Mega School Or Bust

Amherst School Committee last night

Unsurprisingly the Amherst School Committee after two hours of public hearing -- more than half of it criticism from the general public -- voted 4-1 in favor of the administration's  preferred "Grade Reconfiguration 2-6" model that will create a 750 student two-wing school and turn Crocker Farm Elementary School into a pre K-1st Grade early childhood education superstore.



Interestingly this 'separate but equal' concept of twin schools under one roof is the result of concerns over equity for students of color, low-income and single-parent families (and combinations thereof) that make up a sizable percentage of the Amherst public school population.

Crowd of 40 attended, many of them critical of mega-school

The only School Committee member who had not telegraphed her vote last week was Kathleen Traphaghan.  In her presentation she extensively cited her 14-year-old son as a main source for information for this epic decision, which is sort of like a smoking enthusiast justifying their bad habit by citing their grandfather who smoked two-packs a day since teen years and lived to be 93.

Traphagen also criticized the local hometown newspaper for pre-coverage of this "agonizing" decision as being "flippant," making it seem that cost was not a factor.  "We live in this town like everybody else", she said with a sigh. 

Costs will come in between $61.2 and $66.3 million depending on Wildwood School Building Committee pick

Black sheep member of the 5-member School Committee Vira Douangmany Cage played her usual watchdog role, questioning the process as a violation of Open Meeting Law, since the agenda posted on the town website did not clearly show a vote would be taken.

 Agenda posted on town website does not clearly indicate a vote would be taken

ASC Chair Katherine Appy responded that the agenda was clear on the school website and this was pretty much the way they always did things.

Last year, after a number of posting snafus that cancelled meetings at the last minute, the Regional School Committee voted to allow posting of meetings and agendas on the ARPS Regional website rather than relying on hard copy postings in all four towns. The state does allow this, but only for regional entities, which the Amherst School Committee is not.

 Former Amherst School Committee member Andy Churchill spoke in favor of reconfiguration

Crocker Farm Principal Derek Shea spoke in favor of making his school preK-1st Grade

The Wildwood School Building Committee will discuss the School Committee decision tomorrow night as they have the final authority with the Massachusetts School Building Authority for a single project that will receive between 50 and 55% reimbursement from the state.

According to Assistant Superintendent Mike Morris (also chair of the Wildwood School Building Committee):

"There will be discussion of the options at the SBC meeting tomorrow and a vote at the 2/2 SBC meeting on the Preferred Schematic Report (a submission to the MSBA that includes this choice).  As mentioned at last Wednesday's meeting and community forum, another design option (W11) that is very similar to W5 but made for the 750 student building will be presented, so there are four potential building designs to consider (W11, W10, W7, FR5)."

 Forever activist Vince O'Connor predicts disaster for the Reconfiguration scenario

O'Connor's preferred choise is twice as expensive

Vince O'Connor, who championed the most expensive concept of using the MSBA to deal with Wildwood only and have the town go it alone renewing Fort River,  exposed a conspiracy theory that town officials wish to close down Fort River so it could be used as the new Department of Public Works building, another mega-building-project on the immediate horizon.

O'Connor also predicted the MSBA will not even approve the Reconfiguration model since it does not have overwhelming public support.  And even if it does make it to the floor of Town Meeting for a debt exclusion Override vote, it will fail like the elementary school Override did back in 1992.

With Amherst property tax rates already in the top ten statewide, the $200+ added to the average tax bill by a debt exclusion Override for another 30 years to finance this mega-school is going to be a very tough sell.  School officials are putting all their eggs in this one expensive basket.

Indeed the die is now cast, the Rubicon has been crossed.  Let's hope School Superintendent Maria Geryk fares a tad better than Julius Caesar.

Mike Morris and Maria Geryk listening to critical public comments

Kathleen Traphagen not happy with most recent Gazette story as well

Skating On Thin Ice

Cleared skating rink may not be safe for a few more days

One (college aged) young man is lucky to be alive after he plunged through thin ice on Puffer's Pond yesterday after playing hockey with friends.

 Hockey gloves left behind on Puffer's Pond

AFD responded in force but no extrication was required as he managed to get out of the freezing water and make it to shore under his own power.

Although his hockey gloves were left behind, and firefighters deemed the ice unsafe for anyone to retrieve them.

AFD does of course train for ice water rescue.  Last year they had to cancel a drill because the ice on Puffer's Pond was too thick.  

I'll Be (another) Roundabout

Triangle/E. Pleasant intersection (underlined island will go away)

Green indicates proposed grassy area, maroon indicates concrete pavers and/or brick

DPW Chief Guilford Mooring brought the latest plans for the roundabout at Triangle and East Pleasant Street near the new Kendrick Place mixed use building to the Public Works Committee on Thursday night.

This would make the 9th time it has appeared on their agenda over the past two years.

 Public Works Committee meeting (1/14/16)

PWC audience

Major tweaks include a new system of (5) crosswalks that avoid going through the center of the roundabout, removal of a small island over on the side closest to UMass so a "slip lane" can allow for PVTA buses and trucks to make the turn.  It also allows for the sidewalk to be brought down from the current top of a steep hill to grade level.

 Sidewalk on left will be brought down to street level (tree and island in center will go)

A half dozen citizens -- mostly neighbors -- showed up to voice their concerns, which seemed to center on pedestrian safety.  Both Mooring and PWC Chair Christine Gray-Mullen pointed out that roundabouts are safer than signalized intersections.

Vince O'Connor was also concerned about the space provided in the roundabout for a car to stop for pedestrians and he would like it large enough to accommodate a PVTA bus.  Mr. O'Connor was also concerned about dedicated bike lanes all the way through the roundabout.

Mooring pointed out that cyclists could simply act as regular vehicles in the roundabout or use "chicken lanes" i.e. the sidewalks.

The PWC recommended the crosswalk in front of Kendrick Place be moved about 20 feet into the middle of the slip lane, halfway between E. Pleasant and Triangle Street. 

The PWC will vote their recommendation to the Select Board at their next meeting in February, and if all goes well construction could start in the upcoming construction season.

 UMass Eastman Lane/N. Pleasant roundabout is considered a great success

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."

Too Expensive?

Amherst College is the #1 landowner in town

Amherst is in the top 3% statewide for highest property tax rates at $21.22/$1,000 landing in the top ten of over 350 municipalities ( #9).

   Mass Property Tax Rates 2016

The main problem with our little college town is we are more than half-owned by tax exempt education institutes: Amherst College our #1 landowner, followed by UMass/Amherst the flagship of higher education in the state, and of course the "I-think-I-can, I-think-I-can" little college that could, Hampshire College.

And the town itself is in the top four tax-exempt landowners with its extensive conservation, recreation and APR property.

How profitable would an airline be if a little more than half their passengers were "non revenue" free flights from employees or their friends and family?

And it's only going to get worse.  Much worse.  Looming on the immediate horizon are four -- count 'em FOUR -- major building projects, that all told could approach $100 million in total costs.

Yes, one-tenth of a Billion.

Pretty safe bet at this point the School Committee will chose a Wildwood School plan that includes a combined mega-school to replace both Wildwood and Fort River, costing between $61 and $66 million.

Thus taxpayers will be faced with an Override vote for Amherst's 50% share of that this coming November.

The Jones Library recently chose an architect for their expansion/renovation that could cost upwards of $40 million, with Amherst taxpayeers covering half that.

And it's beginning to look like the new Fire Station and DPW building -- with no state reimbursements -- will not come in at the "placeholder" price of $20 million each Finance Director Sandy Pooler postulated a year ago.

In other words before you go spending the money saved by low gas/oil prices, think about what your property tax bill is going to look like starting a very few years from now, let alone the outrageous amount it is already.

Click to enlarge/read

 Numbers for four major construction  projects given to Joint Capital Planning Committee March, 2015 (note how far off School and Library projects were)

Our Survey Says

Dan McMurrer (an Amherst resident) from McBassi & Co presenting survey results

UPDATE: Thursday morning
Scroll to bottom of post for all Powerpoint slides presented last night

#####

The somewhat rushed survey of parents/guardians and teacher/staff approved at a cost of $2,500 in late December by the Amherst School Committee was presented to a joint meeting of the School Committee and Wildwood Building Committee early this evening.

In fact the meeting personnel in the front of the room outnumbered spectators in attendance, although there is a Community Public Forum later this evening to discuss design options, costs and timeline for the expensive project.

 4:00 PM meeting was sparsely attended

The results of the two surveys show strong support for option B, the mega-school with two separate but equal wings -- aka two schools in one, with cost estimates that range from $57 to $66 million. Although the results were a lot stronger with teachers/staff than with parents/guardians.

In fact, if you factor in the margin of error Option A & B were essentially tied in the parents/guardian survey.  

Since Option B is two schools in one -- Wildwood and Fort River -- Amherst would then have only two elementary schools, the new mega school and Crocker Farm.

 Click to enlarge/read

Teacher/staff chose "Healthy work & learning environment" as #1 reason and #2 was "Impact on student learning."  While the parent/guardians also chose those as their top two reasons, only in reverse order.

Option A is simply to rebuild Wildwood, either new or renovate, and maintain three elementary schools, with hopefully Fort River getting renovated at a future date.  Cost ranges for those options range from $34 to $38 million.

The Mass School Building Authority will cover about half, possibly 55%, the total project cost.

 Much better crowd for the 6:30 Community Forum

The Amherst School Committee will make their BIG final decision on January 19th.

 Click to enlarge/read

   Amherst School Options

Another Unattended Death

UPDATE: Thursday afternoon

The District Attorney's office has identified the deceased as Amherst resident Adam Gamble, age 32.  The case remains under investigation.  Gamble has a previous arrest record with APD.

#####

The District Attorney's office has confirmed Amherst Police, AFD and the Massachusetts State Police attached to the DA's office responded to Bertucci's yesterday for an unattended death.

According to DA spokesperson Mary Carey, "The death appears non-suspicious, and non-criminal in nature and the investigation is ongoing."

I asked if a drug overdose would still qualify as "non-suspicious and non-criminal in nature," and she said "yes."

The Amherst Town Clerk recorded 217 total deaths in 2015 and so far this year, 9 (not counting this most recent one).

College Town Moving On Up

Amherst has a commercial tax base under 10%

I usually hate those puff piece Internet listicles placing Amherst in the top ten for this that or the other, oftentimes made up category.  But BusinessWest is a different story altogether.  A legitimate insider bible of the industry, and their industry is of course "business."

Way to go, oh hometown of mine.

Partnerships Spur Development in Amherst
click link above to read article

Kendrick Place dominates the north end of downtown (at least until One East Pleasant is built)

Fuel To The Fire

Bernie Sanders attracted overflow crowd to UMass FAC on January 2nd

For those of you who were wondering if UMass, a public institution, gives special favors to hot trending presidential candidates I offer the following:

   Bernie Sanders Amherst rally cost

And there certainly is some wiggle room when it comes to "Public Safety Officer."  Although it might have been a stretch to say all those officers were routinely needed to ensure student safety when the event occurred during intersession.

About the only thing you worry about from a public safety standpoint with popular speakers coming to campus is the disruption factor.  Although at UMass it's a lot more noticeable with conservative speakers than those who lean left.

In this particular case the lone Trump supporter who was escorted from his seat close to the front of the stage at the Fine Arts Center did Bernie Sanders a favor.   

Trump supporter Mike Rooney

Media coverage, although the larger outlets did seem to focus on that particular snippet, was a lot more extensive than it normally would have been.

Perhaps the Sanders campaign should hire Mr. Rooney to show up at all Bernie's campaign stops from now on.

Click photo to enlarge

Line stretched from Fine Arts Center all the way down to the Newman Center

Avoiding The Appearance Of A Conflict

Select Board & Town Attorney decided to dodge transparency issue

The Amherst Select Board had the opportunity to make this conflict of interest issue go away last night but they took the easy way out:  avoidance.

The town attorney suggested that not openly acknowledging a potential "conflict of interest" didn't fall  within the domain of a branch of government titled "Division of Open Government."

Yeah, that's a hair only a lawyer could split.

So I have now filed a complaint with the State Ethics Division.  Let's hope he gives better legal advice to the Select Board this time around.

State Ethics Commission
Enforcement Division
One Ashburton Place, Room 619
Boston, MA 02108-1501
1/12/2016


To Whom It May Concern,

I wish to file a formal complaint concerning an accidental violation of state ethics law — especially as it relates to the “appearance of a conflict of interest” — by Amherst Select Board Chair Alisa Brewer at the Select Board December 21 regular Monday night meeting (although at an unusual time). 

The five member Select Board voted unanimously to allow Interim Town Manager Dave Ziomek to sign a 3.5 year Strategic Partnership Agreement with UMass/Amherst, the town’s largest employer, that could be perceived as overly generous to UMass.

Chair Alisa Brewer shows up in the online data base of UMass employees although apparently she does not work directly for UMass.  Her husband Steven Brewer, however, is a full-time professor in the biology department. 

At that December 21 meeting she did not publicly announce her affiliation(s) with UMass prior to leading the discussion and then voting in the affirmative on the UMass Strategic Partnership (estimated value just over half million annually).

Back in September, 2007 (on or about 9/18/2007) I filed a complaint naming Alisa Brewer and Select Board member Rob Kusner, who was a professor at UMass, when they voted on an earlier version of the Strategic Partnership Agreement that gave UMass free effluent water for their power plant, when the previous year they had paid the Amherst water/sewer fund $38,0000 for it.

At the time both Select Board members made somewhat of an announcement of their affiliations with UMass, but neither had filed a disclosure form with the Town Clerk.  

Within a week of the 9/17/2007 meeting both had (retroactively) filed the disclosure form.  The Ethics Commission then found no violation had taken place since the Select Board members in question had made a public announcement prior to the discussion/vote and both had, eventually, filed a disclosure form with the Town Clerk.

Alisa Brewer’s disclosure form dated 9/25/2007 is still on file with the Town Clerk, but she clearly did not make the pubic announcement at the December 21 meeting acknowledging her potential conflict of interest.  

Although there were no members of the general public present at the meeting that night, all Select Board meetings are televised and live streamed by local cable access entity Amherst Media.

The town suffered a great loss back in September with the sudden death of Town Manager John Musante, so the Select Board has been far busier than normal over the past four months.  

Since I do not believe the lack of transparency was deliberate, I would simply ask the Ethics Commission to remind the Amherst Select Board how important it is for public officials to routinely avoid the “appearance of a conflict” with a quick simple public pronouncement prior to a discussion/vote.

Sincerely,

Larry J. Kelley
596 South Pleasant Street
Amherst, MA 01002

Quite The Party

Panda East:  Restaurant with a $3,500 "all alcohol on premises liquor license" (now endangered)

Scroll down for update

I would imagine you could forgive a busy establishment in a college town missing a single patron in a large crowd of "college aged youth" whereby a determined 20-year-old with a fake I.D. manages to acquire alcohol.

   Underaged Drinking Panda East

But you really have to wonder about that establishment when they miss 17 patrons who were all underage with many of them with not even so much as a fake I.D.  

Yes, I said seventeen.  And the alcohol they acquired was one of the more expensive drinks offered on the menu:  Scorpion bowls.

Scorpion Bowls at the ready back in October on a Thursday night

The Amherst Select Board, acting as the town's Liquor Commissioners, at the request of Amherst Police Chief Scott Livingstone will hold a Hearing tonight to decide how to deal with this egregious violation.

UPDATE:  7:45 PM

Select Board votes unanimously to suspend liquor license for two days -- January 25 and January 26 -- for the 17 counts of underage drinking violation.

Also placed another 5 days worth of suspensions on hold for two years as a form of probation, or what District Court calls a "continuation without a finding."  As long as there are no other violations the 5 day suspension is terminated after the two years are up.

Nuclear Option Avoided (Maybe)

Regional 7-12 Public schools include Amherst, Leverett, Pelham and Shutesbury

A dozen and a half community leaders from the four town Region met this Friday evening for an hour and half trying to come to a compromise they all could sell to their respective town meetings concerning the $19,539,329 chunk of the school budget paid for using the rolling five year average per student cost Regional Assessment method.

 Select Board, Finance & School Committee member (shy of a quorum of course) Administrators from all 4 towns

Shutesbury came to the meeting still wanting to partially switch back to the state statutory method for 25% of the that assessment, while Amherst, Leverett and Pelham thought they were being more than fair by supporting a 10% switch that would benefit only Shutesbury.

Since the per student cost method currently used is an alternative method it requires unanimous support of all four towns to pass, and has been used since 2008.  And the compromise of using "ability to pay" statutory method for 10% of the budget (or Shutesbury's requested 25%) would still require unanimous approval of all four towns.

A single no vote to the assessment method reverts the budget back to the state statutory method and would guarantee more cuts to a budget already cut to the bone.

Outgoing Amherst Finance Director Sandy Pooler told the group in a few days this would not be his problem so he can speak freely, which he did (supporting the 10% solution) while looking over at the Shutesbury representatives:

"Insisting we get to that ultimate goal (25%) is fraught with danger.  We need it so nobody is hurt in the short run and then to keep grappling with the problem.  A solution where nobody gets hurt is worth a lot.  The value of goodwill is enormously important.  We simply can’t have people leaving the room thinking they’ve been hurt."  

Four Shutesbury reps left the room to caucus among themselves after it became clear the other three towns would not budge from the 10% offer.  They returned ten minutes later with a counter compromise of 15%.

That did not go over well.  At all.

Because at that amount of a shift both Leverett and Pelham said they would have to cut their elementary budget to come up with the extra money for the Region.

Shutesbury reps were adamant that 15% was their  "bottom, bottom, bottom line," and now they would have to go back to their full Select Board and Finance Committee to report the impasse and seek advise.

The Regional School Committee passes a budget and the assessment method with a simple majority vote of the nine members, but Town Meeting is the final authority for both the assessement method (unanimous vote of all four) and then the budget itself (three out of four required to pass). 

Maria Geryk concluded the meeting saying she would recommend to the Regional School Committee the 10% hybrid alternative method three of the four towns supported and simply hope that Shutesbury voters will support it at their Town Meeting.

10% of a loaf is better than chaos.

Good story that captures some of the angst of small town budget issue https://t.co/9hzpmSjmv9

— JayLeonard (@JayLeonard) January 9, 2016

What's Next, Drones?

Early adopters of hoverboard technology take note

UMass Amherst, that bastion of higher education, has banned the use of hoverboards on campus effective today -- thus proving the nanny state is alive and well.

When I Tweeted about a box alarm AFD responded to this morning at the Integrated Science Center for a "smoking refrigerator" one of my twitter followers reminded me UMass is a "smoke free campus."

Fair enough.  But smoking kills over 400,000 Americans per year and to date I'm guessing hoverboards have killed one or two less than shark attacks.

But hey, you can never be too safe.  Anything that can knock out Mike Tyson ...