshire Superior Court, where Judge Mary-Lou Rup already found in a journalist's favor, forcing South Hadley to release settlement agreement information in the Phoebe Prince case. 

Larry Kelley 
Sent: Fri, Jan 31, 2014 11:18 am

Another Major School Shake Up

Rob Detweiler, former Director of Finance & Operations

UPDATE 8:00 PM  Kathy Mazur, Human Relations chief, is taking over the Budget Office with the part-time consulting assistance of former long-time Director Paul Carlson (who has come out of retirement); and Sean Mangano has been appointed Assistant Finance Director.


ORIGINAL POST:

Director of Finance & Operations for the $50+ million ARPS school bureaucracy has become persona non grata and nobody seems to want to explain why.  Rob Detweiler, at $101,305, was in the top-ten for highest paid employees in a system chock full of highly paid employees. 

The Regional School Committee went into Executive Session Tuesday night and since it's, you know, an Executive Session, we have no idea what they talked about.  The agenda said "To conduct strategy sessions in preparation for negotiations with non-union personnel ..." (Which, coincidentally enough, the position of Director of Finance & Operations happens to be).

What I found fascinating is the original meeting, scheduled for January 21, was hastily posted with "EMERGENCY EXECUTIVE SESSION" screaming off the page, but then was cancelled due to bad weather.  If the Executive Session was a routine bargaining session, why the EMERGENCY?  

Detweiler came aboard the good ship ARPS in 2005 to replace Paul Carlson, who retired after holding the important position for 26 years.  At the time Amherst Regional school Committee Chair Marianne Jorgensen said, "We're very pleased with that pick.  Rob has the vision that will fit in with the school system."

Apparently one of them -- Detweiler or the school system -- have gone blind.

This vacancy at the top comes at a time when Superintendent Maria Geryk is under tremendous stress.  The controversial nut "ban" in the schools last fall is taking up more time (over an hour at Tuesday's Regional School Committee meeting) than the beleaguered budget discussion, which now proposes laying off a dozen full-time employees.

And of course the incident on Monday where because of an alleged "threat" of a kid carrying a gun to school to ward off bullying the High School was closed. Which some folks view as an overreaction. 


From: Larry Kelley
To: Gerykm
Sent: Wed, Jan 29, 2014 7:05 pm
Subject: Rob Detweiler

Hey Maria

Is Rob Detweiler no longer employed at the schools?  He was not at the BCG meeting on Monday morning, and also not at the Regional School Committee meeting last night.

An Anon posted on my blog earlier that he was no longer Finance Director (which by itself would not mean much, but when combined with the other two things ...)

Larry

Maroulis named UMass PR Guru

Tony Maroulis Amherst Chamber of Commerce Director (supporting St. Baldrick's)

Tony Maroulis, my favorite guy in public service, has been named "Director of Community Relations" for our number one community builder, UMass/Amherst.

Good for him. Good for UMass.  And great for our community!

Tony, Town Manager, Sam

DUI Dishonor Roll

There but for the grace of God ...

So yes, if you have ever wondered about a journalistic conflict of interest in the stories I cover, here's a good example:  I live at 596 South Pleasant Street and my street is a main thoroughfare to and from Amherst town center only one mile away.  

Last weekend APD arrested two 21-year-old UMass students for (allegedly) drunk driving.   One of them -- Ashley M Cox -- at 525 South Pleasant Street, only a few hundred yards above me, towards town center.

And the other -- Zachary R Clements -- near Shays Street, only a few hundred yards below me, away from town center.  

Zachary drew attention to himself by crashing into a WMECO utility pole (that's reassuring).

And Ashley was speeding ... while under the influence of alcohol.

According to Mothers Against Drunk Driving, "The rate of drunk driving is highest among 21 to 25 year olds (23.4 percent)."  And it should not be surprising that "The highest percentage of fatal drunk driving incidents in 2011 was for drivers ages 21-25 (32%)."

In fatal crashes in 2011, the highest percentage of drunk drivers was for drivers ages 21 to 24 (32 percent), - See more at: http://www.madd.org/statistics/#sthash.JoXMc7eO.dpuf

In fatal crashes in 2011, the highest percentage of drunk drivers was for drivers ages 21 to 24 (32 percent), - See more at: http://www.madd.org/statistics/#sthash.JoXMc7eO.dpuf

I guess that makes these kids "average".  Not something to put on your resume.

Depends On How You Define "Busy"

 

Engine 1 Pomeroy Lane Cooperative

Although the Amherst Fire Department had to rely on "mutual aid" only once over the past weekend that doesn't mean they were not stretched dangerously thin. 

On Sunday night four calls came in close enough together to tie up the entire minimum staffing level of 8 on-duty professional fire fighters.

So when a trauma call came in at 10:35 PM for someone who had taken a fall, that person had to wait until a mutual aid ambulance arrived from another town.

But another incident, which is pretty much considered routine, occurred earlier Sunday afternoon when four calls occurred almost simultaneously -- one of them a fire alarm at The Arbors, a large capacity nursing home on University Drive.

Engine 3, with four Student Force responders handled that (potentially catastrophic) call, with one veteran full-time fire fighter in command.

If your beloved wheelchair bound grandmother was trapped in a large structure fire, would you prefer a crew of fully trained professional fire fighters to arrive first on the scene or a crew of student volunteers?

Fire is a most formidable foe.  Sometimes, even the pros don't return home. 

Because of the recently ratified Collective Bargaining Agreement AFD will have a minimum staffing of 8 professional firefighters 24/7 from August 15 through May 31st (excluding academic Winter and Spring Break) up from a previous minimum staff level of 7.

So now four ambulances can be staffed simultaneously, up from three.  But that leaves Central Station abandoned.  With our institutes of higher education back in session, AFD is now staffing 9 on busy Friday and Saturday nights through Spring Break.

After Spring Break, when party season picks up steam, staffing will swell to 13 on Friday and Saturday nights, partially subsidized by UMass.  That extra $80,000 pays for 4 additional firefighters (thus two extra ambulances) during the beginning half of the fall semester and the second half of the spring semester.

Or what high-tech business service providers might refer to a "surge pricing."  

   AFD emergency runs late Jan

We're Number One!

Amherstma.gov

For the second year in a row the Amherst town website has been honored by the Mass Municipal Association for being top notch.  Last year an honorable mention and now this year ranked #1 in their category (15,000 to 49,999), although we share the top honor with Holyoke.

The town website is a huge time saver, easy to navigate, and a force for transparency.  Not to mention making the Amherst Public  Shade Tree Committee happy by reducing reliance on paper. 

Rental Permit Bylaw: Halfway Home

Building Commissioner Rob Morra reported to the Amherst Select Board this evening that the town's new Rental Registration process is going well, with 741 applications received out of a total of 1,570 (47%) properties that need to register.

The new law went into effect January 1st and requires all landlords to pay $100 annual fee for a permit.  The process includes submitting a parking plan and completing a self certification checklist acknowledging basic zoning and health & safety concerns. But the process can all be easily accomplished on the town website. 

Also neighbors or concerned citizens can file complaints about rental properties with the town or find the name and contact information for a rental property owner to take it up with them first.  

A map with color coded pins (red for "open" and green for "closed") shows all the complaints received dating back to April, even before the law went into effect.

Unfortunately the Code Violations and Complaints Map does not currently show properties cited by the Amherst Police Department for noise or nuisance complaints, a glaring oversight.

Commissioner Morra did say he would be working with Police Chief Livingstone in the near future to make that valuable data available on the website.