Leaf and yard waste pickup.

Leaf pickup will be on the Fridays of Oct. 23, Nov. 6 and Dec. 4 for those residents who have their solid waste pickup on Mondays or Tuesdays and on the Fridays of Oct. 30, Nov. 20 and Dec. 11 for solid waste pickup on Wednesdays or Thursdays.
Pickup begins at 7 a.m. and is for residents participating in the pay-as-you-throw program. Leaves, grass clippings and dead plants must be placed in biodegradable plastic eco bags or biodegradable paper bags or left in barrels or corrugated boxes. These containers will be emptied ...

... and left at the curb. Leaves, grass clippings, weeds and dead plants in regular plastic or paper bags or left with regular household trash will not be picked up.
Leaves can be brought to the transfer station. A transfer station sticker is required. Hours for the leaf compost area are 7:30 a.m. to 3:15 p.m. weekdays and 7:30 a.m. to 2:45 p.m. on Saturdays. This schedule is subject to change without notice. For more information, call (508) 999-0740
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The Corrs- I never really loved you anyway

The Corrs from Dundalk, Andrea, Caroline, Sharon and Jim


Those are some bonnie Irish lasses.
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Budget and Finance Director to retire

The Director of Budget and Finance for the town, Mr. Ed Iacaponi, has tendered his resignation effective January 4, 2010. Mr. Iacaponi has served over the past several months as Interim Executive Administrator as well. I want to thank Mr. Iacaponi for his long and capable service to the town. He will be missed.
Ed told me that his wife has been retired for several years now and he is "not going to miss the evening meetings" with various town boards. No reflection on those who serve on the boards, just the timing.
Ed tells me he is not going anywhere and can be available part time ...

...if needed to help in transitioning to a new employee. He also said, that a bond issue due to be floated in February, might be an area that he could give some guidance.
Once again, thanks Ed for your service and contribution to Dartmouth for these many years.
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Yet another reason for health care reform

The Herald News has this story about retiree health care benefits. As I have said in previous posts, the health care system we have is not sustainable.
The fact is that our system is too expensive and does not cover everyone.
The only question is how to reform it, ...

... not whether it needs to be done. What do you think are the right measures?
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Lawsuit filed in Dartmouth fatal shooting

The Standard Times article about the suit is at this link.
This is a tragic situation for everyone involved in my view.
The investigation into the circumstances by the District attorney is incomplete and now with this federal suit, it is not appropriate for the town or myself to comment on what happened.
I am taking the rare step of disabling comments to this post ...

... and I ask readers to refrain from commenting elsewhere. Let the facts come out and please be sensitive to all parties involved. Thanks.
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Change Beacon Hill

Chris McKeown over at Blue Mass Group asks the question,
Isn't it time WE fix Beacon Hill?
His suggestion is a constitutional amendment to change the way that the legislative leaders are chosen to a secret ballot, limit the appointing powers of those leaders, and turn over committee assignments to a Committee on Committees which would also act by secret ballot. The whole idea is to give individual legislators more power at the expense of the House and Senate leaders. Will you help gather signatures to get this reform on the ballot? Go to the link in the block below and learn how to do it.

Now is the time--and the opportunity is ripe to fix Beacon Hill, once and for all. But, success will take many Massachusetts residents to be willing to download a petition kit and gather 100 signatures (just a few hours work).

Simply put, Fix Beacon Hill (FBH) is a non-partisan, grassroots organization formed for the sole purpose of restoring deliberative, representative democracy in our legislature. We can only do this through a constitutional amendment. FBH is not backed by, or affiliated with, any political party, industry association or lobbying group. Our mission is simply about re-establishing the deliberative, representative democratic process that our framers intended for the legislature; ensuring that all individual legislators have a voice in our legislature.

This sounds like a good plan to me. Let us get the signatures and get it done.
In addition to the above changes, ...

... the amendment provides that,

d) Neither chamber shall exempt itself from Massachusetts’ open meeting laws
e) Both chambers shall establish and publish detailed line item budgets for the operation of their chamber.

Further good policy in my view. We can get this done with your help. Read the amendment here
Chris also suggests these as ways to further this goal

Commit to getting 100 signatures
Commit to enlisting friends/family to do the same
Voice your support with your legislators
Volunteer to gather signatures at your fall Town Meeting or Town/County Fair
Reach out to any media contacts you have
Contact your local newspaper for a story
Donate to the cause - any amount helps
Give a presentation to local fraternal group(s)

What do you say? We all complain about Beacon Hill. Here is a concrete way to change it.
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Friday, Time for more Dylan

Did I hear someone tell a lie?
Did I hear someone's distant cry?
I spoke like a child; you destroyed me with a smile
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Hyperbole on Health Care Reform

Both Democrats and Republicans have engaged in a lot of hyperbole about health care reform and what it is and is not.
The latest salvo is from Democratic Congressman Grayson, who said that the Republican plan is, Don't get sick and if you do die quickly.
Of course, the Republicans have been invoking the Grim Reaper to characterize the Democratic plans all along.
The only ones happy with the stalemate are insurance companies.
E. J. Dionne, Washington Post columnist and Fall River native, points out in this column that despite widespread public support and the existence of Medicare and Veteran's Administration health care plans ...

...which go far beyond the present proposals, the debate has not focused on the issues but on ideology.
As I see it the issues are twofold, the US pays way to much for health care which threatens to bankrupt our citizens, companies and government, and secondly, we have millions who are uninsured or underinsured leading to necessary suffering and deaths.
The public option is a way to lower the costs of health care and to insure a greater percentage of citizens. That simple. These should be the terms of the debate.
Do we need to lower costs? No question. How will we do it?
Do we have a moral obligation to care for the sick and reduce suffering? I think so. How do we get that done?
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Regional landfill loses commercial customer

From Mr. Lynam, who serves on the Refuse District board for Dartmouth and is a member of the Finance Committee,

The Greater New Bedford Regional Refuse District, of which we are half owner, has lost its second largest commercial hauler of waste. This has resulted in the loss of nearly $1.5 mil in yearly revenue - 28% of our commercial income.

Background:
Every two years we go our to bid for commercial tonnage to defray the costs of owning and operating the Regional Land Fill. This round of bidding was for the calendar years 2010 & 2011.

The District Committee has restricted the commercial tonnage to 48,100 tons / yr., a figure designed to extend the land fill's life to the maximum extent while holding the costs to both Dartmouth and New Bedford to reasonable levels. Our second largest largest customer, ABC, failed to bid. Apparently Bourne's land fill operation is under fiscal stress and as a result Bourne offered a rate of around $45 / ton to ABC over a two year period. This rate is in contrast to our market competitive rate of $71 / ton for 2010 and $73 / ton for 2011.

The loss of this major customer represents 21,000 tons / yr or about $1,448,400 { 28% } of our total commercial income of about $3.43 mil / yr . Income from assessments to New Bedford and Dartmouth along with income from methane production and other misc operations is expected to bring in another $1,460,800 as budgeted for FY10. { Dartmouth's assessment for FY10 stands at $109,155 }

The question:
"How do we adjust to absorb this shortfall of $1,448,400 in budgeted FY10 revenue ?"

Solution:
Fortunately the district has been exceptionally, and conservatively, well run for many years. We have the ability to reduce amounts scheduled for reserves in several areas to include Equipment, Land Purchase and Phase #2 construction reserves. This will shave $790K off the needed amount.

Another $335K will come from line item budget reductions in the areas of Security, Legal, Insurance, Recycling, Leachate / Methane maint, Overtime and deferral of the yearly scheduled payment into the GASB45 reserve. This latter reduction is of some concern to us all, and will be one of the first areas to be reinstated should we be successful in increasing tonnage from other firms.

Toward the aim of increasing tonnage, the district has made overtures to our largest customer, Frades, for additional tonnage ...

... at the slightly reduced rate of $68 / ton. They have agreed to another 2,500 tons at the reduced rate while suggesting that they may add as much as 6,000 additional tons under this rate. This will contribute a minimum of $170K. Additionally we have held the 2010 rate of $71 / ton for 2011 as well.

We also have a 'Gate Rate' which is the rate other haulers pay that are not under long term contract. This rate was $95 / ton and currently represents only about $4,500 / yr. in income. We voted to reduce that "Gate Rate " to $75 / ton in order to encourage additional tonnage. Ongoing efforts are underway with other large haulers to fill the remaining void and we are confident that it can be done. If not, we have ample reserves that can be brought to bear. Of course the use of reserves is a short term solution that can not continue into FY11.

The FY11 operating budget will be designed and balanced assuming the total loss of the ABC tonnage.

Bottom Line:
NO increase in Dartmouth's or New Bedford's assessment is anticipated for FY10. As a committee we will reassess the situation in the first quarter of 2010 as to where we are, what progress has been made in acquiring additional tonnage and just where the operating budgets stand.

Greg

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Coakley at Blue Mass Group

Massachusetts Attorney General and Senate candidate, Martha Coakley, has a brief interview with Charlie on the MTA over at Blue Mass group blog. Here's the link.
One of the points made by Coakley is that women bring different issues to the table than men do. I think that is true and that as a nation we would profit from more women in the halls of power. Currently there are only 17 women in the US Senate's 100 members.

What do you think? Which candidate for Senator do you like?
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