Current Issues and Thoughts
October 21, 2006

The next selectmen’s meeting is Monday, October 23, 2006, at 5:35pm. The agenda for the meeting may be available, sometime in the future, by clicking the link to the left.

Here are some highlights:

We will discuss the minutes of the October 9 meeting. I believe the current process for preparing minutes can be made better for taxpayers. I will propose that we look into preparing a word-for-word, verbatim transcript of the meetings. This will avoid the “summaries” we get now, which inevitably delete some parts of the discussions or potentially present them with a different “sense” then some participants may have.

At 6:30pm we’ll have a discussion with the School Board. I want to ask the School Board members if there are any ways the town and the school district can cooperate more and pool resources so that, in combination, we can be more efficient. Are there any tasks, equipment or employees who can be “shared” to increase efficiencies and reduce costs? I also want to ask the School Board members for their free advice to the selectmen on how we can do our jobs better. The school district has managed its costs (and its tax burden on taxpayers) better than the town has in recent years. I want to see if there are things we can learn from the School Board.

We’ll discuss, once again, the proposed town-wide “ethics policy”. I am not sure what we’ll be discussing, because there is no draft available yet (as I am writing this at 9:20 pm on Saturday night). As you know from the blog, I feel very strongly that we need to have a clear penalty provision for violations of the ethics policy. This was voted down (3-2 split vote) at our last meeting, and I want to try again. I also want to be sure we have good, clear provisions on acceptance and disclosure of gifts.

Would you rather have the transfer station closed for Veterans Day on Friday, November 10 (so it remains open on Saturday), or close it on Saturday? We previously voted to close the transfer station on Friday to be sure it would be open for taxpayers on Saturday. We are being asked to reconsider this and close it on Saturday. Please give your thoughts…

The Traffic Safety Committee has recommended, again, that a stop sign be put on Isaac Frye Highway at the intersection with McGettigan. I plan to vote in favor of this, as I posted previously on the blog.

There is a request from the Department of Public Works to spend $40,000 to purchase a new skid steer “from funds that are available in the town’s 2006 budget”. The reason is the old 1992 skid steer is “worn out and not worth repairing”. I plan to oppose this as a matter of principle. In fact, two principles. (1) We should have known prior to setting the 2006 budget and warrant articles that we would need a new skid steer. Wear and tear are foreseeable. Now that we have found we are suddenly rolling in extra money for 2006, I don’t want to short-circuit the budget process and look for ways to spend the cash. I want to look for ways to save the money and give it back to taxpayers. (2) If we have any extra money, my first priority is outsourcing the town web site to a good I/T firm so that, among other things, we can get meeting agendas and minutes up for taxpayers to see.

And what a nice transition that gives to the next agenda item, an update on the budget process. I am still learning about the town’s budget process. I plan to ask several questions. How are we doing so far in delivering a budget within the 3.5% tax cap approved by the selectmen so that any town tax increase will stay in line with taxpayers’ own incomes? What date will be scheduled for the selectmen to conduct a risk analysis of town and school operations and set the town’s policy on use of the “rainy day fund” for tax reductions? As part of the strategic budget process, have all departments been asked to report to the TA on how their services would be priced in the private market (by outsourcing), and whether the town could deliver the same or better services in particular areas by outsourcing them? Is performance pay for department heads being built into this budget? How is the budget process being designed to take into account the potential for outsourcing of the ambulance which, if approved, will substantially reduce the town’s expense base?

Guy Scaife will give an update on Badger Hill. FYI, all the selectmen now have the draft report on BH road safety, issued by HTA/Kimball Chase, an independent engineering firm. I have read it carefully. This takes about 15 minutes to do. However, we have been told that Gary Daniels and Guy Scaife have decided that the report will not be distributed until Monday night’s meeting. Apparently there will be no detailed discussion of the report on Monday night, and the detailed discussion will be delayed until November 13, with the engineering firm present. I believe the report became a public document (under the Right to Know law), and accessible to any taxpayer who asks for it, when it was delivered to the town on October 19. However, out of courtesy to the schedule that was set, I will not comment on the report until after Monday’s meeting. I must say I am troubled that a decision has been made, with a basis I can’t understand, to withhold this report from BH residents and other interested parties until Monday night.

We have a non-public session on “legal matters” which raises tons of very interesting and important policy issues. I am hopeful that the selectmen will decide that at least the subject matter of the discussion can be announced to the public.

I plan to raise several other matters that have not made it onto the agenda. I have posted several times in the past on the items that the selectmen have not had the chance to address, and I want to press forward and try to get an agreement that at least some of these are worth discussing, and set a timetable.

I’m putting up a post on the blog so people can give input on these agenda items before Monday’s meeting.

Thanks in advance for your participation, and for your comments, thoughts and suggestions.