Digital Age Change

 

Mandi Jo Hanneke, Sean Hannon (left) Sandra Burgess, Jim Pistrang (right)

The Town Meeting Electronic Voting Study Committee voted unanimously 4-0 with 3 absent this morning to send to Amherst Town Meeting a $26,000 warrant article that will purchase 260 hand held digital voting devices to try to speed up the snail-like pace of Amherst's 257 year old political institution.

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Warrant Article will be vetted by Joint Capital Planning Committee and then requires only a simply majority vote at Fall Town Meeting

Meanwhile the Amherst Select Board voted unanimously last night to set the annual town election for March 29, 2016, which could actually be an interesting election for a change.

Charter enthusiasts now have until December 21st to collect the 3,215 signatures required to guarantee placement of the controversial question to change our form of government on that annual ballot for voters to decide.

The main motivation for Charter enthusiasts is to abolish antiquated Town Meeting by switching to a more professional Mayor/Council form of government.

Thus this $26,000 electronic voting purchase could end up being the equivalent of buying a new saddle for a dying horse.

Remembering John Musante

Amherst Select Board met briefly this Monday morning

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In a brief sorrowful meeting this morning in the Town Manager's office the 5-member Amherst Select Board came together in an emergency meeting more for grief therapy than policy work. 

Chair Alisa Brewer, her voice cracking, thanked town employees and the general public who have stepped up in this time of sadness and grief.

The town flag was lowered to half staff yesterday at her order and will stay in that somber position of mourning until interment, which has yet to be finalized.

 AFD Central Station in mourning over the loss of John Musante

Just prior to the scheduled 8:30 AM meeting SB member Connie Kruger apologized to the press for the confusion and slightly late start of the meeting saying, "None of us have ever been here before."

During the meeting Ms. Kruger asked if other symbols like black bunting could be placed on Town Hall so people coming in today would understand the somber atmosphere or maybe even decide not to do routine business today.



The Select Board will still meet tonight at 6:30 PM and their first order of business will be to appoint Assistant Town Manager Dave Ziomek interim Town Manager.

Chair Alisa Brewer closed the meeting at 8:51 AM saying, "I hope we all can find a place and space to talk about our friend, John."

 Snow globe occupying Town Manager John Musante's office chair

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UPDATE:

 Dave Ziomek Interim Town Manager, SB Chair Alisa Brewer 

The Select Board voted unanimously at their regularly scheduled -- although far more somber than usual -- 6:30 PM meeting to make Assistant Town Manager Dave Ziomek Interim Town Manager.

Hopefully after the shock of losing John Musante somewhat subsides they will also vote unanimously to remove the term "Interim".

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Masslive/Republican remembers John

A Sad, Sad Sunday Indeed

Amherst Town Manager John Musante 1961-2015

Some days I wish I did not listen so closely to first responder radio traffic, or know the town and town officials so well.

With medical calls I try not to listen all that carefully mainly because they are, usually, private and only subject to public scrutiny if it involves a high ranking pubic official.

Well in our little town they don't come any higher ranking (or nicer) than Town Manager John Musante.  And it's my very sad duty to report he passed away in his sleep, possibly from a heart attack. 

Amherst Ambulance (A4) with four aboard (usual crew is two) responded to his home Sunday morning around 8:45 AM and had a major Amherst police escort to Cooley Dickinson Hospital.  Umass and Hadley police assisted with traffic control at intersections along the way.

As many of you may remember our Town Manager suffered a head injury four years ago after falling while out walking his dog.  And in late July he fractured his foot in another accident while walking  back to his dorm room where he was attending a professional development course at the Harvard Kennedy School in Cambridge.

 John Musante was kick off speaker at town's Solar presentation last week and seemed happy with the public response to a solar array on closed landfill

But he seemed happy and healthy of late.  I would often see him walking along Main Street around the lunch hour for exercise, and he was out mingling with the general public at the Celebrate Amherst Block Party on Thursday night.

John Musante, a long time Amherst resident, replaced Larry Shaffer as Town Manager in 2010 but had served as Finance Director since 2004.

Assistant Town Manager Dave Ziomek, who is in Philadelphia at the moment, will become interim Town Manager.

 Town Manager John Musante with Amherst Select Board. Chair Alisa Brewer (center)

The Amherst Select Board has a regularly scheduled Monday meeting tomorrow night.  Open Meeting Law allows for, "Topics the Chair did not reasonable anticipate 48 hours before the meeting".

And this shocking event is something nobody could have anticipated.

Well I Hate That Dirty Water

UMass dredged the Campus Pond last month

UMass Landscape Architecture students have set up a living laboratory on North Pleasant Street near the Bertucci's parking lot directly across from Kendrick Park to demonstrate a simple solution to the storm water run off that oozes into Tan Brook and then dumps into the UMass campus pond.

Plants can provide natural water filtration

Some plants actually like yucky gray water and by planting them in the flow path of Tan Brook  they would naturally absorb some of the pollutants before they do damage to the pond.

The space required is pretty minimal, as little as five square feet.   A series of these green patches could be planted along the path of the underground brook, brightening our downtown street scape while improving the environment.

 Balloons on Kendrick Park above Tan Brook represent the Campus Pond

You Can Always Go

Amherst after dark, North Pleasant Street

If the Business Improvement District keeps this up the Celebrate Amherst Block Party will become a downtown tradition, much like the Taste of Amherst or Merry Maple Tree lighting ceremony, which also brings thousands of folks to the heart of our town for a family friendly event.

 

She flew through the air ...

And have for quite a long time now.

5:30 PM

8:45 PM

While the Block Party is the new kid on the block -- with four winning events now in the record books --   the secret to success is the same:  bring lots of people together in a controlled but wide open area for a feel good event.

Kendrick Park on the far north end of town looked like Christmas

The weather of course is a major factor.   Mother Nature should win an award as best supporting actress in last night's event.

 Downtown restaurants did a booming business

 AFD Central Station is always a popular attraction

 AFD Engine 1 and A2 staged at DPW building a mile away to respond to calls

And the town too deserves major kudos for their supporting role by providing the stretch on North Pleasant street running through town center and the town employees -- Police, Fire and DPW -- to assist with making things go as smoothly as possible.

I'll Drink To That

Hills Reservoir, Pelham

Amherst Town Meeting will be asked to spend $170,500 (if a matching state grant is approved) from the water/sewer fund to purchase 141 acres of woodland in Pelham owned by Bob Romer for protection of our drinking water supply.

The land, aka Romer Woods, is currently appraised at $455,000 -- mainly because two house lots could be carved out of it.  The land is currently in the state's Chapter 61 program with numerous unmarked trails throughout.

Assistant Town Manager Dave Ziomek told the Water Supply Protection Committee last week that Mr. Romer is a "very willing seller who wants the property protected."

And even with the tax break Mr. Romer will get for allowing the town a steep discount, it still would not make up for the $105,000 he is taking off the appraised value.

Hills Reservoir is one of seven bodies of water Amherst uses for its drinking supply.   The town currently has 2,662 acres of land set aside as "watershed protection" and of that 1,537 acres are in Pelham. 

The Sun Will Come Out Tomorrow

 

 Proposed layout for 3.7 megawatt array

 Newer 56 acre closed landfill is lined and currently home to transfer station

About 60 people showed up this evening for the town's "Community Information Session On Solar" and the vast majority of them were in favor of solar installations on the town's closed landfills -- more so on the newer of the two.

 Town Manager John Musante:  "Our efforts to be green continues"

About a half dozen Amherst Woods residents, however, voiced the usual complaints about ye old landfill: An environmental catastrophe would be brought on by building a solar array on the unlined landfill with a Walmart quality cap.

 Sun Edison has an impressive resume

The Town Manager can negotiate a deal with Sun Edison on the old landfill because Town Meeting granted him that authority back in 2011 even though that particular deal fell through due to NIMBY concerns.  He would need Town Meeting approval to negotiate over the new landfill which seemed to have pretty strong support.

Last year the town and schools spent $1.373 million in electricity costs and if the 3.7 megawatt deal goes through Amherst would get around $75,000 Payment In Lieu Of Taxes on the solar array plus savings on electricity of $130,000 per year or a total annual gain to taxpayers of $205,000.

Plus we would be walking the walk of a "green community."

Smaller layout for old 53 acre landfill (to keep NIMBYs happy) would generate anywhere from 1.7 to 3.3 megawatts

Old landfill has higher concentration of nearby (vociferous) neighbors

The 30%  Federal Tax Credits expire in December, 2016 so this project must have panels on the ground by then in order to work.  And the bureaucratic hurdles are many:  Select Board, Finance Committee and then Town Meeting approval.

 Sandy Pooler:  "The first thing we want to do is have another meeting"

A Special Permit from the Zoning Board of Appeals (that requires a unanimous vote of all three members) is also a major hurdle and possibly Conservation Commission approval, and of course a permit from the Department of Environmental Protection.

But mainly town officials need to win the hearts and minds of neighbors motivated by self interest, or a lawsuit will once again become the weapon of choice.

 Not overly large crowd in attendance but 90% were supportive