HED : Hold it! We're sinking Into a swamp of Man-made Problems By BOB MOORE We've got a problem. No, several problems, and only a heartbeat from annual budget and special Town Meeting in 12 days . . . .no one knows which end is up. Hold it! We say one thing. And do another. Or even do nothing at all. And let it all slide, How many weeks is it since we had a meeting to discuss our budget for next year? Or looked into that $86 million grab-bag of capital projects Manager George King said are musts? In August King drew a picture of a modernized Memorial Building [what again?], catchup on our sadly neglected roads, upgrading water and sewer lines and a miscellaneous sprucing up of some schools among other things. None related. All to be funded through an override - a special 25-year "debt exclusion" override. He promised to bring these unrelated projects before selectmen and other boards, for their approval, one by one, by mid-November. Two weeks ago King dumped these projects in one big lump before selectmen, Capital Building and Ways and Means Committees and the Finance Commission. Stop right there. None of these projects had a dollars-and-cents price tag fashioned by experts. At the end of two hours, the conferees called selectmen to appoint an ad hoc committee - no more than eight : one selectman, 2 from FinCom and Ways and Means and three from Capital Budget. Kept small, it would report back speedily on whether to vote any or all or none of the dozen of so projects under an override. In two weeks, no committee, no report. Taken together, you can see what I mean by a problem. No one in charge. How could things slip and slide like this? One is the 4-1 Board of Selectmen [Ross, Hopkins, Sisitsky and Murphy] which has seldom met the word "initiative." Supposed to initiate policy, they are inclined to stand on the street corner and unanimously approve whatever sweet young suggestions marching by with King. And let's not forget the peculiar meeting schedule of the board. In the winter months, they've instituted the summer vacation schedule - every other week more or less. And the Four-to-One's setting up "a work session". Don't bring up your [residents'] problems. No heavy lifting. A preaching session - of what they'd like to take up some day. What we're talking about here is how things [this fall especially] seem to get in the way of a healthy exchange between troubled residents and the board which, oftentimes seems to rule with a schoolmaster's knuckle ruler. Take the case of Dennis Paulsen of 829 Concord St. He objected to the abrupt way the town had changed the parking regulations outside his house and the abrupt way the town slapped a ticket on his daughter's car. Yes, they had missed a thing or two but they managed to keep Paulson's shoulder pinned while they scolded. Result: Paulsen says he's running for selectman. He won't . But if the Administration could see how its manner irritates [indeed scares] residents who stick to their points, the officials might find a more understanding way of accepting blame could help exchanges between residents and them. The four three-hour "judicial" hearings the Board has held in trying to win some points from Comcast is another cause for today's mixup. Peter Epstein is a very able attorney in these hearings before the Board of Selectmen. He counters points made against George King by the Comcast lawyer. But the three-hour sessions draw Town Counsel Chris Petrini from his Worcester Road office to act as adviser to Chairman Chris Ross. Neither Epstein nor Petrini attorneys off the shelf, and the cost of their work at the hearings and in the conferences held with King and selectmen is something I think should be spelled out. It is considerable and some idea of what we're spending in this case which has more hearings ahead should be known. The time and money thus spent eats into time for other matters - Town Meetings, budgets, etc. I'm not sure how we viewers make out if Comcast pulls out. In 12 days we've got a special Town Meeting. It amounts to little more than juggling some funds so as to make out "bottom line." Current budget balance. It's balanced, because no matter what Town Meeting vote to spend on whatever, under a bottom line budget those appropriations can be juggled to come out even. But do you remember why this Jan. 12 Special Town Meeting was called for? It was to get King's $86 million budget put on the ballot next June for residents to approve of. That was the promise outlined by King in August-September. Promises made; promises not kept. Precinct 5 Harold Wolfe "No More Overrides" sign campaign pushed the $86 mil off the track. But it's still there. OK. Originally, King's proposal last summer was to show residents the number of Capital Expenditures we should take care of some day. For him, that's now. But the problem is that none of thes projects have any priorities or relationship. So the problem [again] what are we talking about? That's why it's important to Hold it! About the Jan 12 special. It contains of the dozen or so projects on King's list : a $7,500 McAuliffe Library on the Northside. The library, with it special meting rooms, etc.is the center of a dogfight. Some say say it's a Northside grab and itsn't needed. Others on the Northside say it's too expensive. You can be sure of a fight if it makes it to the Jan. 12 warrant. WE have until May to decide. That's when a $1.5 million state grant dies. ________________________________________________________________ You can reach Bob Moore at edmoore4@aol.com or at 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.