When Products Compete, They Get Better

The sun is setting on our current form of government

The race for Charter Commission illustrates perfectly the problem with Amherst Town Meeting:  20 candidates have thus far taken out nomination papers for the nine open seats, or  2.2 candidates per seat while Town Meeting has only 30 candidates for 80 open seats, or .375 candidates per seat.

So how's a voter to decide who to elect to this critically important body that will decide the fate of Amherst town government for the rest of the century?

Well first of all it should be easy to nix the ones who did not sign the charter petition that brought it to the March 29 ballot in the first place:

Out of the 20 potential Charter Commission candidates that would include Janet McGowan, Gerry Weiss, Meg Gage, Maurianne Adams, Jennifer McKenna, Robert Greeney, Diana Stein, Leslie Saulsberry, and Chris Riddle (Although an Amherst For All Steering Committee member confirms Mr. Riddle signed a sheet but may have been disqualified for being illegible or some other technical reason).

In other words, Town Meeting Loyalists need not apply.  And the initial strategy to protect that inept antiquated form of government was to naively hope enough signatures would not be collected.

That of course did not pan out as Amherst For All collected the 3,215 signatures in a historically record breaking three months.

So the first two questions that should be asked of all the candidates who successfully hand in their nomination papers by February 9 with 50 signatures is did you sign the petition to bring about the Commission you are now running for, and do you support Amherst Town Meeting?

If they answer No & Yes you have your answer:  Choose someone else.

Practice Makes Perfect

AFD Engines 3 & 4, Rescue 1 on scene Amherst College Dakin House for training

Besides paying the town $120,000 for ambulance and fire protection services this past year, Amherst College also allows AFD to train at the abandoned Dakin House next to the College owned Amherst Golf Course.

Since the Student Call Force has a few new members and the UMass campus is pretty busy today with students moving in, AFD decided to use the Dakin House for hands on training: Pulling hose lines and practicing rescues (using full turn out gear/air tanks) inside the once ornate house.

 Structure to left was off limits to training because it's in such bad shape

No, unfortunately they did not actually torch the two story house.

Although someday soon Amherst College will have to raze all the structures as they are increasingly becoming a safety hazard, even though our assessor still values the property at $677,200.

In 2015 AFD had its busiest year ever with Amherst College accounting for  4% of their total calls.

Deja Vu Destruction

 Triangle of land is a "wetland resource area" (Connecticut River on left)

So this unfortunate incident of clear cutting trees without permission and then saying it was all a terrible misunderstanding reminds me of the regrettable incident at UMass a few years back when a contractor demolished the historic old Trolley Station thinking it was all approved.

Trolley Station on North Pleasant Street, built 1911 demolished 2012

Or the Thomas Becket affair when old King Henry asked a little too loudly, "Who will rid me of the meddlesome priest?" And some of his henchmen did so, thinking they were doing the King a favor.

Pretty much the first thing you see when entering Hadley coming off the Calvin Coolidge Bridge is this swath of property with nothing on it now but an abandoned gas station.  And until recently the next thing you saw was the rotting remains of the Aqua Vitae restaurant.

It looked pretty lousy three months ago, and today with the clear cut trees scattered about horizontally, it still looks pretty lousy.  Although removing the old Aqua Vitae building was a huge step in the right direction.

I'm told there were at least a half-dozen trees that were in good shape and did not deserve to die.

Hadley has a right to be pissed over Pride President Robert Bolduc ignoring a Conservation Commission order to leave the darn trees alone.  Don't mess with a volunteer commission in a tight knit farm community like Hadley.

So assess a fine on Mr. Bolduc for a couple thousand per healthy tree whacked, make him replant a bunch more (some of them sizable) to replace the slaughtered ones, and allow the site to be cleaned up and construction of something nicer to commence.

It is as after all, Hadley's front yard. 

Sorry About That Vince

Sandra Burgess (left) Vince O'Connor, Mary Wentworth (right) at 2/20/15 Hearing

Forever activists Vince O'Connor and Mary Wentworth used the Select Board Monday night Public Comment period to air their complaint about a challenge they filed with the Town Clerk last year concerning problematic signatures on Phoebe Hazzard's School Committee nomination papers.

Town Clerk Sandra Burgess ruled the complaint was filed a half hour after the deadline, and after two hearings the Board of Registrars agreed, thus dismissing the case.

But in researching deadlines for the Charter revision question which has now made the ballot the Town Clerk discovered she had erred and the deadline was not 48 hours after the Town Clerk's deadline for accepting nomination papers but a full two weeks later after the Board of Registrars had certified them.

Oops.

This was back in late September early October, soon after Town Manager John Musante suddenly passed away. 

After informing Interim Town Manager Dave Ziomek and Select Board Chair Alisa Brewer and discovering there  is no provision in state law that covers this, she informed Mr. O'Connor of her mistake.  And Vince appeared to take it well. 

 Mary Wentworth & Vince O'Connor at the 1/11/16 Select Board meeting

But now, two months later, he appeared with Ms. Wentworth at the Select Board meeting to complain about it.  Ms. Wentworth was a tad confused saying it was the State Ethics Division who had ruled there was a violation, but that is not the case.

The mistake was discovered by the person who made the mistake and she owned up to it.  Now Mr. O'Connor and Ms. Wentworth want a public apology.

Considering what the School Committee will be deciding next week, Phoebe Hazzard probably wishes their challenge last year was successful. 

Smaller Is Better

School Committee will vote Jan 19 on new school project

Just like the teacher/staff comments I uploaded earlier today, these numerous comments from concerned parents/guardians provide a fascinating glimpse into the exceedingly hard -- and unpopular -- choice the Amherst School Committee is about to make.

Click to enlarge/read

 Only two motions for Amherst School Committee to vote on at 1/19 meeting

And the people are mobilizing:

Amherst Parent/Guardian School Comments

Is Smaller Better?

Wildwood has plenty of space out back for a new building

Staff open ended comments on the Amherst Elementary School Building issue that came in via the recent survey (with a 50% response rate) give a telling snapshot look of this controversial issue.

I'm a little surprised school officials did not make it more widely available to the general public.

Well, maybe not so surprised.

Click link below to go to Scribd to better read:

Amherst School Staff Survey Comments

Another Level Services Budget

Outgoing Interim Town Manager Dave Ziomek (standing) outgoing Finance Director Sandy Pooler (seated)

Calling it "not my budget, but our budget," Interim Town Manager Dave Ziomek presented to the Select Board and Finance Committee a status quo FY17 budget with a modest 2.7% increase over last year that maintains services, doesn't use any reserves and doesn't require a Proposition 2.5 Override.

New growth of $750,000 via Kendrick Place, Amherst Office Park and Presidential Apartments was helpful on the revenues side, as was no increase in Health insurance costs for the 5th straight year, a feat Finance Committee Chair Kay Moran dubbed "remarkable."

But alas, this budget does not increase staffing to our beleaguered Public Safety departments.  Although a police position is first in line should extra money materializes as the grant that funded the Neighborhood Liaison Officer runs out at the end of this fiscal year and may not be renewed.

Fire Department staffing will be "studied" this spring, but this being a "transitional year" Mr. Ziomek stated, "This was not a time to make substantial changes that would be felt for years to come."  In 2015 AFD had it's busiest year in history.

New Fire Station to replace Central Station "A high priority for the town."

The DPW is also level funded although they will require a whopping $3 million bond authorization to complete phase 2 of the sewer addition to Amherst Woods.

 Select Board gets a raise

The Select Board will be granted a pay raise from the current $300 up to $1,500 annually with the chair getting an addition $500.  It will be interesting to see if the Select Board votes on that before the budget goes to Town Meeting.

In closing the Interim Town Manager said he was "Inspired every day by John (Musante).  He would want good things to happen in Amherst.  With him the glass was more than half-full, it was always three-quarters full."

Select Board member Andy Steinberg thanked Ziomek, who returns to his Assistant Town Manager role at the end of the month, saying he "did an amazing job.  He stepped up when we needed him to do so, under extraordinary circumstances."