If you have been watching the cavalier approach to the budget this year by FinCom and wondered how it went from not so bad to really bad your not alone. For as many years as I can recall, including the past administration, each division came before the FinCom or Town Meeting and presented their budget and explained why they are spending, on what and the results of past spending and justified why they are asking for more money.
But now, under the lack luster leadership of King, Steiner and Cannon, no division is being asked to present. The only review is if one of the members of FinCom had a question. And even then, the new CFO is answering the questions.
The police division was asked to come in and talk about 4 new cops that were taken out of the budget last year, after the Chief a week before tried to explain the LPR's that have been around since 2010 and the policy governing the use and specifically the storage of data and who could access it and for what reason. Lester said the policy was here and updated recently. Needless to say, that wasn't true as the policy had been assembled by cut and paste from web sites that are unknown in the past few days. I received the policy along with the FinCom group last week.
It's clear to me now that any of our questions that are sent to our councilors will not be asked by FinCom.
Below are the questions I sent to Mike, George and Adam.
DPW Fleet
Do they keep track of the inventory
of spare parts somewhere?
How many tires do they buy a year?
DPW Highway
Have they built into the budget the
near doubling of diesel fuel?
10k for beaver deceivers… didn't we
buy them years ago when we had beaver gate?
How do they keep track of the
inventory?
Have we ever had a "hot
box" in Town?
How many times would we use it?
DPW Sanitation
How many packers do we have and how
much is spent in maintenance of the packers?
There needs to be an explanation of
the large increases in trash and recycling
120k for school and municipal
pick-up has this always happened?
School cardboard collection.. Why
aren't we just doing it?
55k in recycling fees needs vetting
40 yard containers that need replacing.
can we lease them cheaper than buying new ones?
Street Lights
Do they maintain the pole mounted
LPR's now?
Do they keep track of spare parts?
Police
Where do the recycled cars go within
the police department?
how many miles on the cruisers in
three years when they are recycled?
Do they keep track of the spare
parts inventory?
Why do we need 4 more officers? Is
the crime rate increasing?
In travel
Does that include officers traveling
around the country to go to funerals? Do the officers get OT?
Is there enough money in the budget
to equip all detail officers with orange gloves?
Is the office space lease for the
drug task force in the budget?
Are you pursuing grants from the
State for body cams?
Education, Training, dues 144K can
this be broken down at all? Is there Quin Bill money there?
Are there any rape kits from
Framingham that have not been tested for DNA by the State Police lab?
How many sworn officers have been
tested as part of the Police Reform Standards? Have any been decertified?
Enterprise Fund
93 k for details…. What does FPD
charge DPW for detail officers?
In the budget, Media Services is asking
the council to approve spending 100k on a new sound system for Nevins Hall.
I wrote this note to Adam, Mike and
George last week. After watching the meeting about this on Saturday and Monday,
it’s even more clear that members of FinCom do not have broad based knowledge of
most parts of the budget and are not even curious enough to ask any relevant
questions. The new CFO just doesn’t understand and is not aware of the past
history in many areas, including media services.
I'm making the case to have Media
Services come before your committee. I watched last night's meeting and was
surprised to hear you just want certain divisions to appear and answer
questions.
In the media service budget, they
have over 100k in capital requests in the operating budget. The largest amount
is for a new sound system in Nevins. As you may remember, in 2008 a feasibility
study was commissioned to ascertain what it would take to make the hall more
attractive to others who want a large space. The bottom line was that 10's of
millions would have to be spent to upgrade the hall with a kitchen, improved
access, stage improvements, etc and of course the sound system.
Fast forward to 2013 when a highly
celebrated sound system was installed at great expense as I remember. And as
you may also remember, that same sound system never worked right from the get
go. TM members and the folks watching on TV complained year after year about
the sound, but nothing was ever done. The fact still remains, Nevins Hall is a
concert venue and not a place for meetings. The sound systems needed are
totally different.
Lets face it, Nevins Hall is not
needed any longer for large gatherings with a new auditorium in Fuller and the
High School auditorium. That great open space would be better utilized as
office space. There's no reason whatsoever to spend more money on a sound
system that may not work well and is not needed. The lack of oversight in media
service spending should be questioned. Along with spending money on the mobile
production truck. We are the only community that I've found in the State that
has a production mobile truck for Gov Access. There's no need for it and hasn't
been used in years, nor will it be. Technology has improved so much that
everything can be done with one camera on a tripod, like the re-dedication of
the Veterans Park earlier this year.
I'm sure you know the money Gov TV
receives is from the cable franchise agreements and not from the general fund.
Regardless of that, media services should be questioned on their requests and
while you're at it, broadcast quality issues, updating the main web page and
resolving what meetings are recorded should be part of the budget process.
https://youtu.be/tHCD5qHKBmw
https://www.mixonline.com/the-wire/bose-professional-systems-brings-framingham-massachusetts-historic-nevins-hall-great-sound-it-had-waited-decades-416977
