Guppies Rejoice

Although you will not know it by perusing the town website (and currently the phones lines are down so you cannot call to confirm either) the War Memorial Wading Pool is, finally, open.  As you can imagine anything mechanical constructed when Give 'em Hell, Harry (Truman) was in office is prone to cascading failures:  you fix one thing and something else goes.

So parents, you may want to enjoy it will you can.  I'm told by a nice lifeguard that the hours (starting today) are weekdays 11:00 AM until 4:00 PM and weekends 11:00 AM to 5:00 PM.

About the only good idea former Town Manager Larry Shaffer (and now former city manager of Jackson, MI) had over his three year tenure here was to consider turning the wading pool and basketball court at War Memorial into a spray park like the one at Look Park in Northampton. 

Since the state was kind enough to cover most of the cost of renovating War Memorial (what us townies used to call "the big pool"), town officials should reconsider Mr. Shaffer's idea in the near future.  Heck, maybe Larry will return to Amherst to oversee the project.

There He Goes Again

Larry Shaffer (far left) gets thumbs down from Jackson, Michigan City Council

UPDATE:  Friday afternoon.  Since the Jackson City Council clearly violated their Open Meeting Law to settle with Mr Shaffer (at his urging of course), just as the Amherst Select Board pushed the envelope two years ago, perhaps the $64,000 settlement will be thrown out by a judge.

####

So it will come as little surprise to those in Amherst who were paying attention during the short reign of Town Mangler Larry Shaffer that he has once again suddenly decided to retire in the middle of his contract, taking with him--after only a year of service--a cushy $64,000 in taxpayer monies, almost exactly the same amount he absconded with from Amherst as he suddenly "took stock" of his life and decided to retire...at least until he found another job.

One of the weaknesses of the Mass Public Documents Law is exempting employee performance evaluations from exposure.  When Shaffer and the Amherst Select Board hatched his $62,000  severance package  they did so under the cloak of an "executive session" and even refused to take proper notes during that hour-and-twenty-minute closed door pow wow, summing up the entire meeting in just two sentences and redacting one of the two when responding to my request for the meeting minutes.

And now, two years later, the Jackson City Council has given Larry Shaffer a $64,000 going away present after meeting in a brief executive session. Furthermore the severance package contains a mutual "non disparage" clause to forever gag those public officials.

At the very least Larry Shaffer's two recent fiascos will be forever available via the web as a warning to the next community.  After all, a little transparency now and then is a good thing, and as necessary in the political world as storms in the physical. (Note to readers: last line, borrowed from Thomas Jefferson, is sarcasm.)

Fade to Black

Amherst July 4 Parade 2002-2012

They say you don't really appreciate something until it's gone. Especially those service oriented endeavors you learn to rely on as part of a favorite routine--a funky restaurant, a comfortable health club or a one of a kind movie theatre.

Sadly, we will soon find out if a good old fashioned patriotic parade makes your list. Because this July 4th--for the first time in ten years--downtown Amherst will not host an endless line of slow moving firetrucks, police cars, construction trucks, tractors, marching bands, floats, veterans, cheering crowds and more flags than Amherst sees all year.

The last town sponsored July 4 Parade stepped off in 1976. After a 26 year hiatus and as a direct response to the horror of 9/11, Kevin Joy reconstituted a private July 4th Parade Committee to put on a family oriented extravaganza while giving public thanks to our public servants--police, fire, EMT, and military.

And since 2002 the parade committee has done exactly that. But from the very beginning the committee was harassed and bullied by the town because the rules of the parade called for a celebration, not a protest.

In 2008 then town manager Larry Shaffer arbitrarily decided the town would run a 7/4 parade and the private committee would not be issued a permit.  As you can see, I did not take that very well. Neither did the ACLU, and the town quickly backed down.


Last year with a new town manager and normalized Select Board, for the first time in our short history there was no controversy--no mention of anti war protests one way or the other. Like all the previous years, the parade itself went off without a hitch.
So why surrender now?  Costs mainly.   The entire committee donates their labor but the bands,insurance, police, and a dozen other items amounts to serious money.  Plus fundraising is never easy--especially in this economy.

Besides that we're tired.  And now, sorry. So very sorry.

The Springfield Republican reports

####

Sent: Thu, May 31, 2012 9:55 am

Hi Kevin, Helen, Larry and others --

I just wanted to tell you how sorry I was to hear from Scott Merzbach yesterday that the parade won't happen this year.  You all have done such an amazing job with that and made it a special part of the July 4th events.  It's hard to imagine that day without it.  I will miss it, as will so many others, and I hope it can come back next year.

The work it takes to make the parade happen is incredible -- and beyond what most of us probably imagine.  The careful organization of the whole thing, particularly the check-in and set-up by Amherst College, and how smoothly that runs, has always been so impressive to me.  An enormous task that you all made run like clock work!  (Scott's article today is erroneous in suggesting I said it may not be too late for others to put together a similar parade -- I don't think that would even be possible.  My comment about "maybe it's not too late" was my reaction when he told me that you couldn't raise enough money for this year.)   Your attention to the logistics of it all made for such a professional and well-run event.     

Thank you for your work on this for all these years!  It has brought happiness to so many!  

Stephanie O'Keeffe
Chair, Amherst Select Board

Stephanie's dead on observation from four years ago

July 4 Parade Thanks 2005

Now we're talking!

APD downtown Amherst

Town Manager John Musante just tweeted (yes, he's on Twitter) about his "ride along" with APD last night.  Now we have to get him, like his predecessor Larry Shaffer, to start blogging--or at the very least get on Facebook--to give us the "who, what, when, where, why and how."

And of course, do a ride along with AFD.

John Musante ‏ @AmherstMusante

Rode along with Amherst Police Friday night. APD's unsung heroes working to keep us all safe. Thank you. #amherstma #westernma

• 1 Retweet
• 

He picked a good night, as it sounded from scanner traffic like an all too typical frisky Friday.  State police also set up a DUI roadblock in Hadley and bagged five potential killers on the road (out of 500 cars checked, or 1%).  And the Daily Hampshire Gazette issued a rather stern editorial today about the slobfest at Puffers Pond on Patriots Day.

The tide is turning...

#####

A few hours after I posted this a "newbie" posted the following over on UMasshoops, a fanboy listserve that is having a lively discussion (for a change) on the whole UMass party hardy culture in view of the recent Puffers Pond incident.  This is priceless:

Posted: Sat Apr 21, 2012 3:46 pm    Post subject:
"As a student who attends this fine university, I can safely say that there is just about nowhere any students can go to have a good time and drink. Even the bars as I have read in this thread are kept at half capacity by the fire dept. It's honestly getting pretty ridiculous how often cops are around. I have seen two cops on horses just sitting around on campus walking home from class on a Monday afternoon. For what? Its becoming a zero tolerance police state around here and honestly it sucks. I understand they are trying to change the image of the school but at what cost? Students are becoming increasingly annoyed with this university in more ways than one but I'll stick to this topic. I am sure most posters on this board are UMass alums and I am also sure many of your fondest memories of UMass were partying on the weekends. I know that is the case for my father. He doesn't tell me stories about sitting in class and he turned out just fine. Why try to end the one of the best things this school has going for it? The reason situations like Puffers Pond happen is because once we get a little freedom a chance to let loose we do it or else we miss our chance. This weekend they literally shut down streets and there was a cop just hanging out at the back of Puffers Pond. Where does this all end"

Trouble in Paradise?

 Larry Shaffer fist bump.  About to butt heads with the Mayor

Former Amherst, Massachusetts Town Manager now Jackson, Michigan City Manager Larry Shaffer had a hilarious quote in yesterday's local paper:  "I don't give up easily" asserted Shaffer in response to the city council reversing a yes vote he supports on an expensive solar energy project for their waste water treatment plant.

Mayor Martin Griffin strongly opposes the initiative saying, "I hope the project is dead."  Interesting power struggle.   Since Jackson has a Council/Manager form of government, the Mayor is apparently more of a figurehead than actual CEO.  But, nevertheless, Mayor Griffin looks like a strong guy who takes tough stands (slumlords want him recalled over a rental registration law he supported).

Mr. Shaffer, on the other hand...

Let's see, he took a strong stand on requiring Boy Scouts pay a tax on Christmas Tree sales, a beloved annual (tax free) town tradition for 60 years.  He tried to withhold the parade permit for the privately organized July 4 Parade to create a competing municipal parade that would embrace war protesters.  And he supported the Select Board's annual refusal to fly 29 commemorative American flags in the downtown to remember the horror of 9/11.

Best of all, he railroads the Select Board into giving him a two year extension on his contract and then only a few months later, suddenly, decides to "retire," to Michigan, leaving behind his wife here in Amherst.  Meanwhile his secretary concurrently vanishes with a $25,000 taxpayer payout nobody wishes to talk about.

Doesn't give up easily, eh?  I guess it depends on how you define "easily".  



 

A Gateway, Guaranteed

UMass director of planning Dennis Swinford paid a courtesy call to the Amherst Planning Board on February 1st to talk about their "Master Plan" looking forward to the next fifty years, and at the end of the presentation he was queried about the Gateway Project.

You can tell by his reaction he was a tad unprepared for the question, perhaps why he blurted out the unvarnished truth.

 Dennis Swinford, UMass planning

Originally the Gateway Corridor Project was a joint development project between UMass, the town and the Amherst Redevelopment Authority. Umass would donate the 2 acre former Frat Row and the ARA would commission a private top shelf developer to build a grand mixed use project providing badly needed housing, parking and commercial business space--all of it on the tax rolls.

Neighbors, fearing a revival of the Animal House Frat Row days, lobbied long and hard, meeting after meeting to abort any part of the plan concerning housing. They brow beat town officials into altering the grand vision to an unrecognizable shell of its former self. UMass withdrew the offer of Frat Row.

On the night Deputy Chancellor Todd Diacon broke the bad news to the ARA he stated reassuringly, UMass had no plans to build on the property "for the next five years."

Chancellor Holub and Town Manager Larry Shaffer signed a "Memorandum of Understanding" at the 9/1/10 community breakfast (in front of 400 witnesses) jump starting the grand Gateway Corridor plan. Shaffer would later run off from his wife and the town to Michigan, Chancellor Holub was run off by the by the rough and tumble Boston pols, and Deputy Chancellor Todd Diacon just found another job with Kent State University.

And Gateway will become townhouse apartments (like North Village Apartments) and a signature building at the intersection of Massachusetts Avenue, North Pleasant Street, and Butterfield Terrace.

Now neighbors will get the devil they don't know.

The new face of Amherst College?

Jim Brassord pitches Amherst College reconstruction projects to Amherst Historical Commission

Todd Diacon and Jim Brassord pitch BID to Amherst Select Board

With recent appearances before the Select Board to support the formation of a Business Improvement District as well as the Planning Board and Historical Commission for new construction and major renovations, Jim Brassord seems to be the poster boy for all things Amherst College, although President Biddy Martin did get out for the grand reopening of the stately Lord Jeffery Inn.

Amherst College President Biddy Martin (does not require a microphone)

And both the BID and Lord Jeffery Inn will contribute greatly to the revitalization of downtown Amherst. Amherst College is the largest landowner in town and even though the vast majority of their empire is tax exempt, they are still the town's largest taxpayer contributing about $350,000 last year for 40 some odd houses used to shelter professors and of course their profitable nine hole golf course that puts the town's moribund municipal offering to shame.

The Lord Jeffery Inn, open for business

Amherst College is also refurbishing the old historical Baptist church downtown for office space and launching a $200 million, six year construction project, for a new Life Science Building on campus. And all these construction/renovation projects will be protected by the Amherst Fire Department.

Amherst College owned former Baptist Church in the heart of downtown Amherst

Former Town Manger Larry Shaffer crunched the numbers four years ago to discover Amherst College cost the town about $120,000 annually for fire/ambulance protection. That year the College, kindly enough, donated $120,000 to the town's General Fund.

Ahh, but then the stock market slid into the toilet and Amherst College's endowment declined from $1.3 billion down to a paltry $1 billion. In response they shelved the $20 million reconstruction of the Lord Jeff, and reduced the Payment in Lieu of Taxes to Amherst from $120,000 to $90,000 and let Amherst taxpayers go back to subsidizing emergency services.

But now their endowment has W-A-Y more than recovered, sitting at a historic high, $1.6 billion. The sparkling renewed Lord Jeff is open, and work is about to commence on the former Baptist Church they purchased two years ago for $2.3 million, over twice its assessed value. But even at that lower value the building generated $16,000 in taxes to the town. And at today's whopping tax rate ($19.74/$1,000) would have generated $20,000.

Amherst College, around that same time, purchased and removed from the tax rolls houses on Hitchcock and Snell Street that today would also be generating $20,000 if still on the tax rolls.

22 Snell Street

14 Hitchcock Street

Most recently the town was overly generous with the Spring Street Parking lot renovation at the Lord Jeff's front door, spending over $350,000 in enterprise fund money and providing almost two years worth of work for an already busy enough DPW.

Spring Street Parking lot adjacent to the Lord Jeff

So let me recap: Over the past three years Amherst College has added to the protection portfolio of the Amherst Fire Department, removed buildings from the tax rolls and reduced annual payments to the town, all while their endowment has grown significantly.

Currently Amherst, the town, is cobbling together the FY13 budget which goes into effect July 1, 2012. And for the first time in many a year there's no gloom and doom talk emanating from Town Hall about devastating budget cuts, although the schools, as usual, are looking at a $500,000 shortfall.

Since Amherst the College and Amherst the Town are synonymous with education it would be both fitting and nice if the College donated a chunk of change to either the town for new fire/ambulance equipment, or the schools to help close that $500,000 sinkhole.

And I'm sure Town Manager John Musante or Superintendent Maria Geryk would buy Biddy Martin (or Jim Brassord) a beer at the Boltwood Tavern.

Recent typical weekend for AFD (note calls to Amherst College compared to UMass)

Burn Baby Burn!

Treemageddon. 10/30/11

Apparently Town Manager John Musante learned nothing from predecessor Larry Shaffer's PR major malfunction--charging Boy Scouts a fund raising tax on selling Christmas trees. So it's time for yet another town manager to be taken to the woodshed.

Amherst is now trying to profit on the freak Halloween weekend snow storm that littered the landscape with tree debris by charging a $25 open air burn permit paid to Amherst Fire Department (money that will not even stay in their budget), something that has been free since 1759.

Unlike Belchertown or South Hadley, Amherst saved a bundle by failing to open an emergency warming shelter in those critical first few post-storm days, and charging folks $100 ton for the storm debris cold, weary citizens dragged to the heavily tax subsidized Transfer Station, although an advertising error later forced them, grudgingly, to reduce the price to $50 ton.

So maybe now they're trying to make up for it. Last week the town announced yet another hike in user fees (water/sewer) that amounts to $24 annually for the average user, but did so with six months notice in order to give users time to adapt. This new $25 burn fee came out of nowhere (and it is fairly well buried on the town website).

Yesterday an irate citizen called Town Hall to complain, and a Town Manager staff member was not even aware of the new charge.

Like potholes, these seemingly trivial customer service items are issues l-o-n-g remembered. Snuff out the burn fee--a penny wise increase in revenue at a ton foolish cost.

South Amherst 1/11/12 A bonfire waiting to happen

A tax free Christmas

Amherst Pelham Boy Scouts return to Kendrick Park

President Obama could/should have learned a lesson from former Town Manager Larry Shaffer about not disparaging Christmas by instituting a tax on Christmas trees--something that makes you look heartless and indifferent to public opinion.

Amherst/Pelham Boy Scouts selling Christmas trees as a fundraiser is a much anticipated yuletide tradition dating back to when Rockwell was in his prime. And as one of my commenters previously pointed out, their sign is probably as old as the tradition.

Now all we need is a blanket of snow.

A new paradigm for golf?

Once again we witness the night and day difference between current town manager, John Musante, and the former town mangler Larry Shaffer--this time concerning something of paramount importance: truth-telling.

Five years ago Leisure Services and Supplemental Education and Shaffer had the audacity to issue a press release heralding that year's golf balance sheet, trumpeting a $7,200 "profit" while ignoring $40,000 in "hidden costs" (employee benefits, insurance, new equipment).

In an interview with the Springfield Republican town manager Larry Shaffer crossed the line by saying Cherry Hill required "no tax support." I even asked him at a follow up public meeting if he was misquoted, and he again reaffirmed the lie.

At last night's Select Board meeting the new Finance Director Sandy Pooler admitted Cherry Hill fell far short of FY2011 projected revenues ($270,000), which almost matched the actual $263,670 total cost of operations, with an intake of only $223,537 as first reported here six weeks ago, or a loss of over $40,000.

Of course he could not help but parrot the old excuse of that darn New England weather, but at least he also admitted the down economy takes a toll on the rich man's game of golf. Maybe now that transparency is the new marching order from Town Hall, citizens will get a true picture of the cost of golf.

And, unlike the scenic vistas aficionados admire, it ain't pretty.

Four Star Town Manager

Town Manager John Musante, SB Chair Stephanie O'Keeffe

Tonight the Amherst Select Board gave a sneak peak at the Town Manager's rookie year evaluation and it could not have been much better, garnering "outstanding" check marks for budget related items, high marks for media relations and mostly "commendable"--but no less than "satisfactory"--in his dealing with staff and personnel relations. Chair Stephanie O'Keeffe in her introductory remarks called his overall performance, "stellar."

A far cry from his predecessor Larry Shaffer, who suddenly retired last year under the cover of an Executive Session on the very night his evaluations were to go public. Those evaluation forms, since they were never presented in a public meeting and had to do with job performance, then became immune to a pubic documents request.

Perhaps the only discordant note would have come from Committee on Homelessness Chair Hwei-Ling Greeney, the only spectator in the audience, who came to the meeting wondering if the evaluation her committee submitted would become public. It did not.

The Committee on Homelessness is in a pitched battle for survival with the Select Board/Town Manager as town officials wish to terminate the committee over its zealous advocacy for the homeless.

Safe bet their evaluation of the Town Manager sang a starkly different song.

Amherst's Teflon coated bureaucrats

Former Amherst Town Manager Larry Shaffer, who suddenly "retired" and left town with a $62,000 going away present the same day his secretary disappeared with $23,000 in hush money did, finally, land another job in "public service"--city manager of Jackson, Michigan; although he took a bit of a pay cut, down from $127,000 to only $115,000.

You almost have to wonder if there's a course taught for public administration majors on how to obscure mistakes and Cover Your Ass. It's not so much that he cheated on his wife while "serving" the town, it's more that he allegedly did it with a subordinate employee at town hall (before taking up with a UMass professor more in keeping with his stature.)

Or at the very least town manager wannabes should take a primer on Public Relations. Mr. Shaffer made a bad decision right off the bat by following the Select Board's marching orders to trample the First Amendment rights of the July 4th Parade Committee by forcing them to allow protesters to march in the privately organized, non-political family event.

Since the Select Board can fire a town manager with a simply majority vote, I guess you can't blame him for covering his ass on that issue--especially since the Board at the time leaned to the left of Chairman Mao.

But to tax Boy Scouts Christmas trees after 60 years of tax-free selling was decidedly different--and perhaps more telling story--as he initiated the entire fiasco on his own without even telling the Select Board before coming up with the idiotic scheme.

And obviously he did not share with the current Board his ethically challenged personal inter office decision to allegedly have an affair (hopefully not during business hours).

Perhaps he has learned a lesson...or maybe Jackson, Michigan will.

Gateway intensive visioning

Town Manager John Musante and Giani Longo of ACP

Last night's three-hour kick off charrette--1st of three--started out with a bang as it looked for a moment like the public meeting would become part two of the Jerry Springer show when Town Manager John Musante was interrupted in his opening remarks by Murray Eisenberg (an immediate neighbor) demanding to know the status of "undergrad housing" within the Gateway.
Murray Eisenberg sits after causing a scene (and soon left the meeting)

Musante took advantage of the jarring segue to announce the "Memorandum of Understanding" signed by Chancellor Holub, former Town Manager Larry Shaffer and ARA Chair John Coull on September 1, 2010 was now "off the table," meaning specifically private student housing would no longer target undergraduates--the major concern of vocal neighbors (assuming developers can stay within state and federal housing law).

And since deputy chancellor Todd Diacon was in attendance and did not throw his magic marker at Musante, it probably has UMass approval. At previous ARA meetings Diacon clearly stated that undergrad housing is not the main interest of his employer.

Todd Diacon, UMass deputy chancellor (center)

Between 70-90 folks crowded into the Bangs Community Center where they sat at random around ten tables, each with a large color zoning map of the north end of Amherst. First assignment was to define the Gateway area. Obviously the UMass owned former Frat Row was ground zero and one table envisioned the area as only that (called "minimalist" by ACP consultant Gianni Longo) and it would stay open green space, while the majority of tables drew broader lines both north and south, east and west or combinations of the two.

The "Preliminary Assessment for Urban Renewal Eligibility" shows (as neighbors pointed out early on) that no "blighted" properties exist in the region, as blighted only applies to vacant structures.

And in the immediate area directly opposite Frat Row a good number of properties are identified as "exhibiting decadent conditions" meaning poorly maintained structures with either peeling paint, broken windows, dangling electrical wires, etc.

In order for the state to approve an "Urban Renewal Plan" and allow the ARA full use of all its tools--including eminent domain--the area must be deemed in need of rehabilitation on a grand scale. But since the "area" has not yet been defined, that process will take place at a later date.

######################################
The fun continues today into the night:

Friday, 4/29 – Open House

8:30–10:00 AM Review of workshop results w/ ARA
10:00 AM–4:00 PM Preliminary Plan Development
Alternative development;
Land use considerations (Schematic Plan)
Transportation considerations (The complete street)
Sketch up 3-D model
4:00-6:00 PM Printing & Open House Preparation
6:00 – 9:00 PM Open House presentation
########################################

Color schematic of the Gateway area showing properties with decadent conditions

9/1/10 Memorandum Of Understanding (not to be confused with a legally binding contract):
click link below to read original agreement:
Agreement with UMass/ARA/Town

What goes around...

Larry Shaffer turns on the charm for Amherst Town Meeting

UPDATE Wednesday April 20: The Gazette today reports a sanitized version of Mr. Shaffer's new job prospects. Interestingly enough it appears in the print edition but not online. Editors probably did not want to allow Comments that could bring up dirty laundry. UPDATE: 8:45 AM: So about an hour after I posted that first update it magically appeared online. Coincidence I guess.
######################################
ORIGINAL POST: Sunday evening (a tad ahead of the Gazette)

My two site meters act like canaries in a coal mine, early alerting me to something of note suddenly occurring. On Tuesday a tsunami of hits from Facebook landing on a "Party House of the Weekend" post from last December almost crashed my widget.

I was actually in the middle of drafting an email to APD wondering if something terrible had just happened at 23 Tracy Circle (thinking somebody blew their brains out after posting a suicide note on Facebook linking back to me) when I managed to trace it back to the juvenile "F_ck the Fines" Facebook group.

Then a couple days ago I noticed numerous hits coming from Michigan all Googling "Larry Shaffer, Amherst" with some of them adding the term "gay". Hmm...

Turns out that former Amherst Town Manager Larry Shaffer is tops on the list for city manager of Jackson, Michigan a city about the size of Amherst (which should be a city). The gay thing is probably from his public interview use of the term "partner" for his um, other woman, Jane Ashby.

The one he divorced his wife over, and then suddenly retired from bucolic Amherst (with a taxpayer funded $62-K going away present) to follow her out to her new professorship at Central Michigan University.

I asked a conservative buddy of mine who makes Michigan her home which scenario would play better in Jackson: A gay man applying for city manager or a straight one who had an affair with his secretary while still married (costing taxpayers $23,000 to hush up) then flew the coop to be with yet another woman. All hypothetical examples of course.

Considering Michigan is more conservative than Massachusetts, with a huge evangelical community in Grand Rapids and a large Muslim population outside Detroit, it sounds like neither of my hypothetical scenarios would play out well.

So forget Mr. Shaffer's folly of charging a tax on Christmas trees sold by Boy Scouts, or getting spanked by the ACLU for attempting a heavy handed takeover of the July 4th Parade to accommodate left wing zealots or even purposely fudging figures to protect a municipally owned black hole of a golf course; his final undoing is a character flaw as old as Adam and Eve--and in this cyber age, one that cannot be hidden behind a fig leaf.



My conservative Michigan buddy agrees

They HAD a secret #2

Two years ago the assistant I.T. Director was let go for sending an email complaint about his boss to town manager Larry Shaffer, also copied to the entire Select Board.

I filed a public documents request for said dispatch; the town manger turned me down citing Exemption C, the most often used excuse: "Personnel and medical files or information; also any other materials or data relating to a specifically named individual, the disclosure of which may constitute an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy."

But in late February I requested any and all "separation, severance, transition, or settlement agreements made since January 1, 2005 between the town of Amherst and their employee's that include compensation, benefits, or other payments worth more than $5,000."

So here it is: Just another case of an employee who suddenly disappears (with $25-K in hand)
####################################
A Gazette reporter called yesterday to interview me about the original post concerning the town manager's sudden retirement with a $62-K going away present and his, errr, administrative assistant also disappearing that same day with a $22-K payday after only 3-and-a-half years employment with the town.

He wanted to know "why the people should care?" Good question. Not sure I answered well enough for him and even if so it may never see the light of print anyway, so I will answer it again here.

Of the 13 individuals covered under these agreement more than half of them are simply routine retirements or early retirements. But because they are all kept secret, it casts a shadow on those that are routine, as though they did something wrong.

When the town attorney informed the town manager he had to give up the documents, Mr. Musante requested another week to contact the former employees via snail mail to inform them that someone had been given their legal agreements.

And I'm sure some of them--even those who should not be--started to get nervous.

The highest payout ($44,000) was actually the most normal in that it was a very-high ranking employee with over thirty years of distinguished service. That settlement included unused vacation pay, sick time, personal days, longevity pay, etc.

Another woman who had left the same position Ms. "Jane Doe" occupied (administrative assistant to the town manager--and I'm told by multiple sources did a much better job) was not on the settlement list, because she received no money. Since she voluntarily resigned her town position for a better job at Amherst College, you would expect no such settlement.

So then why did "Jane Doe" get paid $22-K when she "voluntarily" resigned ten months later?

If the former town manager Larry Shaffer had used $22-K out of his $25-K going away present, then I would have not pursued this case so vigorously. But since it was all funded with tax dollars, I honestly believe the people have a right to know.

They HAD a Secret

Larry Shaffer, Stephanie O'Keeffe, Aaron Hayden

I call her Jane Doe

While public documents czar Alan Cote denied my appeal for full disclosure of the 8/30/10 Select Board executive session minutes where town officials huddled in secret for over an hour to discuss the strikingly sudden "retirement" of town manager Laurence Shaffer (the very night the Board was scheduled to publicly discuss his annual "performance evaluation"), the town grudgingly complied with my request for Shaffer's "Employment Settlement and release of claims" agreement and that of his office administrative assistant who also, coincidentally enough, simultaneously disappeared.

So here's the executive summary, but I invite you to click on the hotlinks below to read the documents in full: Shaffer's platinum parachute, after only four years of "service" to the town, a whopping $62,129.

And Jane Doe, serving only three-and-a-half years (earning $43,900 last year) sauntered off with $23,012. In the private sector you would be lucky to get a couple weeks to a month pay as severance (and even then only after a ten year minimum service), or in her case about $3,000 and Shaffer's case maybe $10,000.

“I’ve never heard of anybody, public sector or private sector, getting severance pay when they voluntarily leave employment,” said John Tillman, CEO of the Illinois Policy Institute. Interestingly the legal agreements dubbed Jane Doe a "resignation," Mr. Shaffer a "retirement."

"In a week's time I'll be 62 years old and indeed I have been thinking about retirement," Shaffer told the Select Board back then (with two years still left on his contract). That final spring in Amherst Mr Shaffer retired a few things: divorcing his wife and selling his home on Amity Street.

But merely a month after his October 1 "retirement" he was seeking a city manager job in Michigan. According to the 12/10/10 Birmingham Patch: "Because Shaffer's significant other teaches at Central Michigan University in Mount Pleasant, commissioners asked him about whether he plans to commute. Shaffer assured them that he's fully open to making Birmingham his permanent home if he is offered the position and that he's here to stay."

That "significant other" is former UMass psychology professor Jane Ashby who, five years ago, sat on the original Amherst "citizen search committee" that chose Shaffer over two other highly qualified candidates; she too divorced her spouse in Amherst last spring and headed off to Central Michigan University, a state school that made CBS Money Watch list of "25 Colleges With the Worst Professors."

The whereabouts of Shaffer's former administrative assistant is currently unknown.

Jane Doe's agreement
Click links above and below to read
Larry Shaffer's agreement

official minutes of 80 minute 8 /30 executive session (all two sentences, where one of them was redacted)

A conflict over conflict of interest

clockwise: Peg Roberts, Larry Shaffer, Aaron Hayden, John Coull, Jonathan Tucker

If someone had not taunted me in town center on Thursday morning I would not have known to call the State Ethics Division to inquire about a complaint lodged against fellow Amherst Redevelopment Authority member Aaron Hayden who is also--coincidentally enough--up for reelection tomorrow.

The State Ethics Division is like the Secret Service or FBI when it comes to investigations, as they will not "confirm or deny" anything...however if you talk long enough, you can figure out if a complaint was filed.

Interestingly enough the next day (Friday 3/25) the Daily Hampshire Gazette published a Letter To The Editor from anti-Gateway kingpin, former Washington D.C. attorney, and neighbor to the potential development, John Fox supporting the ARA candidacy of rabidly anti-Gateway activist Vince O'Connor.

And in his lede Mr. Fox warns about "...potential conflicts that confront Aaron Hayden as a member of both the five-member Select Board and the five-member ARA, which have important overlapping issues." Hmm...

Ten years ago Select Board chair Carl Seppala was also an ARA member. And so much "conflict" existed at the time over ARA joint development with the town that the episode became known as "The Garage War." No complaints, however, about "conflict of interest" over Mr. Seppala's important dual roles.

A few months back sleeper activist Mary Wentworth publicly suggested Select Board Chair Stephanie O'Keeffe had conflicts of interest because her father John Coull is Chair of the ARA, and she lives on Butterfield Terrace within the Gateway's "neighborhood planning area."

Ms. O'Keeffe herself requested a State Ethics Division legal opinion and they concluded neither is a conflict of interest, which she publicly shared during a Select Board meeting. And, not surprisingly, the state recently found no conflict of interest exists with Mr. Hayden as well.

Disclaimer: Although I'm a longtime member of the ARA, Umass graduate, Continuing Education student and 5th generation Amherst resident, I speak here, as I always do, strictly for myself (and for the hard-pressed taxpayers of this town) using that cherished American ideal known as the First Amendment.

Not so Public, Records

So according to today's venerable Daily Hampshire Gazette my Public Documents appeal for the redacted sentence (one of only two sentences covering the entire meeting) from the 8/30 Executive Session of the Amherst Select Board granting Town Manager Larry Shaffer a sudden retirement with four months pay as a going away present will be denied due to the "personal" nature of the discussion, which lasted a full hour and twenty minutes.

Oddly enough a state attorney updated me via email last week saying they were waiting to talk with the town attorney before making their decision; and I of course responded with a request for that final decision to also be sent to me via email. Apparently that request too was denied.

Since today is a federal holiday, safe bet I'll get the official letter (dated 2/15) tomorrow via good old fashioned snail mail. I guess the Post Office could use the business.

Let the sunshine, let the sunshine in

Former Town Manager Larry Shaffer, standing center (way back in his angelic days)

From: White, Donald (SEC)
To: amherstac@aol.com
Sent: Mon, Feb 14, 2011 10:30 am
Subject: Public Records Appeal - SPR11/009

Mr. Kelley,

I wanted to provide you with a brief update on the status of the public records appeal that you submitted to this office. I have been in communication with the counsel for the Town of Amherst to discuss the information redacted from the 8/30/10 Amherst Select Board Executive Session Meeting Minutes. At this time, town counsel has withheld that information and asserted Exemption (c) – The Privacy Exemption. Although the town has asserted this exemption, I am awaiting further information that will support the use of this exemption. I expect to speak further with town counsel next week, as they are out of the office this week.

Please feel free to let me know if you have any further questions, but I at least wanted to provide you with the information that I had on the appeal to date. Thank you.


Donald White
Staff Attorney


Dear Mr White,

Thank you for the brief update. Nice when a government agency in charge of Open Meetings can be so open themselves. I hope when you make your final decision I can also receive the results via electronic mail.

As I'm sure you know, 'Exemption C The Privacy Exemption' is the #1 reason cited by municipal officials for turning down Public Documents requests. But public officials have a lesser expectation of privacy than the taxpayers who fund their salaries.

And the state allows the exception to be trumped when "there is a paramount public interest in disclosure." Indeed I strongly believe the sudden departure of Town Manager Larry Shaffer, taking with him four months of salary, rises to level of "paramount public interest"; and since he very soon thereafter reentered the job market in Michigan, I'm sure it was not a medical condition that fueled his hasty flight.

The redacted lone sentence I seek represents one half of the 120 minute Executive Session, as Select Board Chair Stephanie O'Keeffe covered the entire meeting with only two sentences. That too is questionable record keeping.

Maintaining public trust should be your paramount concern. When elected local officials hatch backroom deals in a private manner financed with public taxpayer money, it diminishes that sacred trust.

Again, thank you for considering this important matter.
Larry Kelley

Correction: The Executive Session was one hour-and-twenty-minutes (80 minutes) not two hours (120 minutes). Still, pretty hard to capture in only two sentences

They've got a secret

The Select Board gave Larry Shaffer (on left) the thumbs up for his mysteriously sudden retirement
UPDATE: 4/17/11

How it all, finally, turns out
And continues...

###################################
UPDATED: Friday 9: 30 AM

The interesting thing is in the official minutes they did give me only one sentence is redacted. Hmm...

However, the entire one-hour-and-twenty minute executive session "discussion" was covered by Chair Stephanie O'Keeffe (demonstrating her PR flak background) in only two sentences. So the other way to look at it is they redacted half the damn report!

The other telling thing about the Town Attorney blowing me off is that he cites "Wakefield Teachers Association vs School Committee of Wakefield"; and that had to do with a middle school male teacher being disciplined for making inappropriate written comments to a couple of his young female students and being "disciplined" (No, strangely enough he was not fired only docked three weeks pay).

A judge ruled that since the documents in question had to due with the "performance" of a public employee it was exempt from Public Documents Law request. So I guess it boils down to who initiated the break between Shaffer and the town. Did he do it of his own volition because he was getting old and tired and simply wanted to retire or did the Select Board get wind of some inappropriate activity and implement disciplinary action?
###################################

Supervisor of Records
Office of the Secretary of the Commonwealth
McCormack Building, Room 1719
One Ashburton Place
Boston, MA 02108

Dear Mr. Cote,

I wish to appeal the recent decision of the Town Of Amherst denying me the vast majority of minutes from the 8/30/10 Select Board Executive Session to discuss the sudden retirement of then Town Manager Larry Shaffer, the highest ranking appointed public official in town with an annual salary of $127,528.

The Executive Session lasted over an hour and resulted in the Town Manager being released from his employment contract two years early, AND the payment of four months bonus pay. Since all the monies are tax dollars, The People who financed this arrangement have a right to know the details.

And since Mr. Shaffer almost immediately applied for Town Manager/City Manager positions in the state of Wisconsin, it's obvious he did not abruptly retire from Amherst due to a medical condition.

As always, thank you for service championing the peoples right to know by keeping government records open and transparent.

Larry Kelley
596 South Pleasant St.
Amherst, Ma 01002

So much for "open government" bragged about on the town website


Thought I was doing pretty good up to this point, but I just knew a "However" was coming...




Page 2 legal response via google docs