Category Archives: Town Administration

April 2, 2013 · 3:32 pm

Vote This Tuesday for Fiscal Sustainability!

Andy Churchill, Baer TIerkel, Clare BertrandAmherst needs you this Tuesday, April 9th!  That’s right, our annual town election is upon us.  If, like us, you want our town to continue to provide the quality of life that attracted us all here, take a few minutes on Tuesday to vote for leaders that will work to do just that.

This year’s election is pretty uncontested – at least for Select Board, School Committee, and Library Trustees.  But, as usual, the real action lays in the Town Meeting races.  Our 250 year-old Town Meeting can either help or hinder any work being done to keep our town moving toward a vision of fiscal sustainability.  We encourage you to take a look at the candidates running for Town Meeting in your precinct and decide for yourself which candidates reflect your vision for our town.  You can view your ballot here and see the candidates (there is a separate ballot for each Precinct).   You can also use the wonderful TallyVotes.org to see how your candidates have voted in the past in Town Meeting.

Andy, Clare, and I at SustainableAmherst.org have reviewed all of the candidates running for office this Tuesday.  We’ve researched all of the incumbents votes in Town Meeting and we’ve interviewed a good number of new candidates running.  Based on this analysis, we have ENDORSED candidates that can collaborate with other members of town government to build a fiscally sustainable Amherst while focusing on these values for our town: strong schools; open space; diversity; a small-town feel; and not soaking the taxpayer.

Click here to see SustainableAmherst.org’s endorsements for the 2013 Town Election.

Print a handy Election Guide to take to the polls.  If you are an endorsed candidate, feel free to give this flyer out to your voters so they can remember to vote for you!

Also, there’s been some adjustments to our town’s voting precincts.  You might want to check which precinct you live in by clicking here!

 

 

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Filed under Economic Development, Elections, Finances, Master Plan, Quality of Life, Schools, Town Administration, Town Meeting

July 31, 2009 · 5:00 pm

Energy, Passion, Commitment

Brian Morton’s 13 years of service on the Finance Committee were celebrated at a reception at Town Hall last week. His is a compelling story of volunteer service to the town, both on its own and as it represents the countless other Amherst residents who volunteer their time to help our town run.

A lifelong resident of Amherst, Brian ran a landscaping business in town and found he was becoming increasingly interested in the fiscal decision-making he saw in the Bulletin and on ACTV. Former Selectman Merle Howes encouraged him to get involved, and he applied for an open spot on the Finance Committee and was appointed by town Moderator Harrison Gregg in 1996. Thus began many years of service.

But while he worked to help the town, Brian found the experience helped him grow as well, in unexpected ways. As he became increasingly familiar with municipal finance, Brian began working toward a new career path.

First at community college and then UMass’ prestigious Commonwealth College, he joined college students in their teens and 20s in studying balance sheets and texting about group projects. He developed new data presentation skills, which he then used at Town Meeting to help members understand budget trends and challenges. When Alice Carlozzi stepped down, he became Finance Committee chairman. This spring, he received his bachelor’s degree in accounting, and he has since joined the staff of the Franklin Council of Governments, where he now professionally provides accounting services to four towns – a perfect combination of his new accounting degree and his years of municipal finance experience.

The bylaws of the town of Amherst require the Finance Committee “to investigate all proposals in the articles of the warrant for any Town Meeting that shall in any way affect the finances of the town and to recommend to the town … a course of action thereon, and in general to make recommendations to the town in regard to any financial business of the town.” The Finance Committee is the one body responsible for ensuring that good fiscal advice is given to our leaders on the Select Board, School Committee, library trustees and Town Meeting. They make sure that even in times of fiscal uncertainty and crisis, such as we are currently facing, that we have a steady financial strategy.

The Finance Committee is a volunteer job in our town government. These volunteers bring energy, passion and commitment to ensuring we have the financial ability to continue to improve our quality of life. Brian Morton’s 13 years of service, as well as the hundreds of hours of service each year of all the Finance Committee members, exemplifies the best in our community spirit. We now welcome veteran Finance Committee member Andy Steinberg as chairman, as well as new committee member Phil Jackson, both following in Mr. Morton’s footsteps in service to the community.

While we can’t promise that every volunteer role in town will lead to gainful employment, as it did for Brian Morton, we do believe that town service brings corresponding rewards to those who serve. Amherst offers plenty of ways of getting involved and making things work – we encourage you to seek out one that works for you. Take a look at the myriad opportunities to help on the town Web site (http://www.amherstma.gov/index.aspx?nid=82). Don’t wait, just do it!

Amherst Center is a monthly column which appears in The Amherst Bulletin that seeks to portray local issues from a centrist perspective. It is written by Town Meeting members Baer Tierkel and Clare Bertrand and School Committee member Andy Churchill. Amherst Center appears on the last Friday of each month.


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January 30, 2009 · 3:44 pm

Budget Techniques

Last week the town manager released his FY2010 budget for municipal services. But when he reviewed it with the Select Board (his boss), members raised some good questions. The questions weren’t just about the cuts he made but about the “budget techniques” he used.

Back in October, the Finance Committee released its budget guidelines mandating a 2 percent budget increase cap. Mr. Shaffer’s budget increases spending of town departments by 3.2 percent, then generates $400,000 in new revenue from the services provided by those departments, for a net increase of 2 percent.

Shaffer feels that his budget meets the 2 percent mandate, calling the 3.2 percent increase in real spending, which is offset by the revenue increases, “a budget technique.” When asked about it by the Select Board at its recent meeting, he replied it was just “accounting.”

On the one hand, we understand this. We applaud the town manager’s efforts to generate revenue via increased fees for ambulance service and LSSE classes. And if a department can find revenues to keep it from making deeper cuts, that sounds good, right?

But our town is larger than just Shaffer’s domain – it also includes the libraries, four elementary schools, and middle and high schools. In fact, about two-thirds of the town’s budget is taken up by services outside of the domain of the town manager. Our town is one entity, providing a wide range of services to all Amherst residents.

The townwide question is, once again, what are our priorities? Looking across our whole Amherst budget, what areas should we protect from further cuts by applying new revenues, and what areas should we not? If each area does what Mr. Shaffer did, the decision is made for us, without any cross-budget prioritizing.

We cannot afford to have each town manager budget with only their departments in mind. For example, the planning department generates significant revenue via inspections, but it does not get to keep that revenue just for use in planning. Our ambulance receipts generate significant revenue, but they do not get to keep all of their revenue to use on just ambulance services. These revenues are spread across the priorities of all the town.

Mr. Shaffer’s budget also makes creative use of enterprise funds to pay for some town employees. This is another good idea, but these new sources of revenue to cover costs previously on the municipal books should be allocated like any other revenue – to townwide priorities. It should also be recognized that this source of funding has not generally been available to school and library budgets, another argument for spreading the revenues around.

Mr. Shaffer has said, “I’m trying to provide practical options for the community to consider.” In reality Mr. Shaffer has not given the community the option to decide which priorities should be funded with the $400,000 in revenues he has raised. Keeping spending to a true 2 percent increase as mandated by the Finance Committee gives the town “practical options.”

If each department – town, schools, library – makes a list of all the cuts needed to get to the 2 percent level, and another list of all the revenue increases they can come up with, then budget-makers can talk about which cuts should be avoided, townwide. Allocating all the new revenue up front eliminates the town’s options for this kind of prioritizing. We would much rather have seen the town manager come to the Budget Coordinating Group or Select Board and say, “Hey, I found a way to raise $400,000 in revenue, what are the town’s priorities to use this money?”

In the end, slick accounting won’t save us. It is the hard work of prioritizing which town services we will invest in. Amherst is a single entity. We derive revenue from many sources – property taxes, state aid, federal aid and fees. Where the law allows it, the revenue to the town needs to be seen as a single pot of cash that is then budgeted based on hard choices about what we value most.

Amherst Center is a monthly column that seeks to portray local issues from a centrist perspective. It is written by Town Meeting members Baer Tierkel and Clare Bertrand and School Committee member Andy Churchill. Amherst Center appears in The Amherst Bulletin on the last Friday of each month.

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December 26, 2008 · 3:43 pm

Sacred Cows

Are you one of the parents who heard about the possible reorganization of the elementary schools – possibly even closing one – and you freaked out? You’ve got plenty of company. Or are you someone who has read the citizen fiscal choices committee report and sighed out loud in agony over the reality of our financial situation here in Amherst? You’re not alone.

The financial news isn’t good these days on any front. But the hard numbers for our town’s future budgets are especially bleak. The growing gap between income and expenses is alarming, and when combined with the possibility of a significant drop in state aid, it will only get worse. Phil Jackson’s and Jim Oldham’s columns last week, taken together, capture the dilemma: We will have to make some wrenching cuts, and we must do so in a way consistent with our values.

Some services will just have to go. Period. As the FCCC report makes clear, we won’t be able to close our $2.7 million (and growing) gap without service cuts.

The elementary schools have bravely stepped out in front of this difficult process (“and a little child shall lead them”), by announcing that they will form a committee to look at various options for reconfiguring the schools in ways that are not business as usual. As you can imagine, this is an incredibly difficult task, and you have to tip your cap to them for facing reality and diving in. Stay tuned for how that progresses.

But with a projected $2.7 million budget gap, big decisions will have to be made townwide. So what about Town Hall and the Bangs Center? Like the schools, they’ve been trimming costs for years. But perhaps now they will have to look at fundamental reorganization and service cuts. We would look at the human resources, community services, and recreation functions for starters. Are there efforts that could be regionalized or otherwise streamlined?

What about the Police Department? It’s clearly top-rate, but it is stretched thin staffing shifts to cover both town and UMass demands. Could we improve effectiveness and efficiency by merging the UMass police force with ours? The two forces combined have 106 police officers (about 48 town, 58 UMass), and somewhat duplicative command structures. Obviously, Amherst’s police situation is complex, and combining forces with UMass would not be simple. But given that UMass is facing huge budget cuts of its own, shouldn’t we be talking about this possibility?

What about the Fire Department? This is another complicated area, combining fire and EMT service, and using professional, “call force” and student-volunteer staff. They increased their personnel with grant money that came after 9/11, and now the town has to pay. Are they organized as efficiently as possible? A tough area to examine indeed but, it’s clear, nothing is off the table.

What about our libraries? They are a source of pride in our community, but how do we value the Jones versus the branch libraries? Is it time to look at closing one of the branches?

Finally, what ideas do our town and school staff have for saving money? It is vital we engage our workers and their unions and ask them to sit at the table and help make these really hard decisions

Reconfigure schools, libraries, police and fire departments? It’s easy to naysay any of these cuts, to say how each area in turn is a sacred cow beyond reproach. But we think before you criticize any cut being proposed, you should offer your alternative list. Just saying no and playing defense isn’t good enough anymore.

It may come to the point where we say whoa, the cuts have gone too far, that we need to raise taxes to pay for the level of services we think Amherst needs. But we aren’t there yet. The hard decisions haven’t been made. We’ve lived off our bank account savings (reserves) and some marginal cutting for many years. Now it’s time to make tough decisions about our sacred cows.

Amherst Center is a monthly column which appears in The Amherst Bulletin that seeks to portray local issues from a centrist perspective. It is written by Town Meeting members Baer Tierkel and Clare Bertrand and School Committee member Andy Churchill. Amherst Center appears in The Amherst Bulletin on the last Friday of each month.

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February 29, 2008 · 2:37 pm

Team Players or Lone Rangers?

It’s budget season, and it’s election season – a good time to think about what Amherst needs to do and what kind of leadership will enable us to do it. And this year, in the Select Board race, there are plenty of choices for your two votes. So how do you decide who to vote for?

Well, a key thing to think about is that we elect one Select Board, not five mayors. So choosing Select Board candidates is not only about who they are as individuals – it’s about whether they “play well with others” as members of a leadership team. To have an effective Select Board, we need board members with the skills and temperament to come together on a course of action for the town and then lead, together.

Sadly, over the past three years, we haven’t seen much of this type of collaborative leadership. Select Board Chairman Gerry Weiss has tried to bridge gaps and move forward, but it’s like he’s been herding cats. Watch any recent Select Board meeting, and you’ll share the frustration as the conversation repeats itself, gets hung up in minutiae, or otherwise veers off into the weeds of competing agendas, with no resolution in sight.

A recent columnist has urged us to focus on our budget crisis, using the image of a fiscal and emotional “wedge” to describe the widening gap between revenues and expenditures and our lack of a plan for closing it. It’s clear that this has been the number-one challenge facing the town for several years now. Yet the Select Board has been unable to put forward a plan for solving it. Why?

Perhaps it’s because we as voters haven’t put enough emphasis in the past on the critical skills board members need to govern effectively. We have ended up electing too many individual activists, and not enough collaborative problem-solvers.

Not that there’s anything wrong with activism. But community activists and board members have different, yet equally vital, roles to play.

The community activist’s role is to advocate forcefully for particular causes. The board’s role is to collaboratively decide what’s best for the town as a whole – based on input from professional staff, informed volunteer committees, individual citizens and community activists – and then work together to lead the town in that direction.

Blur the lines between board and activist roles, and it’s hard to tell whether you’re speaking for the board or for yourself. You end up with confusion, wasted effort and ill will. You end up with a group of five isolated individuals, each with their own agendas, instead of the collaborative leadership that we desperately need our Select Board to provide. We need to change this dynamic.

So as you consider the candidates, ask yourself, are they team players or Lone Rangers? Will they listen to others and work toward consensus? Will they focus on key priorities or just jump on whatever issue comes along? Will they respect staff work and data or just push their personal beliefs and opinions?

Will they engender trust and goodwill as our representatives? Will they contribute their unique opinions, but collaborate on solutions? In short, will they be productive members of a five-person board that must work cooperatively to lead effectively?

We see these qualities in two candidates in particular: Stephanie O’Keeffe and Diana Stein. Both of them are bridge-builders, with friendly contacts that represent many different communities in town. Both of them respect good data and the staff and committees that can provide it. Both of them are good listeners and thoughtful problem-solvers. Both of them understand the give-and-take of partnership, contributing their diverse perspectives, but then able to collaborate on developing a shared vision.

Both of them can help build a Select Board that is more than just the sum of its parts, but rather a truly functional leadership body. O’Keeffe and Stein offer a style of leadership that gives us hope that Amherst can put forth an actual plan to attack our fiscal crisis, and protect our schools, our green space, our town services.

The bottom line is, has the current status quo served us well on the Select Board? We think we can do better. In a year in which change is in the air nationally, wouldn’t it be nice if change could take root locally as well, so that our town could finally make some progress on the key fiscal challenge that has so far stymied the Select Board?

Amherst Center is a monthly column that seeks to present local issues from a centrist point of view. It is written by Town Meeting members Baer Tierkel and Clare Bertrand and School Committee member Andy Churchill.

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January 4, 2008 · 7:37 pm

New Year’s Resolutions for Amherst

Okay gang, it’s time to come out of that christmakwanzukahnewyear stupor. The gifts have been opened, the champagne popped. You’ve dragged yourself away from the hearth and you’re back to the grindstone. That’s right, it’s a whole new year!

We’re sure you’ve spent your time over these holidays in deep contemplation of eternal truths. After all, this is Amherst. (And anyway, you had to do something while keeping Aunt Ethel from crowning Uncle Ed with the cast iron skillet during all that quality time with the family! But we digress&)

It’s new year’s resolution time. And just as you’ve been writing up those key personal goals, we here at Amherst Center have been doing the same for our little town.

1. Lose Weight. We need to lose a bit of the weightiness of discussion in this town. When someone makes a suggestion about the town you don’t agree with, there’s no need to harumph like Dick Cheney just walked into the room. Come on, folks, we’re all neighbors here, and we need to focus a bit of that politically correct compassion and tolerance toward each other. There’s no doubt we’re in a fiscal crisis, but we need to lighten up if we’re to pull together and work it all out.

2. Take a Trip. Let’s broaden our horizons and see how some other college towns do things. Check out Ithaca, Burlington, Chapel Hill, Berkeley, and other apparently successful college towns. Talk to the public officials there. How are they leveraging their college assets to make their communities more fiscally sustainable? We are not alone here, folks; no need to invent everything ourselves.

3. Prioritize That To-Do List. You know how it is – the list of things you want to do is greater than the time and resources needed to do them. So you cross off some things and put some things at the top. Amherst needs to do the same – we can’t afford to keep doing all that we’ve been doing. The town manager has appointed a “blue-ribbon” panel of business experts to look for cost efficiencies in town operations. We hope they will listen well and look closely, and we look forward to hearing their advice.

4. Get a Pay Raise. Let’s really try to get going on some Amherst-appropriate economic development projects. Redevelop the north end of downtown with multi-story retail, offices, and residences across from a new Kendrick Park. Create a student village with housing, retail, and entertainment options on University Drive. Create and market a green knowledge industry complex on PRP land. Invite the colleges and UMass to explore creating an investment entity to spur this development and add value to their institutions.

5. Stop Blaming Others. Yeah, we know all the reasons our current fiscal crisis isn’t our fault: the war, the state government, rising prices, dropping home values, unfunded mandates, potholes, endless political discussion rather than action – did we mention war? We know. But at some point we need to take care of ourselves. “Do It Yourself” should be our mantra. We’re smart, and we have resources other towns don’t. So let’s stop complaining, roll up our sleeves, and focus on what we can change rather than what we can’t.

6. Improve Your Education. We will be hiring three elementary and one middle-school principal this year. This is a wonderful opportunity to rededicate ourselves to challenging all of our students, expecting excellence from all school staff, and providing the resources necessary to support these expectations.

7. Quit Smokin’. You know who you are. You care a lot about the town, and you worry that it’s going to the dogs. But when the smoke starts coming out your ears at Town Meeting, on the letters page, or online, people stop listening. Resist the urge to light that match, dude. Come on in from the cold and help make Amherst smoke-free!

8. Volunteer. Town Meeting turned a corner this year and passed some sensible zoning. The Master Plan is heading in a sensible direction. We need to keep the momentum going. Everyone needs to join some town committee. Really. Everyone.

Just do one stint. Run for Town Meeting or join a committee. There is something for everyone out there.

9. Spend More Time with Family and Friends. When’s the last time you invited some neighbors over to your place to break bread? Do it now, while the snow’s still deep, and the herd is isolated. No need to cook; make it a potluck!

10. Count Your Blessings. We live in a beautiful and exciting place, with lots of intellectual and cultural resources, preserved open spaces, socially conscious businesses, and diverse and interesting neighbors. Happy New Year, everybody!

Amherst Center is a monthly column written by Town Meeting members Clare Bertrand and Baer Tierkel and School Committee member Andy Churchill.


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September 28, 2007 · 7:28 pm

For Sox and Town, it’s Deja Vu All Over Again!

September usually means two things in Amherst: the Red Sox are limping into a difficult post-season and our town is limping into a difficult budget season.

As Yogi Berra would say, it is indeed “deja vu all over again.” Just like last September, the Red Sox bats have gone silent and their bullpen has imploded, and just like last September we are again facing the same $1.5 million town budget deficit, service cuts, limited economic development relief and a budgeting process that makes even the most focused and patient town supporter cringe.

In what has become the deja vu moment of each year’s budget process, the Select Board kicked off the long drive to a town budget by again asking for citizen input on budget priorities at their traditional “listening” session this past Thursday.

Don’t get us wrong – we like the Select Board to listen to the citizens – but we must ask, have our town’s priorities changed any over the past few years? We have heard the same priorities in these meetings year after year: strong schools, public safety, paved and plowed streets, green space, housing affordability, tax relief, diversity.

The primary thing that hasn’t changed is the lack of a long-term, focused strategy from our Select Board members that the entire town can follow out of this economic mess.

We’ve all done plenty of talking and listening. It is now time for doing. It is now time for some hard decisions. With the experience of the last few years and with the knowledge that should come from sitting with the town manager and hearing the inner workings of our town, we call upon each Select Board member to bring forth a feasible budget strategy for the next three years. And do it now, not next spring.

Rather than spending time on the size and design of speed bumps, we ask Select Board members to keep their eyes on the prize: saving the town we all love. We are stuck in a “Groundhog Day”-like movie, reliving the same budget process while facing the same deficit year after year.

This process is dividing and polarizing our town. Seniors are pitted against parents who are pitted against police officers who are pitted against swimming pools. We need a real fiscal strategy that shows some light at the end of the tunnel to bring the townspeople back together.

Last year, Town Meeting voted overwhelmingly to ask the Select Board for a long-term strategy for generating revenue for our town; members of the Select Board even voted for it (Article 41). But then they responded with only a fiscal projection showing future deficits unless something is done. That’s not a strategy, and it’s not leadership. It’s hand-wringing.

Select Board members have been entrusted with the political leadership of our town. It is time for them to step up and lead. We call on them to work with the town manager to propose a plan of specific steps that will bring us out of our town’s fiscal disaster that year after year is causing service cuts and proposed overrides. Citizens can respond and decide if the plan makes sense, but it doesn’t make sense for 100 citizens to come up with 100 plans.

Services in our schools, town, and libraries are being cut every year. Each year the quality of life we enjoy in Amherst becomes less accessible as public schools, public safety, public roads and sidewalks, public recreation, and other public services are cut back while residents’ taxes go up. And as Rome burns, the Select Board asks for more citizen input. It’s time for some output.

As the Red Sox head into their decisive October battles, let’s hope Terry Francona has a strategic plan for his pitching rotation – and let’s hope that our Select Board members have the political will, the daring, the chutzpah, to take a stand and lay out a strategy for our town. Then, and only then, will there be hope for moving forward toward a fiscally sustainable future for Amherst.

As Sox fans and Amherst residents alike, we’re really tired of saying, “Wait til next year…”

Amherst Center is a monthly column written by Town Meeting members Baer Tierkel and Clare Bertrand and School Committee member Andy Churchill.

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July 28, 2006 · 6:01 pm

Dear Mr. Shafer…

Dear Mr. Shaffer,

Welcome to Amherst! We would like to join the many who are welcoming you here to Amherst and wish you the best. This is a great town with history, beauty, diversity, culture and a whole lot of smart, caring people.

We’re happy to hear of your excitement for our town, based on your years of experience in other communities, including other college towns. Your vast experience will be important as you navigate the tricky waters ahead.

Because, frankly, it seems we’re a little stuck, here in Amherst. We’ve had a few high-profile battles in the past few years, most notably the parking garage and the charter vote, and we seem to be having trouble getting past them.

The Town feels polarized, divided into opposing camps whose decision-making process boils down to ‘whatever they want, I’m against it!’ Often it seems the loudest or most extreme views get the most attention.

Meanwhile, there’s plenty of work to be done, if we could only agree on what it is. We struggle to coalesce around what should be done or how to go about it, and it’s hard to do that when there’s a fundamental lack of trust.

We here at Amherst Center would like to think differently, that there is actually less to these divisions than meets the eye. Perhaps some ‘true believers’ on both sides will never see eye to eye, but we believe that there is some common ground that most of us could share. With your experience and your fresh point of view, maybe you can help us find it.

We’re sure a lot of people are telling you what you should do. We would like to encourage you to put forward your own ideas, to give us the benefit of your seasoned-yet-newcomer perspective.

Here are some of the questions that we think most of the town is grappling with. We’re hoping that your leadership can help to bring consensus among the ‘center’ of Amherst as to the best ways to answer these questions.

* What are our options for improving our fiscal situation? How do successful college towns manage to balance their books?

* How can we make our downtown an attractive destination for parents, kids, elders, and college students? What have you seen in other college towns that we might try here?

* We have a number of friendly local businesses here, but is our town government business-friendly? Some of those friendly businesses seem to be heading out of town lately – what can we do about that?

* How do we protect our open spaces and our good schools and our diversity, without succumbing to the sprawl of Hadley or the exclusivity of Longmeadow?

* How can we strengthen the partnership between the town, public schools, and libraries, which has been strained during these challenging budget years?

* How do we ensure that our citizens who have families and work one or more jobs can participate in the decisions made by local government? If the approach to governing isn’t efficient enough to allow broad participation, it isn’t democratic either.

* We are going through a master plan process that is going to guide future decisions based on the values and priorities of the townspeople. How can we harness this process to build something real and useful while building more trust and common ground, rather than just hardening our areas of division?

* And finally, what strengths do you see about this town that you can help us see with fresh eyes?

In the end, the big job is fostering trust, in our town government and in each other. No doubt this is a number one goal for you. Truthfully, we’ve all got work to do in that area. You can certainly help us by bringing forward new ideas, modeling new behaviors, ensuring all viewpoints are represented, and helping us get focused on some common areas of need. Your common-sense approach to the present parking conundrum bodes well for us.

So welcome to Amherst, Mr. Shaffer. We may be a little out of practice at working with a new town manager, but we can sure use the help.

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