TM Waits on Water Meters

“No payments until 2012!” the ad screams.  Great deal, right?  You don’t have to worry about paying any money for 2 years!  In fact, let’s get a bunch of stuff and defer payments on that for a couple years, too.  It’s the perfect plan!

…Until the bills come in 2012.

That’s the deal Town Meeting made Tuesday night.  On the fifth and final night of TM, the body declined to borrow $6M to pay to replace all 16,000 or so water meters (Article 24).  They went against the advice of an agitated Town Manager John Curran and Public Works Director Abdul Alkhatib.

Both warned that we are at risk of violating agreements with the state (EPA and DEP) with regard to “unaccounted for” water, that is, water used but unmeasured by aging meters.  Today, 16% of water use is not accounted for, which exceeds state standards.  When the state renews our permit to draw water from the Concord River, there will be consequences if we don’t address this problem.  There are other annual money savings that would be realized with new technology.

But TM wasn’t interested.  Article 24 required a 2/3 majority, but only 57% voted yea (92-67).  TMRs offered multiple amusing, cheap alternatives to replacing all the meters, such as swapping out just the broken meters (we don’t know which are broken), replacing just the guts of the meter (parts and labor would cost more), and just simply ignoring the problem all together (I’m sure the state will understand).

I think most of the TMRs who voted ‘no’ think we don’t have to spend $6M at all, ever, or any amount close to that.  But they are wrong.  Water meters have a “useful life,” to borrow an engineering term, and that is about 20 years.  After that, they have to be replaced.  There is no way clever way around it.  Like the roof on your house (30 years), the water heater in your basement (10 years) or the car in your driveway (7 years), man-made objects that take abuse are not usable after so many years.

So, yes, we do have to pay this money.  The 2010 number is $6M plus about $1.2M interest.  Sooner or later, the state will force the town to replace all the meters, and it will cost more than $6M.  If our bond rating falls, interest will be more.  The installation, communication components, meters, and other costs will also be higher.

Mr. Curran gave a historical example.    In 1986 TM turned down a number of $50M to sewer the entire town.  Today, that number is $150M.  Those who do not learn from history…

The most mature comments during this debate came from one of the youngest people in the room, Selectman Andrew Deslaurier.  “I don’t want to pay for this either,” he said.  “We should have paid for this years ago, but we didn’t.  We have to take responsibility and pay for this now.”

Pay a little now or pay a lot later.  Grown-ups pay a little now.

Article 39 (vacant buildings) also gave us a little show.  This article, which creates fines for owners of blighted properties, was submitted by BOS member Bob Correnti.  In the opposite corner was BOS Chair Mike Rosa.  The undercard to this bout was on night #1 of TM, when Rosa tried to more the article to time certain on May 6 without asking Correnti (the motion failed).

Tuesday, Rosa submitted an amendment that gutted the article.  Correnti protested.  The two went back and forth at the podium like little boys.

Anyone with eyes can see these two strongly dislike each other, and they took their dispute to the floor of TM.  It’s inappropriate for Elks Lodge officers, much selectmen, one of whom is the chairman.  One wonders how much more we would get done if these two could get along on a professional level, or at the very least stay out of each other’s way.

Mr. Correnti, attempting to address the blight of Billerica’s vacant building crisis — 2 million square feet of space, or one-quarter of the town’s commercial/industrial space — said the article would give venerable building inspector Mike Kinney the power to force absentee owners to clean up their ugly parcels and impose fines if they don’t.  Finance Committee member Michael Moore aptly called it the “curb appeal law” at the mic.

Mr. Rosa disagreed, and said it placed too much burden on business owners.  Er, that would be former business owners, Mr. Rosa.  They are now long gone.  If they were local and/or actively looking for tenants, they would take care of their properties.

Increasingly, Mike Rosa has revealed himself to care much more about numbers (money coming in and out, etc.) than about quality of life of Billerica taxpayers.  I had always assumed everyone was offended by blight, but I was wrong.  in an essay in the Minuteman, he defended his placement of campaign signs on the hideous mound of dirt across from Friendly’s, making no mention of the need to improve the parcel.  And in Tuesday’s TM, while Mr. Correnti repeated the need to maintain property values and protect the safety of bored kids and firefighters entering abandoned buildings, Rosa shrugged.  Costs too much to cut and cap utilities, he said.

Rosa has officially earned the Ted Kennedy Memorial Election Immunity Doll after this year’s campaign.  His base demonstrated that they will turn out to the polls for him no matter how he acts, and there aren’t enough fed-up voters  to remove him from office.  He will hold his seat for as long as we wants it.

Anyway, Article 39, while I did vote for it (and it did pass by majority vote), is only one way to address the problem of blight.  Businesses come and go in all economies, but the reason parcels become abandoned is because the owner cannot make any money developing it.  This problem is caused by zoning that severely limits development options.  Developers need flexible options on their land to react to market conditions.

In other words, we need to change zoning to make these blighted parcels attractive for development.  Speaking of zoning, TM also created a zoning by-law review committee and it needs people to volunteer.  I strongly urge readers to call the Selectman’s office at 671-0939 and ask about applying to join this committee.  We need thoughtful people to keep a close eye on the future of our zoning code, which affects our daily lives more than we realize.

On the Fourth Night, TM Accomplished… Um…

Before the May 13 meeting began last Thursday, Moderator Gil Moreira told Town Meeting that he’d been asked several times if we would be done after night #4.  He said he thought about it and realized that wasn’t his problem.  It’s the TMR’s problem.  If we wanted to be done Thursday, we could move it along.

So much for that.

It was going fairly well until we got to an article were we talked about some specific money three departments wanted to spend.  TM didn’t have much problem with Department of Public Works buying two new trucks (although why one of them was roaming the streets without a valid state inspection sticker for five years is a question that should be answered).  We didn’t have trouble with some odds and ends the Council on Aging wanted to buy.  But when it came to replacing some fitness equipment for the Recreation Department?  Look out!

It all started when the Board of Selectmen explained that their recommendation was to cut the equipment from the article, which they did not feel was appropriate expense.  On account of the economy and all.  So one TMR played along and offered an amendment to cut the line by that amount, killing the fitness equipment.  As we geared up to debate that, a second TMR offered a new amendment to keep the dollar amount the same, but to delete the fitness equipment language from the article, which would move the money elsewhere in the Rec. Department.

Do you need a scorecard?

That’s right, an amendment to the amendment.  I could swear I heard kazoo music coming from the speakers and Keystone Kops running in from the side doors of the auditorium.

So we spent about an hour making amendments, debating the amendment, voting on moving the question on the amendments, etc., etc. before voting on the main article.  The disputed amount?  Six thousand dollars. For those of you scoring at home, that would be about 0.005% of the town’s whole budget.

That’s not even the funny part.  After all that time, both amendments were voted down, the main article was approved, and the Rec. Department will get its fitness equipment anyway.  Ha ha!

Anyone who has ever been micromanaged by his or her boss knows what this feels like.  A lot of time spent on things that don’t matter — with the annoying implication that you can’t handle the intricacies of your job, while providing almost no guidance with the big picture.  The forest for the saplings.

So, no, we did not get the warrant done on night #4.  There will be at least one more session on Tuesday the 18th.  Get ready: Tuesday will feature the Water Department’s request for $6M for new water meters, which I expect will bring a deluge of water whines.

In other news, TM voted money Thursday for a design work to expand the Fox Hill Cemetery after a rather macabre discussion, including how many people we expect to die per year on average and what a grave goes for these days.

Here is the Minuteman report and the Sun report.

TM Backs Finance Committee

On May 11, night #3 of the Spring 2010 Town Meeting, an article to prohibit town employees and their immediate relatives from applying to join the Finance Committee was soundly defeated.  Article 35, submitted by TMR and former FinCom member Al Ramos, was debated for about 50 minutes.  The standing vote was 49 in favor (29%) and 121 opposed.  It needed a simple majority to pass.

I spoke and voted in favor of the article.  Mr. Ramos approached me and asked me to sign the article a few months ago.  He explained the problem, that there are currently 5 of 11 FinCom members who are either employed by the town or have immediate family who work for Billerica.  After talking with Mr. Ramos at length about it, I was satisfied that his article was not as a result of bad feelings toward the FinCom as a whole, or any of its members.  The article would allow sitting members to serve out their terms.

To be frank, I would have preferred if the article excluded employees and not relatives of employees.  Had I been a more experienced TMR, I might have suggested this to Mr. Ramos during the debate.  Nonetheless, no law or rule is perfect, and I very much like the spirit of Article 35.

The public’s perception of its government  is very, very important.   Without their trust, those of us who are elected or appointed to positions of leadership have nothing.  Without the public’s trust, TM, the BOS, FinCom, and other high-level governing bodies are nothing more than a politics club, fiddling around with its own rules for fun, an occasional low-stakes poker night.

As it stands, only 20% of registered voters bother to appear at the polls, and of those, roughly 350 serve in leadership positions.  They are the voting class and the more elite ruling class.

The other 80% are politically invisible, residents who truly treat Billerica as a bedroom community — coming home at night and shutting the door, barely participating in the community, much less politics.  They harumph when the tax bill comes, mutter to themselves while writing the check, and then forget about the town’s welfare for three more months.

Rep. Michael Moore (also of FinCom) Tuesday night mentioned that while we are a big town (40,000 large), it feels like a small town.  Of course it does.  The tiny ruling class almost never turns over as the same names hop from board to board.  Which means it doesn’t take long for everyone to know everyone else on Billerica Politics Island, HQ of the ruling class.

Another speaker, Sandra Giroux (wife of FinCom chair Ed Giroux and school committee candidate this year — small town indeed) said we have enough trouble finding people to volunteer for empty board and committee positions.  She is absolutely right, but this is an entirely separate problem.  I believe that citizens eschew these positions in large part because they don’t trust government.  They don’t see the political arena as welcoming, feeling like outsiders faced with breaking into the ruling class.  In other words, those who don’t trust government place no value in it, and why spend time on something that has no value?

Other notes:

• Moderator Gil Moreira split the microphones into 2 sides, as advertised: an “in favor” side and a “opposed” side.  It worked to perfection and contributed, in part, I think, to a reasonably civilized debate.  When the meeting adjourned, Gil praised the TMRs for their civility, which was very nice, although his comment may have been missed as people were putting on coats and shuffling out the door.
• The best comment of the “pro” side was from Ed Hurd, who pointed out that one town employee sitting on the FinCom, maybe two, would go unnoticed.  But because the number is five — mathematically, no coincidence — it attracted attention of those jittery about integrity in government.
• The best comment on the “opposed” side was from Michael Moore.  His wife is a part-time nurse in the school department.  Under Article 35, he would not be eligible to serve.  He put a human touch on the issue.  Hard to argue that someone like Mr. Moore should be barred from FinCom.    By the way, Mr. Moore is an excellent speaker.  Makes it look easy.  Trust me, it’s not.
• I did step to he mic Tuesday night for the first time.  Naturally, I had to pick the most heated issue on the warrant.  Regardless, it was by far the most intimidating public speaking experience I have ever had, and I am an experienced public speaker (I said experienced, not accomplished).  The microphone on house right was planted right in front of the Board of Selectmen and Town Counsel, who are staring at you from ten feet away.  It’s a hostile crowd, some of whom would boo you if it were permitted.  The 11-member FinCom (who fiercely opposed the article) is facing you behind a table at house left.  And oh, by the way, you are also on TV.  My chest was tight, my pulse was about 120, and it was all I could do to keep my left leg from quivering.  This is something I will have to work on if I am to be successful at TM.
• FinCom Chairman Ed Giroux argued in his remarks that his committee doesn’t have that much power as people think.  Huh?  Sure, TM makes the final vote on the budget, but we can’t increase the amount of any line, only decrease them.  We also made a total of zero changes to FinCom’s budget.  The Committee also has its own money — nearly $130,000 — that it can spend on whatever emergency it wants, without TM approval.  Not to mention making a recommendation on every article on the warrant, even the ones that have nothing to do with money.  There is a reason FinCom is the one appointed committee that always has people competing for seats.  Everyone wants to get on it because the Committee has real power.

Nepotism is very, very unpopular with voters, in part because the press loves a good “politician gives job to bother-in-law” story.  This is unfortunate because brothers-in-law often make very good employees — and members of the Finance Committee, for that matter.

But that is not the point.  The point is that government does not work well if the citizens do not trust it.  Therefore those in the ruling class should care with the general public thinks of it.  If there is perception of impure activity, government should go out of its way to eliminate that activity.  That this perception may not be based in fact is irrellevant.

On the other hand, turning off 80% of the registered voters keeps the ruling class in power because they are never challenged.  Maybe the ruling class doesn’t want more people to vote.  Maybe it doesn’t want new people to apply for seats on appointed boards.  Maybe needing to know someone to get into one of these positions protects the makeup of Billerica Politics Island.

Blood is thicker than water, and the relationship between TM and the FinCom goes beyond friendship.  They are family, and you do not threaten family.

All that said, I have nothing against the Finance Committee, and I respect the work, time, and dedication put in by its members.  However, I want the Committee to be more approachable and to reach out to citizens who want to improve the town.  Regular readers know that I had my own experience with FinCom last year and felt unwelcome at their meetings, to put it kindly.  It is one thing to look at petitioners outside town (i.e. developers) with a critical eye.  But FinCom should always grant its fellow citizens the benefit of the doubt rather than treat the process like the petitioner is defending a dissertation.

In other news, after 14 minutes of debate and no changes, TM unanimously approved the $57M school budget.  Article 38 (hunters must notify abutters) was dismissed, and TM allowed a Mosque to continue plans to create a cemetery on Rangeway Road (Article 30).

Tewksbury TM Passes South Village Overlay District

According to the Lowell Sun, last Wednesday Tewksbury Town Meeting passed Article 11 by standing vote that creates a mixed-use overlay district in the outskirts of its town center.  Tewksbury has an open Town Meeting.

This represents yet another community that has taken steps to reverse suburban sprawl and embraced long term land use planning.

Is Billeria TM paying attention to all this activity?  I doubt it.  You won’t find a city or town within 10 miles of here that has unceremoniously rejected Smart Growth the way our town has.  What makes us different?

I maintain that the problem has much more to do with townie/blow-in partisan politics than the merits of the idea.

Where does that leave mixed use in Billerica’s town center?  I believe it is dead.  Yes, the PB can bring it back at any time, even as soon as this fall.  But why bother?  There was hardly any turnover of TMRs in this year’s election (thanks to a total lack of new people running), so there is little reason the vote would be much different than last time.  Sure, the Fall 2009 vote was 6 short of picking up the required 2/3 majority, but why put in time for something that a large number of TMRs (30? 40? 50?) have made up their mind that they will never, ever vote for, no matter what?

What does this mean for blighted parcels like the 30-acre mall parcel?  More than likely, nothing will happen for years.  The land owner (New York City company RD Management) clearly has a brutally dysfunctional relationship with Billerica leaders.  The possibility of the two sides hammering out an agreement on a new development plan — which would then have to ratified by a well-prepared citizenry — is near zero.

One of two things will probably happen to the mall:

1. The roof will collapse and the Town will be forced to shut part of it down.  (I’ll guess the dollar store and MB will be OK to stay open).
2. RD Management will try to ram though a huge as-of-right retail development.  This would be a standard fast-and-cheap strip mall much like the Home Depot proposal.  The difference is it would not need any variances (that is, “as-of-right” under the existing General Business zone).  If the landowner plays its cards right, they could bypass the PB entirely, and it would be up to the ZBA to block the project, which the neighborhood would demand.

As we know, the ZBA has a history of approving Bad Projects (most recently, Aspen Apartments).  The BOS better start appointing thoughtful people to the ZBA now.  If they can find someone from the Tower Farm area, even better.

Otherwise, the town center is defenseless to the future boom-time retail-only assault.

Mr. Curran Gets His Assistant

On night #2 of Town Meeting, Town Manager asked for and received an assistant town manager on May 6.  Mr. Current succeeded where his predecessor failed, and for more money.

The new assistant town manager will cost the town $85,000, which sounds a little low to me.  In any case, it’s more than the $40,000 that Bill Williams asked for about a year ago to make Assessor Rich Scanlon a part-time assistant.

Curran moved some positions around to find the money.  He also made an excellent presentation that explained exactly why he needs one.  Most town of Billerica’s size — we have to stop pretending we are a tiny town — have an assistant.  When I worked for the Town of Brookline (pop. 54,000, or about 14,000 more than Billerica), which has much less land area, the Town Administrator had two assistants.

Town meeting did the right thing.  One assistant for Mr. Curran is needed and reasonable.  This will free up some administrative time for long-range planning of all kinds.  Long-range planning is what separates OK towns from great towns.  Going without long-range planning is a bit like living hand-to-mouth.  Many critics in TM look at Billerica as a government that reacts to proposals (Home Depot, Aspen, etc.) and problems (old Parker School, etc.), but does not go a very good job at all of looking ahead and anticipating future regional (and national and global) trends.  Count me among them.  A strong front office will help address this problem.

Other brief notes from night #2:

• There are a total of 10 empty seats in precinct 1, 3, 10, and 11, even after the caucus a week and a half ago.  #3 has 6 empty seats.  Come on, people.
• TM voted to allow the moderator to allow pro and con microphones for debates on articles 27, 32, 35.  This idea worked great when Mr. Moreira tries this last fall and I’m glad to see it back.
• Selectman Bob Correnti, rather than accepting his stipend, transferred the money to other line items.  Jim Mollison (7) said that if you decide where the money is going, you are really accepting the money.  “You can’t even give the money away,” I heard Correnti say in frustration out in the hallway later.
• Steve Wetzel (7) moved to cut the assistant town manager from the budget, saying that we need laborers in the DPW instead.  The motion was defeated by a majority vote.
• The Finance Committee has a “reserve fund” of about $120,000.  It can do whatever it wants with the money without TM approval.  This is a little odd, since FinCom is not a town department.  They also don’t spend the money, from a purely accounting point of view, they transfer it to departments that need it.  This is one example of how powerful the people on the FinCom are.  Some TMRs asked about this money, and why the budget line showed $0 in previous years.  What has that money been used for in the past and what might it be used for this year?  Ed Giroux from the FinCom and Town Accountant Paul Watson were visible fidgety while explaining the process, which sounds shady from a layperson’s perspective.
• The solid waste line item was questioned.  It’s at around $330,000, but shouldn’t be going down since we switched to automated collection?  DPW director Abdul Alkhatib explained that we have saved money, but other costs (labor, fuel, etc.) have gone up, so the net result is that this line has not increased.
• Ed Hurd (10) asked about the water ban.  He believes we can collect more money if we sell more water.  It was a wet spring, we have the water.  Fred Libatore (6) disagrees, saying we don’t make a profit on water.  I think Mr. Libaotre is right on this one.  The water ban is about dealing with peak demands in the summer and has nothing to so with how much rain we got in March.  We pump water out of the Concord River (an amount that is capped by EPA), treat it, and store it in the standpipe in the Center.  Then in August, when people are going mad watering their brown lawns, the level in the standpipe drops.  If it drops too much, we won’t have water for everything.  Maintaining the ban is important every summer.
• Marti Mahoney (4) asked about Quinn Bill money.  This is money we give to police officers for education.  Normally, the town is reimbursed by the state, but the state stopped doing that.  So now the town is on the hook for the money, which was promised to the officers.
• David Johnson (8) moved to decrease the amount of a water department line item by $3,000 (yes, that’s $3,000) because there is no need to print their annual report in three colors.  (Meanwhile, not a soul in TM put a hold on the millions we pay in debt service (interest).)  The amendment failed.

Here is the report from the Sun and the Minuteman.

TM resumes with night #3 Tuesday, May 11.

Huh?? Spring TM Starts with a Thud

How was my first ever night as a Town Meeting Representative, you ask?

WOULD YOU SPEAK UP PLEASE!  WE CAN’T HEAR YOU IN THE BACK!

I was a very rough first night for the Town Manager John Curran, Producer of the great stage production known as Billerica Town Meeting.  Poor Moderator Gil Moreira, your emcee for the evening, faced the ire of a very unhappy section of the Buck Auditorium that was not wired for sound.

The trouble began when the Moderator started making serious announcements after the ceremonial part of the meeting was complete.  The house right and center rear of the auditorium was having trouble hearing the microphone.  These section is under the balcony, and sound travels poorly (and echoes) under there without proper amplification.  Four speakers mounted under the balcony that look they came from my 1985 stereo were not working.

About 30 TMRs in these sections complained angrily.  I was sitting in the rear center myself.  I could barely hear, and I have very good hearing.

People at the microphones did the best they could, but it was no use.  At one point the main podium had 3 microphones on it.  The Town Accountant was getting tired of repeating himself and was visibly annoyed.

Finally, a frustrated TMR made a motion to adjourn meeting until Thursday.  The motion failed and the Moderator pressed on with the budget (Article 21).

But the problem persisted.  Some TMRs in the back walked out of the meeting.

Enter Tuesday night’s MVP, Police Chief Dan Rosa, who went next door to his shop to fetch 2 portable loudspeakers.  Problem solved.  The Moderator also deserves credit for not folding up the tent — he must have known someone in the room would come through.

When I mentioned “new technology” in yesterday’s post, this is not what I had in mind.  It must have been somewhat embarrassing for Mr. Curran to have his first night almost end in a near riot of the hard of hearing.  He owes Dan Rosa a beer at least for saving the day.

Never a dull moment, eh?

That is, until the excitement died down and we plunged our hands into the budget.  With the new sound, Mr. Curran explained the budget, which was a well-prepared and decently-delivered presentation.  He was careful to spend extra time on the confusing snow and ice items, the amounts for which are essentially made up.

Then the real fun began as the Moderator read every single line item in the budget, over 250 of them.  Any TMR who wanted to “hold” an item could do so, and ask questions about it later.  There were a total of 41 holds.

And that’s about it, folks.  We’ll get into the held items on Thursday night.  Assuming we can hear.

For more detail on the first night, please see Dan Peltier’s outstanding report at the Minuteman or my own at Billerica Roll Call.

Spring 2010 Town Meeting Begins Tonight

I was ill over the weekend, so I was not able to put together the preview for this month’s TM as I planned.  However, I do expect to be able to complete the “Precinct 5 Report” for constituents (and interested readers of the blob) starting tomorrow.  This report will explain in detail what was debated and voted, which TMRs spoke at the microphone, and how I voted on each article.  I will also list which articles will receive “time certain” status so you can set your TiVO.

I was sworn in as a TMR from #5 last Thursday night at the preliminary meeting.  Some notes from the meeting:

• I must admit, I was a little nervous about an encounter with fellow #5 TMR Mike Rosa at our precinct’s caucus.  As you know, Mr. Rosa does not like me very much.  My fears were eased when Mike — big winner of the April BOS election — was a total no-show at our caucus.  To be fair, about a quarter of the other #5 TMRs were also absent.  Mike may not consider the caucus important, but I’d like to think he wants to set a good example for the rest of the precinct by showing up.  Also, I did not spot Bob Accomando in the house Thursday night.  Marc Lombardo, Andrew Deslaurier, and Bob Correnti were all there.
• Future trivia question answer: First people newly elected Moderator Gil Moreira has ever sworn into anything?  Precinct 5 TMR election winners.  It was an honor.
• Speaking of the Moderator, after the caucuses were over, Gil organized a Q & A session for new TMRs (and anyone else interested).  Also speaking to us were Deputy Moderator Cosmo Cavicchio, Town Manager John Curran (this will be his first TM), Town Clerk Shirley Schult, and Finance Committee members Dave Gagliardi and Ed Giroux.  About 20 TMRs sat in for about an hour.  I can’t overstate how valuable that time was along with the information provided.  TM is very intimidating, but when the TMRs can meet the people in charge before the big event begins, it takes the edge off.  Great job by all involved.
• Look for some improvements to the way TM looks and works.  Gil and John, in a letter to TMRs, explained several improvements — some using updated technology — that will make presentations easier to view and status of each article clear.  There may have been precious little turnover in the TM body this year, but the change at the top will noticeable.

Good luck to all of us tonight.  Curtain goes up at 7:30 on BATV channel 22.  Let’s keep it clean.