last night's Finance-sub committee meeting
If you didn't see last nights meeting with the Mayor, perhaps you should. As bad and cumbersome as Town Meeting was, the promise the City supporters made about how things would get done, is a pipe dream. The meeting started out arguing about solar panels and turned ugly when the administration didn't provide the necessary documents that the FSC asked for weeks ago. It turns into a shouting match starting at 54:00.
http://207.172.210.8:5002/CablecastPublicSite/show/2197?channel=1
The bottom line is we still have a 2.5 million dollar deficit in water and sewer.
posted by Jim Pillsbury @ 10:09 AM
22 Comments
22 Comments:
This is the case in many meetings. The city never seems to get the information to those who need it in a timely manner. There is a pattern here, which of course then gives the councilors the opportunity to throw darts at the current administration in order to help their friends who may be planning to fun against the mayor. It is shameful and reminds me of the electeds in D.C. who never seem to get beyond the finger pointing to actually accomplish somethint worthwhile. Listening to Councilor Stewart-Morales last night makes me thankful he is not my accountant. For a man who claims to be well educated in the area of accounting, he willingness to make decisions without all the pertinent facts is truly shocking.
Why is the mayor allowed to get away with not doing what she is asked to do, and why do councilors like Stewart-Morales support her failure to do her job? I have lost a lot of respect for him over the last few months. And Cannon, he should be shut down after 2 minutes like the general public are. He just spews worthless bull.
Don't be fooled. Cannon is the front man for Steffanini who won't publicly attack the mayor because he is going to run on a campaign of being able to get along with everyone, so he has his little minions (little being the operative word) do the attacking for him.
This is serious. Where are we going to come up with that 2.3M shortfall other than on the backs of the taxpayers?
Jim do you know when do they meet on this again and will any of the documents related to this be available for the public to see
I expected more from Stewart knowing he had accounting skill and he was the clear choice in the last election.
the solar deal should be scrutinized for the best deal. A 20 year deal is a long time and what little i know about solar, I'm very sure this technology is changing and getting better. Maybe the Biden administration will help subsidize the manufacture of solar panels in this country as China is the big winner and major manufacture.
it doesn't take long for those meetings to get ugly, especially when the group doesn't get the info ahead of time and I don't blame them. It's not realistic to expect any committee to vote on important issues within minutes of getting the information from the Administration who knew it had to be in committee hands and in public view 2 weeks ago.
Adam should have let the postpone motion be voted on in the beginning, before it turned into a shouting match.
There are few options from where the money will come from, in the end. Even if we have a 10% or better rate increase, the 2.3 mill is from this year and last year and is holding up the approval from the State.
jim you are so right. Committees should get important info ahead of time so that members can be prepared. That Cannon though loves to start trouble. I wonder if he rewatches the meetings and rubs one out each time he thinks he has embarrassed spicer.
We need to pay the more his 2.3M deficit soon and these people dragging there feet are at fault Maryellen makes a lot of money to say she was not able to get the info to the subcommittee on time. Plus the city followed her advice and we ended up in this mess. She failed miserably. Fire her
Great the image of him rubbing one out over this will take forever to forget
I saw in the Patch this morning that Councilor Stewart-Morales told fellow Councilor Mike Cannon to shut up. Now that is a very adult and responsible way to handle disagreement! When is Steward-Morales going to grow up? Watching these meetings I often find him to be acting like a 5 year old.
I thought Stewart had the right blend of experience over his competition last election. He and Cannon are at each other for no good reasons. I do agree, the solar contract should be the best deal for the Town. The deal was for 20 years and from what I've learned about solar, the technology is ever changing and what is built today may be obsolete in a few years. These third party middlemen are in business to make money over the long haul.
It's up to the Chair IMO to limit the useless back and forth and act more like a moderator. Make people stay on point and limit the repetitious rhetoric that just inflames.
In all fairness, it's unrealistic for a group making huge decisions that will effect everyone in Town, without the supporting documents form the Mayor's office a head of time as the rules dictate.
Jim Pillsbury in terms of the solar deal do you know how does that compare to the solar deal that the schools did?
I was st a meeting a few years ago where they said we had to repair the roofs on municipal buildings before we could do solar panels. Anyone know if that’s been done?
In 2016 while at Town Meeting we heard from School Building head honcho Matt Torti and Amerisco I think, about putting solar on Town owned buildings. From what I remember, solar companies weren't going to install on older roofs, mainly because they didn't want to come back and take them down and then back up again.
The sustainability kid I assume has scoped out the buildings with advise from some solar group for municipalities. The new library is low hanging fruit. It's got a flat newer roof. These companies that sell the solar deals are getting tax incentives from the State, which is a good thing. Their going to make money every day the sun shines for 20 years.
The committee is right, the chief procurement officer should be there and any competitive bids, if it was bid out, should be seen.
I'm guessing there may be 3 to 4 roofs needed to be replaced before solar panels can be installed
So is a 20 year deal good or bad Jim? A few posts back you say the technology could be obsolete in a few years but now you are talking about the new library and the companies making money for 20 years.
I guess the point is... the solar deal raises questions in the minds of the FinCom group as well as a few residents. It's worthy of more investigation imo.
The issue is the shortfall in water and sewer so how is solar going to help with that problem
the solar question was the first part of the meeting. It has nothing to do with the water enterprise fund deficit. And like the solar deal, the 2.3 million deficit needs more scrutiny and solutions.
Does the city internally bill for water? For example, do places like the library and the schools get charged for the water they consume?
They do as far as I know.
I have been shocked at the suggestions made by Stewaart-Morals as he claims to have an accounting background but I looked him up on LinkedIn and that shows he has not had a paying job in the accounting field for several years and watching his performance on these meetings makes my understand why he does not have a job. I would not hire him to do my personal taxes let alone listen to his recommendations for the city budget.
from what i see on LinkedIn, he was with DE Shaw from 2016 to Sept 2020.
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