The Electronic Age

 Town Meeting Electronic Voting Committee voted unanimously to support warrant article this morning

Amherst's antiquated 250+ legislative body will get a chance to enter the 21st century this fall courtesy of the Town Meeting Electronic Voting Committee, who will request a revision to the Rules of Order to allow for -- you guessed it -- electronic voting.

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 Amendment to Rules of Order

A separate article vetted by the Joint Capital Planning Committee will request $26,000 to pay for the new system.

The committee was formed less than a year ago and members appointed by Town Moderator Jim Pistrang.  The Fall Town Meeting starts November 2 with the article calling for amending the Rules of Order to come up almost immediately.

The Committee also decided to bring in the vendor to do a demonstration as part of the presentation of the article, although one member wondered if they really wanted to take that chance.

If Town Meeting approves both the Rules of Order change and the $26,000 in capital expenditures the system would see first official use at the Spring, 2016 Town Meeting.

Mr. Pistrang did ask the Committee if they thought some Town Meeting members might vote against the article due to rumors of a new Charter movement that could eventually lead to replacing Town Meeting with a far more efficient Mayor/Council.

The Committee assigned tech minded member Jonathan O'Keeffe to research the resale value of a used system if the town decided to sell it, but other members pointed out it could still be useful to the Public Schools or at public forums.

The vendor suggests a five year lifespan but the Committee decided to use 8 years in their Final Report that will be mailed to all Town Meeting members, which will also include a section for Frequently Asked Questions.

Leasing a system was explored but because Amherst tends to have many nights of Town Meeting, the cost was almost the same for a one year lease vs buying the system.

Do You Know The Way ...

Beautiful downtown Amherst, in the shadow of UMass

Pretty soon visitors to our bustling city-like community disguised as a quaint little college town will be able to find their way around in style.

Using a $10,000 "Downtown Initiative Program" grant from the Department of Communities and Housing Development the town hired Mark Favermann to design a new logo for the town to use on all signage, starting with the downtown.

 Branding & Way Finding Working Group found its way to Town Hall this afternoon

Favermann told the working group -- made up the town officials, business and academic representatives -- that signs perform four basic functions:  Identity, informational, directional, and restrictions.  But they all should tie in via color scheme, font or graphic.

Favermann presented 5 basic design concepts each with slight tweak using a different color scheme for a total of 15.  Planning Director Jonathan Tucker told the group to narrow it down to three and Favermann would work with them and come up with new variations.

   Amherst Branding and Way Finding Signs

The group quickly voted down option #4 calling it the "haunted house" design and option #5 which was supposed to be the twin trees on top of Mt Pollux, but don't really look all that great without benefit of the hill they overlook.

 Select Board Chair Alisa Brewer was concerned about using a tree image  for downtown signage

BID Director Sarah la Cour also presented a hand drawn design showing a skyline with the outline of three buildings and a tree, but did not want it photographed for public consumption just yet.

Another meeting will be held the first week of October that will include extensive public input.

Final draft designs will be presented to a joint meeting of the Select Board and Planning Board in late October or November.

 Town Mgr John Musante (yellow shirt) and Assistant Town Manager Dave Ziomek (pink) attended

The Select Board, as "keepers of the public way," have the final say.

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Dickinson Museum just installed new signs only last month (that don't include iconic Dickinson Homestead graphic)

Troubles At The Top?

Town Manager Musante (right), SB Chair Alisa Brewer (left)

Tonight the long awaited evaluation of the Town Manager by the 5 member elected Select Board on his progress with 15 goals in various areas of responsibility showed interesting criticism from the two most experienced members of our executive branch -- Chair Alisa Brewer and Jim Wald.

Ms. Brewer gave Mr. Musante "unsatisfactory" a total of nine times (out of possible 44) while Mr. Wald checked it off five times.

Brewer and Wald were in unanimous agreement in response to goal #5, "Relationship With the Select Board"  by giving him "unsatisfactory" to the same five of eight statements. Ouch!

Brewer and Wald checked off "unsatisfactory" to 5 of 8 statements

In fact the other three SB members did not issue a single "unsatisfactory" out of all 44 response statements.

Last week 13 current and former Regional School officials evaluated Superintendent Maria Geryk, currently the highest paid town employee ($158,000), on a bevy of criteria but only a single "unsatisfactory" was issued.

The Select Board will meet again before the end of the month in Executive Session to make Mr. Musante a contract offer and presumably a raise from his current $150,000 salary.

So it will be interesting to see -- especially with this surprising number of "unsatisfactory" scores -- if he gets the 5.5% raise necessary to make him the highest paid employee in town.

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Although statement G should probably include Blogs, Facebook and Twitter 

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 Selectman Jim Wald reacts to media coverage (and my title) on his blog

Public Documents Redux

Amherst Regional Middle School

Sometimes you hit a treasure trove and sometimes it's just junk, but a public documents request -- which my friends in the bricks and mortar media make all too infrequently -- is never a waste of time.

At the very least it sends a message that anything public officials say relating to public matters can and will be used against them.  Or for them as the case may be, since sometimes the information gained sheds a positive light.

   Concern Over Public Documents Release by Larry Kelley

Click headline "Concern over Public Doc Release" to better read document

As the 4,500 of you who read the previous release of internal emails may remember, the $180,000 payoff of Carolyn Gardner was done without the standard "non disclosure agreement," after the schools did everything in their power to have it included.

Gardner's legal team insisted the settlement not be done under the cloaking device of a non disclosure agreement. 

Of course maybe that's why the Public Schools are more inclined to give away the store with  legal cases, since they assume the non disclosure agreement will protect them from prying eyes.  All the more reason to challenge it.

At every opportunity. 

Good News Crime Report

Eastern Hampshire District Court this fine summer morning

So for those of you who think I spend too much time documenting the sorry underbelly of Amherst i.e. drunk driving and other drug/alcohol related carnage please take note:  For the 2nd Monday morning in a row Amherst Police Department had no arrests/arraignments in Eastern Hampshire District Court.

And yes, based on my boots on the ground coverage of said District Court that is a tad unusual, sort of like a man biting a dog (or a woman scratching a cat).

The relative calm will only last until this coming weekend with the return of our vital and exuberant "college aged youth."

Kick back, suck down the lemonade and enjoy the leisure paced summer quiet over the next few days ... because change is just around the corner.

Reflections of The Way Life Used To Be

UMass exit ramp Rt 116 in Hadley

You sagacious types may have noticed in June/July the state contractor out on Rt 116 between Rt 9 Hadley and Sunderland center doing work that left mysterious newly patched holes 8" in diameter in the center and side roadway every 10 yards or so.

Over the past week the answer to what was going on became more obvious with the installation of new reflectors in the roadway, although located in a slightly different spot from the ones that had been removed.

 Newly installed road reflector

The reflectors were originally touted as "snowplowable" but maybe the company had Georgia or South Carolina in mind when they advertised them as such.  Those that had not been taken up by New England snowplows were removed and new ones installed.

 Let's hope these really are "snowplowable"

The reflectors of course make it a little easier for night driving but are certainly not a critical component of highway safety.  Amherst town roads have none for instance.

The state can be pretty anal with their roadways.  A half dozen years ago they spent $1.7 million installing mile markers every .2 of a mile along all 776 miles of state roadways. 

And of course what baby boomer can forget the infamous "call boxes" all along Rt 91 (that preceded ubiquitous cell phones) that never worked.

Judge: Go Ahead & Build It

Kendrick Place (left) proposed One East Pleasant site circled in red

Hampshire Superior Court Justice Richard Carey allowed the town of Amherst and Archipelago Investments LLC "Motion for Summary Judgment," ending a lawsuit filed by abutter/competitor Joel Greenbaum over the proposed construction of a five-story mixed use (mostly residential) building on the site of the former Carriage Shops, in the north end of the downtown business district.

 

Amherst Carriage Inn circa 1960

   One East Pleasant, Amherst by Larry Kelley

The Amherst Planning Board, after five public meetings, gave Site Plan approval with two Special Permits allowing the building 5' extra height and 10% extra lot coverage.

Greenbaum filed suit claiming the proposed structure was a student dormitory, had too little parking and would cast an evil shadow on his property.

Essentially Judge Carey found that Mr. Greenbaum, with two nearby private parking lots, did not prove the new building -- which does provide 36 parking spaces where none are required -- is not a an injury "special and different from the concerns of the rest of the community."

   Greenbaum vs Archipelago

And Judge Carey was not at all impressed with the testimony of Rolf Karlstrom, finding he's "not an expert authority on parking."

The Judge goes on to declare, "Karlstrom, as a biology professor and town resident, does not possess the knowledge necessary to evaluate city parking.  As such, any opinion in Karlstrom's affidavit will be stricken from the record."  Ouch!

Kyle Wilson (standing), Dave Williams (seated) aka Archipelago Investments LLC

While Mr. Greenbaum can appeal the decision it's unlikely that a panel of three judges would overrule such a strait forward finding from Judge Carey, who is known and respected for his thorough grasp of land use law.