Brookline Is Similiar to Shrewsbury?

Shrewsbury members of the 2008 Annual Town Meeting were presented data from the Personnel Board to back up a request to increase Shrewsbury Town Manager, Dan Morgado’s salary. (Let me say right now, I believe everyone should be paid market rate, the guy cleaning my toilet, the nurse checking my pulse and the town manager running my town). I was a bit concerned over the large increase all at one time and the data used for comparison to arrive at their salary conclusion. Dan does a great job that is not the issue.

Another town meeting member and I questioned comparing Shrewsbury to the towns listed in Schedule A of Comparable Municipalities: Arlington, Brookline, Danvers, Lexington, Milton, Norwood, Dedham, Weston, Dedham, Weston, Andover, and Concord. We were told these towns had comparable town government and structures similar to Shrewsbury. Over the next few weeks I will look at these other towns in depth, this week I will start with Brookline.

Brookline with a population of 57,000 and annual budget of over $80,000,000 just passed $6.2 million override. Brookline has a large commercial base, but yet they still had a need for this huge override.

Brookline does have a Representative Town Meeting system of government and each precinct gets a huge info packet specifically for their precinct, with very detailed info and demographics about their precinct. Their Town Moderator appoints 3 Committees: the Comm. On Town Organization and Structure, and the Advisory Committee.

They do not seem to have a Finance Committee, the closest they have is an Advisory Committee which reviews everything to go before town meeting and consists of 20-30 registered voters and town meeting members who are appointed by the Town Moderator. There are subcommittee groups to include schools, human services, public safety, admin and finance. The Advisory Committe has public meetings and the public gets to attend and everyone asks questions and resolves issues.

The phone numbers and email address for all members of the Advisory Committe and All Town Meeting Members are posted on the town webpage. Brookline's most recent muncipal election had a 33% voter turnout. If you want to submit an Article for insertion into any of the Town Meetings you only need the signatures of 10 registered voters and must be submitted 75 days before the warrant. Brookline has the Town Meeting Members Association, a listserve and bulletin board for members to discuss issues.

They have a Committee on Campaign Finance, started in 2003 to review:

“conflicts of interest among Town Officials and the financing of campaigns for Town Office. There was a recommendation that former selectman and their immediate family members not represent others before any Town Bodies consisting of individuals appointed by such selectman.”

Hmmm… is this comparable to what folks have seen as problematic with Mr. Byrne representing many clients before various Shrewsbury Boards and possible lawsuits. Well in Brookline they think that is a bad idea. But then those folks are a little wacky, on their Town Warrant, #25 they also wanted to ban spanking your kid. I am not for spanking kids, but I would would not even dream of putting it on the ballot.

Shareef Don't Like This

Boring, boring, boring

I know this will be boring to some of you who like the politics, gossip and conspiracy theories, but consider it a public service announcement or a commercial between the “good” stuff. Unlike a tv commercial it will still be here when you come back from the bathroom.

Has anyone seen our pretty baby blue Pay As You Throw bags in the stores yet? I am thrilled Shrewsbury residents will be allowed to put the trash in the sky blue bags and then put them in their old trash cans. I was a bit concerned about animals and those not able to carry a bag to the curb, now they can use their old can with wheels; they just have to make sure the trash stuff is in the bag.

I have just watched the 6/26 show of Ask the Manager, with Jason Palitsch, a 2007 SHS alum and President of the Young Democrats, as the Guest Inquisitor. He did a great job and not only asked questions about local issues but issues on Beacon Hill effecting Shrewsbury.

Dan Morgado and Donna O’Connor were discussing the litter along the roads and the litter bug campaign started in the 1970’s. I remember a “Give a Hoot, Don’t Pollute” campaign. Dan half joked about having a tax on fast food purchases with the money going back to the towns to pay for the town to clean up this litter from Dunkin Donuts, McDonald’s. Hey, I love that idea, what about a tax on cigarettes just for litter/toxic waste removal. Many bills are floating around to upgrade the bottle bill to include containers such as water and juice bottles. Are the Adopt a Highway programs that we see along roads from the state? Sounds like some blog readers have taken matters into their own hands, good for you. An official organized program would be great, with little neon vests, poles with spikes, maybe an official slow down sign.

The Marriott Vacation Club encourages recycling and provides bins in their condos. To those in Shrewsbury who are just starting this activity and are grumbling, it will soon be second nature and before you know it you will be recycling while on vacation.

I will work on more exciting issues or who knows maybe my car will get hit again or maybe the Selectman will be seen congregating in the dairy case at a local supermarket, or I will photograph my tomatillos to compete with Mark’s tomato

It Sounded Pretty Plausible

Remember when the possibility of the Red Sox winning the World Series seemed like a crazy fantasy?

Me too.

Check this out.

Idiot

I was out tonight so I missed the Board of Selectman's meeting.

It was probably uneventful. What did I miss?

Thanks to Tivo, I can watch it all again…

Let's see.

Starts at 7pm.

Licensing stuff…

Boring… (skip skip skip)

Here we go…

Ben Tartaglia proposes the finance committee be reduced to five people who would be elected…

Kevin Byrne's talking about the good old days…

(skip skip)

John Lebeaux asks Ben if he's done any research (Ben says not really). John then hits Ben with all the research that John has done…

Moe DePalo asks Ben other "research" questions.

Ben Tartaglia calls Moe an idiot.

Wait a minute… did that just happen?

Let's review the transcript:

Moe (speaking across the table to Ben): You said in this meeting that the Finance Committee could be appointed by the Selectmen. Yes you did, I wrote it down when you said it.

Ben: May I respond?

Moe: No, not until I'm done. Um…

Chairman Jim McCaffrey: I'll give you a chance, Mr. Tartaglia.

Ben: Idiot.

Moe: What did you say?

Ben: I called you an "idiot."

Moe: Ok. Well, look. Either keep the decorum right, or just maybe be quiet. OK? I wrote down what you said and my real question is what difference does it make…

I always miss the good stuff.

Ben later apologized "for the 'idiot' remark." He did, however, say that he "sensed a little hostility and a little arrogance and a little bit of condescension there and that was just my natural reaction."

What's your reaction?

Heating Fuel Meeting On Thursday

Update (13 July) 10:27pm: I had previously posted the wrong day for the meeting. The correct day is below.

---

Benjamin Tartaglia (Selectman and Friend-of-the-Blog) called me this weekend to tell me about an important meeting.

Thursday at 10am at Town Hall there will be a public meeting to discuss concerns with spiking fuel oil prices this coming winter.

In these hot days, it's hard to remember how cold it can be in the depths of winter. If, like me, you heat with No. 2 Diesel (a.k.a. "fuel oil") then you know how hard it's going to be to keep warm next year.

After paying a $900+ bill just in May, I can only begin to guess what's going to happen next year. And there are thousands of people in Worcester County alone who can't afford $4.50 or more per gallon. They will have to forgo warmth or other basic amenities as the cold months

I wish I could attend this meeting, but I have another commitment.

I hope that some of you, my many readers, can be there! And you can post your comments here to let me know what happened.

First Tomato

The first tomato of Summer!

Whither The FinCom?

Coming up next week, the Selectmen may discuss the selection process for members of the oft-maligned Finance Committee.

Citizens for a Better Shrewsbury and Seniors for Responsible Taxation have both been griping about this process.

I applaud the Board of Selectmen for finally agreeing to consider some much-needed reform.

The entire nine-member committee is appointed by the Town Moderator, Kevin Byrne. The Moderator himself is elected for a three year term, and will be on the ballot next May (2009). Three FinCom members are appointed each year, and their terms expire on June 30.

The Moderator has not yet made his appointments for the term which began over a week ago. Therefore, there are three vacancies.

I encourage anyone interested to write the Town Moderator (via the Selectmen's office at Town Hall), asking for appointment.

Please also cc: your applications to me and I'll mention them in a future article!

The FinCom's primary mission is to be a kind of watchdog for Town Meeting. The FinCom is supposed to scrutinize the budget. These nine people ought to be the most informed people in town. Instead, they are often oblivious of serious budgetary issues. If you appointed nine people randomly at Town Meeting, they would do a better job.

One FinCom member whose term expired last week is Mary Kay Alexander. She spends about half of the year in Florida — far away from Shrewsbury. Will the Town Moderator reappoint her?

Of the three vacancies, one is for the seat previously held be John Campbell. The FinCom re-elected him to be their Vice Chairman back in June, even though he had not yet been reappointed. What happens if the Town Moderator doesn't reappoint him?

Other boards in Shrewsbury "reorganize" (elect their officers) after their terms begin. The FinCom, for some unknown reason, elect their officers two weeks before their terms end.

What is the Town Moderator's standards by which he appoints members? Should the person be a genius at financing? Should he be a professional bigwig or business leader? Should she be a former Selectman? Should they be political or professional cronies?

Many people have asked me if the FinCom members should be elected. Frankly, I don't know. Maybe yes, maybe no. Democracy is no guarantee of success and it can create a false impression of competence.

But at least an elected FinCom would make the process more transparent than it is now.

If we retain the appointment process, the Moderator should publicly solicit applicants. The prospective appointees should present themselves at a public (or at least open) meeting. The Moderator should make at least a token statement has to why his appointees were best suited for the job.

I welcome your thoughts!  The Selectmen read this blog, too.  So this is one way for them to hear from you.  However, please also send them an email with the EXACT subject "Finance Committee selection process" so your opinion will be formally registered.