The Die is Cast

Amherst Select Board

Only figure mentioned last night was "$30 to $35 million"

With almost no discussion the Select Board rolled the dice last night and unanimously voted to place on the November 8th ballot a blank check Debt Exclusion Override rumored to be in the $30-$35 million range.

That is of course if it comes in on budget.  And we know how super reliable government building projects are at coming in on budget.

Since the authorization from the voters simply says the town can have enough money to construct "two co-located schools on the Wildwood site" that means no matter what the projected/estimated amount is, the taxpayers are clearly on the hook for any cost overruns.

The less than dynamic presentation to the Select Board included a brief presentation from the Wildwood Building Committee and Amherst School Committee Chair Katherine Appy, who admitted the School Committee never voted on a formal request to the Select Board regarding the Debt Exclusion Override.

Embattled School Superintendent Maria Geryk was not at the meeting.

The main reason the Select Board is hurriedly placing this epically important question on the the November 8th ballot (although they have until August 1st to do so) is to save $20,000 it would cost to hold a special election.

But long time Town Meeting member and poll worker Hilda Greenbaum pointed out this coming election is going to be overwhelming the Town Clerk's office as it is with the Presidential contest and marijuana legalization question already on the ballot.

And since this is such a vitally important issue, paying $20,000 for a stand alone election a little later in the process, allowing more time for public education,  is a wise investment.

In 2004 the Select Board authorized a Pyramid Override where two stand alone questions appeared on the same ballot, one for a $2 million amount and the other for $1.5 million.  The larger amount failed but the smaller amount passed.

But a Debt Exclusion Override can only authorized a project and not the actual dollar amount.

Which is kind of like sending your spouse out to "buy a new car" without giving them a firm dollar amount cap.

Public Schools Disarray Continues

Wildwood started out a single school renovation but turned into "reconfiguration" with a 2-schools-in-one $65 million new building

UPDATE Sunday night:  As Fox News would say "breaking news".  The Regional School Committee meeting for Monday night has been cancelled.  Things are getting curiouser and curiouser.

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ORIGINAL post:

On Monday night a potentially earth shaking Regional School Committee meets for their "retreat" at ornate Valentine Hall while a couple hundred yards away the Amherst Select Board will also take up discussion of another somewhat historic school related issue, whether to place a $30+ million Debt Exclusion Override on the November 8th ballot for the construction of the $65 million Mega School.

This would be only the second time in history an Override question has gone to the voters prior to a Town Meeting vote, which requires two-thirds super-majority to pass.

Yes, I'm going to have to figure out how to clone myself in the next 24 hours.

But the simple fact these two important meetings are happening at the same time underscores the hasty, not-overly-well-thought-out situation our elected public officials find themselves in at this defining hour.

 Maria Geryk at June 14th RSC meeting, her last public appearance

According to Maria Geryk's $150K annual contract she should have received her School Committee evaluations -- which are supposed to be a "public" process -- by June 30th.    And she has to be present in the public meeting for the evaluation discussion to take place.

Thus the most recent July 13th meeting where her evaluation was on the agenda that discussion could by law not have taken place since Maria Geryk was Missing In Action that night.

 June 14th RSC meeting where Laura Kend ousted Trevor Baptiste as Chair

In fact under questioning from former Chair Trevor Baptiste rookie Regional School Committee Chair Laura Kent admitted the individual evaluations were not even available that night so even if Ms. Geryk was at the head table the Committee was ill prepared for that discussion to take place.

I asked Ms. Kent on Friday morning if Superintendent Geryk would be present Monday night and as of yet have not received a reply.

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The Amherst Select Board has the ultimate authority to place an Override question on the ballot, so it's not highly unusual for them to have that on their agenda, although it has not happened in the last half-dozen years.

However, the Select Board is doing it as a favor to the Amherst School Committee who never officially asked them to do it via a Committee vote.

And up until now even though they have had a couple updates from the Schools regarding the Mega School, the Select Board has had zero discussion about this important expensive matter.

Monday night could be a very l-o-n-g meeting.

Pot vs Alcohol

Fratelli's will open in September at 30 Boltwood Walk

Acting as Liquor Commissioners the Amherst Select Board will hold a public hearing Monday night to decide the fate of two liquor licenses that are still valid until November 1st but currently not in use.

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 55 University Drive former home of The Hangar, future medical marijuana shop

Since the Hanger moved across the street after absorbing the much larger Amherst Brewing Company, who also had a full liquor license, it kind of makes sense they would not need their previous license under the name Afterburner Inc.

 Hangar Pub & Grill bought out Amherst Brewing Company across the street

Although they could be pulling an Eric Suher style of business where you hold on to a license so that nobody else can buy it and compete with you. 

Fratelli's has indicated they will appear at the meeting so obviously they are not in favor of the Select Board revoking it for lack of use.  A worker on site this morning said they plan to open by September 1st in their strategically well placed location.

The former location of the Hanger at 55 University Drive was the second of four marijuana dispensaries to get Select Board approval to open and the first (and so far only) to get a ZBA Special Permit.

 85 University Drive

Local developer Rich Slobody (who formerly owned Charlie's Tavern in town center) is building a 2,000 square foot building at 85 University Drive for MassMedicum the first non profit to get Select Board approval for a pot dispensary.

 Rafters on the corner of University Drive and Amity Street

And one of the most highly revered bars in Amherst for the past 25 years, Rafters Restaurant & Sports Bar, is now threatened by a 4th pot dispensary who has a $2 million purchase and sale agreement for the property strategically located on the corner of University Drive and Amity Streets, at the gateway to UMass.

Although the Zoning Board of Appeals could decide at some point that the community needs have been met with less than four dispensaries.  Which may be Rafters only hope.  

A Beacon Of Hope

Mill District:  Beacon project sited between Atkins and Cowles Building Supply

Beacon Communities, a top tier public housing developer, will go before our illustrious Select Board on Monday night to present preliminary plans for their badly needed mixed-use development that would continue the revitalization of North Amherst.

The Mill District has already made the historic but often neglected area a destination spot with the opening of Atkins North and the Trolley Barn.

This proposed development would add a key ingredient to the mix:  tenants who live within walking distance of all the amenities the area has to offer.

And with 20% of the units set aside as "affordable housing" the project would help bridge a Grand Canyon sized gap in our residential demographics.

Beacon purchased Rolling Green for $30.25 million ($1.25 million of town CPA $) thus keeping it on our Subsidized Housing Inventory

Sometimes A Mound Is Just A Mound

Unless of course you are an evil developer

It must be a monumental coincidence but it seems every time someone wants to do a development bigger than a breadbox on undeveloped land, neighbors are suddenly concerned with sacred box turtles, grasshopper sparrows or Indian burial grounds.

And of course those of us who grew up on The Amityville Horror know full well you don't mess with long dead Native American warriors.  Especially if you live in a town named after Lord Jeffery Amherst.

The controversial solar array project proposed for the idyllic hilltown of Shutesbury was on hold until the their Planning Board hears back from an expert archaeologist hired to study the mysterious mounds found on the forested property.

Turns out they were just root balls from trees toppled by the ghosts of New England weather.

   Shutesbury Mounds Not Sacred

Hadley, our farm community next door, had no problems with this solar array on E. Hadley Road

The Homeless Problem

Chief Livingstone (center) Phillip O'Connell (right)

Last night's Public Forum On Homelessness attracted a standing room only crowd to the Town Room including two Town Managers and an Assistant Town Manager, two Public Safety Chiefs, department heads, Town Meeting members, social service workers, the clergy, and of course some of the homeless who call our streets home.

 Incoming Town Manager Paul Bockelman (blue shirt)

The final speaker -- homeless downtown poster boy Phillip O'Connell -- became borderline disruptive, criticizing the outreach efforts as all show and no substance.  He went so far as to compare the treatment of the homeless as being, "worse than a Jim Crow negro in the Jim Crow south."

Umm, exaggerate much?

But it did cause a stir among the crowd.  And reinforced the image of the homeless in Amherst as being disruptive.

Some Public Works Perspective

Shumway Street Project:  Water/Sewer = $553,487 and Repaving = $199, 827

When you consider that an average Little League ballplayer could hit a baseball the length of Shumway Street and the cost to renovate that little stretch of concrete is over three quarters of a million dollars, it kind of demonstrates that $17 million in road repair backlog is not all that earth shaking.

And Amherst does have 133 miles of roadways.

Vince O'Connor, everybody's favorite activist, is collecting signatures for the Fall Town Meeting to sabotage the new DPW Facility in favor of road repair. 

But the money for a new DPW building or Fire Station or new Mega School,  each of which is tens of millions of dollars, does not come out of operating budgets.

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Already insiders are betting the Select Board will place a $35 million Debt Exclusion Override on the November 8th ballot for the new mega school.  If that Override should fail it's not like extra money will then be put into the school budget for new books, teachers or playground repairs.

The Finance Committee is taking up the serious issue of the four major capital building projects with an eye towards affordability, timing and educational outreach to the general public.

Scuttling the DPW building project now would only delay the inevitable.  And make it more expensive to restart in the not too distant future.

Hot day for this kind of work