Still working our way through the budget

Back again. Same old thing.

Announcements. Clarifications. Complaints.

Good explanation from the Finance Committee about our current fiscal state, followed by their good and informative explanation of their recommendation for the Public Works budget.

The Select Board wants $20,000 more for Public Works to pay for sidewalk repairs, which the public works committee informs us can’t possibly be done this year.

A TM member recommends a third option – increasing the FC recommendation by $7000, and reallocating $30,000 more to fuel costs, funded by that extra $7K and cutting two summer positions.

Another member makes a “general” recommendation, which has nothing to do with Public Works, but involves the choice between getting the legislature to let us create a “meals tax” or revising the cost-of-living adjustments for those retiring from the town.

See? Same old thing. Anyway . . .

Preliminary vote. Larger number first. That’s the Select Board’s figure and it fails strongly. I voted to oppose.

Two recommendations remain – the FC’s and the “More fuel, fewer people” one.

Questions about figures. Explanations about figures.

Vote again. Larger number first. The member’s recommendation fails almost unanimously. I again voted to oppose. Fairly quickly we vote on the appropriation of the FC’s recommended amount of $1,737,044, which passes strongly, and which I supported.

On to Planning, Conservation and Inspections. More good explanations from the Finance Committee. Unanimous support from the Select Board. Yet another option from the member who apparently never met a budget recommendation that didn’t want for a little amending. This time he wants to reduce the amount by $183,000 through various means, including eliminating positions that don’t currently exist. And for good measure, still another member recommends reducing the FC recommendation by $20,000, well, just because.

More questions and clarifications of numbers and how the department works. Then we vote again. Larger amount first – which this time is the FC recommendation. It wins on the preliminary vote and the appropriation vote of $898,047, and I vote to support it both times.

On to the Community Services budget. Still more good explanations by the Finance Committee. Every area of this budget sector is touched on, but most people are focused on just one: the funding to local human service agencies.

Originally the FC recommendation was to cut those funds in half from last year, down to $70,000. When $20,000 became available through our appropriations for General Government last week, they recommended that that $20K go here, reducing the original cut from $70,000 to $50,000, which would provide $90,000 in funding for these agencies.

The Select Board recommended a cut of only $5000 to this area, for $135,000 in funding.

The Human Services Funding Committee recommended no cuts – fund it at the same level as last year, $140,000.

Discussion predictably revolved around how worthy and vital these agencies are, even though that was never in dispute. A few brave folks dared to question the wisdom of funding them when we are in a severely compromised budget situation that cuts core town services, but they were quite overwhelmed by the stories of drama, tragedy and disaster made in support of full-funding.

This is a complicated topic, one I could argue about with myself all day. Why does the town even give money to charities? Well, it’s part of what makes Amherst good. The funding is not part of the town’s core services, which are being cut, so how can we justify it? Yeah, but we’re really talking about a tiny amount of money – can’t we find it somewhere? Shouldn’t people choose their charitable donations on their own, not have them made involuntarily through taxes? Well, taxes fund all the state and federal money such agencies get also. Ok, but does that make local tax funding better or worse? But these places depend on this money – a big cut is too drastic. On and on and on, just trying to persuade myself one way or the other.

Ultimately, when it came time to vote on the larger amount (the Human Services Funding Committee recommendation) and it passed in a tally vote of 87 in support, 76 opposed, I voted to oppose it. First of all, it makes the most sense to me that such funding is a desirable thing to do after Amherst has met all its core town needs first, and that is not the situation we’re in this year. And despite our bad situation, we were looking only to reduce, not eliminate, the funding. Secondly, as the impassioned discussion on this topic showed, Amherst residents care strongly about our local agencies, and I am confident we would not have let them suffer. An article or two in the newspaper about the loss of this money would have resulted in a huge outpouring of generosity from residents to these agencies, which might well have surpassed the funding that would have been cut.

I don’t envy the Finance Committee having to tackle that issue. If they hadn’t recommended any cuts to that area while cutting core services, they would have looked irresponsible. Instead, they did recommend cuts, and to some that is still irresponsible, or at least hard-hearted. Was it the amount? Would it have been possible to recommend a cut that was responsible but not "mean?" I think they were doomed either way. It almost required that people react to their recommendation, whatever it was going to be.

Moving on.

As I mentioned, there are many elements to the Community Services budget – Public Health, the Senior Center, the Community Services subcategory (which includes the human service agency funding,) Veterans’ Services, LSSE, pools, town commemorations and the golf course. The only other one that got real attention was the golf course.

Funding for Cherry Hill golf course is a perpetual town argument and seems to fuel a personal obsession for one TM member. Over the years, the course has lost a lot of money. This year, the Finance Committee projects that its finances will be a wash – it is expected to take in enough money in course-generated revenue to pay for itself, so while the town appropriates the operating money up front, it is expected to get all that money back.

I don’t know the whole long history of the course or all the details of the ongoing argument. To me the compelling details are these: 1) Why not consider golf to be like our other town recreation offerings? We don’t require the various pools, parks, sports programs and LSSE classes to pay for themselves – why must golf? 2) Money lost in the past is water under the bridge. Going forward, the plan seems solid enough, and we can continue to reevaluate.

The Finance Committee recommendation was supported by the Select Board. The member who opposes the course recommended reducing its budget by about $57,000 dollars, which he felt would leave it with enough to operate this season and make it possible to receive proposals for an outside group to lease or manage it on the town’s behalf, which a later article will propose.

This recommendation was accompanied by our first multi-media presentation – a video portraying the expensive history of the golf course and its repeated appearance as a Town Meeting topic. It was followed by the usual disagreements about figures. Eventually we voted and the larger amount – the FC recommendation – won, and I voted in support of it.

We finished off the evening with the official bottom-line appropriation vote for the whole community services budget area of $1,831,363, which I supported, and we then adjourned to next Monday night, June 5th.

Random bits:

The evening’s big drama came from a light bulb exploding in the ceiling, and raining down what looked to be sparks and glass on the audience. Luckily, no one was injured.

I sat in the second row from the back, in the center section, about four seats in from the left. I think I like the back the best, because I can see everything – who is raising a hand to speak, who is leaving, etc.

Much to my surprise and embarrassment, tonight I realized that Jim Scott, whom I voted for in the TMCC election, is not who I thought he was. Interesting. I’m sure he is a fine fellow and will be good on the committee anyway. Somehow, I was just a little confused . . .

While TM spent its longest evening yet in a very hot auditorium, the Blue Jays were pounding the Red Sox. Always tough to win when the other team gets 5 home runs. Guess I’m glad I missed that one.

I can barely sleep after Town Meeting. There’s so much to think about that I just can’t shut my brain off. Does anybody else have that problem?

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In my humble opinion

So Town Meeting is wading through a budget that has been painstakingly crafted over many months and countless hours, countless meetings of every relevant department and committee, countless agonizing compromises and calculations, all to balance a $4.7 million deficit. Through the diligent work of the Town Manager (actual and interim,) the Finance Committee, the School Committee, the Library Board of Trustees and the Select Board, we have before us a balanced budget recommendation with near unanimous support, excepting a few very small differences recommended by the Select Board majority and minority.

Let me emphasize again how much time and effort and big-picture balancing, cooperation, compromise and painful cutting created this budget recommendation. Lots. Get it? A ton.

So at Town Meeting, our job should be simple. Learn as much as we can or care to about this resulting budget recommendation, ask good questions to further our understanding, appreciate the heck out of all the work that went into its creation, and then pass the damn thing.

Instead, we’re getting ad hoc policy and spending recommendations from the floor: I think we should do this. I don’t like this – why don’t we do this? Why do we do this anyway, when we should be doing this?

Umm, a little late, folks.

To me, the idea of 200-ish people weighing in on different ways to distribute our spending at this point in the process is frankly nuts. Could we as individuals or as a body have a better sense of all the contingent factors of each allotment than the Finance Committee? Do our personal opinions take into account all the future financial and community effects? Do we think that we have more information or better judgment than the Finance Committee?

Of course not.

Those who want to influence the town’s spending priorities in different ways need to make themselves part of the budget process very early on. Get all your information together (because an opinion is not the same as information.) Talk to the experts. Go to the meetings. Spend the spring making your case. That is how to effect change in the budget. If the change you are sure we need is important enough, then it is worth the time and effort that will take. The budget is not created in a cavalier seat-of-the-pants fashion, nor should it be altered that way.

This really gets to the heart of my philosophy about committee recommendations. Basically, I tend to trust them. I believe that the Finance Committee has the most expertise about the town’s finances. I believe the Planning Board to be the most expert entity in dealing with the town’s planning/zoning situation. I believe no one knows more about the realities and needs of our schools than the School Committee. And who better than the Shade Tree Committee . . . nah, I won’t go into that one again.

“We’re not just a rubber stamp of approval!” is the cry echoing from every corner.

To that I say: Why not?

Unless you doubt their facts, their competence, their process, their motives or their integrity, then why would you doubt their conclusions?

The point of all of these entities is the specialization enabled by division of labor. Their purview is complex, and they become the experts in their areas so that the rest of us don’t have to. And there is vast opportunity for each of us to weigh in with our personal questions, concerns and ideas as part of the long and deliberative process that precedes and informs the recommendations that are ultimately made to Town Meeting.

And as a Town Meeting member, if you really can’t agree with a recommendation, you can always vote to oppose it. That makes much more sense than trying to alter it in some complicated way that disrespects both the committee process in bringing the recommendation, and the Town Meeting members’ process of making diligent and informed voting decisions.

I am, of course, brand new at this. I may be too naïve or idealistic in my view of how “the system” works. Perhaps being heard and effecting change are less possible than I believe. Fair enough – I concede that point. However, as a new TM-er, trying my best to make good and educated voting choices, I can say without hesitation that I can not and will not vote for a complex and significant alteration of a recommendation that has only been presented mid-discussion, giving me no time to consider, study or prepare. If your recommendation can stand up to scrutiny, please give me plenty of time to scrutinize it – not minutes – days, better yet, weeks. It is not that I think that the committees are automatically right, but in my eyes, you as the “opposer” bear the burden of proof. And if you can do that, I welcome it, and in fact, I thank you.

Just my opinion, of course.

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This and that

We're everywhere: There’s nearly a TM quorum in this week's Bulletin: a profile of Irvin Rhodes, Arnie Alper helping the Survival Center, Frank Gatti and Eleanor Manire-Gatti sending e-mail from Iran, Larry Kelley’s karate video, some weird blogger, a column by Paul Bobrowski, a column by “the triumvirate” -- Clare Bertrand, Andy Churchill and Baer Tierkel. That doesn’t even include the article about Monday’s TM session. Or the Police log. (Oh relax – it’s a joke.)

Thanks to Eva: Some helpful clarifications from Eva Schiffer on a couple of references in my post about Wednesday’s meeting. Quoted from her e-mail, with permission:

“Special Town Meeting -- adjourned till after Art. 34:
The Community Preservation Act Committee recommends projects (in separate articles this year) on a) open space, b) affordable housing, c) historical preservation, and d) recreation. Their recommendation on open space got left off the main warrant by mistake. This (as you guessed) was the only way to get it considered during this budget cycle.

"Assistant Town Manager position: eliminated during the budget crisis of the early '90s.

"Treasurer: John Musante's predecessor, Nancy Maglione, was Director of Administration and Finance; in addition, we had a treasurer/collector. Both retired in the same year. John was then appointed Finance Director/Treasurer; in addition, a new collector, Clare McGinnis, was appointed. These are all enormously complex and responsible jobs.”

Attendance update: Out of 244 TM members (the total before the last meeting) 104 have been to all six sessions and 12 haven’t been to any yet. Everyone else is between those two extremes.

Small structural changes: The red post titles are now linked to bring up that post, with its comments (if it has any) on a separate page. To get back to the main page, either hit your “back” button, or click the “Stephanie’s Town Meeting Experience” title at the top, or the little "<< home" thing at the bottom. Also, at the end of each post, I’ve tried to make it a little more obvious how to comment by making the comment link more prominent. Do let me know if there are other tweaks that you think might improve things.

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TMCC results

Results are up on the town web site -- and right here, saving you another click.

Otto Stein, 94 votes
Peggy Roberts, 93 votes
Yours truly, 65 votes
Phil Jackson, 60 votes
Jim Scott, 53 votes
Mary Wentworth, 47 votes
Frank Wells, 26 votes
All others, 1 vote

If I understand the plan correctly, the top four vote-getters are elected to 2 year terms, and the 5th highest vote-getter will be awarded the final year of Marcie Sclove's term when she leaves the committee in a few months.

Thanks to all who voted for me, and I look forward to working with all of these good folks on this committee.

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And the budget saga continues

So now it’s Wednesday and we’re right back at this.

We began with a most arcane issue: the calling of a Special Town Meeting – full reading of the “O hear ye, hear ye” warrant and all – followed immediately by a motion to adjourn it until after Article 34. This has something to do with new money that is needed for land acquisition with Community Preservation Act funds, and by my interpretation, is essentially equal to adding a new article to the current warrant. Apparently you can’t do that, so you go through the technicalities of calling and adjourning a Special TM, which basically means we’ll deal with this issue a little later. Okie-dokie.

Next up: a massive and unnecessary mea culpa from the moderator for the stresses of Monday night’s meeting. From his explanations, I gather that he got angry feedback regarding his moderator skills, his integrity, his intelligence and the horse he rode in on. PLEASE! Monday was kind of confusing, kind of heated and even kind of messy. But if ever there were a situation where the intentions were good, but the execution didn’t quite work out so well, that was it. Anyone who bothered to get indignant over it being anything more than that should really step back and take a very deep breath. If Harrison Gregg weren’t usually so excellent, then our standards wouldn’t be so high. Cut the man some slack, for goodness sake! Hmmph. Well. So there.

Amidst the self-flagellation was some good and clarifying info about the rule for “voting the higher number first,” which didn’t happen Monday but will happen henceforth. (Talk about arcane!) Next a few more new members got sworn in, and then the best housekeeping detail yet: correcting an erroneous vote from Monday. It seems that the tally vote record showed that John Musante, who is interim Town Manager, voted in Monday’s dispatcher vote, while Select Board member Gerry Weiss, abstained. Big whoop, you say? Well, by tradition, the Town Manager does not vote, and the dispatcher thing was part of the Select Board recommendation, so why would Weiss abstain? Drama! Intrigue! Noooooo. Somehow Gerry Weiss happened to vote with one of John Musante’s tally vote cards. Amusing, and frankly surprising it doesn’t happen more often. These meetings generate a fair amount of paper. I’m personally expecting to screw up my own tally vote by using a card from a previous night. It’ll probably happen.

So we’re finally back to the budget. We’re still on the second half of the divided motion from Monday regarding Public Safety money. The Select Board amends the Finance Committee recommendation, moving to reduce it by about $30,000. Some attention is paid to this being equivalent to not filling a police officer vacancy (of which none exists,) but there is repeated emphasis that we vote to appropriate Public Safety money in general, and not on the specifics of how it gets spent. One person speaks to how vital police are to the community, and another points out for the first time that the key difference between the two budget recommendations is money for Public Safety versus money for human service agencies, and their importance to the community.

And then we get an entirely new proposal from a Town Meeting member. I was wondering if this would happen.

This one seeks to increase public safety spending by about $254,000, with the recommendation to fund that increase by taking $164,000 from Community Services (essentially wiping out the human services and human rights money) and about $90,000 from Planning, Conservation and Inspections (about 10% of that budget.) This would potentially fund five additional police officer positions which were in the earliest preliminary budget proposal from the Town Manager, but which disappeared quickly from all future recommendations once the extent of this year’s fiscal crisis became evident. Passionate talk about public safety, core of the town’s body, underappreciated, underfunded, etc.

It might have had some potential. Until the Police Chief shot it down.

He appreciated the sentiment, but thought such a recommendation should go through the proper channels of the Finance Committee, the Select Board, etc. Hallelujah.

After others questioned the figures that had been presented about past public safety support, and the need for such a proposal to be considered and vetted with time and care, and in the context of the budget as a whole, the amendment was quickly and decisively voted down. I was among those voting to oppose it.

Back to the Select Board’s smaller amount vs. the Finance Committee’s larger amount, and how everybody thinks public safety is vital, and they just made different choices on how to distribute the money. The Finance Committee’s larger amount wins in a tally vote of 102 in support, 75 opposed. I voted in support. That was still a preliminary vote though, with the potential for more discussion of other public safety areas, but there was no further discussion, and we came to a quick vote “to appropriate $8,029,047 for public safety . . .” and with that, we officially approved the original Finance Committee recommendation.

We move on to General Government – this is the guts of how Town Hall works and the business of the town gets done. It includes collecting taxes, paying bills, conducting elections, maintaining town buildings, all the work of the Town Manager’s office, the Town Clerk’s office, Information Technology, etc. Again, we have a Finance Committee recommendation, and a smaller Select Board recommendation ($20,000 less.)

And then it happens again.

Another member offers an entirely new recommendation for this whole area of the operating budget. This time though, the proposal is not to add, but to subtract. The motion is to reduce spending in General Government by $204,000. This would appeal to all those who think government is generally wasteful and has plenty of fluff in its budget. The recommendation would be to cut the Assistant Town Manager’s position, combine the Treasurer and the Collector, take various monies from other places, and a big chunk out of Information Technology.

And this too might have had some support. Until Mr. Musante pointed out that the Assistant Town Manager and Treasurer positions had already been eliminated several years ago. And no one wants to cut I.T.

So we vote on this, which again is a preliminary vote. Because of the whole “larger number first” thing, we have to vote on the Finance Committee proposal versus both of the two lower ones – the Select Board’s being $20,000 lower, and the new one being $204,000 lower. It is a tally vote, and the Finance Committee’s larger amount fails, with 74 supporting, and 98 opposing. I voted to support it.

Now we have just the two smaller numbers before us. More discussion of how very big the big cut is. We then quickly vote on the two remaining motions. This time the Select Board’s recommendation wins overwhelmingly, no tally vote necessary. We immediately have the official appropriating vote, and hence nearly unanimously vote to appropriate the Select Board’s figure of $5,304,392 for General Government. With the FC's figure now gone, I supported the SB’s figure for both of these votes.

After a procedural motion having to do with whether or not we’ll meet Thursday (we won’t,) we adjourned until next Tuesday.

Random bits

Today I sat in the center of the back row on the moderator’s right/audience’s left. I hear very different chatter depending on where I sit.

TMCC voting was tonight, but not everyone knew about it, so there was a bit of confusion. It lead us to adjourn a smidge earlier than usual so people could vote at the end. I, alas, voted before the meeting.

Town Meeting starts at 7:30, but you’d never know it. We don’t typically have a quorum (and hence are unable get started) until 10 or 15 minutes later than that. How about we all try to be prompt, folks? Like this whole thing doesn’t take long enough already?

Much calling the question tonight. Definitely cuts to the chase and keeps things moving. I like that.

Much picking at the budget and offering random cuts, alternatives, etc. I don’t like that at all. I feel strongly that TM is vastly too late in the budget process to be seeking to eliminate positions or change spending policy. I’ll pontificate on this subject in much greater detail soon.

Another day, another $13 million dollars appropriated.

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TMCC candidates

So tonight may be the Town Meeting Coordinating Committee election. My notes from Monday say “next Wednesday,” but as we don’t meet next Wednesday, today is probably the day.

I have thought a lot about how I plan to vote, and this is what I’ve decided.

Myself. Shocking, I know.

Phil Jackson. I have been impressed with his questions during TM, I thought his dispatcher presentation was just fantastic – exactly the kind of thing I would like to see more of, and the fact that he had spent three days observing the communications center shows a real commitment to knowing what he’s talking about and voting on. Bringing that kind of philosophy and imparting that kind of message to others via TMCC would be hugely valuable.

Mary Wentworth. That might be surprising, considering we seem to be diametrically opposed on every issue that I can think of, but I don’t think that matters here. Mary is an active and devoted Town Meeting member and she seems to prepare her arguments and presentations carefully. I could not disagree more strongly with her conclusions, but I respect her efforts. And she gets a ton of bonus points from me for the bus tour, which I understand was her idea to resurrect. I thought that was a brilliant and important concept, and clearly aimed at improving TM by actively educating the members. I think that is what the TMCC is all about.

Jim Scott. I have never met him, but my main impression of him is that he calls the question often. Even before I was on TM, and I only watched from the gallery or on TV, he stood out for that reason. That says to me that he wants to speed things along and we certainly need more of that.

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Budget dispatch

Cranky.

If I had to summarize in one word our first night of budget article consideration, that word would be cranky.

Things started ordinarily enough. I chose a seat in the back row of the center section, a couple to the right of the ACTV command table. The meeting got under way with the usual announcements: upcoming meeting dates; the order for the night’s articles – 24, 25, 5, 26; next week’s TM Coordinating Committee election; the introduction of new Town Manager Larry Shaffer, who was sitting in on the meeting last night before he officially comes on board July 1st; the swearing in of a couple new members, and so forth.

But in all that was an innocent throw-away line that only later proved to be a foreshadowing of things to come: Moderator Harrison Gregg said by way of welcome to Mr. Shaffer – “You ain’t seen nothing yet.” Indeed.

So we began with Article 24, essentially a housekeeping article distributing FY06 salary adjustments from the General Government catch-all human resources account to the relevant areas of Public Safety, Public Works, Planning, Conservation and Inspections, and Community Services. Except for a little bit of picky grammar discussion, this article passed unanimously and without issue.

Article 25 was another “simple” one – approving the amended Amherst-Pelham Regional School District Agreement, which alters the assessment formula for determining each town’s contribution. After various iterations through the years, the District has determined that a “per pupil” method is the most practical at this point, and to ease the fiscal burden of Amherst’s transition to the new formula, Leverett and Shutesbury have both kicked in one-time contributions of $62,000. After blessedly little discussion, this article passed unanimously. We’re rolling right along.

Now Article 5 – another easy one – it simply appropriates money to pay our annual obligation to the Hamsphire County Retirement System, funding the retirements of past, current and future town, library, and non-teaching school employees. Straightforward enough, but you knew there was a reason this article was removed from the consent calendar back at the first TM session. One member wants to analyze whether or not being a part of the County system is a good deal for Amherst. He wants the article referred back to the Finance Committee for full study and consideration. Various speakers refute the wisdom and practicality of this suggestion. The motion to refer is defeated and the article receives unanimous support.

Now Article 26 commences the real nitty-gritty of the budget. We have two recommendations before us for the Town’s operating budget, both of which evolved from the original Town Manager’s budget recommendation put forth early this year: one from the Finance Committee and one from the Select Board. Both are balanced budgets, but with some variation in the details. The Select Board’s budget differs from the Finance Committee’s primarily in the areas of Public Safety and Community Service. Where the Finance Committee recommends cutting $70,000 dollars from the town’s donations to local human service agencies, the Select Board recommends cutting $5000. Where the Finance Committee recommends adding two dispatchers to Public Safety (about $40,000 each, including benefits) – one funded by ambulance receipts, the other by taxation, the Select Board recommends adding one dispatcher – the one funded by ambulance receipts – and not filling a police officer vacancy (saving about $40,000.) The Select Board also recommends eliminating a part-time clerical worker in the Public Health Department (saving about $15,000,) and adding $20,500 to sidewalk repair and maintenance for Public Works.

So in effect, where the Finance Committee is spending roughly $135,000 on two dispatchers, a police officer and a part-time public health secretary, the Select Board is spending that sum on contributions to human service agencies ($65,000 on top of about $71,000 which both groups agree on,) one dispatcher, and sidewalk repair and maintenance, with about $8000 left over for categories outside of the Town’s operating budget (to be dealt with in other articles.)

We start with "opening statements" from the Finance Committee, the acting Town Manager, and the Select Board. We are to consider and vote on the five functional areas of the operating budget separately (general government, public safety, public works, planning, conservation and inspections and community services,) and then vote on the total bottom line number for operating budget. As this is the heart of where the Finance Committee and Select Board recommendations diverge, the Select Board moves to consider public safety before general government. So the FC makes its public safety recommendation and then the SB moves to amend the FC motion by reducing the appropriation figure with its recommendation. And hence begins the battle of the dispatchers.

The factor to keep in mind here is that TM appropriates money per functional area, but can’t actually dictate how it gets spent within that area. So while we might frame our discussion in terms of how many dispatchers we believe we should support, the fact is that we aren’t really funding dispatchers – we’re funding public safety, and the Town Manager will spend the public safety money however he sees fit. But the TM discussion does serve to advise the Town Manager (and others, depending on the budget area) how we desire the money to be spent, so the discussion is important.

So the moderator, ever conscious of TM’s desire to thoroughly and specifically express its advice on these topics, sought to structure the discussion in a way that allowed full comment on the two key elements of the proposed public safety budgets by separating the motion into two: first how many dispatchers, and then whether or not to eliminate a police officer.

The intentions of this were good, but it may have proved to be the undoing of the evening. It set us on a path of line-item consideration that will be tough to get away from, and it further clouds the notion that we aren’t really specifying how the money gets spent.

But this was our structure, and we embraced it with gusto.

Discussion in favor of two dispatchers centered around (and around and around): How vital are the dispatchers? Very. How awful are their working conditions? Very. How understaffed and overstressed is the department? Very. How much do they need two new dispatchers instead of one? Very.

Discussions favoring adding only one dispatcher focused on: People are expensive. Spending here means cuts in other areas. Adding one instead of two when other areas have had no additions and only cuts seems fair. UMass should help us more with this.

But it was the crankiness that really stood out. Crankiness about the structure of the discussion. Crankiness about not being recognized. Crankiness in response to a member’s – ummm – spirited (and in my opinion, very excellent) presentation in support of the dispatchers. Big-time crankiness between the Chief of Police and the Select Board. And much crankiness from the moderator in trying to explain the voting procedure to a cranky TM assembly.

Ultimately we had a tally vote on the Select Board’s motion to decrease the Finance Committee’s recommended public safety spending regarding the dispatchers. The motion to decrease failed in a vote of 61 in favor, 111 opposed. I voted to oppose.

And so we adjourned until Wednesday, when with luck, we will all return in better humor.

Random Tidbits:

Handicraft update: I have my first confirmed sighting of a woman knitting!

Kudos to Elaine Brighty, School Committee chair, for stating firmly and unequivocally that she will not set school funding up in opposition to public safety funding.

How about all these “ride-alongs” that various official folks apparently are (and are not) doing with the police? How cool is that?

In the "where have you been?" department – I noted several people who were there for their very first session of the year last night. (That’s not counting the folks who were newly sworn in.) So glad you could finally join us!

Couldn’t we arrange to not meet at least when the Red Sox play the Yankees? Red Sox won again last night, 9-5. Great game – or so I heard. Missing it made me cranky.

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Yeah, yeah -- I'm working on it

The recap of last night's meeting still isn't up yet. What can I say? This is a hard one -- my first budget session! I'm working on it . . .

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Getting ready for Monday

It has been my habit to post my pre-TM analysis of the warrant articles, and how I expect to vote on them. I have decided that that really isn’t possible for the budget articles, particularly as this is my first time on the frontlines of this process. I don’t know what to expect as far as how these will be handled – how much alteration and argument will be attempted from the floor, how the various committees will explain and respond to areas in which they disagree. So while I have been working hard to understand the various budget documents and proposals, I will have to wait to detail the “whys” of my votes after the fact.

Let me offer praise and appreciation to the Finance Committee for their terrific Finance Committee Report, Part 2, which is incredibly detailed and well-written. It lets even a newbie like myself have some grasp of the complexities of Amherst's budget situation. Many thanks!

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Basic blog intro

As the Amherst Bulletin letter might bring in some new visitors, I am re-posting some general info to assist those unfamiliar with blogs.

It is arranged in reverse-chronological order, so the most recent posts are always at the top. You may want to start by scrolling down to the bottom of the page to read the earliest stuff first, or just dive right in at the top.

Text in different colors (except the red post titles) are links.

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Your presence is requested

I was looking over TM’s attendance record thus far. There are 242 Town Meeting members – 228 regular and 14 ex officio. We have met four times, over the course of three weeks. And . . .

128 members have been to all four session. (52.9%)
66 members have been to three sessions. (27.3%)
17 members have been to only two sessions. (7.0%)
15 members have been to only one session. (6.2%)
16 members haven’t been to any sessions yet. (6.6%)

Wow! I am shocked and really disappointed by those numbers. Where are these people? If attending is inconvenient or impractical for them, then why are they on Town Meeting at all? Do people care about this? If so, what can we do about it?

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Newsflash

Just learned that today (5/16) is Harrison Gregg’s birthday.

Where oh where would we be without his wise guidance and gentle control? It is no wonder that he is always unopposed for re-election. Who else could fill those shoes and ride herd over this crazy mob?

So best wishes and a very happy birthday to Mr. Moderator!

To send your own personal birthday wishes, his official e-mail address is moderator@amherstma.gov.

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Of PURDs and turtles

Last night’s meeting had none of the high-blood-pressure elements of last Wednesday, thank goodness.

We dealt with only one article – Article 22 – and I’ll quench your suspense right off by telling you that it was defeated. Of course, being Town Meeting, it took us close to two hours to do that. This was the article seeking to rezone property on South East Street from Outlying Residential (R-O) with a Planned Unit Residential Development overlay (PURD) to Low Density Residential (R-LD) with removal of the PURD, for the purpose of preventing a condominium development that is already in the works. Except that it really couldn’t prevent the condo development. And that point was the crux of the evening. Despite the earnest pleas of the petitioners and their supporters, it seemed that most TM members were already swayed by the fact that this development is in process– plans have been filed which effectively freezes the zoning on this property for eight years. So even if TM had been persuaded that a zoning change were desirable, it would have had almost no effect on the current development plans, unless litigation and other issues stall this project beyond its zoning deadlines.

Sure, there were lots of other details bandied about. The Planning Board opposed the article, 6-1. The Select Board supported it, 3-1-1. Supporting arguments focused on the development density being inconsistent with the area, significant drainage issues on the site and how they might affect both the rail trail and the abutting farmland; protection of turtles and frogs in the vernal pool that forms there; how there is no sidewalk or public transportation infrastructure in the area and the traffic is bad. Opponents of the article including the property owner/developer, talked about the zoning freeze; the history of TM’s support for the current zoning; the potential for higher-impact cluster development on this property; the risk of the town being sued if TM changes the zoning at this juncture; the implicit bargain made in the zoning change-conservation land swap in 1992 and the perils of going back on that bargain; general benefits of high-density residential development vs. low-density etc. Most of this stuff was already known and already considered ahead of time.

To me, compelling new points on either side were few: Pro – The town needs access via this land for fire equipment and other heavy machinery to protect conservation land. Con: Pointing out that the land abuts the rail trail and is perfect for the future condo dwellers to bicycle into town, to UMass, etc.; and the development is being aimed at the 55+ set, so low school impact is expected.

That was really it. The tally vote was 78 in favor, 115 opposed, and I was among the opposers. Now we have a week until the budget articles begin.

Tidbits from the meeting:

We did get another refrain of the “No zoning change before the Master Plan!” argument, this time from the developer. I had hoped that if this point were raised this week, it would be more in irony than in actual opposition.

Late in the discussion, a motion was made to dismiss the article, which created a confusing stir about whether dismissal was the same or better or worse than opposing the article outright. From the perspective of the court system and how it interprets dismissal votes on zoning issues, it seemed they were roughly equal. Many thanks to Jeffrey Blaustein, who said that he would vote against dismissal because its effects were ambiguous, and would oppose the article. I think he gave many of us who opposed the article a clear path to follow.

I feared that people might be swayed by the argument that since changing the zoning would have little effect, let’s go ahead and change it. I think that would have been a terrible symbolic vote and precedent, and would have been strong litigation fodder for the development opponents. But that didn’t happen.

Many “Points of Order” tonight. People had a lot of concern about fairness, neutrality and propriety.

Despite my steadfast opposition to this article, the vote felt kind of bad. Pitting our collective neighbors against each other – those who live in the contested area, and the property owner who lives elsewhere in Amherst, necessitated that one side would be unhappy with the results. That’s life, I know, but I do feel bad for the petitioners.

I know you’re just dying to know—this time I sat on the left (moderator’s left, audience’s right) in the middle of the fourth row from the front.

While we toiled away diligently on this, elsewhere in the universe the Red Sox hammered the Orioles. And I missed every inning.

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Friday updates

The voices of reason prevail in this week’s Bulletin. I could provide a bunch of links to each column and letter here, but you might as well just grab a hard copy and read everything on page 4.

Received the second TM packet in the mail today, with its most hearty and impressive Finance Committee Report, Part 2. Also included are the Select Board Budget Recommendations, and some other information. Non-TMers who want to follow along at home can get all this same info and more from the TM section on the town’s website. Much to study and digest!

Thanks to Eva Schiffer for clarifying that the budgets that I had mentioned being available from the Town Manager’s office and School Superintendent’s office are the original budget proposals submitted in January, as a starting point for the deliberation process that takes place in the months prior to TM, and are most useful for following or taking part in those deliberations. They are huge, expensive to produce, and have had many changes made to them by now. The key financial document at this point is the Finance Committee Report, Part 2.

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More random musings

My head is still pounding from last night, but here are a few follow-up thoughts:

• Only at Town Meeting might one get the impression that Amherst is under-zoned and under-regulated. This is not exactly a common criticism of our town.
  
• Want to know who is preventing a rational rezoning at the intersection of South East and College Streets? And who is stonewalling the PRP improvement? Kudos to Baer Tierkel for his diligence in putting TM on the record for important votes.
  
• Still no evidence of a massive knitting contingent. Last night I did see two cross-stitchers though.
  
• I haven’t mentioned it in the last gazillion words or so, and first-timers may not wade through enough of my recent blather to find a previous note on this, so here I go again: In the interest of full disclosure, you may care to know that my father is John Coull, Executive Director of the Chamber of Commerce. (Though he may prefer to deny that at this point . . . I may be making too many enemies . . .)
  
• The TM system gives individual members and ordinary citizens significant power and influence. It is our duty to use that power responsibly. It brings to mind that saying: Just because you can, it doesn’t mean you should.
  
• What if red-green color blindness is really to blame for our goofy tally vote results? Maybe lots of those people who opposed the zoning changes actually intended to support them. (It could be the 2000 Florida elections all over again!) A girl can dream.

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