The Select Board will meet on Monday Dec 21 at 6:30PM in room 304 of the Town Hall.
Here's the agenda
6:30 p.m. Commence Meeting
Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag
Moment of Silence
Signing of the Warrant
I.Workshop items for Discussion:
-Select Board to make appointments to the Executive Administrator Search
Committee.
-Board to discuss Legal Counsel review of the citizen’s initiative petition, and financial implications to the Town.
-Date for Special Town Meeting.
-Presentation by Select Board Member, William Trimble
II. New Business:
A.Vote on Annual Renewal of Liquor Licenses and Sundry Licenses.
The presentation I will make ...
...can be found here as a MS Powerpoint file
Posts
39 comments:
Sure seems to be a lot of balls in the air in Dartmouth these days. Kinda like a cat in a rocking chair factory.
Check your spelling Bill before you present this.
Bill, is DCTV going to televise the meeting?
Well, Bill on the one hand I do appreciate the time and effort you have put forth doing what yuou believe to be right. That said I find some irony that for several years now you have ridiculed those that have presented their information via powerpoint presentations and what have you assembled to present your thesis? The very same powerpoint style presentation. OK now to something more substantive than presentation style. You suggest a switch to a single payer national health care system would be one of the pieces to Dartmouth's financial troubles. That's a pretty tall order even if I were to believe this is part of the solution how do you propose Dartmouth impress upon our Country that we should adopt this solution? Since there are many people besides Dartmouth residents that do not agree that a single payer system is in the nations best interest, this task will likely take some time to accomplish.
You also on several pages note that overrides will not solve Dartmouth's persistent revenue/expenditure imbalance. One can conclude (although you do not outright say so) that there are no overrides in a Bill Trimble plan. Therefor any savings must come from cuts, consolidation, regionilization or a combination of all three. I feel any plan that does not allow for some type of override in Dartmouth's future to be incomplete. The DOR report, Rep Quinn and many others have stated that Dartmouth should consider override(s) as part of the solution. Please do not interpret this as my saying overrides are the only answer-certainly that is not the case at all. It's clear constant calls for overrides will not work and cannot be the only way to solve our problems. I would think it the responsible thing for any in leadership to acknowledge that when appropriate, overrides are part of a solution.
Your presentation lists several 'talking point's but does not present any type of 'action plan' Take the idea of regionilization - many agree it is a good thing for several municipal functions - what will it take to get the discussion moving forward with our neighbors? Shouls the SB take an active role in this as the elected governing body? SHould it be delegated? Should it be the EX's task? If so what is it's priority. Same for consolidation - what is the priority for this? Who sets out the parameters? What is the responsible approach to treat town employees equitably - surely no one expects them to work indefinately without raises or wage adjustments. The morale of our town employees is at an all time low for many reasons and at some point the SB should recognize the service they provide and that they are often portrayed as the 'bad guys' when that is simply not the case. Will the SB offer at least their moral support for the employees? Finally, I know cuts and changes must be made to the way we do business, but it would be refreshing for a SB member to also admit that we may have to raise more revenue at some point with targeted, specific override(s) in the future while also acknowledging that our taxes are in fact quite low, or we willlikely be under the control of a board similar to the one overseeing Springfield.
Thanks for your time and I hope you take this information in the spirit it is provided.
I have heard Mr. Trimble say that there very well may be overrides in Dartmouth's future. They should only be called for as a last resort.
Either we have overrides every other year or we start moving in a different direction. This powerpoint presentation is not a balanced budget, but it is one look at the many ways we can save money as a community and still get the services we want. I worked for a large company that had to downsize, centralize, and cut benefits (in the 90s) and we all survived. I had to travel 40 miles to work instead of ten for four years until I was able to get back to this area, but that was part of the re-structuring the we needed to do in order to keep people working. Some people became contract workers. It was all because of health care costs and pensions. Dartmouth needs to focus on education, public safety, seniors, library, and parks. How can we continue to afford these services? We need to look at regionalization & centralization where we can. We need to meet with other towns and cities and try to work with them to consolidate services where possible. Either we find other ways of providing services or we have overrides every year. I don't want overrides every year! We can find affordable ways to deliver services in town...if we want to. Sitting around doing nothing is not going to cut it! At least the three board members want change! I give them credit for moving in a new direction for our town. For to long the SB did nothing and Mr. Gagne just sat there and gave his friends(and himself) great contracts that we are paying for...I want a new vision for Dartmouth.
Thanks Bill. It's a start. That's more than I can say for some of the others.
Just sit around and smile, approve minutes, road work, liquor lic., etc., etc., year after year after year after year... You get my drift?
If you paid close attention to my presentation outline you will see that I said on slide 8 that overrides are inevitable and I agree with you that they are going to have to be part of the ongoing picture. Having said that, I want to point out that we have had overrides or fee increases that are tantamount to overrides in the amount of over $4 million dollars in just the past two years. A more than $800K override would be necessary next year even if town employees get no increase in wages. At what point do you think we stop having override after override and try something else? I'm at that point now. If we don't have another override, then something has to be cut. Perhaps the other members of the Board will vote to ask for another override but I doubt that the voters will approve it. The only remaining way to get that kind of savings is to have fewer employees i.e. layoffs. I do not think I have denigrated the work that town employees do. The fact remains there are no funds to continue to employ them. So what do you suggest the town do?
Save the Pasky! Recall the Select Board! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA The joke's on you, taxpayers! Contracts, baby! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA More overrides! You rubes! Pay up! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA Have another cocktail for Bob and dig deeper. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
"Like ray-ain on your weddin' day, a free ride when you already paid,.. Isn't it ironic, don't you think?
Unfortunately the overrides that were passed in the last go 'round were cut up so badly and received lukewarm support from most select board members most did not pass, including the sustainibility portion that sought to give the town a little more time to get its affiars sorted. Water under the bridge so now we must make the very difficult decision to eliminate personell. That's where I would start Bill. Why not start to control those things we can control like department consolidation? This is something we can effect now without the cooperation of outside groups. Can we determine which departments to consolidate and what the projected savings would be? What departments are likely candidates? Fire department -do we need 3 separate divisions, parks and dpw, planning and building-can they be combined? These are the sorts of details that need to be laid out and a potential savings attached to each. State mandates - how to address these? Several years back the state kicked in $$ for bus transportaion for school kids then one year said no more they have also recently said all municipalities must replace their road signs with more reflective ones but of course no money came with this mandate. The king, Sal DiMasi, says no local options tax for municipalities - a potential source of real money for Dartmouth - and we sit and take it. How do we influence our state reps to work more effectively on our behalf?
These blogs, and others are full of venom towards our town employees. (I never said you were the source of this if you read my post again) It would be refreshing to hear our SB defend the work ethic of our town employees. Theirs is the bully pulpit from which I would expect to hear more from.
ANON 5:06
People like you give me hope!! You are in the minority around these parts, the majority like to point the finger down at the bottom instead of up. The people at the bottom are an easier target's. Much like the Auto Bailout it's all the UNION employess fault not the CEO's who brought you the lovely LUMINA,or CORSICA anyone remember those piece's of crap?? What i am saying is this, we as a community have to learn to start pointing the finger UP!!! Towards Boston and D.C. they are the ones failing us... It's funny no one is upset about us giving Titliest a juicy TIF for 10 years and now they are moving out of here to save money in Thailand. We need protection from this kind of stuff that's why I say point the finger up, we can't do it all alone that's what are Federal Government is for. Until we get this under control no matter what is done in Dartmouth we will never ever get out from behind the 8 BALL. This problem is bigger than Dartmouth, the entire State, heck the entire Country is in the same boat as us.
What about the taxpayers? Aren't they the ones who are really at the bottom here. They pay more and more and get less and less. Some of those taxpayers are getting laid off, are on fixed incomes, are not getting raises, have seen their savings destroyed by crooks. What about them? The SB is elected to represent the taxpayer. We have seen to little of that.
Were all TAXPAYERS we all suffer... Whether your a teacher or an engineer it does not matter.. This is a national epidemic we must be very smart going forward. Heck, i just saw a movie that might help you understand. If you have ON DEMAND look for it under FREE MOVIES "Iraq For Sale" it's not political just infromational. Look at the numbers being thrown around in the movie just STAGGERING!!! And please no comments about war on terror that is not the point.
There you go, shooting from the hip again. Perhaps you should understand local zoning laws before you make such false accusations. It is perfectly legal to have a home based business in non-commercial zones of Dartmouth, in fact, the Master Plan encourages it. Of course if Walker were to run, his opponents would surely try to make anything other than the real issues facing Dartmouth THE issue. Why, because they know that they cannot hold a candle to him when it comes to the REAL issues. Anyone who thinks they could intimidate Walker from running if he chooses to, has no idea.
For the record, I do not deduct any part of my home as a business deduction on my federal tax filings.
I once looked into running a small business out of my home. The process was that i had to designate a portion of my home and have it inspected to make sure the entire establishment was up to code regarding business'. After looking into it deeper i realized it was a lenghty and exhaustive process. Once a portion of your home is zoned business it should be taxed at the higher comercial rate. If it is not, that is very unfair to anyone of your competitors in town who have a full fledged store front. Frankly i am not surprised that Barry does not pay a higher tax rate for his home run business, he doesn't like paying taxes for his home to begin with.
Wow, a quick look at the assessor's data base reveals that Bob Carney isn't paying 140% on his Bed and Breakfast. Isn't that business in the commercial district?
So anon. 10:14, you once looked into running a business and decided it wasn't worth it. I'll bet you went in front of the Select Board during the split tax debate and advocated for a 50% split tax though, didn't you? Did your "looking into" starting a business qualify you as an expert on zoning rules too? I'll bet you are the same guy that thinks he is an expert on the charter 5 minutes after you discovered that it existed, aren't you?
Town employees in Dartmouth are hard working dedicated people. So are the thousands of other residents. We have seniors who are living on a fixed income, single mothers who can't pay their rent, people losing their homes, getting laid off, etc. It's not all about the town employees. We need to continue to provide services in a different way so that the majority can afford to continue to live in Dartmouth. Overrides every year are not a solution and most people won't go for them anyway. Overrides may be needed in the future, but first we need to concentrate on reducing the expense of health insurance and pensions that this town can no longer afford. All communities are in the same boat. Look at what other communities are doing to try to cut these costs.
Sorry, everyone, I'm changing the thread here. I have too much difficulty getting on Curt's blog (don't ask me why, if I knew, I'd be on it.)
Someone posted that there is an opposition to the recall.
I don't think it is opposition to the recall itself. I think most people welcome a provision for a recall in the charter. It is the REASON for this recall's being put in the charter and being sought now. It is purely political, retribution on Carney's part against Joe, Bill, and Diane, for voting against their "best human asset" the town has ever had, executive administrator.
That's what people are objecting to.
And it works both ways. Someone can start a recall against Carney and Dias. I'd sign.
Besides, by the time a recall provision lands in our charter, if it even does, most, if not all, of these Board members will have been up for reelection and could well have been voted out. One can only hope.
The problem with a recall provision is that it gets used as a political tool just like we are seeing here. Do we really want to have a recall election every time there is a legitimate decision made by the select board that some people disagree with. We would be constantly spinning our wheels, wasting valuable time and money. Elections are the best democratic procedure for the general public to express their satisfaction or dissatisfaction with elected officials. This was debated at length by the last charter reform commission. The actions by Carney that you are now seeing are exactly why they decided against such a provision.
Sounds like it is time for a change in the form of our government.
I guess it's just wishful thinking that a recall provision would be used for the RIGHT reason???!
Hey Bill, My ex-brother in law did a brake job for me in his garage last year. Could you look into whether or not he pays business taxes for this? There is a lot of confusion about this and I don't have a clue. I do know that I am 100% anti-business mostly because I am not smart enough to run one. Thanks in advance for looking into this for me. Is it true Carney's business is in the commercial district and he only pays residential taxes?
Ahhh Anon 11:02am you are so very very smart how your skull contain's your brain is beyond me. Truth be told YES i did get infront of the SB urging for 50% split if it could be 70% or 80% i would urge for that too. Spend sometime on Vision and educate yourself, sounds to me like you haven't.
anonymous 10:05 a.m. I would be happy to provide the information if you would like to start divulging your personal information. You can't even post your real name. My suggestion to you since you are so concerned, is to file a complaint. I've seen you asking others to do it on this blog. Why don't you do it yourself? Coward!
Actually, I already know the answer. But thanks anyway... methinks thou doth protest too much... which served to confirm the facts. Don't fret. A complaint will be filed at the appropriate time.
If you're going to talk the talk, you'd best walk the walk. After all, fair's fair. Right?
Fair is fair. I think I know who the attack dog against the Walkers is. It is Saul Raposo who is leading the recall effort with Carney. So Saul,you coward, why don't you come forward with your personal information. May I start for you? According the assessor's data base, you own no property in Dartmouth.
Saul Raposo doesn't own any property so he wants to raise everyones' taxes. Saul doesn't own a business because that's too hard but he would like to tax commercial properties at 80% more than a single tax rate. If that is not enough, Saul would also like to go after anyone who might make even a small portion of their income from their homes. From Saul's posts, it seems that anyone claiming even office space in their homes should be taxed at a commercial rate of 180%. Basically he sounds like a jealous loser that wants a full service town paid for by everyone except Saul himself. Maybe someone out there can get some more personal information about him. Saul tried to confront the chair of the SB on the radio about what the charter says. When given the exact articles to prove him wrong, Saul no longer wanted to debate the issue. Like any typical loser would do, Saul began resorting to personal attacks. What sayeth you Saul Raposo?
Everyone knows that Saul Raposo is a nutcase wannabe. Let him file whatever complaints he wants. When it comes time to actually back them up, he'll just look like the fool that he is.
Bill - why are personal attacks, whether against the Walkers or Saul Raposo allowed to remain on your blog? Political stuff should be fair game but these witch hunts seem way off base and should not be tacitly condoned by you as an elected representative of our town.
It's just a damn shame what this town has become.
Bill did remove earlier comments. If you go back and read previous posts, the person attacking the Walkers complained that his comments were removed. So "fair is fair". If he doesn't want his posts removed then he is fair game as well.
I'll echo what Anon 8:14 said and add that forums that degenerate into this sort of mud slinging lose their impact and purpose in my opinion. It's all too common across the net unfortunately.
That's why nothing will ever get done here in Dartmouth, to bad it was such a nice community once.
I'd like to address those who feel that my position as on the Select Board precludes me from having negative and personal comments on this blog. The people who comment are expressing their own opinions and not my own. I would liketo see the discussion remain focaused on issues and not personal attacks. Hiwever I have made a concious choice to allow people to comment anonymously, under a pseudonym, or with their name. There are a fair number of people who visit this blog every day (about 100) Most leave no comments at all. Some provide a good argument for or against positions that I take, some make bad arguments and some comments are without any seeming reason at all. That is to be expected in am open anonymous forum. I ignore the specious comments and consider the others. I have found that if the nasty comments are ignored and get no response, that person gets tired of the game and stops commenting. I think most people are savvy enough to attach differing weights to the arguments made depending on whether or not the author is willing to disclose their identity or at least gives a pseudonym. It is what it is and I don't have the time or inclination to referee commentary has the intellectual content of a grade school. I have looked over this thread and I deleted a few comments but this usually leads to more comments expressing outrage that I would delete their drivel. As I said I think the best policy is to ignore nasty comments. I wil try to post on some more substantive issues in the near future. For instance, What should be cut in the town;s budget and why I think so. Merry Christmas!
Thanks, for the informative power point last night Bill. I can't wait to hear the SB discussion next Monday. We need to begin to find ways to deliver services in new ways that are affordable to Dartmouth's residents.
This is happening all over the country. I'm confident that if the board works together, they can find solutions.
Bill, I would think it would make sense to just tell people, like many other blogs, that offensive, slanderous and personal attacks will be removed. Once they are consistently treated as such I think people will grow tired and stop inserting them. I just think it drags the level of discussion down when people seem intent on dragging others thru the mud. Just my opinion, of course it's your blog for you to run as you see fit.
I look forward to hearing feedback from the board. I would like to hear suggestions other than overrides.
Excellent presentation Bill. It clearly showed the trouble we face and how business as usual cannot be tolerated. It is not easy to be the one to say we will have to let people go but hiding from the reality will just make it impossible for the town to function. I for one do not want town officials who have their heads in the sand. Keep up the good work!
You are kidding right Lisa - Gagne and many others besides Bill have stated that people will have to be let go to balance the budget. One must really have their head in the sand not to have heard this. People will be let go, services will be cut - this is no secret and never has been. Why people continue to present this as an issue where Gagane or anyone else has not recognized the need to cut services is really beyond me. We have chosen to limit our taxes and therefore the services we have grown accustomed to will change. Some will go away all together, some will be delivered in a different fashion (privatization is all the rage it seems, regionilization has a place in the future, etc.). To continue to throw Gagne under the bus by fabricated a lie about him not recognizing that changes must come seems small and deceptive but that seems acceptable more and more in Dartmouth which greatly saddens me.
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