MOOREcol.01.07-05. . . . .23 Hed --- Hurry, hurry, hurry! What's your rush? By BOB MOORE You've been looking for some answers to some unresolved questions? Relax. Nothing much is going to happen to the rush-rush, for awhile. That's not to say that interesting things aren't happening. For the 4-1 Board of Selectmen last night overrode Manager George King's negative advice on passage next week of a new branch library. Or that the hurry-up study of the $86 million capital budget plan pushed by King in September - and again in December - has slowed to a walk. Put off until sometime later this month. And the board last night stood by as Selectman Ginger Esty pressed King to reply to reports that he's taking classes in a law school in his spare time, from his present residence in Ashland. Five minutes of furious talk. Don't tell me you missed that! This takes more than a little explanation, so let's get to it. Taking the law school report, for instance. LAW SCHOOL? -Last night Esty told King she'd been asked by a Boston Globe reporter if it is true that King is "attending a law school?" This brought out into the open a report for months that King is "taking classes at a law school [never named]" with a view to joining Town Counsel Chris Petrini in his new law practice on Worcester Road. No one printed that, and Esty said her e-mail question to King had gone unanswered. King told her he'd never received her e-mails and went on to tell her in vigorous tones that her question "is ridiculous." The rapid Q & A went on for about five minutes during which time King told Esty she should explain "how could I possibly do that" considering his town duties? Over and over he repeated her question was "ridiculous" and "unfair," an invasion of "my privacy." How such a rumor got legs may be traced to King's current contract. He skipped a request for an addition to his three-year contract begun in 1999 in favor of a substantial raise and expenses. Added : town payment of his health insurance for three years after he'd left the post. His term runs out in June 2006. It also permits King, on weekends and in other spare time, to consult with other communities on government procedure. Reports of that may be a factor in the sudden resignation of Chief Financial Officer Virginia Cahill who has held the $100,000 post less than a year. She leaves this month to do similar town consulting work with a Massachusetts firm. This leaves the CFO function up to King, at a time when his $86 million capital budget project, the Jan. 12 [next week] and as yet-to-be-hammered out operating budget yet to be presented for action in April. Normally work being done on the Fiscal Year 2006 budget would be brought before selectmen, the School Committee and legislative leaders for examination. Only last night did the 4-1 board line complete the membership of the ad hoc committee to sift the $86 million unexplained capital budget proposals. Its first meeting will be held sometime after the Jan. 12 meeting is finished. FURTHER DELAY? - Normally, what comes next comes from the manager. Indeed, his display of a dozen capital spending projects came on like thunder but what King feels are important waits on . . . . someone, as he remains silent. With CFO Cahill departing in a matter of days, attention falls on the Finance Commission headed by John Zucchi. That committee of nine has seen a change. Of the nine, seven have been appointed by Moderator Ed Noonan. Only Zucchi and Eugene Brundage are veterans, but the new committee has been anxious to get into the swim. Zucchi named newcomer Mary Z. Connaughton, recent GOP candidate for state rep, and Atty. Donald Bloch as ad hoc members. And this committee began working immediately after the $86 million project was dropped into the laps of selectmen, Capital Budget, Ways and Means Committees and FinCom last month. Other FinCom members it is well to know since they are looked to in silence from King on what he'd like acted on : Frank Genova, Larry Marsh, Barry Bograd, Nancy Wilson and Dennis Giombetti. It was Giombetti, along with Sisitsky who moved to get an eight-member ad hoc committee named to sift through King's proposals. The task might have been made easier, if each of these boards had been given a chance to act on King's proposals. He said he left it up to them to choose. They are major projects but there's no priority or inter-connection between the dozen. Principally, there is the goal of bringing our road system into proper maintenance and improving conditions - provided this is done in connection with updating our water and sewer systems. Probably in the hands of the Public Works Department headed by Peter Sellers. Indeed, that might be the major change, to be taken first. But no reliable estimate of cost and time have been made. It was a rush-rush deal when King brought up the projects in September. Now the urgency has slowed to a walk, sometime this month. So many things to tackle and the town waits . . . . . on the ad hoc committee, if it gets moving. LIBRARY REVOLT - Last night Library Director Tom Gilchrist pleaded for support of the Jan. 12 articles aproving construction of the McAuliffe Library in Nobscot. The FinCom and Capital Budget Committee had refused support and King wanted a library delay until the Annual Meeting : not affordable. But the 4-1 board voted 5-0 for immediate action. [Translation : If you're going to balk King, when better to do it than here?. Led by Charlie Sisitsky, longtime friend and political ally of King, all five spent 20 minutes citing the great cultural advantage a new branch would bring. How can you deny that? Gilchrist left with a big smile but FinCom and Capital Budget will see if their negatives will change in sessions they'll hold just before TM convenes next Wednesday. One firm backer of building that addition tells me that he has come full circle on the proposition : A more complete library is good, but in this case, he's afraid that approval next week will block raises for the police. There's only so much capital spending we can afford. I don't know if the 5-0 vote will erase the 4-1 habit. Sometimes, Doug Freeman's reminder gains weight: That town manager government these days is like having a mayor only you can't change his mind. Freeman doesn't stand a chance of changing things, but "King as mayor" is heard often enough to make you wonder if a change is coming in the April 5 election of selectmen. SELECTMEN? - The list keeps growing. Eleven have taken out papers and four have returned them. Nine is the magic number for calling a preliminary [or primary] election. That's so, only if by Feb. 3, deadline for pulling out, there are nine left. Those who took out papers : incumbents Chair Chris Ross and Esther Hopkins. Ross has said he will not run. Hopkins still wants re-election. Others, in no particular order, former Rep. John Stasik of Precinct 3 who served three terms on the Planning Board; Ellen LaRose, a Town Meeting Member and a member of Government Study Committee; Dennis Giombetti, former aide to rep. Drew Rogers; selectmen critic Harold Wolfe; Jim Rizoli and Jeffrey Buck, leaders in anti-immigrant movement; David Norton, former ZBA member; Dennis Paulsen, of Precinct 9; striking back at traffic dispute, and accountant Steven Hakar, determined to beat his Precinct 3 opponent, Stasik. ______________________________________________________ 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). 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