It's not easy being green

Ianugo at the Blue Mass Group has a post here about the Green Jobs Act of 2008 and how it has positioned Massachusetts well to receive federal stimulus funds which are targeted at green initiatives.
The Obama administration is emphasizing this type of environmentally-friendly job promotion and our Commonwealth has already secured a wind turbine testing facility in Charlestown. Let's hope some of the funds can find their way to our area given the news of layoffs this morning.
You tube embed after the jump


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Governor's forum online

Via Blue Mass group, "Jean MacCormack, Chancellor of UMass Dartmouth, wants to hear from you." Go to this site, www.mass.gov/forum, to leave your input about the state budget, transportation, pension and ethics reform.
Speak up and speak out! Here's a chance to be heard. You can make a difference.

Queue up the naysayers in comments!
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Executive Administrator search update

The Executive Administrator Search Committee and Municipal Resources, Inc. (MRI) met with the Select Board on Tuesday to update the status of the Executive Administrator search. Seventy three applications were received and the winnowing process has begun. The Executive Administrator Search Committee and MRI will now ...

... pare down the list to 20-30 applicants who will be asked to respond to some essay questions. After those are received and reviewed, the list will be reduced to 4-6 candidates who will be invited to meet with panels of town employees and town residents who will give their input. Finally, 2 or 3 of those interviewed will be presented to the Select Board for the final selection.
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Report on Ed Reform, Fall River looks at in house Special Ed

The Herald News and Boston Globe have articles here and here on a report (free but registration required to view) from MassINC titled, Incomplete Grade: Massachusetts Education Reform at 15 concludes that education reform adopted in 1993 has raised the test scores of both low and high spending districts

but did not close the gap between the two groups. According to the Globe article, scores in low spending schools would have fallen without ed reform.

The Fall River School district is considering using federal stimulus money to keep students who currently attend outside schools in the district. The move could save some $600K annually. This type of program can be regional and I hope that Fall River reaches out to local districts to participate. Perhaps our schools could inquire about the program and potentially sharing the resource.
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It's a hard rains a gonna fall

Here's a Dylan song for Friday


As true today as when it was written
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Budget, Ethics, Transportation and Pension

ONE Massachusetts via Blue Mass Group blog has details and analysis on the conference committees considering the FY10 budget and reforms for transportation, ethics and pensions. The ONE Massachusetts website has the full bill text, conference committee members, and analysis of the House and Senate versions.
Of particular interest to towns is this section ...

...in the Senate budget bill, S3,

The commissioner shall remit 50 per cent of the amount collected to the originating city or town, 7.5 per cent to the Municipal Regionalization Incentives Fund established in section 35FF of chapter 10 of the general laws and the balance to cities and towns that have accepted this section; provided, however, that no city or town shall receive more than the total it collected from such sales tax on meals within the corresponding calendar year.

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Syracuse wins their 11th title, 10-9

In a wild scrambling finish to regulation time, Syracuse tied Cornell at 9 with 4.5 seconds remaining in the NCAA Division I lacrosse championship at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro. The Orange had trailed by three goals with 5 minutes remaining. SU's Cody Jamieson supplied ...

... the sudden death game winner 1:20 into the overtime period.
It was a great weekend of lacrosse with Syracuse downing Duke and Cornell besting Virginia on Friday in the Division I semifinals.
Cortland State won the Division III final over Gettysburg and CW Post beat LeMoyne in the Division II final on Saturday.
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Thank you, vets

A National Moment of Remembrance On Memorial Day
That poem about where “poppies blow”
And, “the crosses, row on row”
Still rings true, these ninety years
After written, still brings tears.

We still have Dead, “amid the guns”
And lose our young and our loved ones
Those who lived, “short days ago”
Who, “felt dawn, saw sunset glow”.

In Flanders Fields, “the poppy red”
Still grow near where the blood was bled
They, “Take up our quarrel with the foe”
And still die for Freedoms that we know.

They pass, “The torch” to, “hold it high”
And not, “break the faith with us who die”
For they, “shall not sleep, though poppies grow”
Beneath all those, “crosses, row on row”
In Flanders Fields.
Del “Abe” Jones
Please pause for a few moments today at 3PM and reflect on the sacrifices of all our veterans. May the peace of the Lord be with them always and with you.
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Voter participation at Town Meeting

I was flipping through the channels on my teevee a few minutes ago when I happened across the Town Meeting orientation for new members given a few weeks ago. The Town Meeting Moderator was speaking and I think I heard him say that voters of the town, other than Town Meeting members, have no right to speak at Town Meeting although he does allow it. I believed that his interpretation was incorrect and that our Town Charter (MS Word format) gave all voters the right to speak. Being a curious sort, I looked up ...

...the Town Charter and the following is what I read,

SECTION 2-14 TOWN MEETING PROCEDURES
(g) Voter Participation – Subject to such rules as may from time to time be adopted by the representative town meeting members, any voter shall have a right to speak at sessions of the representative town meeting, but no right to vote.

Just to be thorough, I looked up the town bylaws that relate to Town Meeting and I found two sections, one about the Moderator here (MS Word) and one about the Town Meeting here (MS Word). Neither bylaw seems to contradict the Charter and the Charter would overrule a bylaw any way, I believe. You will need to scroll down through the bylaw sections to find the applicable wording.
I was surprised that so little of the procedures for our Town Meeting where spelled out in the Charter and bylaws, so I reviewed Massachusetts General Law (MGL) Chapter 39 sections 9 through 24 to see if there was more detail. The MGL covering Town Meeting were not specific as to procedures. So it appears that our current Town Meeting procedures are more a matter of tradition and long standing practice than a code of regulations.
I know that our Moderator makes every attempt to be fair and I am sure he would not prevent anyone for speaking. As it turns out, I think the Town Charter guarantees that right.
Another point which I found in the Town Charter but had never heard before is this section,

SECTION 2-8: PRESIDING OFFICER
Rulings made by the town moderator may be appealed to the representative town meeting by a motion so to do which shall be put to the meeting by the moderator in the form: Shall the ruling of the moderator be reversed? A majority vote shall be required to reverse the ruling of the moderator.

As far as I know, the ability to exercise this challenge has never been used nor am I aware of the procedure for doing so. Perhaps a reader here with longer experience could let us know.
I think that it would be a good idea to formalize the procedures used at Town Meeting into a bylaw to be adopted by the Town Meeting for the regulation of the proceedings. Let us know what you think in comments.
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SBA uses funds to promote regional schools

The Fall River Herald News reports in this article that the School Building Authority (SBA) has rejected proposals from Somerset and Berkley for new schools and asked the two districts to build a regional school. Berkley students already attend Somerset High.
This is one way for the state to nudge districts toward regional solutions. I think that other measures are ...

...coming soon that tie district funding to efforts at regionalizing school districts. It is happening now in Maine and New Jersey. Most states have fewer and larger school districts than Massachusetts. Regional districts cut costs by lowering administrative costs. I think it is an idea whose time has come. What do you think? Would a merger with Westport or Freetown/Lakeville make sense?
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Bob Dylan-Newport 1964

Mr. Tambourine Man


I love these old clips
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Fox 25 Boston ZIP Trip in Dartmouth

Here is a link to the Fox 25 website with pictures and video of their visit to Dartmouth this morning.

Have a great Memorial Day weekend. Go Orange!
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All over but the conference report

The state Senate completed work on their version of the FY10 budget last night. The Blue Mass Group post about that result is here. The budget will now go to conference with the House, the reconciled bill will be voted in the House and Senate and sent to the Governor. He can veto line items and then the General Court will have a chance to override his vetoes. Final result, the state budget.
As the budget goes through this legislative process,...

... it is very difficult to keep track of the changes and particular expenditures. Once it is final, we will have a better idea of the effects on our town. There are several measures which may survive that will help municipalities. Telecommunications property, poles wires and conduits will be taxable, and the local option meal and lodging tax was passed. Both will add to Dartmouth's revenues. The sales tax increase will allow the Commonwealth to maintain more local and transportation aid. I think they income tax rate should have been raised instead, but that was a non starter from the beginnning at the General Court.
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Wiki-government and email contacts

This Tuesday as the Finance Committee met and were collaborating on the wording of their message to the Town Meeting, a member, Professor Shannon Jenkins, commented that a wiki would have made the task possible on line. That peaked my interest and I searched the internet to see if others had the same idea. Turns out that this idea is in its infancy. The General Services Administration of the federal government has a guide to the use of wikis here for use in wiki-government. Dot Gov Watch has an article here about governments that are using wikis In my opinion, Dartmouth is not ...

... using even document management or email as effectively as it should so I don't expect the town to lead the way here but it is an interesting topic for thought. Where do you think wikis could find a place in governing?
On a separate note, there was a sheet in my town meeting packet asking me to provide my email as a way for the town to contact me. That got me thinking about whether or not the town has a policy on the protection and use of that kind of information. My guess is that we do not. Of course if the town is going to gather that sort of information, a policy should be adopted on who may have access to the information and what the town is going to do with it. What do you think about that subject?
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More from the state Senate

Via Blue Mass Group, the state Senate has a proposal to incorporate municipalities into the state insurance program (GIC) unless they can demonstrate that they have lower costs. The title of this BMG post is misleading. The telecom info follows the insurance proposal.
This seems like a good proposal and it breaks the logjam created ...

... by having to meet a collective bargaining hurdle in order to move a municipality into the GIC. What do you think?
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Bill Withers-1971

Ain't no sunshine when she's gone.
You Tube embed after the jump


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Local schools adopt "uniform" policy

The Herald News has an article today about the Fall River School District adopting a policy requiring middle school and some elementary students to wear uniforms to school. There are exemptions for objections on religious grounds or for financial hardship.
I like the idea and ...

...would not mind if it were adopted in our own district.
Hey, it won't hurt. What do you think about school dress codes and uniforms?
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State Senate passes sales, telecomm, and local meals tax

The state Senate passed budget amendments that incorporate a sales tax increase from 5% to 6.25%. Link to Blue Mass Group post here. They also passed a local option to allow municipalities to apply up to 2% tax on meals and lodging while keeping the state tax at 5% on those items. Link to Blue Mass Group post here. Although the Senate Budget site does not show Amendment 2-Municipal Relief 2 as having been adopted, I am assuming that the news from BMG and papers is correct. Take it for what it's worth. I have pulled out the relevant wording...

...on the distribution of the meals tax funds and it says:

The commissioner shall remit 50 per cent of the amount collected to the originating city or town, 7.5 per cent to the Municipal Regionalization Incentives Fund established in section 35FF of chapter 10 of the general laws and the balance to cities and towns that have accepted this section; provided, however, that no city or town shall receive more than the total it collected from such sales tax on meals within the corresponding calendar year.

If this amendment survives the conference committee and gets signed into law, it will be a boon to Dartmouth and could increase our revenues by close to a million dollars, if I am not mistaken.
The Senate also voted to revoke the exemption for real property owned by telecommunications companies. The amendment reads:

Section18 of Chapter 59 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2006 Official Edition, is hereby amended by striking the first sentence thereof and replacing it with the following:-
First, all tangible personal property, including that of persons not inhabitants of the commonwealth, except ships and vessels, and including machinery, poles, wires, and underground conduits, wires, and pipes of telecommunications companies laid in or erected upon public or private ways, shall be taxed to the owner in the town in which such property is situated on January first. For purposes of this clause, telecommunications companies shall include providers of cable television service, internet service, telephone service, data service, radio utility and mobile radio telephone utility systems, both as defined in Section 12A of Chapter 159, and any other services involving the transmission of communications or intelligence by any means.

If that amendment survives conference, it will boost revenues for all the municipalities in the state.
You can read the text of the amendments here at the Senate Budget site if you want to go to the source.
UPDATE- For the record, Senator Montigny voted against raising sales tax. From Blue Mass Group post here
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State Senate deliberates on budget

Via Blue Mass group, here is a post on the Senate's rejection of income and gas tax hikes to help balance the 2010 state budget.

Looks like a sales tax increase is on the way.
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Special Town meeting article for Quinn windows

In order to get the Quinn School window project moving, there will be a 2nd Special Town Meeting on June 2nd to take up an amendment to the original article which required a minimum of 50% reimbursement from the School Building Authority.
The article as proposed and sent to the Finance Committee for their recommendation is:

ARTICLE 1-2STM: Capital Improvement Planning -Amendment to Article 22 of June 3, 2008 -Amendment to Schools
To see if the Town will vote to appropriate, borrow or transfer from available funds, a sum of $1,350,000.00 to be expended under the direction of the School Building Committee for the exterior window replacement at the James M. Quinn-Elementary.School at 529 Hawthorne Street, Dartmouth, Massachusetts 02748, which school facility shall have an anticipated useful life as an educational facility for the instruction of school children of at least 50 years, and for which the Town may be eligible for is school construction grant from the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA). The proposed repair project would materially extend the useful life of the school and preserve an asset that otherwise is capable of supporting the required educational program. The MSBA's grant program is a non-entitlement, discretionary program based on need, as determined by the MSBA, and any project costs the Town incurs in excess of any grant approved by and received from the MSBA shall be the sole responsibility of the Town. Any grant that the Town of Dartmouth/Dartmouth School district may receive from the MSBA for the
Project shall not exceed the lesser of (1) 47.64 % of eligible, approved project costs, as determined by the MSBA, or (2) the total maximum grant amount determined by the MSBA; or take any action relative thereto.

Sponsor: Director of Budget & Finance/Treasurer

I find the last sentence of this article nonsensical. I think it is trying to set a lower limit for MSBA reimbursement but I can't make sense of it. I have inquired as to the intent and am sure the Finance Committee will take it up tonight.
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Quinn window funding hits snag

The Massachusetts School Building Authority(SBA) toured the Quinn School this week and set the reimbursement rate for the window replacement project at 47.64%. The total cost of the project has been estimated at $1.3 million. At the 47.64%, the state authority would pay $619K of that total. According to the SBA Statements of Interest FAQ's,

The reimbursement rate is determined by the MSBA based on the three socioeconomic factors, as set forth in the MSBA's statute: (1) per capita income as a percentage of the state average, (2) per capita equalized assessed value as a percentage of the state average, and (3) percentage of the school population eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. In addition to the socioeconomic factors above, there are various categories of incentive reimbursement points for which a district may be eligible based on a determination by the MSBA.

The snag comes because the Town Meeting article approved the appropriation for the project contingent upon a state reimbursement of at least 50%. The town must now go back to the Town Meeting and get approval to spend the funds with the lower amount of state reimbursement.
Another development on the school capital improvement ...

... front is that the official touring the Quinn school related that the SBA would not accept a grant application if the funding for the project was approved before the submission of an Statement of Interest with the SBA. This is apparently a change in past practice and casts doubt upon the Town Meeting article for school boiler replacement which is on the warrant for June 2nd. Mr. Cordeiro, the school business manager, is seeking clarification on this issue with the SBA.

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Senate takes up state budget

The staet Senate will be debating the state budget this week. The porposal before the Senate has deeper cuts and fewer tax increases than either the Governor's budget or the House budget.
The Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center has published guides to each budget, Governor, House and Senate. You can find them at this link
I think that some sort of tax ...

... increase will be approved but I don't know whether it will be a gas tax as the Governor has proposed or a sales tax hike which the House proposed. My bet would be with the House.
The Commonwealth needs to grab this opportunity and make some reforms in many areas. Let's hope that the legislature and Governor can get some things done. The Commission on Municipal Relief report would be a good starting point for some reforms.
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June 2nd Town Meeting warrants

You can find the warrants (in MS Word format) for the Special Town Meeting and the Annual Town Meeting at this link for the special and this link for the annual.
If you don't have the software to open the files, you can download and install Open Office. Open Office is freeware and can be downloaded from this link.

To either of the Constables or Police Officers of the Town of Dartmouth in said County of Bristol and Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

GREETING: ...
meeting time and place after the jump

...In the name of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, you are hereby directed to notify and warn the inhabitants of the Town of Dartmouth qualified to vote in Town affairs to meet in the Sylvia Waite Auditorium at the Dartmouth Middle School, situated on 366 Slocum Road, Dartmouth, Massachusetts, on Tuesday, the second day of June next at nine of the clock in the morning

See you there
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Swansea and Somerset regionalize service

The Herald News has an article here about Swansea and Somerset entering into a regional or inter-municipal agreement to provide animal control. Somerset will use Swansea's dog oficer and kennel and pay Swansea $34,000 for the service.
This is an excellent example of the benefits...

... of inter-municipal agreements, both communities will save under this agreement.
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Deborah Harry-Blondie-One Way or Another

Debbie rocks
You Tube embed after the jump


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Let's do it again. Wayman Tisdale

Wayman Tisdale, basketball star and jazz guitarist, passed away yesterday of bone cancer. He was 44. This song is from his Way Up! album
You Tube video after the jump


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Final version of schedule A and the CIP recommendations

From Mr. Lynam

Attached is the MOB final prior to Town Meeting. link here [ MOB FINAL 5_15_09.xls]
The FY10 Sch 'A' and CIP have been voted on and finalized by the Fin Com.
These numbers should be reasonably accurate pending any last minute math corrections or other 11th hour changes.

Greg

I will be posting the warrant early next week.
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What progress is being made toward fiscal health?

The discussion in comments of this post has been about the progress that the town has made toward fiscal health. As part of that discussion, a document listing potential ways to do so that was authored and approved by proponents and opponents of the $8.5 million 2007 override request was referenced. Mr. Roscoe has forwarded a copy of that document to me and I have posted it at this link for reference.
Mr. Walker came before the Select Board way back in February 2008 and proposed a Personnel bylaw change which implemented many of the changes proposed in the document referenced above. He was roundly castigated for it at the time. The proposal has since been reviewed and refined by the Personnel Board, but has not as yet been brought to the Town Meeting for action. In the intervening months, the situation has ...

... changed somewhat with the management employees forming a collective bargaining unit and the economic troubles across the state and nation. Unfortunately, we will be going into contract negotiations with most of the town's bargaining units with the Personnel bylaws unchanged and still codifying benefits which might have been reduced in those negotiations. The wheels of government turn slowly, still I hope that the Town Meeting will see a revision of the Personnel Bylaws soon.
The town has acted on quite a few of the items, postage, planning, a lock box service for payments, and others. It would be a very long post to go over each item so I will forgo that. If you have a question about a specific topic, let me know and I will address it in comments.
One area that has not been aggressively pursued in my opinion is that of e-government or the use of technology to reduce cost and increase transparency and participation. I am going to pursue that over the next few months with the town departments.
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School Department news

Curt Brown has blog posts about candidates for the Middle School principal, the selection of the new High School principal and a joint meeting of the Select Board and School Committee on May 26th

I should get a cut of the ad proceeds for generating traffic at the Standard Times website, don't you think?
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Dartmouth receives "pothole" grant funds and bad news

Curt Brown has a blog post about the receipt of $300,000 in state grant money that was awarded for FY09. The funds had been expected many months ago. Thanks to the efforts of our state delegation, Representative Quinn and Senator Montigny, the money has finally arrived. There was considerable doubt as to whether it would be paid due to the fiscal crisis at the state level.
Comments on the Dartmouth Beat blog ...

... speculate about spending the money in FY10.
Unfortunately, this grant money will be needed to cover the FY09 budget shortfalls that were caused by state cuts to this year's local aid and falling local receipts. The FY09 budget is will need at least the $300,000 and probably hundreds of thousands more. The Town Meeting at the urging of the Finance Committee prudently put aside $500,000 in the Stabilization Fund at the Fall Town meeting in order to make it through this year without deficit if state aid were cut.
Now the bad news. Last night at the Finance Committee meeting, Dr. Russell and Mr. Iacaponi noted that the state will not make the final Chapter 70 payment for this fiscal year, FY09, which amounts to over a million dollars. The reduction amounts by district are at this link.(MS Excel format) Coming at the very end of the year, this is a devastating cut. Obviously the money has all been committed (spent) and there is no time to make compensatory changes to prevent the shortfall. So that is where the pothole grant, Stab fund, and turn backs from town departments from FY09 funding is going to be spent. Forget about spending it in FY10, there is not going to be any left.
The town will have to apply for a stimulus grant which is promised to replace the funding withdrawn from Chapter 70. If and when that grant materializes, the town may have the funds to replace those spent this year.
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Friday dose of Dylan

I think that Blood on the Tracks is one of his best albums
Here's a favorite from that album


Try imagining a place where it's always safe and warm.
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Finance Committee MOB file 5/12

The latest MOB file form Mr. Lynam of the Finance Committee can be found at this link.
Mr. Lynam notes that "Legislative State Aid proposals are still in progress and fluctuating by $hundred's of thousands of dollars daily. It is impossible to know where we stand with any degree of confidence."
The spreadsheet is ...

...the best we have for now but the state aid figures are likely to be less than indicated
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Silverbrook Farm wind turbine going up

The Herald News story about the residential sized wind turbine at Dartmouth's Silverbrook farm is at this link
Residential sized turbines are being quite common around the area. I think that is a good thing. What's your opinion? Click here to read on!

State Senate budget cuts deeper

The budget proposal from the Senate of the Commonwealth makes even deeper cuts to local aid than the House had proposed, cuts local school aid(known as Chapter 70), and elimlinates funding for police college degree bonuses(Quinn bill). The local aid proposal can be found at this link.
The Senate budget and the budget adopted by the House will have to be reconciled in a conference committee. The final bill...

...must be passed by both houses and signed by the Governor. Any vetos by the Governor (Massachusetts governors have line item veto powers) can be overridden if the votes are there and then the budget is final. Unfortunately, the available revenue projections keep shrinking. This requires deeper and deeper cuts to programs and aid to municipalities. We don't know today what the final result will be but it is safe to say it will be less dollars from the state.
What that means to Dartmouth is that we may have to forgo some of the overdue capital projects which were planned for FY10 in order to meet our operating expense.
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Should Dartmouth change its form of government?

There has been a discussion in comments to this post about whether or not Dartmouth should change from the Town Meeting form of government to some other form. I thought I would bring it out to the post level so perhaps more people will participate. Start by reading the comments or reading this post and this post.
I have linked ...

... to some additional resources about town charter revisions at the Massachusetts Municipal Association.
You can find a list of Massachusetts municipalities and their form of government at this link.
This link provides an overview of Charter Commission procedures and Decision points
A summary of the procedures for forming a charter commission and revising the charter can be found at this link.
So what do you think? Do we need to change from our present form, can we get the 3,000 plus signatures to do it, and what form should we adopt?
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Find out what this AP grant really was!

There have been many erroneous things said about the AP grant that the Dartmouth school system turned away. I think much of it is misleading and none more so than the letter in today's Standard Times.
Go and look for yourself at what these grants have been able to do. This link is about other school districts in Massachusetts that did accept the grant and their results. Follow this link to find out what the AP grants are intended to do. Follow this link to find out who funds the grants and why.
Today's letter in the Standard Times by Mr. Koot is either ill informed or disingenuous. The AP grant program has a proven track record across the country. Read for yourself ...

... what the National Math and Science Initiative (NMSI) has accomplished.
In closing his letter, Mr. Koot says,

"unfortunate that The Standard-Times has chosen to judge Dartmouth High School, and educational progress as a whole, through the lens of a fundamentally flawed and ideologically driven AP grant program without doing a bit of homework on the issues. The title of its editorial on the subject was "An 'F' for Effort." Unfortunately, The Standard-Times deserves an F, for it failed in its duty of investigating and reporting on the issues in a serious manner. Is it possible that The Standard-Times editorial on this issue is all ideology and no evidence?"

ET TU, Mr. Koot? What grade did you earn?
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Governor holds public fora across the state

From Ed Iacaponi:

We received this notice from the state today. The Governor is sending his cabinet secretaries across the state to hold informational question-and-answer forums on any and all issues. Please feel free to forward this to anyone you think may be interested. It is open to all citizens, town officials, boards, committees, etc.

The notice says

The Governor’s Community Forums

Join Energy and Environmental Affairs Secretary Ian Bowles on Tuesday, May 12th at 7:00 p.m. at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth Campus, Main Auditorium, 285 Westport Road, North Dartmouth

continued after the jump

A decline in state revenue is forcing state leaders to confront difficult decisions around what kind of government we want and how best to pay for it.

Please join Energy and Environmental Affairs Secretary Ian Bowles at a forum on Tuesday, May 12th at 7:00 p.m. at UMass Dartmouth in the Main Auditorium to hear directly about the choices facing the Commonwealth in the current economic climate.

Ask questions, offer suggestions and engage with your government and your neighbors on these issues.

For more information please visit www.mass.gov/governor/forums
or call 617-725-4005

Link to the original here Original has a list of other fora in other towns!
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State Commission on Municipal Relief report

This week the Commission on Municipal Relief issued their report. It makes a very interesting read since it covers revenue, regionalization, and many other cogent issues. You can find the report at this link. The challenge now is ...

...to get the legislature to adopt the recommendations of the commisson,
That's where we come in. Read the report and tell your stse representative that you support the reforms that are recommended.
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Happy Mother's Day

Thanks, Mom! And thanks to all the moms in the world.

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Horslips-King of the Fairies

Rock and traditional Irish tunes
you tube embed after the jump


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Westport representative on the state budget

The Fall River Times Herald published this opinion letter from Westport state representative, Michael Rodrigues.
Ah, but that it were so. I don't know what is going to come out of the State House but I suspect the reforms are much more modest than characterized in Mr. Rodrigues letter. Pension, health care and tax reforms are ...

... sorely needed in the Commonwealth. Tough issues to tackle during normal times but this current fiscal crisis presents the opportunity to do them. Contact your state representative and ask them to support reforms.
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What's next cans of air!

My father-in-law told a story about being charged for a cup of water in Nevada many years ago. He was flabbergasted to be asked to PAY for water. The woman at the roadside stand was apologetic and said the charge was for the cup, not the water.

Now it seems we are accustomed to paying for water in bottles.
I don't. It still hurts my feelings to pay for the most plentiful substance on the planet.
Ryan's Take blog has a post about...

...two states, New York and Illinois, that have banned bottled water purchases. Makes sense to me. What do you think?
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Current Town Meeting member list

I have seen several comments about the current members of our representative Town Meeting. I happened to be at the Town Clerk's office today and the Clerk, Lynn Medeiros, was kind enough to email a copy of her list to me.
You can find it at this link.
There are 39 members listed from each precinct,...

... except precinct 3 which has only 22. Precinct 3 should have 39 members as well but not enough citizens have come forward to serve as representatives in that precinct.
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From 1980- Serve Somebody-Dylan

All the great religions of the world advocate the subordination of self and service to others. Happiness is found there.
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I'm still pitching the Governor's line

From Blue Mass Group, here is a message from the Governor on the state budget. We need reform in many areas, pensions, insurance, transportation, local option taxes, etc. If you and I don't tell our legislators that we want reform, we won't get it.
WHY RAISE TAXES ON THE STAUS QUO?

What do you think?
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Executive Administrator profile drafted

The chair of the Executive Administrator search committee, Mr. Eisenberg, forwarded this email along with an attached profile and Challenge statement from Municipal Resources, Inc.
Here is what he said,

Here is the profile and the Challenge statement that my committee has approved to be used in our current EA search.

As of today, we have 23 applicants and the process has begun. MRI believes there will be additional candidates applying from the 2 other New England EA searches he is completing.

Keep in mind that we are a little behind where we should have been but we got held up by waiting for the court decision before we signed the contract and then we wanted to give the 2 new SB members the opportunity to be heard in the profile development. We are now moving full speed ahead.

Mark Eisenberg

The profile and statement are after the jump ...

FINAL DRAFT
5/7/09

TOWN OF DARTMOUTH MA
IDEAL CANDIDATE PROFILE & CHALLENGE STATEMENT

The Ideal Candidate will have:

A graduate degree in public administration or closely related field
7 to 10 years of local government management experience
The willingness and ability to commit to the position for 5 to 7 years
An entrepreneurial, pioneering spirit
Imagination & creativity
Strong finance and analytical skills
A history of successful collective bargaining experience
The ability to invite and engage partners
Strong public speaking, presentation & promotional skills
Demonstrated strategic planning skills
The ability to organize and manage people
Humility, integrity and a strong public ethic
A “Big Picture” orientation & the ability to create strategic long range plans
A sense of humor
Demonstrated skills as a consensus builder
Respect and appreciation for broad and diverse opinions and attitudes


The next Executive Administrator will face many challenges, chief among them are those associated with negative external economic influences. Consequently, it is essential that the Administrator possess the knowledge and skills to help guide the Town through a period of constrained financial resources and economic pressures.

This person must be a creative and innovative “big picture” problem solver who can help identify and pursue ways to more efficiently and effectively organize, manage and deliver core municipal services. Past experience with efforts involving inter-municipal cooperation & collaboration will be especially valuable.

The ideal candidate will have the requisite skills to help develop and achieve broad consensus on a future vision in ways that invite, recognize, acknowledge and integrate contributions from each of the multiple constituencies within the community.

It will be necessary for the next Administrator to possess strong analytical skills with the ability to gather & organize data to facilitate meaningful analysis – interpret & present the” story in the data”, identify alternatives & predict consequences. Quick establishment of rapport and credibility within the community will be achieved by providing candid, dispassionate and professional counsel to the Select Board along with regular, accurate and understandable reports regarding municipal operations and the overall financial status of the Town.

The next Executive Administrator must also possess the leadership & organizational development skills needed to manage, groom and coach Town staff to develop their full potential while establishing an organization wide effort to balance wants and needs in an environment of scarce resources.

It will be vitally important that the Executive Administrator have the foresight along with the leadership and communication skills to help unify and guide the Town successfully through the current economic downturn with an eye toward preserving the quality of life and “quality of place” that distinguishes Dartmouth; embracing the notion of living within our means with sensitivity to external conditions affecting service levels & available resources. To achieve success the next Administrator will need to develop & maintain positive, constructive labor/management relationships so that external economic realities & influences are more ably reflected in financial packages

It will also be important that the Administrator have a solid grasp of both municipal finance and economic development principles in order to help achieve long term tax rate stabilization by effectively predicting and managing financial resources while facilitating tax base expansion and growth.

Dartmouth’s next Executive Administrator will need to coordinate and assist others in developing and implementing an economic plan that leads to long-term sustainability. The existing business community, including many small local businesses, will need to be supported and sustained during a period of economic stress; at the same time new business will need to be attracted and nurtured. Striking the proper balance between small and large business, local and regional commerce and economic development versus protection of community character will present a continual challenge.

The presence of UMass Dartmouth in Town affords a unique opportunity to develop and pursue collaborative community and economic development initiatives. Cultivating and nurturing a close and cooperative working relationship with the University will be an important priority for the new Administrator.

To be successful, the Administrator will need to be an engaged, creative and credible steward with the leadership ability and strength of character to rally the community for the common good.

So there you have it. What do you think?

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Stop digging

Some advice to the Dartmouth Teacher's Association and their supporters on discussing the AP grant which the union's leadership rejected. When you are in a hole, stop digging!
You can read the arguments in the Standard Times made by the union or supporters here, here, and here.
Dr. Mallett has sent me an email that reflects ...

...some of my thinking on the issue. He wrote,

As a professional educator who has been working for decades to promote college credit for studious high school students I was amazed and appalled at learning that the DEA voted to reject a grant which would provide a $600,000 grant to support Advanced Placement education at Dartmouth High School. This issue must be brought to the people of Dartmouth before any future school contract negotiations are finalized.

In addition to the great loss in educational opportunity to out students, the taxpayers must be made aware of the present and future monetary losses resulting from DEA's vote. Willfully passing up an opportunity to better the education of present and future students incontrovertibly is contrary to the best interests of our students and in stark opposition to the best standards of the profession.

Not only does the potential loss of $600,000 in aid to our public school system impact every Dartmouth taxpayer, but such a lost opportunity also means potential economic losses to parents and DHS graduates in that accrual of college credits in high school translates into significant reductions in college tuition. Students with transferable college credits can either take fewer credit hours in college, perhaps graduating earlier and at less cost, or it can enable students to take more advanced undergraduate and/or graduate level courses to their competitive advantage in tight job market. Earlier graduation is possible for those with advance placement credits - enabling some to graduate with fewer college loans to repay as they emerge into a difficult economy.

Students, parents and taxpayers of Dartmouth should be deeply disappointed by the shamefully selfish actions and attitudes of the DEA!

Jack Mallett, Ph.D

.

His arguments make the collegiality argument seem like some pretty weak tea. What do you think?

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More bad news on the fiscal front

From the State House News Service(subscription req'd) (hat tip to Mr. Ferreira of FinCom who is a subscriber)

Treasurer Timothy Cahill told lawmakers Tuesday that he anticipates state expenses to outpace receipts by $335 million in May and $717 million in June, numbers that he said are not reflected in Monday's news that the fiscal 2009 deficit, based on April tax collections, was approaching $1 billion.
Cahill said the state could drain the entire $1.3 billion left in the state’s stabilization fund to cover that deficit, which includes a $1.1 billion local aid payment due in late June to pay for municipal services.
Agreeing with forecasts that state revenues would not climb back to prior highs for at least four years, Murray said ...

...the Senate would not match the House’s funding level for assistance to cities and towns. “I don’t see any way to hold that number, not with these numbers,” she said “The biggest problem is we waited this long,”
Cahill said. “So all of my comments up until now were predicated on the idea that we would not be in the situation we are in now. My number-one priority is to pay our bills.” Cahill pointed to health care, education and local aid as three areas ripe for cuts. “To say that we can get out of this without making cuts in those three areas is not being serious,” Cahill said.

Oh boy! That doesn't sound good for Chapter 70 aid and the partial restoration of local aid made by the House in their budget.
The Massachusetts Taxpayers Association characterizes the shortfall in this post at Blue Mass Group. Their word for it, CATASTROPHE!
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Joint Select Board-School Committee meeting scheduled

I got this word today

Good morning,

Please be advised that I have confirmed a joint meeting of the School Committee and Select Board for Tuesday, May 26th at 6:00PM at Dartmouth High School (Room B2 off the library).

Thank you,
Ed Iacaponi

We will discuss issues such as reloaction of DCTV and the budgets
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Select Board meeting with Finance, School Committees

The Select Board will meet jointly with the Finance Committee tonight to review the town's 2010 budget.
The joint meeting with the School Committee scheduled for May 12th has been postponed at their request. A new date has not been set.
On Friday, the House completed the budget in the General Court and we should have a pretty good idea of the state budget. Still has to go to the Senate and Governor. There are some issues unresolved. The Governor has said he will veto the sales tax hike.
The House budget restores some local aid (see page 16 of link), Dartmouth's share at this point is $416,585. That number is added ...

... to the $2,123,754 from the Ways and Means budget for a total of $2,5440,339. Last year's local aid was $3,575,764.
It also cut the Quinn bill money by half. The Quinn bill supplements the pay of police officers who get college degrees. Some towns have agreements to pay the difference if the state does not. Dartmouth is not among them. This is a big hit to those officers who had been getting the Quinn bill money. They may be losing 12-1/2% of their pay.
As a final note, the Commonwealth's website and that of the General Court, our legislature, are excellent and a wealth of information. Check them out.
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Bob Dylan radio

From comments, James points out that Bob Dylan has a radio show.

I would like to direct your attention to a radio show on XM and sirius satellite radio hosted by none other than Bob Dylan. It is on sunday afternoons for four hours.
It is very entertaining and intelligent and of course cool. Bob will pick a subject like "food" and pick all kinds of music w food references and expound as well on his personal tastes. It is a great show and has eclipsed my former Sunday listening fare "Le Show" by Harry Shearer 4pm on NPR.

You will need a satellite radio and a subscription but it is well worth it.

I don't have a satellite radio receiver but this dies sound way cool.
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New developments on wind turbines

Massachusetts has announced a grant program that will provide up to $600,000 per installation for wind turbines in the Commonwealth. The sticking point for this grant is that it must be submitted by June 4th of this year. That's a pretty aggressive time line to get a grant proposal prepared. Dr. Ron DiPippo, who has already done yeoman's duty as head of the Alternative Energy Committee, is already preparing to submit the grant request. The town departments will assist as they are needed and...

...I am hopeful that we can meet the deadline.
An additional $1.2 million dollars make this project very attractive as an alternative energy project. Last week, the Finance Committee finished their review of the economics of the project and gave it a positive nod.
Additional posts on the wind turbines can be found here and here.
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Young rocker- Desiree Bassett

This young lady will blow you away. She is a guitar virtuoso. She wrote, and performed most of the parts in this song.


Check out her version of All Along the Watchtower.
Check her out on You Tube
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Orthodox Celts

For some reason, I find this video is a hoot.
You Tube embed after the jump.


All very traditional instruments in this band, I especially like the Irish drum, the bodhran. This band is from Belgrade Serbia.
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School Budget public hearing

Curt Brown blogs here that the School Committee will hold a public hearing on the FY2010 school budget on May 12th at the high school.
I looked for a listing of the budget on the school website ...

... but could not find it. If you readers know where to link to it, please let me know in comments.
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40R projects founder

The 40R project at Lincoln Park has apparently missed an important deadline set out in the permit that was issued last July. I wrote about the timeline requirement in this post. The deadline for submitting a proposal for Phase 2, which has to include housing, was May 1st. To my knowledge, that proposal has not been filed. The permit allows the town to seek relief in a number of ways, one of which is to ask the developer to convey a parcel to the town on which the town can build in order to provide housing. The issue in getting some sort of housing started is that the state Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) paid ...

... $350,000 to the town when this 40R project was approved. If the town cannot show progress on the project, the money must be repaid to DHCD. Projects are reviewed for compliance in November.
On the other proposed 40R project for Reed Road, it seems I was premature in stating that the application was going to DHCD. The interim Executive Administrator has not signed off on the application as yet. The holdup is that town agencies, such as the Smart Growth Committee, Planning Board, all other permitting officials, the Police Dept Traffic Unit, etc. have not had time to review and weigh in on the application. The Select Board will review the issue on Monday night. If you feel strongly one way or the other on the Reed Road project let your Select Board members know.
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Citizen initiated Youth Commision article

As promised here is the article brought by voters of the town for funding the Youth Commission;

Town Meeting Petition

We, the undersigned, registered voters of the Town of Dartmouth hereby petition the Select Board to cause the following article to be inserted, verbatim, in the Warrant for the next Annual Town Meeting or Special Town Meeting to be held.

ARTICLE: Appropriation for the Purpose of Funding Position of Youth Advocate FY-2010

To see if the Town will vote to appropriate the sum of $69,075.59 for the purpose of funding the salary of the Dartmouth Youth Advocate for the period beginning July 1, 2009 through June 30, 2010, said appropriation to be from the Tax Levy, or any available funds including but not limited to the Stabilization Fund, or any other available sources that the Dartmouth June 2009 Annual Town Meeting so sees fit, and further that Town Meeting may take any action relative to the matter of keeping the position of the Dartmouth Youth Advocate...

more after the jump

...funded for the duration of Fiscal 2010.

The reasons for, and objective of the article are as follow (Please elaborate sufficiently to provide a meaningful argument for the article’s proposal):

We, the undersigned, feel that the position of Youth Advocate is critically important for the safety, support, and well being of the youth of Dartmouth who may be at risk, in crisis, or who otherwise do not have support services available to them by any other means.

The sum of money required to implement the intent of this article is:

$ 69,075.59.

The spokesman for the sponsor or sponsors of the aforementioned article is:
Michael Gagne
8 Gulf Hill Drive
Dartmouth, MA 02748
(24 Signatures followed - BT)

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Souter retiring! Casts Specter news in a new light.

Via Blue Mass group and NPR is news that Justice Souter will retire upon appointment of his successor.
Brings a whole new aspect into the switch by Senator Specter this week ...

... by reducing the possibility of a filibuster to block the appointment. Any thoughts on a good candidate. Perhaps a Hispanic Justice would be a good choice. What do you think?
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How about some progressive talk radio.

WWZN AM1510 is on the air from 6Am to 7Pm with talk radio from a progressive viewpoint. The Blue Mass Group blog post about it is here. Don't know if...

... the signal will reach to South Coast. I doubt it. Try it on your dial and see. Let us know if you can hear them.
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Unbelievable! Friday Dylan

Strange video but Bob rocks!


From 1978
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