Select Board meets tonight, random thoughts

The Select Board is meeting tonight at 6:30PM at the Town Hall. There will be an executive session prior to the televised meeting to discuss ongoing labor negotiations. Not much on the agenda,...

... application for one day liquor licenses, disturb and obstruct streets for utility work, a new pole location, application for a constable license, citations to high school students for winning a percussion competition and charitable work. I meant to bring the agenda with me to work but forgot, so I'm listing this from memory. If I missed anything I apologize now.
The Dartmouth Education Foundation's fundraising walk had some good weather and was well attended by the reports that I received. I was working on Saturday and could not attend. Thanks to all who helped to organize the event and those who contributed or attended.
An article today in the Standard Times highlights our refuse district which is a boon to our town. Kudos to Mr Vincent who has been instrumental in its success and was honored for his role at a function at the district on Thursday. The facility is a gem and tours can be arranged by calling the office (508-763-5924).
Click here to read on!

Capital expense?

One of the issues that is sure to be before the town given the current tight budget situation is that of borrowing for capital expenses. The FY09 budget included borrowing for upgrades to HVAC equipment, dump trucks and loaders, school windows, and a new roof for the library. Also shown on the capital expense report were police cars which ended up being funded from the tax levy rather than by borrowing. The question is what constitutes a capital purchase ...

...and what is an operating expense? The Town Meeting voted to provide $350,000 to the school department for textbooks citing them as a capital purchase. But are they?
My feeling is that the police cars and the books are operating expenses.
The police drive their cars almost 24 hours a day and rack up lots of miles in a very short time. The minimum number of police cars that our town should purchase every year is probably at least 2, some would say up to 4. Since these cars quickly reach the end of their usable life and we need to purchase new ones on a yearly basis. I don't think that borrowing is a wise way to meet this need. Funds from the tax levy should included in the operating budget to replace 2 cars every year.
Textbooks are also an operating expense in my opinion. Schools need textbooks and they have to be periodically replaced. Either because they are worn out or they are outdated. The state Department of Education (DOE) takes that into account when they calculate their foundation budget. Link here for how that is done. The budget calculation allocates a sum for instructional technology that is included in the foundation budget every year. That indicates to me that the DOE regards instructional materials and technology as an operating expense. I think that funds need to be budgeted for instructional materials, just as should be done for police cars. Some years, the amount may be only for replacement of lost or damaged books and some years, a higher amount will be needed to replace a series of books. But in the long term, the amount should be fairly constant with other items added in such as funds for replacement of computers, software and other instructional materials, higher in some years and lower in others. Now, some will say that funds are budgeted but not enough for the needs. If that is true, the budget should be increased to meet the need for this vital operating expense.
Police without cars and schools without books are not much use. There is no sense in hiring police if we can't put them on the roads or having kids attend schools without adequate instructional materials.
As always, tell us what you think.
Click here to read on!

Personal Contracts Limited

The Select Board and Personnel Board met jointly yesterday to discuss personnel bylaws and personal contracts. The town currently has 21 personal contracts with employees. Last year, the DOR reviewed Dartmouth's government and recommended that personal contracts be limited in number. The discussion yesterday was which positions should continue to have contracts. The Personnel Board has pointed out that ...

... there is no particular advantage to the town in having people with contracts rather than at will. The Select Board voted 4-1 to limit personal contracts to the Executive Administrator, Budget Director, Police Chief and Director of the Department of Public Works (DPW). I voted against the motion. I have no problem with the first three as I believe that multi year contracts for those positions are specifically allowed by statute. The DPW director is not and I do not support giving a multi year contract to that position. The Library Director is also allowed by statute to have a multi year contract if approved by the Library Board of Trustees. The remaining 16 positions which were previously offered contracts will continue as at will employees under the previous terms of their contracts and the Personnel bylaws. There was some discussion as to how to transition them to different terms and it may require an interim contract but that was only briefly mentioned. The problem is that some contracts have automatic renewal clauses and these would seem to carry their provisions forward unless superceded by a new contract which changes the terms of employment. Other contracted employees have differing terms in their contracts and in order to get all to the same terms may require the interim contracts. Those could then be allowed to lapse and the employees would become at will. More discussion is needed on these issues.
On the issue of the Personnel bylaws, it was generally agreed that the benefits provided by the current bylaw exceed those generally afforded to private company employees and should be brought in line with current practices. The Select Board will work with the Personnel Board through the summer and get a revision of the Personnel bylaws ready for the Fall Town Meeting. I'll keep you updated on the progress of that effort in future posts.
The Select Board also agreed to retain Mr. Greenspan as a labor negotiator for talks with represented employees. The Police Chief and Executive Administrator have been handling the negotiations with the Police Brotherhood and Dartmouth Town Employees Association currently. These two unions have been without contracts for FY08. Mr. Greenspan will probably not be involved in those talks as they are on going. The town is trying to align the termination of all contracts for the end of FY09 and Mr Greenspan would take up his role at the beginning of future contract talks
Click here to read on!

New assistant school chief named

Ana Riley has been named as Assistant Superintendent by the School Committee.Link to Standard Times article is here.
Ms. Riley is currently a middle school principal in Fall River. Click here to read on!

Update on Fiscal Plan

Yesterday I posted that the forward budget process seemed to have been abandoned. I asked our Executive Administrator and Budget Director about that in the Select Board workshop session yesterday. They assured me that the plan is going forward and will be available sometime this summer. With the override questions, FY09 budget,...

... and Town Meeting articles being top priority in the past few months, the fiscal plan has taken a back seat for a while. They are working on the multi year plan and feel that many of the components, such as revenue and expenditure forecasts are in place to produce it.
Click here to read on!

What's the Plan?

The Standard Times ran a opinion letter from Beverly Days this morning which raises some very excellent points. Namely, that our town charter requires a five year financial projection and we don't have one. As Beverly points out...

... it was the absence of just such a plan which allowed our financial situation to stay under the radar of most of the taxpayers until it reached a crisis. Before the April town election, a forward budget strategy was touted to great fanfare. I wrote about it at the time, here and here.
For some reason the whole forward budgeting (i.e have a plan) concept has been dropped. Bev is absolutely correct in taking me and the rest of the Select Board to task on this. Thanks for the reminder, Bev. It is easy to get caught up in the workings of the town and lose sight of the big picture. I will pursue the issue of our multi year financial forecast with the Executive Director and Budget Director. I'll let you know here what comes of my inquiry.
Click here to read on!

Select Board work session on Wed 11th

The Select Board will meet on Wednesday, June 11 at 5 PM in Room 301 of the Town Hall. The Personnel Board and Police Chief are on the agenda. The Chief may have an update negotiations with the police officer's union and that would be in executive session. The discussion with the Personnel Board ...

... will probably focus on changes to the Town's Personnel Bylaw.
Click here to read on!

Finance Comittee member named

According to comments here and at Curt Brown's blog, Stephen Mitchell has been named by Town Meeting Moderator, Steve Sharek, to fill Stewart Washburn's seat on the Finance Committee. Congratulations or condolences, I'm not sure which is appropriate :) In any case, thank you for your willingness to serve! The Finance Committee fills an ...

... important role and I look forward to working with you.
Click here to read on!

Thank you, Stewart

Stewart Washburn has asked not to be reappointed to the Finance Committee following a long tenure on that body (18 years, I believe). Thank you for your long service to the Town, Mr Washburn. The Town Meeting Moderator has selected a replacement for Mr Washburn but I don't know yet who has been selected. Mr Washburn and other members of the Finance Committee spent many long hours ...

...every year meeting with the town department heads and going over budgets, considering Town Meeting articles, and administering the Reserve Fund. It is a time consuming and difficult job and we owe them all a debt of gratitude. Mr Washburn also served on the Capital Improvement Planning committee and Community Preservation Act community as Finance Committee representative. Once again, thank you. I don't know how you'll spend all that free time!
Click here to read on!

Select Board agenda June 2nd

The agenda for the Select Board meeting tomorrow
6:30PM, Town Hall, John Marland Meeting Room

Appointments
Hearing NStar petition for two pole locations on Faunce Corner Road

Meeting with Ms. Mary Ellen DeFrias regrading UMass 4th of July Celebration

Update from Mr Hickox on DPW road and sewer projects

New Business
Petitions from NStar to obstruct and disturb the surface of various streets

Renewal application of James Alphonso for appointment as Constable

Approval of Minutes
Minutes of May 12, 2008

Minutes of May 14, 2008 workshop

Executive Session

Other news from Town Hall includes ...

... Mr Hickox has tendered his resignation from the Privatization Study Group. South Coast Rail will be seeking input from town boards and residents at a meeting on Wednesday June 18th at 10AM at Town Hall, Room 304 (Select Board meeting room) on economic development and land use plan. If you can't attend, written comments can be submitted to the Dartmouth Planning Office. Comcast will be moving the position of several cable channels in July as they transition to digital service. Some customers with analog service will need to get a digital converter box to see the channels. Comcast will offer it for free for 1 year. Details can be found at this link
Click here to read on!