Last day in the month of April. It has been a strange month, to say the least.
The tragedy in Boston will never be forgotten.
The Town election saga, which may or may not be over.
The Red Sox with the best record in baseball at this point.
The Town election saga, which may or may not be over.
As strange the month has been, and I have other examples and am sure you do too, some things seem to remain the same.
As April ends, Town Meeting rolls into the picture. The annual and Special Town Meeting begin On May 4, 2013, and hopefully conclude on May 4, 2013. Precinct meetings are scheduled for May 2nd (this Thursday). All will occur at the Middle School.
If you you are a Town Meeting Member you should have your warrants and recommendation books by now. The same should have been received in the mail last week.
I imagine some of you have also received, or will receive letters and/or e-mails appealing for your support on some of the articles.
Pretty jazzy letters/brochures and website from people needing your money. Got to spend money to make money right?
You might want to dig a bit deeper into certain articles. Fro example, compare just what Mattapoisett is getting for its $200K (assuming it appropriates it) vs. what Fairhaven is going to get.
How much of the land in Mattapoisett is being taken in fee vs. "conservation restrictions". Scratch beneath the surface to find out just how much access you are really going to have to this land. How much of it can realistically be developed? Better yet, exactly what language is in the restrictions?
Sure $200,000 is a small amount of the total purchase price for all the scattered parcels of land to be "preserved". Forget about the fact that Mother Nature, and the law has "preserved" much of the Fairhaven land in this bundle.
Forget about the fact that if I have done the math right (and if I haven't I am sure someone will point it out), about only 37% of the total land involved is in Fairhaven the bulk of which is to be governed by only a "CR" and the access is going to be extremely limited access, yet our contribution is equal to the other community.
Forget about the fact that when a parcel comes up for sale which the Town would like to acquire it can't because there is no money. Forget about the concept of establishing a fund to build up a kitty.
No matter.
I definitely received an entirely different explanation, several times, than what I have seen in the brochure or on the web site. Oh well I am sure it will all come out at Town Meeting.
I won the over under/pool for the start of the Selectmen's meeting last night. I had over four minutes late.
I also won the pool that the selectmen would approve the BPW contracts by vote which clearly indicated the fact that they hadn't reviewed the contracts. Either that, or they had no issue with the terms. Not sure which would be more scary.
How do you vote to recommend approval of three contracts like that? Seriously.
Probably with as straight a face as one would have listening to the discussion on health insurance.
Interesting discussion on the town's harassment policy. Whatever shortcomings the new policy has, please before we go assigning tasks to the personnel board, how about getting it back up and running to perform the tasks it hasn't been performing to date (at least for its limited life expectancy). It has been revived so we hear. How about learning to walk again now before we all go out for a run?
We are going to be going on a very interesting ride if every decision, policy and procedure is to be modified or adapted to the beliefs of any one individual.
Could the policy be fine tuned? Absolutely. Should there be a designated complaint "officer" and mandatory training? Absolutely.
There needs to be some very careful thought given to the matter if one intends to expand the complaint process and investigatory proceedings to be handled by a committee.
Enough for today.
Before I go, just a reminder that today is another election day. The state primaries for the democratic and republican candidates for senate will be held today. State election polls open at 7:00 A.M. and close at 8:00 P.M. You vote at the same polling places as for the town election.
Get out and vote and be safe.
Presenting a concern to a board vs. a single person in charge offers no guarantee of a different, or better result. Look at the decisions made by at least one of the boards in this town. Often the way they question the people who work for them, leaves us in the audience wondering who works for who. And sometimes we are more confused by the conversations that take place, than we were before the meeting began.
ReplyDeleteIf you have a clear legal concern, and not just a ruff in your feathers, it still might be a challenge to see it through. Unfortunately, that's a possibility in our bureaucratic society.
3:45 p.m.- Just heard on the radio the turnout at the polls has been pathetic. It's only the primaries, but go vote.
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