Statement of Candidacy from Frank Gracie

Frank Gracie, Candidate for the Dartmouth Select Board, 4/7/09

I am running for the Select Board because I believe that I can have a positive influence on the things that trouble our town, and help build consensus in our community. ALL decisions should be based on what is best for the town and the taxpayer, not individuals. Government should serve the taxpayer, not the other way around. We cannot forget who pays the bills.

For the last 3 years we have had serious financial issues bubble up to the surface and be apparent to everyone, but the foundation for these issues started years earlier. While many of the issues are and have been caused by external stressors such as large reductions in State Aid, I believe our internal response has been sorely lacking, crawling at a snail’s pace when running is called for. I also believe that the early response was inappropriate, as we borrowed money from our own Water Enterprise Fund, and used up Free Cash that would otherwise have been allocated to Capital improvements and fortify our Stabilization Fund, as well as taking money from the Stabilization Fund itself.

No one likes change, and we must be careful about what and how we change, but change is needed none-the-less. Our situation is getting more dire each year. Many costs are additive, and the longer we wait to implement real change the more painful the task becomes. This won’t be easy, but we need action to start the process. Waiting and talking won’t get us anywhere. It is time to be proactive and stop being reactive.

In my opinion, we have been running on the “let’s get through today” approach, and if we do that 365 times we get through the year. What we need is vision, planning, and most of all action. We talk everything to death but rarely actually make significant change. We can never solve our problems with this approach. I am personally tired of someone else driving our bus, and it is time to grab the wheel and turn away from that cliff we are heading off of. It is time for us to influence and control our own destiny, stop hoping for things to get better at the state level. I am willing to help steer us in a new direction, and towards a more prosperous future.

We need to break down traditional walls and think about what mechanisms and structures give the taxpayer the best value for the money we spend. Overrides are only short–term fixes, they mask the problem for a year or 2, but don’t fix the underlying problem. Overrides at this point don’t make sense mathematically or realistically. There is only so much money taxpayers want to spend, and can afford to spend. We may or may not need an override eventually, but if so, only after the rate of increase of our expenses has been brought in line with the rate of increase of our revenue. Then a value judgment can be made by the taxpayers on what that extra money would buy us.

There is no better example of our problem than the fact that in addition to the Prop 2½ tax increases, we have added approximately $4M to the General Fund over the last 2 years through the PAYT trash/recycling program and the $2.1M overrides that were passed, and that money is all used up due to rising expenses. All fees have risen dramatically. For FY10 we AGAIN have a budget gap, currently estimated to be $400K to $800K, and this is without any raises projected for our loyal and hard working town employees, but the deficit is sure to rise as State Aid falls further in the coming weeks and months.

We have to keep an open mind, and all things need to be considered, including any sources of new revenue that will be stable and sustaining, but we cannot count on that, so the only thing left is to trim expenses and run our government more efficiently. We need to try and preserve as many services as we can, and find the best ways to fund them. Let me again say that this won’t be easy, and I will be the first to admit that I don’t know all the answers, but I DO know we have to attack the problem with our brains and our hearts. We need to all work together for the common good. We all live in this town because we love it, and it is well worth the effort to preserve it. If we continue on the same path then service after service will just disappear.

If you agree with my thought process I ask for your consideration on election day. I need your help. Let’s fix Dartmouth together, and put some trust back into our government. We need to make headway one decision at a time… one smart decision at a time.
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Contact Info:

If you would like to help with the campaign, including donations, sign placement, fundraisers, ideas, etc., please use the following information to make contact.

e-mail – FrankLovesDartmouth@comcast.net (preferred and best contact vehicle)

Background

· Married to Yvette, father of 2 grown children, proud grandfather of 2
· Third generation town resident, graduated from DHS in 1967
· Attended S.M.T.I./ S.M.U. – Electrical Engineering program,certified as a Process Engineer while at Polaroid
· Employed by Polaroid 33 years, leaving as an Advanced Manufacturing Engineer
· Early retired in 2005, started doing volunteer committee work for our town:
o “Tax Classification Committee”, “Missed Opportunities” sub-committee
o “Budget and Revenue Task Force”
o “Privatization Study Group” – Chairperson
· In addition, vocal advocate for the split tax rate being appropriate and needed for Dartmouth. Have spoken at all recent tax classification hearings.
· Besides my Engineering function, was a Project Leader, Trainer, and Supervisor. Member of the Applied Skills Review Board. Well versed in computer technology both hardware and software. Very proficient at math, including advanced statistics. Have written computer programs for statistical process control.
· Non-technical training: Managing the Business, Team Building, Mediation and Dispute Resolution, Ethics, Total Quality Ownership (TQO), Total Quality Management (TQM), Train the Trainer, Effective Listening, Left Brain/ Right Brain, Myers-Briggs Personality Type Testing

Help out if you can.