According to comments here and at Curt Brown's blog, Stephen Mitchell has been named by Town Meeting Moderator, Steve Sharek, to fill Stewart Washburn's seat on the Finance Committee. Congratulations or condolences, I'm not sure which is appropriate :) In any case, thank you for your willingness to serve! The Finance Committee fills an ...
... important role and I look forward to working with you.
Friday, June 6, 2008
Finance Comittee member named
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29 comments:
I love your photo!
We are so lucky to have people in town that are willing to serve on Fin. Com. They spend hours going over the budget. I don't know the newest member, but wish to say 'thank you' for stepping up.
Bill:
Has anyone looked into the fact that the salary report has been altered considerably? The report is NOT in its original form.
?????
Interesting-what's brewin'
This is not the X-files! There is no smoking gun here. You people need to come out from under your rocks and see what is really going on. No conspiracies. How about doing some value add work for the town like volunteering instead of looking for anything to complain about.
Volunteering and participating in fund raising are great ways to share a sense of community and provide role models for young people in town.
Serving on boards like Fin Com, S.C., S.B., Planning Board, etc. are also most important. Thank you to our newest member of Fin Com... it's not an easy task.
I only wish more town meeting members would take their role more seriously. If you run for office, please do the right thing and show up for TM. If you can't attend TM, let someone else have your seat.
I also want to thank Bill for a great blog. Although I shake my head at some of the bloggers, Bill's post's are very informative. Thanks Bill.
One such way anyone can volunteer their time or $$$ is to partake in the Walk for Education this coming Saturday morning. Time for all those who care about education and love children to actively demonstrate such adoration.
Another excellent and yummy event is the Friends for Dave Mello (police officer) Clam Boil the same afternoon. Ambulate & have a nosh; not a bad way to spend a weekend! see my blog for details for the walk. momofnpt.blogspot.com
Hey Moulder - are you trying to say that the salary report HAS NOT been altered? Better check your facts hot shot!
You are right, momof3npt. Although I am unable to attend, I will donate money to both of these events.
I noticed in the ST today, DHS grads were urged to do community service. That's a good message to young and old.
No, that is not what I am saying. I don't care if the salary report was altered. It was probably done for a reason. My problem is the people associated with the CFRG believe there is some conspiracy with every issue in town government. Instead of wasting your time looking for the "el chubacabra" spend it in a more valuable way like volunteering. Where is Scully when I need her.
Moulder - yes, it was done with good reason...to mislead the voters! "They wouldn't understand...." Gee, maybe they are worried that we would understand and be outraged!
Moulder, Get a life.
Me get a life. Take a look in the mirror!
By the way, I heard there is a secret book stored away in town hall that lists all of the people in a secret society to mislead all voters. The next CFRG meeting or what you call a "pow-wow" should be held there. Maybe you can have Ben Gates come to the meeting and help you find it.
Well I would have rather seen a Fin Com member that has gone to meetings and that we know for sure cares about the large community.
Tired of the learning materials delay. Mr. Trimble have you met with Dr. Russell and School Committee Chair recently? The conversation of textbooks/technology budgeted first needs to occur and it should come from a town leader or the entire Select Board. Parents are increasinly powerless and hopeless. We have faith that you can show them the logic of funding essentials first. They need to hear, don't put off textbooks/technology for teachers and students. Paying attention to textbook discussion and really wishing you can help in some small or big way. Thank you very much. it could make the difference.
Bill Trimble has no idea what to prioritize for the school system. You will be sorely disappointed if you think he is the second coming.
The SB has no control over what the schools budget. Really, the schools are the experts on their budget. If they choose to budget enough for teachers, texts and tech. it would be because parents screamed to their SC and Dr. Russell.
It's up to the schools. If the parents can't convince them, I doubt the SB could.
There need not be any delay. The school department can fund textbooks and technology now but, in my opinion, they choose not to do so. Given that the School Committee's chairman was personally insulted that I would think the school department had any involvement with bringing up textbooks at the town meeting, I doubt my thoughts would be welcome. There are others on the School Committee who may be more open to my ideas. In any case, I will continue to ask that all town departments set priorities for spending.
I haven't heard anything from CFRG lately but Moulder sounds like he is obsessed with hating them. Moulder, you seem disturbed.
Mr. Trimble, The SC chairman's little tirade was indeed over the top, however he stated he was upset when you termed Mrs Hamilton's motion to amend the school budget as a 'School Department raid on the reserve fund' when in fact it was no such thing, it was a private citizen's motion and the SC chair made it clear it was in no way a school department sponsored request. I'm no fan of theatrics as was displayed that day however to misrepresent what occurred is not right either and I would hope you are above that. As far as your thoughts not being welcome by the SC, I would submit its time to move past such thinking and start talking and working towards solutions, not reinforcing past, bad relationships.
I am not sure what it is that was misrepresented, but I am happy to work with all departments resolve our fiscal situation. That resolution will require some sacrifices to be made on the part of all in my view. The school department is unique in that their appropriation is spent at the discretion of the School Committee and administration. I think we need to have a discussion about the priorities of that spending. We continue to fund extracurricular activities ahead of teachers and books. I don't think it is accidental that we are having a discussion on funding textbooks, not about funding interscholastic sports or other activities. See these posts here, here and here for an idea of my stances on this issue. It comes down to this question, should we be funding the runway or the golf course? My opinion is that we need spend the school budget for what happens in the classroom between teachers and kids.
Let's be fair. Mr. Trimble spoke (after Ms. Hamilton asked for money from the reserve fund) to make the point that this is in fact a yearly expense for he schools. He was warning against not following the DOR recommendations and also violating a policy that had been adopted by SB & Fin Com.
We are not going to solve any of our fiscal problems by violating our own policies because one department in town happens to scream the loudest. Mr. Trimble did the right thing when he brought this up. I hope we don't suffer a hurricane, blizzard, or accident in town. We have no money folks. It's going to a lot worse before it gets better.
Bill:
As long as the school department knows that they can fund whatever they want and then pull the "we need textbooks" stance, they will continue to spend any way they choose!
Seriously, why would they change the way they do business when they know there are no consequences to their actions?
Unless they are FORCED to live within their budget and are FORCED to spend on real priorities, nothing will ever change.
So sad.
To Moulder:
You state, "By the way, I heard there is a secret book stored away in town hall that lists all of the people in a secret society to mislead all voters."
It may seem amusing to you, but the salary report was altered because voters would not like the actual results. Yes, Moulder, that IS A PROBLEM.
You go ahead and only worry about volunteering rather than trying to fix real structural problems in our government. Meanwhile, Moulder, Dartmouth circles the bottom of the toilet bowl.
Thank you for responding Mr. Trimble. I do understand your position, that the chair and vice chair of the FinCom disagree with your interpretation of their policy regarding capital expenses should be mentioned here also. As you say one can disagree without being disagreeable so we disagree on this issue.
It is also fair to say Mrs. Hamilton's motion was not 'A school Department raid on the reserve fund' so there is some justification for a person to disagree with your comments that it was just such an attempt.
I think the bigger picture should not be lost, however, in your willingness to have a dialogue with the school department as well as other town departments. So that is a good thing if it indeed can happen on a regular basis. Perhaps this Wednesday nights school committee meeting where the finalist for the assistant super position will be interviewed would be a good time to continue that dialogue.
Parents should go to the SC meeting on Wednesday and speak.
That is the only way things will change. The schools serve the children. They will only listen to parents of those children. They don't have to listen to anyone else.
We'll see if that happens.
Bill, I didn't realize you had such a big ego. You are now writing responses referencing your own blog entries that no one responded to. Talk about disturbed.
Anonymous, Do you have any opinions other than about me? If you have something to contribute, do it. If your opinion differs from mine, say so and be prepared to defend it logically. Otherwise your comments are lacking thought or substance.
Bill, Some of these people are very strange, to say the least.
Anyway,thanks for your blog and thanks to the new fin. com. member or members.(not sure)
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