MOOREcol.12-23-04 . . . . . . .21 Hed : Deep in that fog Are decisions Someone must make By BOB MOORE Go ahead, celebrate the holidays, but keep your mind clear. We're deep in FOU. Let me explain how this Fog of Uncertainty has fallen on us. It involves just about everything : big money, a 4-1 Board of selectmen treading water and no time to get down to . . . .what? In two weeks we face a Special Town Meeting dealing with the cost of things once passed. Eleven articles yet to be examined in public. And at this late stage, we have yet to learn what we'll have to iron out in the FY '05 budget - the one to pass in April for the year that begins a day after June30. And don't forget the $86 million in capital expenditures that Manager George King says should have top priority. None of them are related and none have a firm cost. And some of them are also in the Jan. 12 Special. At issue this year is the Board of selectmen. Former Selectman John Kahn charged recently the 4-1 board lacked vision. A campaign has begun to unseat Chairman Chris Ross and Selectman Esther Hopkins, the regulars of the 4-1 setup. Ross took out papers but says he will not run. Hopkins says she wants to keep the 4-1 majority. But at least two candidates, Dennis Giombetti and Ellen LaRose are running to change the majority. Now we have seven candidates as of this week - but no call for a primary. Yet.. A primary is necessary only if nine persons are running after Jan. 18, the deadline for pulling out, according to Town Clerk Valerie Mulvey. Former Rep. John Stasik of Saxonville, 62, a political veteran with several years on the Planning Board, got into the race this week. Also entering is businessman Dennis Paulsen, 49, a who had a rough time of it with the 4-1 board two weeks ago. Paulsen's entry makes a third person with a gripe and an urge to get even with the board. The other two : Jim Rizoli, persistently in a quarrel with the board and Harold Wolfe, another frequent board critic. Wolfe's No More Overrides sign campaign apparently put a crimp in King's $86 million request. More signs are coming, he says. NEW MJORITY? - For several years, Selectman Ginger Esty has been outvoted by Ross, Hopkins, Katie Murphy and Charles Sisitsky although her heavy jabs at King has meant in elections, she out-polled Sisitsky, the veteran and guide on the board by more than 500 votes. If two newcomers are elected on April 5, it could mean a change in the majority. Esty, long left out, could be on the other end of the see-saw. Some activists, seeking to draw more voters to the polls, see this as a year when "a vote counts." Originally, the Jan. 12 Town Meeting was supposed to take up King's $86 million capital budget override. The idea : Get TM approval and ask the residents to decide in June. That intent is still out there but there is no landing field in sight. Further confusing things is the fact an ad hoc committee appointed by the selectmen has not yet been named. It is to decide what items, if any, deserve passage. Time is running out. The dozen or so projects on King's list still do not have any firm estimate on the costs or the starting time. Or relations to each other. No committee, including the Finance Committee, has examined the details. Part of the doubt expressed is King's contention that if the unrelated projects are to be passed, he must bypass normal passage through the Capital Budget Committee. Until the ad hoc committee can scope the unrelated projects the procedure question will be left. . . . in the fog. As for the 11-article warrant for Jan. 12, it amounts to a supplemental budget for the FY 05 figures approved last spring. Yes. It calls for new funds to be spent in the current year and a provision that some department budgets can now be cut to meet the cost. None of these articles have been aired. One calls for funds to initiate action on the so-called McAuliffe Library proposed for a Saxonville site. It is also one that King has added to the $86 million grab-bag. Which way will it go? There is some doubt being raised about having to spend $5 million in order to get a state grant of $1 million for the project. None of this has been hashed out. Still deep in the fog. PUSH 'N PULL - Much of the difficulty many find with the selectmen is the board's readiness to pass whatever the manager wants. He has the push. Yet in the massive changes he wants in capital projects, he is asking selectmen and all boards involved to pull these projects through. He's made up his mind but he is asking all boards to bypass normal procedure and set a time and a cost for him. So far neither the Capital Budget, Ways and Means and Government Study Committee have nibbled. Until accurate estimates are de-fogged. The problem is there is no time to do a thorough study. The two-pound outline promised in September showed up at the last minute. Selectmen were supposed to see the details back in September. They didn't push for the facts then and they took no action on them two weeks ago. Some of the items in King's package get some support. FinCom Chairman John Zucchi, for example, pointed out that if details get worked out, the best expenditure may be directed to working on upgrading roads and sewer and water lines. The Public Works Department is one of the best around. "If details get worked out . . . . ." Hah. In a fog you can do nothing and some prefer it that way. __________________________________________________________ You can reach Bob Moore at edmoore4@aol.com or by 1-508-620-1449, To unsubscribe, send email to majordomo@syslang.net with body unsubscribe frambors (the subject is ignored). Please read the Frequently Asked Questions maintained online at http://frambors.syslang.net/faq/about.html before posting or replying.