Wind turbine opponents soldier on

Curt Brown has this blog post at the Standard Times website about the possible consequences of the Attorney General's approval of the wind turbine bylaw. He quotes Attorney Beauregard as saying the opponents will continue to sue the town over the project. The Select Baord has not discussed future steps yet ...
... but will on Monday. See my earlier post as to what that may be. Click here to read on!

Any thoughts on our state representative race?

Democrat Chris Markey and Republican Joe Michaud will vie for voter approval in the Ninth Bristol District in November. So far, beyond yard signs, the race is pretty quiet. Who do you favor, and more importantly, WHY do you favor one over the other? Let us know in comments.
I have great respect of Joe Michaud and he has served the town and community well on many fronts. But I don't see any point in sending a Republican up to Beacon Hill given ...
... the enormous numerical advantage that the Democrats have. They can pretty much ignore the Republicans and still pass whatever they want. Or should I say whatever the Speaker and Senate President want. Actually, they pretty much ignore the governor as well.
While I am not averse to voting to send a message, I also would like to have a rep that at least can sit at the table when the pie is divided. Click here to read on!

Candidates debate at UMass soon

The gubernatorial candidates will be at UMass Dartmouth to debate Thursday September 30th at 2 PM. See this post. A debate was held last night and I watched it on WGBH. Anyone else tune in? What did you think?
Tell us in comments! Click here to read on!

Our Commonwealth leads the nation in health care coverage

Mass Budget has this report on the health care coverage in our state. We lead the nation in covering our citizens. This recent paper from Mass Budget shows that the Bay State is recovering from the recession more rapidly than most of the country.
Despite a terrible economic situation, our state has remained true to its values as a commonwealth and provided care ...
... for our citizens while promoting an atmosphere where business can prosper.
I think that nation could learn a lesson from our state. What do you think?
Click here to read on!

Wind turbine bylaw approved by Attorney General

The town has been informed by the Commonwealth's Attorney General that the municipal wind turbine bylaw passed at the June 2010 Town Meeting has been approved. The town had been waiting for this approval before proceeding and spending funds on the project. The Select Board will discuss next steps at our September 27th meeting.
Those steps may include contracting with a design firm to design the installation.
The discussion may take place in executive sessions until the terms of the contract are worked out or may take place in open session. That has not been resolved at this date.
Something that must be considered as the wind turbine project goes forward is how the entire project will be structured. I favor establishing an enterprise that would provide services to town departments (i.e. electrical energy). This enterprise would be responsible for the notes on the project and would have retained earnings to be used for routine maintenance and any unscheduled maintenance that might occur. Just to put some numbers to the idea, the following may be more or less but are in the ball park. For instance, let us say that the wind turbines are erected and the notes require a $900K payment on the borrowing used to pay for the installation. The routine maintenance yearly cost might be $150K. The turbines output could be worth $1.7 million. The Select Board has indicated that $500,000 be set aside from the net proceeds for the wind turbines to pay ...

... for any unscheduled maintenance and their eventual removal. At least 10% of the yearly net proceeds must be set aside for this purpose. In this example, that would be about $65,000 for the year. That leaves around $585K. That amount would be distributed among the town departments to reduce their electric bills.
That is how I would like to see the project financed and run. What do you think?
Click here to read on!

Crime Reports

The Dartmouth Police department has begun using computerized tracking of crime to enable them to better allocate resources. The public can view a part of the data on a website called Crime Reports. That site can be accessed by clicking on the preceding link or go to the Dartmouth Police website, click on Forms & Reports on the menu at the top and click on Crime Reports in the pull down list.
The department has also partnered with the Plymouth County Sheriff and some 40 other cities and towns to implement an emergency notification system called The Communicator. The system allows the police and fire districts to call every phone in an area with emergency information. Cell phone users can sign up for the service as well. Land phones are automatically included. Cell users must sign up.

What do you think about that? Click here to read on!

Primary election today. Vote!

Today's primary boasts many more contested nominations than most. Most important for Bristol 9th district Democratic voters is the three way contest for John Quinn's state representative seat. John is seeking the Bristol County Sheriff job. Democrats have three choices to replace him, Chris Markey, Ray Medeiros, and Bob Tavares. The winner of today's vote will take on Republican Joe Michaud in Novemeber.

Vote today Click here to read on!

Fall Town Meeting Warrant draft copy

The Fall Town Meeting Warrant is taking shape and articles are being formulated. A draft of the warrant can be found at this link. This is not the official warrant and is provided here for information only. The warrant will not be official until voted by the Select Board and published by the Town Clerk.What are your thoughts? Click here to read on!

Gubernatorial candidates debate at UMass Dartmouth

The Fall River Herald News reports that Governor Deval Patrick, Charlie Baker, Tim Cahill, and Jill Stein will debate at UMass Dartmouth on September 30th at 2PM in the Main Auditorium.
This is a link to the Herald News story
Dartmouth Finance Committee chair and UMass Dartmouth professor Shannon Jenkins will host the event.

Should be interesting and informative. Attend if you can. Click here to read on!

Hurricane Earl

The Town is making preparations for the possible land fall of Hurricane Earl along our coast.
From Executive Adminstrator Cressman:

Please be advised that we just concluded our second Hurricane Earl preparation meeting.
As of now, Chief Lee will be the Incident Commander and I will handle Public Information
Information for residents has been posted on the Town's website and the DCTV Message Channel
Today, we set a phone number, 508-910-1735, so that residents with additional questions can call.
I informed the Standard Times and WSBM of this information plus some additional information to the Standard Times on plans and prep for any evacuation and emergency shelter which I hope will not be necessary.

The link for hurricane preparedness at the Town website is here..

A link to a map showing inundation areas for various surges can be found here.

The Town website is here.
The link is on the top right ...
...under News and Announcements. Check there for updates.
Tropical weather storm tracking is available at the NOAA website here.
Be a good scout and BE PREPARED. No need to panic but a few common sense preparations can go a long way to ensuring the safety for your family.
One item not often mentioned in these preparedness lists is prescription medicines. Make sure you have enough to get through a week or so.

UPDATE FROM DARTMOUTH POLICE DEPARTMENT VIA NIXLE

To: Dartmouth Residents
Subject: Evacuation information

Please be advised that if your residence/location is in a low-lying area especially along the coastal waters within the Town of Dartmouth you should consider the following information. If it is determined that your residence/location falls within an area as described above it is extremely important that you monitor the weather predicted for this area over the next 24-48 hours and take the necessary steps to prepare for extreme weather conditions. We also urge that you mentally and physically prepare to evacuate your residence to a safer location as soon as or if an official “Evacuation” notice is given out. Plans for shelters have been initiated and will be available to the general public once an official evacuation notice has been issued. This information will be available via DCTV as well as local radio stations.

We are closely monitoring the storm activity and are preparing with all Departments within the Town for contingency plans. However the success we can anticipate will rely on the cooperation of the residents to act early, in preparation for the worst case scenario. This may include leaving your residence prior to the severe weather. Please be advised that once the evacuation notice is officially given we may not be able to respond to your location to assist you in an emergency. This may be due to the manpower or physical barriers placed in the way by the weather.

If you watch your local cable television station DCTV a map has been posted identifying the low lying areas within the town that we feel will most likely be affected by any storm surge. The storm surge potential areas have been highlighted so you can get a visual idea of the potential danger you may be in if you should choose to ignore an “Evacuation Notice”. Please understand that even if your residence/location does not fall within the highlighted areas you may experience some or all of the storms intensity so if you feel you’re in an unsafe location please feel free to take advantage of the shelters as they become available. A short term inconvenience due to an evacuation until the severe weather has past is far better than dealing with a long term avoidable tragedy caused by refusing to heed this or any future notifications.
Chief Timothy Lee
Dartmouth Police Department

Peace.
Click here to read on!