MOOREcol.01-14-2005. . . . .25 Hed  : What George won't say Leaves us stuck in neutral By BOB MOORE Accidentally, Bill McCarthy of Precinct 10 made a point Wednesday night that jars us all. Arguing against construction now of a McAuliffe Library in Saxonville, Bill said we simply can't afford it because we have such huge expenses coming up in the Fiscal Year 2006 budget. Stop right there. Bill doesn't know what's in that budget. Neither do you or I.  The next budget's coming, of course, but at this late date it's one of those unsolved unknowns floating in space waiting for Manager George King to release them. INACTION - King's in no hurry. He doesn't have to. And it has a lot to do with what goes over or down the drain this year. No one is prodding the manager on this list : Chief Financial Officer Virginia Cahill is leaving her $100,000 a year post in a matter of days at a time when she is the key in setting up budgets and writing a six-year forecast of expenses. Not done. No successor has been sought. King's proposal for an $86 million debt-exclusion override floats out there, too. Promised in August, he has not spelled out whether it is a plan to be dealt with now or just thought about. In that list of 10 or 12 projects is a plan for the McAuliffe Library that King expressly turned down when it came to a TM vote this week. A come-on for disappointed library backers. Overrides are hard to pass. The $86 million capital budget override lists improvements in roads, sewers, water lines, some school upgrading and plans for a new fire station. Not one of these projects has a CFO-analysis of precise costs, something unheard of when projects are sought. 4-1 SUPPORT - Three weeks ago, the Board of Selectmen named an eight-member ad hoc committee to analyze the details that came to them in one large $86 mil lump, at the last minute. The rush-rush committee has yet to tackle the job.  Vagueness prevails this year. King's $86 mil plan simply bypassed normal procedure. He promised to submit it to three committees, one at a time, but held off until the last minute. His dominance of the 4-1 Board of Selectmen keeps him free to set his own timing. OK. Those are the uncertainties that have left everything unresolved. You might conclude that standing around and waiting for someone to act can lead to a real mess.  So far that's the case. Well, this latest move of acting free of questioning by the 4-1 board has contributed to a growing public dissatisfaction with the board. Two of the 4-1 majority are out, Chair Chris Ross pulled out early and former Chair Esther Hopkins has now decided not to run for re-election on April 5. So two new selectmen will be elected in April.  A chance for those dissatisfied with things as they are to vote to revamp the Board of Selectmen. Only those who return their nomination papers by next Tuesday at 5 p.m. will be candidates. If the total is nine, a preliminary election will be held on March 4. Unless, by Feb. 3, the deadline for withdrawal, the number falls back to eight or less April 5 will be election day. LIBRARY ACTION - The library vote on Wednesday left this impression : At 68,000, Framingham is still a small town . . . . when enough people get out there, and with a two-thirds vote needed, Town Meeting said you can have the property in Saxonville but not the building. So much for a branch designed to be an enriching addition to the growing section. And the town. After years of preparation, the vote was no. Some TM members wanted their abstention counted as no. The ballot vote was 101-45 to buy the property at Pinefield, and 94-51 to let it go at that. A shift of three votes in either tally and the vote could be changed. Backers, including Library Director Tom Gilchrist. feel that's close enough to try again.  Gilchrist hopes to get a Special Town Meeting called in March - to win approval and claim the $1.5 million state grant which vanishes after May 15. That could be achieved if the Board of Selectmen [5-0 in favor of the plan] supports the effort. That seems like a possibility. What happens next may depend on King, He supports the library in his grab-bag debt-exclusion override.  And - don't forget, he has yet to unwrap his FY-06 budget. So again, there's a lot of uncertainty. HEY, NOT SO FAST - Precinct 7 Tom O'Neil doesn't like the sudden appearance of an OK to build the Wayside Youth & Family Network Services in his Lockland Avenue neighborhood. Tom is chairman of the Standing Committee on Planning and Zoning and he finds plenty of faults in the plans for the 12.54-acre just off Route 9. Six acres are unbuildable, the rest is wetlands, Wayside does not have the 150-foot frontage required, is not "town houses." The tallest building is 40 feet high compared to 25 feet for abutting houses, it will create unbearable traffic problems in this residential section, and Wayside does not earn the right to the Dover Amendment granting them educational advantages. And finally, as a contractor to the state, it will pay no taxes. O'Neil firmly opposed spending money on a branch library in Saxonville. He is a supporter of the 600-unit development in Saxonville. _______________________________________________- You can reach Bob Moore at edmoore4@aol.com Or at 1-508-620-1449. [Let it ring; he's slow.] 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.