Feinberg: Doughnuts, dogs and deer
By Neil Feinberg/ CNC COlumnist
Thursday, April 7, 2005
It was a feisty crowd of regulars at Town Meeting last Saturday. A pro-doughnut, pro-dog, anti-Bambi kind of crowd. They seemed neutral on beavers, however.
Some 300 or so of Lincoln's most committed residents braved the on-again, off-again downpours to do their annual civic duty. And where better to be on a cold, rainy day than in a semi-comfortable upholstered seat in a warm, dry auditorium, listening to the Finance Committee wring its hands over the seemingly eternal gap between town revenues and expenses?
But wait, this was a savvy crowd of Town Meeting veterans. Besides, the override had already passed at the ballot. So the Finance Committee, realizing it was preaching to the converted, kept its pitch down to a minimum. Town Meeting moderator, Jack French, ran through the budget line items and things got cookin' early with the Conservation Commission's budget.
Commission members had heard that some residents were planning to hold out their budget and force debate on their recently-decided Mt. Misery leash requirement. They didn't want that to happen because they'd already gotten a whiff of the town's sentiment. Apparently, the Conservation Commission has been deluged with letters, e-mails and phone calls, mostly negative.
Chairman Mary Lincoln rushed to the podium to nip things in the bud. She spoke preemptively about the Mt. Misery dog-walking brouhaha saying, in a colossal understatement, that the commission had "anticipated that some people would welcome the change while others would not."
And so, whereas one week before, commission members were scheduling times to patrol the Mt. Misery area to enforce the new regulations, they were now backpedaling with great alacrity.
"In the interest of allowing the town to conduct the business appropriately before the meeting," Mary Lincoln went on, "we have decided to delay implementation of the leash requirement." The Conservation Commission will hold a hearing, well-attended I'm sure, on April 27, at which time strong consideration will be given to compromise solutions.
This didn't let the Conservation Commission entirely off the hook. Susan Sugar rose to complain about a problem she considered to be far worse than dogs: The overabundance of white-tailed deer (aka - Bambi). Looking at Mary Lincoln she complained, "They're eating you and everything in sight..." Mary looked at her quizzically. "No, not you,... ewe," Susan explained, as everyone cracked up. Perhaps ewe had to be there.
Later in the morning, discussion of the Water Commission budget hinted at the lingering ill feelings between the town administration (selectmen and town administrator) and the water commissioners. Boy, can they hold a grudge, or what?
Personnel Board member Elliott Curtis stepped right in the middle of a mine field, offering a PowerPoint presentation extolling the virtues (projected savings and efficiencies) resulting from combining the DPW and water department superintendent positions into one uber-super. That brought a response from water commission member, Andy Cole, who seemed to have steam coming out of his ears as he walked to the podium.
The Personnel Board "did not have the courtesy," Cole said through practically gritted teeth, to let the water commissioners know in advance about the presentation. They "never sought our input on the issue they opined so mightily," he said.
Cole passionately defended the water commission's independence and its decision to stand behind its superintendent, Pat Allen. Rainer Frost's symbolic motion/solution to add two bucks to the DPW budget, to be spent on doughnuts so that the water commissioners, the selectmen and the Personnel Board could get together, was well-received and ended the spat. Newly-elected water commissioner Buck Creel's similar proposal to acknowledge the DPW snow removal crews was also approved.
Afternoon highlights included a thoughtful debate over whether the town should borrow against its portion of Community Preservation Act funds to pay for certain projects. And, of course, Andy Cole's pithy explanation of the Water Commission's warrant article funding a new truck: "We need a new truck."
It was one of the most entertaining Town Meetings in years. Maybe we can have another one in the fall.
Neil Feinberg is a Lincoln resident and a regular columnist for the Lincoln Journal. | |
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