Still no challenger for Horan McLean. Does everyone think we are on the right track?
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Friday, January 18, 2008
Why won't people run?
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A political blog from Dartmouth, Massachusetts. I encourage debate of the issues facing our town on this blog.
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7 comments:
I think people don't run because it is a thankless, time-consuming, highly visible, non-paid, no benefits, 'target" of a job, with limited power but catches almost all the blame. Let's not forget that you have to spend money to actually try and get this wonderful opportunity of a job.
Some of the blame is due, of course, but that doesn't detract from the fact that they stepped up to do the job and are sincere in their efforts to try and help our Town.
Are some of the efforts mis-guided? Sure, an override without a fiscal fix is a good example, but "correct" is always in the eye of the beholder, and more people criticize than try to help in some way.
It is a job where there will always be a high percentage of the people that think you are a bozo, and they could have done better, no matter what you do.
Many potential candidates probably decide they just don't need the grief.
frankg, tell you what if you'll run for Select Board, I'll run for School Committee. Or vice versa. Maybe that "A" word, you know accountability would then get some more attention
Bill, despite the negative things I have mentioned about the job, I have to admit that I have toyed with the idea of running for the SB. I don't like what has happened to my town, and I believe that I could have an impact on setting things right for the future. Based on conversations I have had with residents, many of which I don't know personally, my thoughts on things seem to be very aligned with the consensus of the taxpayers. My analytical skills and business sense can't hurt either.
The problem is one of timing. I am busy with the Privatization Committee, hoping that we can find some change in the way we do business that would result in savings to the taxpayers either directly or indirectly, or save a service that might otherwise disappear. The problem so far has been one of getting specific information, as well as the way the Town is structured to use employees for many diverse functions. The entire system is very convoluted.
In addition, when the Municipal Benchmarking survey comes back the BRTF has been asked to dig through the details. I am looking forward to my involvement with that and believe that it will be a very important exercise for the Town. Based on some initial samplings I have seen during the presentation the company made, I expect there will be pointers to things that show where our spending is out-of-line with our "comps". This should give specific areas where action should be taken for overall improvement to the fiscal situation.
In the meantime, maybe more people can adopt what you have written at the top of the page, "One can disagree without being disagreeable", and then I might take you up on the offer.
frankg, you are doing great work already for the town and deserve our gratitiude for that. The presentation at the tax classification Select Board meeting was really great.
I think I'll take out papers for Select Board and School Committee and get the signatures needed but not turn them in unless no one else comes forward to run. THen decide which to turn in. I just can't abide that thought that despite everything that has come to light so far, the current boards will run unopposed. Even the few candidates for School Committee are just replacements in kind. I don't know if you have followed the discussion that Phil Lenz and I have had but look over the comments following the post "Business as Usual"
I'm starting to think we just need to not fund the town and let the state come in and take over, straighten things out and we can go on from there. Barry will be making a presentation to the Select Board soon about the personal contracts on the town side. Don't miss it! Recommendation 7 of the DOR report sort of pointed to these as a problem. A significant number of the contracts essentially don't allow pay cuts or position elimination without draconian measures. And they have provisions that say the contract automatically renews.
Bill, thanks. The split work was for the residents, the rest is for the Town in general. I am glad another Engineer liked my work. :) They only gave me 15 minutes but I needed about 30 to actually go through all the details/data I had prepared. I wish they had voted the split for the right reasons, but they did it to sell overrides. I hope it remains in place in the future. Future SB elections will be very important.
I would sign your papers for you if needed, although I am sure you will have plenty of signatures. I have read all the discussions on this Blog, and understand your thoughts about someone needing to push back at the system with challenges. I am not a "blind faith" guy and agree.
I am aware of the contract issue and have seen many of them. The wording is clearly poison-pill lingo, and in addition, the BRTF found out that while many towns have a few contracts we have more than 20. We actually knew that was a problem before the DOR.
You know, Receivership is not the worst thing in the world, and it certainly is a way to get the expenses under control quickly. I completely agree that if they won't make significant change to truly fix things, we should not give more money to serve as nothing more than a quick temporary fix. You can't build/re-build a house on a weak foundation, so we need to make that strong first.
frankg, just a thought. Do you know what amount of an override would bring the residential rate back to last years level. e.g. if the average residential tax bill went down $200, what dollar amount in an override would result in a $200 increase and leave the total tax bill unchanged?
I am preparing a warrant article to implement the recommendation #7 of the DOR report. Single year contracts, no special benefits, admin & supervisory pay on a schedule similar to other categories of town employees now.
I'll be posting it to my blog soon as well as forwarding it to the Select Board.
I actually created a spreadsheet a while back, and the number you are looking for is a bit over $3M, in the $3.1M to $3.15M range. If it were $3M all residents would still save a few bucks.
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