Building Inspector let go, seeks a public hearing

The town's Executive Administrator has notified the Building Inspector, Mr. Joel Reed, that he is being terminated from employment with the town. The reasons for that action are laid out in a letter. The Executive Administrator is the appointing authority for the Building Inspector and his action is pursuant and in accordance with Section 6-9 of the Town Charter. The Building Inspector has requested a public hearing on his termination ...

... and that hearing will be held this week. Mr. Cressman will serve as the hearing officer. Contact the Office of the Select Board for the date, time and place of the hearing. If members of the public have information which they would like to have presented at the hearing, please provide it in writing to the Office of the Select Board before the hearing date. Click here to read on!

Changes on the Finance Committee

The Town Meeting Moderator has appointed Mark Eisenberg and Frank Gracie to the Finance Committee to replace Jason Wentworth and Greg Lynam who have stepped down from that body. Thanks to Mr. Lynam and Mr. Wenworth for their service and thnaks to Mr. Eisenberg and Mr. Gracie for stepping forward to serve. Of all the town's volunteer bodies, the Finance Committee may require the highest commitment of time and energy.
A special thank you to Mr. Lynam, who has done yeoman's work on the Finance Committee during his tenure. Mr. Lynam basically took it upon himself to create a spreadsheet, which he called the MOB file, that could be used to analyze the town's finances. Mr. Lynam and the committee did not feel ...
... that the information they were getting was being presented in a consistent, understandable way. It was a herculean effort to create the file and to maintain it. Mr. Lynam did so and did it extremely well.
On a personal note, I owe a debt of gratitude to Mr. Lynam for the time and effort that he spent in teaching me the ins and outs of the budget, state aid and many other issues. Mr. Lynam and I do not always agree on policy but I have tremendous respect for his insight and opinion. Thank you, Greg. Click here to read on!

Bay State employment surging

Johnk at Blue Mass Group notes that Massachusetts employment numbers have been very strong. The state and country are coming from such a deep hole this year...

...it is hard to see out but the numbers look good. What do you think about the state of employment in Massachusetts? Click here to read on!

Mr Lynam thinks we're nuts

Finance Committee member Greg Lynam had this letter in the Standard Times. At the root of the letter is a vote by the Select Board to set a target for the Stabilization Fund at 7.5% of the annual town budget. Mr. Lynam would prefer 10%. The Stabilization Fund has a current balance of about $5 million or 7.3% of the FY2011 budget. The town also has reserves of about $2.4 million in retained Undesignated General Fund balance which is another 3.5% of the budget. The Select Board feels the reserves are adequate, Mr. Lynam does not.
I have disagreed with the goal of 10% of the budget as a goal for the Stabilization Fund for some time now. I believe that 10% of the tax levy or a little more than $4 million would be adequate. Of course, one can easily concoct a myriad of scenarios where any amount that one chooses is not adequate. As I see it, the goal is to have enough money to satisfy bond rating agencies that we can weather an unexpected expense or temporary reductions in revenue. I think that 10% of the levy is enough. Opinions vary.
I was somewhat disappointed in the tenor of Mr. Lynam's opinion. We have a genuine difference of opinion on what constitutes adequate reserves. That does not make us, the Select Board, foolhardy, spendthrifts, or crazy. Despite Mr. Lynam's assertions, I am not aware that any Select Board member wants to go on a wild spending spree or even disagrees that one time revenue, such has been used to bolster the Stabilization Fund, should be used to supplement departmental operating budgets. My particular disagreements with Mr. Lynam extend beyond the amount of the Stabilzation Fund balance. Mr. Lynam correctly states that we have managed to build our reserves by shaving down the operating reserves that had been normally budgeted to departments. Which means that the amount of free cash available to fund the Stab Fund or capital needs has been shrinking. I think that we have gotten in the habit of funding operational needs from the capital budget. I also believe this is poor public policy. If the police department needs 3-4 cars every year to continue their mission (I believe that they do, ...

... they run these cars hundreds of thousands of miles in a year) or the school department needs textbooks and technology to stay current, then those items should be accounted for in the operating budgets. Cars definitely meet the criteria to be capital items in most circumstances, but patrol cars are a special case in my opinion. I would like to see 3-4 cars included in the police budget every year. Textbooks and technology are a bit harder to make the case for capital spending, but the Finance Committee and administration have gone along with the designation in recent years. Here is the problem with that scenario. Let us say that for period of a few years, the town does not have the one time cash to fund these items, police cars and textbooks. That means the police department and schools will have to do without the cars and books. Even if town revenues recover, the town is now faced with buying even more cars or books than would normally be the case since we had to forgo that spending in prior years. Not a good situation. Yet Mr. Lynam is an enthusiastic proponent of capital spending for textbooks. I do not think that makes him foolhardy, irresponsible or ill informed. We just differ on the policy.
I will address a couple more of Mr. Lynam's points. Mr. Lynam has not been an advocate of the wind turbine project. Regardless of his concerns, wind turbines have been shown to be reliable sources of energy and hence, revenue. While it is possible that a wind turbine would cost the town, the evidence would suggest that they will be trouble free and generate revenue for many years. That has been the experience in Hull and Portsmouth and many other places.
Lastly, Mr. Lynam hopes that Town Meeting will rein in the "foolhardy" and "irresponsible" Select Board. Well, good luck with that. Having just seen that body spend a million dollars for barn restorations in town despite recommendations from the Finance Committee not to fund them, I do not have a lot of confidence in the fiscal restraint of Town Meeting.
Finally, let me say that Greg Lynam is a fabulous asset to the Finance Committee and the town. His diligence and insight have been invaluable over the years. We all owe him a debt of gratitude for the countless hours he has devoted to understanding and quantifying the town fiscal situation. Mr. Lynam has shared his insights with me and allowed me to have a better understanding of the how and why of town finances. I could not have done it myself without devoting a tremendous amount of time to the effort. Mr. Lynam had done that work for me and was willing to share his knowledge. I thank him for that. On this issue, we have a disagreement. C'est la vie, n'est pas? Click here to read on!

New proposal for Lincoln Park development

The developers for Lincoln Park have asked to meet with the Permit Authorizing Authority (PAA) of the Lincoln Park Smart Growth Overlay District(LPSGOD) to discuss a plan for development of the site. The meeting will occur tomorrow night at 7PM in Room 305 of the Town Hall. It is open to the public but is not a public hearing. A PDF document showing of the proposed configuration can be found at this link.
The proposal calls for 57 single family homes and 150 apartments. None of the single family homes would be offered as "Affordable Housing".
Affordable Housing is defined as-

housing that is affordable to and occupied by Eligible Households. Affordable Housing units created within the LPSGOD meeting the standards set out in 760 CMR. 45.03 (my note; this section, 45.03, has been superceded by 760 CMR 56) shall count on the Subsidized Housing Inventory, subject to the approval of the Massachusetts Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD).

The developer intends to ask the DHCD to allow additional apartments to be designated as Affordable Housing in order to maintain 20% of the total housing units as Affordable Housing.
In addition to these changes, the developer has proposed the apartment buildings ...

... be 4 stories. The LPSGOD bylaw says the maximum building height is 45 feet or 3 stories.
The members of the PAA for the LPSGOD are myself from the Select Board, John Haran of the Planning Board and Roger Tougas of the Zoning Board of Appeals. An attorney from the office of Mark Bobrowski will also be in attendance. This firm has been representing the town for this development.
Click here to read on!