[These meetings are occurring at a rate faster than I can recap them. In an attempt to not get too far behind, I am offering a more abbreviated summary than usual. I apologize for any inconvenience. – S.O'K.]
(5/19/07) The Select Board met at 6:00 p.m. May 16th, prior to Town Meeting. Gerry Weiss, Alisa Brewer, Hwei-Ling Greeney and Rob Kusner were all present and Anne Awad arrived about twenty minutes into the meeting. Town Manager Larry Shaffer was present as well.
Mr. Weiss said there would be no public comment period because that had already occurred at Monday's meeting.
Article 35 – WFCR Accountability
Petitioner Jeff Lee updated the Select Board on his dealings with the station.
He thanked Mr. Shaffer for helping to arrange the meeting. He said it was ultimately not productive, that there was no willingness by WFCR to consider a Community Advisory Board, and that the station was not interested in further meetings.
Select Board members asked how many other public radio stations have such boards. Mr. Lee said privately-licensed ones have to, publicly-licensed ones don't but it is recommended, and he didn't know how many of the public ones do.
Select Board members talked about Town Meeting's potential unwillingness to approve perceived meddling in programming decisions, and it was decided that the petitioner would change the language when making the motion to “reconsider” the recently-cut programs, rather than to “restore” them.
The vote to recommend the amended article passed with three in favor, one opposed, and one absent. Ms. Brewer voted to oppose, and Ms. Awad was not present for the vote. When Ms. Awad arrived a little later, she moved to reconsider the vote so that her name could be added to those supporting the recommendation, which Ms. Brewer continued to oppose, and the Select Board's ultimate vote to recommend was four in favor, one opposed.
Article 40 – Open Meeting Law Violations
Mr. Weiss said that Town Counsel's opinion is that the Town can't assess penalties for violation of a State statute.
The Select Board voted unanimously to recommend dismissal of the article.
Letters of Intent for School Building and Renovation Funds
School Superintendent Jere Hochman said there is a new process for seeking school building and renovation funds from the State. He said it starts with Letters of Intent to the Massachusetts School Building Authority. He said a committee was formed last year to identify the priorities of each school. Mark's Meadow was not originally considered for a Letter of Intent because it isn't the Town's building, but a meeting with the UMass Chancellor persuaded Mr. Hochman to go ahead with one. He said the letters represent no commitment of plans or money; they just start the process of seeking approval and funds from the State, and said that the results of the request would be learned next year.
The Letters of Intent were read into the record of the Select Board minutes, and the votes to approve the letters were unanimous.
Operating Budget for the Elementary Schools
Mr. Hochman said the elementary schools needed a 4.7% budget increase just to cover fixed and known costs, such as contracts for transportation, food service and salaries. He said they had made significant cuts to get down to a 1% budget, and had been able keep class sizes at or below 24 students. The core had been protected while the supply budget was cut in half, after having already been halved last year. Extra but not core music and art time was cut. Paraprofessional time was reduced. Cuts were made to administrative and central office services.
Andy Churchill, School Committee Chair, said that in spite of his statements at Monday's joint meeting that the elementary schools could live within a 1% budget, the School Committee had not been inclined to vote for that at their Tuesday night meeting. He said the bring-backs that a 3% budget would allow for include teacher flexibility in case more children move to the area during the summer, supplies such as text books, library books and video tapes, and environmental science initiatives. He said that if Town Meeting wants to not fund those items for the schools, then Town Meeting need to wrestle with that decision.
There was much reiteration by Mr. Kusner and Ms. Greeney of the suggestions they had made at Monday's joint meeting that the School Committee make a general cut to the School budget, similar to the $100,000 cut the Select Board had made to the Town budget, as well as suggestions from Mr. Kusner that there be a reconsideration of some school priorities. Mr. Churchill and Mr. Hochman reiterated their points that the prioritization of the school budget was done and that they weren't going to consider an arbitrary cut after all the careful consideration that had led to this point.
Mr. Churchill and Mr. Hochman emphasized that they want Town Meeting to consider whether cuts should be made in other parts of the budget or reserves should be used in order to bring back these priorities to the schools, or not. They said that if those options were rejected, they would live with a 1% budget.
Mr. Shaffer said he would continue to push for a 1% budget and said that using reserves now pushes the problems in to the future and makes them worse. He said that if one budget area seeks to break away from the 1% guideline, others will also. He called it a dangerous move and urged that it not be recommended to Town Meeting.
Vince O'Connor said he supported a school budget higher than 1% and would support either an override or use of reserves for that purpose.
Ms. Awad said she wouldn't support anything over a 1% budget and suggested that doing otherwise might hurt the schools in an override attempt next year.
Mr. Churchill and Mr. Hochman reiterated their point about wanting to have a discussion about spending priorities before accepting the 1% budget.
Elaine Brighty said that the suggestion by some Select Board members to decrease the placeholder amount for contract negotiations meant that that money would need to be taken out of reserves in the end, and said it was the same thing – using reserves now or later.
John Musante spoke about the elements of the three-year plan that had accompanied the failed override attempt, and said there was not yet community consensus about a multi-year strategic plan. He said the Town's financial problems didn't go a way after that vote, and that there is now less money to deal with them. He said that that makes it particularly important to not endorse budgets that tap in to reserves, and recommended sticking to 1% budgets and trying to build consensus around a future plan.
Ms. Greeney said she didn't feel that all Town departments were of equal priority and repeated her previous recommendation to cut one-third of LSSE's budget this year and phase out tax support over three years. She said she would prefer to use that money to hire more teachers.
Mr. Churchill said that that was the kind of discussion of priorities that the School Committee wanted Town Meeting to have. He said he wanted to meet with the School Committee once more next Tuesday to determine their final recommendation.
Article 15 – FY07 Budget Amendments
The Board voted unanimously to dismiss Article 15, regarding necessary fund transfers to balance the FY07 budget, because it was being re-worked for the June 6th Special Town Meeting.
There was discussion of whether or not the Select Board meeting would reconvene that evening after Town Meeting. It was determined that this meeting would recess, and the decision to continue with business or adjourn would be made later.
Mr. Weiss and Ms. Awad left to attend Town Meeting. Ms. Brewer took over as Chair, and she, Ms. Greeney and Mr. Kusner continued to meet for a few minutes and talked to Community Services Director Roy Rosenblatt about the recommendation for funding the human service agencies. The discussion didn't go far before Ms. Greeney opted to go to Town Meeting, and the quorum was lost.
The meeting reconvened and immediately adjourned after Town Meeting ended at approximately 10:30 p.m.
The next meeting was scheduled for Thursday, May 17th at 7:15 p.m. in the Pole Room at Bangs Center. [An abbreviated summary of that meeting will be posted as soon as possible.]
-- Stephanie O'Keeffe
