Busiest Year Ever

Expensive machines are not much good if you can't properly staff them

To anyone who has been paying attention over the past year it comes as no surprise that 2016 was the busiest year on record for the beleaguered Amherst Fire Department:  6,513 total call or a 30% increase from ten years ago when the department last had a staffing increase.

 Click to enlarge/read

EMS runs made up 78% of total responses so it's no wonder the Ambulance Fund is well ahead of schedule to intake the $2.4 million projected by the Town Manager last year.  As of January 1st, with FY17 exactly half over, the fund has generated $1.6 million in revenues.

In other words AFD ambulance receipts cover more than half their $4.5 million total annual budget.

 Click to enlarge/read

If the ambulance fund does intake a hundred thousand or so over the initial projection this year why not reinvest that back into the "business" by hiring more firefighters?  Last year Dispatch had to issue 423 calls for "station coverage".

 This could have been a disaster

On January 1 Holyoke FD had to respond to a major structure fire with one less engine company because of a "brown out" brought on my budget cuts.  Three people died in that conflagration.

That same day Northampton FD had to respond to Amherst town center to transport a citizen who fell on the ice because all our firefighters were tied up on other calls.

 NFD on scene Amherst town center 1/1/17

Bare minimum staffing, a problem statewide, is playing Russian roulette with public safety.  Overly educated Amherst should be smarter than that.

When One Door Closes

B2, After The Fall

I'll start with the good news: Birdie (B1) is back from the dead.

A few days after inhaling too much smoke at the Alpine Commons fire back in early June her electronics starting acting up and she refused to connect with satellites for GPS lock so none of the motors would fire up.

Alpine Commons June 4th

Now she connects to satellites quicker than ever allowing smooth firing off all four motors. Although she still does not like freezing weather, so her missions will be short in duration and short in range.

The bad news? It pains me greatly to report, B2 had a catastrophic incident on her last mission only about 10 seconds from safely landing next to me.

15 minutes into a flight I lost sight of her and hit the return home button which brings her back to initial launch site at an altitude of 70 feet. I set that height because it's just high enough to clear any buildings or trees in town center.

I actually had her in sight (and sound) and was just about to take over manual control when she listed 45 degrees and plummeted to earth. Solid earth, as in concrete.

But ever the trooper, her final photos came out fine, and even though three of four engines were destroyed on impact the remaining one still fired up after I reinserted the battery.

B2 briefly put a flag back up on Hampshire College main flagpole

B17's were famous for returning to base with two or sometimes even three engines out. And of course the "Miracle On The Hudson" demonstrated how a big old commercial jet can still glide after 100% engine failure.

But a quadcopter relies on all four engines for a balanced lift. Should one fail, it's an instant death spiral. Even a passive fall from 70 feet up would be fatal.

 Birdie, back from the dead

Perhaps that's why the original Birdie suddenly returned to life. Imbued with the warrior spirit of B2.

Paper Or Plastic?

Newspapers still deliver irony

Do Phone Books count?

You have to wonder if the venerable Daily Hampshire Gazette would have spewed such lavish editorial praise for Amherst Town Meeting if the plastic bag ban did not contain a special exemption for newspapers?

 Click to enlarge/read

I suppose the cheap paper bags that are now the fall back are recyclable, but I still wonder if the death of trees to produce them isn't more of a stress on the environment than microscopically thin plastic bags,

The Select Board will hear a Solid Waste Master Plan report from the Recycling & Refuse Management Committee on Monday night and considering one of their own was the petitioner responsible for the plastic bag ban, I'm pretty sure this issue will come up.  

Since the word "Recycling" comes before "Refuse" in their committee name it kind of gives you an idea of their end goal.  In fact their stated mission now is an overly ambitious "zero waste."

And by God they are willing to enact more bans and bylaws to make it happen, even if it tramples on the all American value for competition.

For instance they want to whittle down the seven private trash/recycling haulers in town to just one (or maybe three at most) for the good of the environment because, "Individual choice has a high financial and environmental price for the whole community."

Yeah, that damn "individual choice" thing.  Yikes!

From the Solid Waste manifesto

Because if I don't like the service I get from Amherst Trucking even after 20+ years with them, I can simply switch to Duseau Trucking, another long time family run business.

 Amherst Trucking has around 3,000 household accounts and most downtown businesses

But you would think with the unmistakable logo on the side of Amherst Trucking's expensive machines the town would get an inkling of how important recycling is to them.

And whatever they pull out of the waste stream and redirect to recycling is less tipping cost for them so they have an incentive to so so without governmental heavy handedness.

When companies compete -- especially for your services -- they get better.  The Select Board should tread carefully when messing with the market.  Like trash itself, it could get messy.

Amherst Trucking/Duseau Trucking Statement to Town Manager/Select Board

Charter Commission Flip Flop?

Charter Commission:  8 out of 9 were in attendance last night

Much to the horror of the Collins Institute consultants the Amherst Charter Commission spent an hour discussing a topic not on the agenda, a sort of do over of the previous meeting where a 5-4 straw vote set a path towards Mayor/Council leaving our current Select Board/Town Meeting/Manager system relegated to the dust bin.

Town Meeting loyalist Gerry Weiss read a defiant statement lamenting the lack of discussion by Charter Commissioners about "improving" Town Meeting and suggested he would outright oppose any new form of government proposed that did not include Town Meeting.

Weiss was joined by Julia Rueschemeyer who echoed the same concerns even going so far to say the lawyer in her was tempted to call for a revote knowing Mayor/Council supporter Irv Rhodes was not in attendance.

But Chair Andy Churchill pointed out a 4-4 tie vote would still mean the motion fails, so it would not undo the 5-4 vote from the previous meeting.

The Select Board will vote on Monday night whether to allow town boards and committees to use "remote participation," so in the future when Mr. Rhodes is traveling and unable to make a meeting he can use an electronic device to participate and his vote will count.

The consultants were concerned about an already tight deadline with this backtracking taking up valuable time.

The Commission decided to flesh out the Mayor/Council proposal for the rest of the meeting and on January 19th briefly revisit the idea of "improving Town Meeting" and take yet another vote which form is the best for them to pursue over the next six months.

Although Mr. Weiss was quick to acknowledge that it will still end up a 5-4 vote in favor of Mayor/Council.

Over the rest of the night they did vote to support forming a Council of 13 members, one per precinct (Amherst has 10 precincts) and three elected "at large"; and the precinct Councilors serve two year terms while the three at large Councilors each have a four year term.

And, like a kid taking his toys and going home, Mr. Weiss abstained on those two votes. 

Let's hope on January 19 when the Charter Commission reaffirms their earlier vote to mothball Town Meeting, Mr. Weiss will simply resign and let someone replace him who can help move the Commission steadily forward on solid ground rather than seeking a quagmire.

No Signatures For You?

Jones Library:  An iconic presence in the heart of downtown

The Jones Library Trustees met yesterday and spent about 25 minutes discussing whether the library could or should be used as a favorite fishing spot to bag signatures for town wide office -- especially that of Jones Library Trustee.

Although clearly a public space and therefor fair game, Trustee President Austin Sarat made a distinction between "norms vs. rights".

 Jones Library Trustees

Most agreed that a sitting Trustee asking an employee they technically have power over for a signature on their nomination papers is a tad intrusive because the employee might feel "pressured" to sign.

Director Sharon Sharry pointed out the "gauntlet" that sets up in front of the Middle School Auditorium on the first few nights of Town Meeting with candidates in search of signatures, and she would prefer that not happen at the Jones Library two front entries.

Rookie Trustee Alex Lefebvre, appointed by a joint meeting of the Select Board and Trustees last month, said she doesn't like being approached by strangers when shopping at Stop & Shop to sign petitions or nomination papers.

The Trustees took no formal action but will send it to a sub committee for further study.  In the audience was Terry Johnson a candidate for Library Trustee on the upcoming March 28 election who also applied for the temporary seat won by Alex Lefebvre who voiced strong support for the library expansion during the interview before Select Board and Library Trustees.

Ms. Johnson was not overly supportive of the expansion during the interview.

As such Ms. Lefebvre was appointed by the Trustees to their Building and Facilities Sub Committee and the Joint Capital Planning Committee.

Director Sharon Sharry also updated Trustees on the progress of the e-x-p-a-n-s-i-o-n telling them the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners had come back with required changes in the preliminary plans and all of them had been implemented.

The final Construction Grant Application is due January 26th and they hear back whether it will be funded on July 13th.

At the Spring Town Meeting starting in late April the Library will request permission to apply for and receive grant funds (if approved by the state) and at the Fall Town Meeting will request the amount of town money needed to go along with the state money and private fundraising efforts.

Current estimates for the Jones Library expansion/renovation is in the $32 million range with the state paying $15 million, private donations of $5 million, and a taxpayer Debt Exclusion Override of $12 million.

The Jones Library endowment now stands at $7.63 million and President Sarat brought up the idea of perhaps using more than the 4% draw to support the operation budget this coming fiscal year.

DUI Dishonor Roll

On average 2 out of 3 people will be involved in drunk driving crash in their lifetime.  Yikes!

Since veteran drinkers refer to New Year's Eve as "amateur night" I was a little surprised but overly pleased Amherst police only arrested one driver for being impaired over the long weekend.

And with a chemical breath test almost twice the legal limit he was most certainly impaired, and driving in a busy part of town at a time when many innocent citizens would be going about their business.

 Henrique Daviega, age 49

 Click to enlarge/read

Recycling Cop?

Transfer Station on closed landfill helps fund town's solid waste/recycling programs

Back in December Town Manager Paul Bockelman told the Select Board Amherst had received a $50,000 state grant to hire a full time "Waste Reduction" employee.

Of course it's a "matching grant" so the town will have to come up with $50K in tax money and once the state money is gone the town will assume full responsibility for the cost of that position.

Select Board Chair Alisa Brewer did not seem overly enthusiastic about the idea telling the Town Manager we don't have to jump on money just because it's offered by the state, although she certainly did not have that attitude with the Massachusetts School Building Authority's $33 million match for the new Mega School, aka Maria's Folly.

The Recycling & Refuse Management Committee will go before the Select Board on Monday night to discuss their Solid Waste Master Plan which was issued over a year ago but to little if any notice.

Coming this close on the heels of the single use plastic bag ban which takes away a convenience most shoppers and stores took for granted, combined with the push for a full time employee to enforce such rules and regulations the issue may get a tad more attention.

 Big Y switched to thin paper bags

And of course "public outreach/education" is one of the stated goals of their Master Plan.

But businesses in spite of the inconvenience seem to have come into compliance with the plastic bag ban just as they did a couple years ago with the Styrofoam ban, so a full time enforcement cop is hardly necessary unless of course the town continues down the road of increasingly restrictive ordinances.

The RRMC is also concerned about the number of private trash haulers doing business in town (7) and would like to get that down to only three or better yet one to reduce the number of trucks running all over town spewing hydrocarbons as they go.

Draft recommendations from Master Plan

Restaurants would also be penalized for not keeping organic wastes out of the trash stream through composting.

And if there's any free time left in their workweek the Waste Reduction employee could snoop through homeowners trash to make sure it does not contain more than 5% recyclables or the occasional mercury thermometer or cadmium batteries.

The Town Manager is required to submit his budget to the Select Board in a couple of weeks and since it's a safe bet he's not going to increase the number of desperately needed full time firefighters, any new position he does add -- even if somewhat paid for by state money -- will come under close scrutiny.

And hiring a new employee dealing only with trash, recycling, sludge and compost may not pass the smell test.