A Night Of Their Own

Town Meeting Coordinating Committee discussed upcoming town election & Town Meeting this afternoon

Since the race for Charter Commission has a large field of 20 candidates vying for only 9 seats and since this process is not exactly routine, the League of Women Voters will host a candidates night in the Middle School auditorium on March 14 at 7:00 pm.

This public forum on the Charter Commission is in addition to their usual candidates night for town wide offices (Select Board, School Committee, and Library Trustees) which will be held March 22 in the Town Room at Town Hall.

In addition the TMCC will sponsor a bus tour on Sunday April 24  for all Town Meeting members to peruse sites around town related to Town Meeting articles.  The 40 seat bus is provided by UMass at a cost of $200 but UMass Community Relations office is picking up half the cost.

Amherst school buses had been used in the past but they are not handicapped accessible and the UMass bus has room for two wheelchairs. 

$40,000 Budget Shift

Joint Capital Planning Committee this morning

The Joint Capital Planning Committee heard today about the high cost of Information Technology with town IT Director Sean Hannon requesting $298,800 in gadgets, wiring, phones and copiers and his schools counterpart Jerry Champagne seeking $247,000 for FY17, which begins July 1st.

The town has roughly 250 computers and part of the upcoming budget request will replace 40 of them.  Interestingly with all the terabytes of vital information that needs safe storage, the town does not currently use "the cloud" but relies on physical servers, like Hillary Clinton.

Currently all data resides at the Police Station with a back up server at Town Hall.  But for additional security Hannon is requesting $20,000 for another "disaster recovery" server located a lot further away in case a calamity should wreak havoc at both the Police Station and nearby Town Hall.

At Tuesday night's controversial School Committee meeting where three library paraprofessional were verbally handed pink slips, much to the dismay of parents and library lovers, Rick Hood wondered why "wireless WiFi upgrades" were coming out of the operating budget and not capital.

At Superintendent Maria Geryk's request Champagne moved the $40,000 item to his joint capital budget request, which if approved by JCPC and Town Meeting would give the elementary school budget an extra $40,000 to apply towards the library paras.

The JCPC was unanimous in affirming the $40,000 can come into the mix as capital, but they did balk at giving the item special treatment by changing their process and taking a vote now on recommending the item to Town Meeting.  Normally the Committee hears all requests from all departments over a two month period before taking a vote.

That vote will take place either March 10 or more likely March 17.  And I'm pretty sure the School Superintendent will benefit from the luck of the Irish.

DUI Dishonor Roll

Once again, thankfully, we had a sub par weekend for drivers taken off the road under police escort and charged with impaired driving.  Only one arrest by APD and one by UMPD. 

So far 2016 has been a lucky year for the rest of us Amherst drivers. 

So far.

Eliza Ann Thornton, age 18

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 William Os, age 23, stands before Judge Charles Groce

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In Eastern Hampshire District Court on Monday William Os was appointed a public defender (and charged $150) and will appear for pre trial on March 21. 

Ms.Thornton discussed accepting a standard 24D disposition with the prosecutor but first has to find out if her insurance will cover the damages to the town guardrail.

Deadline!

No breathless last second candidates showed up a minute before 5:00 PM

The die is cast, the Rubicon has been crossed and Amherst voters will have enormous choices in the only race that matters this coming election, Charter Commission.

The nine member committee will decide the fate of town government for the next few generations. Well, actually, the voters will decide that. Because no matter what the Charter Commission comes up with after a year of deliberation the voters must approve it at the annual election in 2017.

I asked the Select Board on Monday night to place on the March 29 ballot a non binding advisory question asking the voters if it's time to retire Town Meeting. This was done 15 years ago and the voters said "yes".

Maybe even throw in a question about retaining a Town Manager. If the voters say "yes" it might make the potential candidates for a new permanent Town Manager feel a little more comfortable applying for the $155,000 job.

And for sure these questions should be asked of the 20 Charter Commission candidates who will all do doubt give the stock answer that their mind is open and they have not decided one way or the other.

Which only makes you wonder why they ran for the job in the first place.

The Big H

 

Well if you can't trust your heroin dealer to stand by you in a time of need, who can you trust?

Not only did Jacob Kinney abandon his client who was overdosing courtesy of Mr. Kinney's heroin, but he stole his phone so he could delete contact information that would implicate him.  Which did not do him much good since his client survived the OD and fingered Kinney as the dealer.

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Jacob Kinney, age 28

The best laid plans ...

Kinney was held on $1,000 cash bail.  He had a warrant out of Holyoke and another from Texas (although Texas is not interested in coming to pick him up).  He will appear again before a Judge on March 7 in Eastern Hampshire District Court.

Library Lament

Large crowd of parents/guardians/staff/volunteers turned out tonight to protest library cutbacks

The Amherst School Committee didn't need tea leaves to read the consternation caused by the proposed axing of one paraprofessional library assistant at all three elementary schools, leaving each library with only one full time employee, the librarian.

The cost cutting measure will save $75,000 -- yes, full time paras make only $25k per year --and is being instituted as part of a $429,000 overall cut to the elementary school budget to keep level services within Finance Committee guidelines.

During public comment over a dozen speakers implored the school committee not to gut the library programs at all three elementary schools.  Many parents said the library was the favorite part of their child's school day and it provided a "safe space" for learning to take place.

School Committee candidate and long time Town Meeting member Vince O'Connor told the School Committee that a motion would be made on the floor of Town Meeting to increase the budget to cover the three positions.

O'Connor also argued UMass should step up and pay the town significantly more annual revenues to cover all the children (56) coming from their tax exempt housing into our high average cost per student public schools.

The recent "Strategic Partnership" signed with UMass did include $120,000 in new money to help cover  education costs of those children, but the town threw it into one big pot rather then using it in a line item direct sort of way.

Rick Hood suggested the School Committee simply ask the town for an extra $100,000 since the elementary schools did turn back that amount to the town last year and the year before. 

The idea will probably be brought up at the next Budget Coordinating Group meeting at the end of the month.

Downtown Turnover

Insomnia Cookies coming soon to 30 Main Street

When the former prime location of Alden Credit Union, which lasted less than two years, is replaced by a cookie delivery business you know you're in a "college town." 

 11 Amity Street, former First National Bank

Last summer TD Bank abandoned the ornate former First National Bank building in the heart of the downtown and thus far the luxurious location is still unoccupied.  As is All Things Local just down the street and soon to be shuttered The Mercantile next door.

All three locations are owned by Barry Roberts so there's little doubt they will be occupied soon enough.

And since Mr. Roberts understands the value of having the right mix of businesses, chances are none of the three will become a pizza place or bar.

 Just across the street from Insomnia Cookies