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March 24, 2008
Outsider a good bet to land school job
ODDS ARE the next Lowell school superintendent, who may be selected tomorrow night, won't be either of the two local candidates.
Wendy Jack, director of curriculum and instruction at the high school, appears to have support from two School Committee members, Regina Faticanti and David Conway. The other local finalist, Paul Schlictman, district coordinator for research, testing and assessment, earned respect but isn't expected to challenge.
That leaves the other finalists, Chris Augusta Scott, superintendent in Norfolk, and Portia Selene Bonner, assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction in Hamden, Conn.
Here's how the rest of the committee shapes up:
* Mayor Edward "Bud" Caulfield, initially viewed as a Jack supporter, is talking up Scott.
* Jim Leary said he's leaning toward an "outside" candidate.
* Jackie Doherty said she's leaning toward one candidate. She won't say who, but considering the raw politics between herself, Conway and Faticanti lately, it's pretty easy to conclude it's not toward Jack.
* Connie Martin has said very little. She is widely viewed as someone who would prefer an outsider.
* John Leahy isn't overly impressed with any of the candidates, and said he'll vote "present." He's thinking about starting a new search to find a replacement for Karla Brooks Baehr.
Leahy is openly talking about Jean Franco, deputy superintendent for curriculum and instruction, serving in the interim.
So if an outside candidate is chosen, it certainly won't be unanimously.
EVEN IF Bonner or Scott gets the necessary four votes, they might receive a better, or at least more united, offer on the same night.
It will be the Mill City vs. the Whaling City, because the New Bedford School Committees also picks a new superintendent on Monday with Scott and Bonner among three finalists.
According to the New Bedford Standard-Times, both candidates are working hard to ingratiate themselves to the citizens of New Bedford. Bonner hosted a "meet-and-greet" reception at the city's downtown library, while Scott ran in the New Bedford Half Marathon.
Scott may be difficult to reach when the decision is made. She is flying back from an Easter weekend visit to her native Nova Scotia, and expects to be at high altitude until about 7:30 p.m.
CITY MANAGER Bernie Lynch hired a new treasurer last week, but is taking it on the chin from former and current pols who pushed for a Lowell candidate.
David McGurl, town treasurer in Winchester, brings municipal accounting and treasury experience to the $82,000-per-year job.
McGurl got the job over Lowell resident John Linnehan, an accountant who has no municipal experience but plenty of political connections.
Linnehan's father, James Linnehan, is a lawyer and accountant who's close to many of the city's top elected Democrats. The Linnehans have operated a successful family business for decades.
Lynch landed in a no-win situation. If he hired Linnehan and treasury operations went south, he'd be criticized. If he hired outside, he'd still face the heat.
For the record, McGurl's hiring is Lynch's fourth in which he went outside Lowell to fill a management post.
CITY COUNCILOR Mike Lenzi has kept a low profile since his election. That changed last week when Lenzi filed his first motion, and it was a humdinger.
Lenzi wants the City Council to meet twice a month, as opposed to four times. The idea was referred to the Rules Subcommittee, and appears solidly on the track toward approval.
Councilors have talked about it privately over the years, but only one, Peter Richards, ever put it on the agenda for discussion. It was defeated.
Lenzi keeps busy, with his catering business and his position on the Greater Lowell Technical High School Committee. He said his motion is unrelated.
"This was not a selfish motion at all," Lenzi said. "I really believe it was quite the opposite. Seeing people scramble to prepare for Tuesday night meetings each and every week was concerning to me. I didn't even consult anyone before bringing the motion forward. If we want to run the city like a business, we have to treat it like a business. This was a motion based on enhancing the productivity of the people in City Hall."
Lynch also supports Lenzi's motion for similar reasons.
THE TYNGSBORO School Committee is none too happy with recent scrutiny and criticism of its superintendent search process. And members used props to show it.
Last Tuesday, Martina Witts and Diana Keohane displayed two 8-by-10 framed pictures of a hand giving the thumbs-up sign in front of where they were sitting.
The pictures were in response to a Sun editorial, which gave Witts and Keohane "thumbs down" for saying they would vote with the majority pick for school chief, instead of selecting either Darrell Lockwood or Christine Tyrie on their own. (Lockwood locked up the job.)
Witts and Keohane said the pictures were from a resident.
Chairman William Downing later lambasted The Sun for reporting on March 15 that the Middlesex District Attorney's office cited a screening committee for repeatedly violating the Open Meeting Law. The DA's office agreed with The Sun and ruled that the board did not post its meetings and did not hold any part of any meetings in public, both requirements of the law.
Downing was upset by the story, saying articles that accuse local boards of holding secret meetings discourage people from seeking office.
Downing, in fact, is now seeking a seat on the Board of Selectmen, having thrown his hat into the ring at the last moment. Evidently, the violations didn't stop him. Let take a guess: He's running on a platform promoting open government.
THEY WERE formed to give direction on an issue that divided residents and Chelmsford town officials. Now the Ambulance Study Committee is at odds with each other.
A majority of members have voted to recommend selectmen reject Town Manager Paul Cohen's proposal to replace private contractor Trinity Ambulance with ambulance service run by the Chelmsford Fire Department. But committee members Deirdre Connolly and James Sullivan are filing a minority report opposing that stance.
Committee Chairman John Thibault has been keeping the group's findings under wraps since the March 12 vote, and it's no surprise that the final decision caused tension.
The group was off to a rocky start in November, disagreeing about several issues including why it was formed in the first place.
In December, Trinity attorney John Gallant asked selectmen to remove committee member Sullivan, alleging that Sullivan was biased against Trinity.
Sullivan previously owned Care Ambulance of Lowell. In the early 1990s, Trinity owners John Chemaly and Gary Sepe, who both worked at Care, left the company to establish Trinity. When Chemaly and Sepe left, there were several legal disputes between the two men and Sullivan, Gallant said.
Selectmen Chairman Sam Chase said he did not know the history between the parties when casting his vote to appoint Sullivan. Selectmen, who unanimously appointed the nine committee members, refused to remove Sullivan.
Thibault and members John Stansfield, Daniel Burke, Steven Normandin, John Demers and Thomas Fleming were the six who rejected Cohen's plan.
According to the meeting minutes, Thibault has no objections to the Fire Department running an ambulance service, but believes strongly the proposed model as presented will not work.
"The strategy of a hybrid system will create an ongoing financial burden on the town," he said.
Sullivan wanted to wait and see what impact the override would have on the proposal before casting a vote. Connolly disagreed with how overtime, backfill, and other positions were charged into the committee's report. She said core revenues and expenses do show a return.
Committee member Shaun Dean did not vote or participate in the discussion.
Selectmen will begin considering the issue tomorrow night.
LOWELL CITY Councilor Alan Kazanjian last week again pressed his case for local, local, local.
This time the issue was the Hamilton Canal District project.
Kazanjian suggested creating a review committee comprised of local architects, builders and others familiar with the Lowell development scene to examine any proposals by Trinity Financial -- the Boston-based firm city officials have selected to carry out their ambitious plans for the project -- before the City Council votes.
He said he wasn't sure if he could support the signing of a formal agreement between Trinity and the city without review by such a body.
Kazanjian, a real-estate developer specifically mentioned Lowell-based architects Jack Sullivan and Jeff Cook.
Sullivan was Kazanjian's architect on his Mill View Estates project on Middlesex Street, at the Chelmsford-Lowell line, a townhouse subdivision, as well as the councilor's Kaitlin Estates subdivision off Clark Road in the city's Belvidere section.
Kazanjian's fellow councilors didn't jump at the idea, but none disagreed, either. Kazanjian has yet to file an actual motion.
Review committee members arguably could be prohibited from doing any of the early stage work in the canal district project, which city officials expect to represent up to a $500 million investment in the local economy in the next 10 to 20 years.
That would be quite a sacrifice.
KAZANJIAN SUBSEQUENTLY said he hasn't decided whether he would oppose a development agreement with Trinity without the review committee. He also said he has yet to speak to either Sullivan or Cook.
He said his idea was to create a body "just go over this plan with them and see if they can make it work. It's just an idea I'm throwing out there, and I'm sure a lot of these individuals would get involved," he said.
"Who knows," Kazanjian said, "maybe the plan is perfect, but we'll only be able to go over this plan for about an hour (at a council meeting). That's not enough time for us to decide whether it's good or not."
Trinity already has organized a painstaking public review process, which has involved three public meetings at the Lowell Memorial Auditorium. Two more such meetings are scheduled in May and July.
Staff in the city Division of Planning and Development have been reviewing the plan throughout, and council subcommittees will get their crack at examining the complicated framework eventually.
Incidentally, Jonathan Lane, a principal with ICON architecture, was involved with creating the master plan for the Lowell National Historical Park in the 1970s, as were several other members of his firm.
NORMALLY JOINED at the hip, a crack developed this week between Lowell's delegation to the House of Representatives and Sen. Steven Panagiotakos' office.
The fearsome foursome rarely act on Beacon Hill without coordinating first, which made it all the more interesting when Panagiotakos offered a competing plan to secure new money for UMass Lowell's Emerging Technology and Innovation Center in the governor's $1 billion life-science bill.
Reps. Thomas Golden, Kevin Murphy and David Nangle secured an authorization to borrow an additional $10 million last month for the nanotechnology project.
Panagiotakos' office was not notified that the bond money would be inserted in the bill. He apparently was less than impressed, given the unlikely chance that Gov. Deval Patrick's administration would actually borrow more than the $35 million already committed.
Instead, on Thursday Panagiotakos put $5 million in cash in the Senate's version of the bill that will be guaranteed if UMass Lowell can raise $5 million privately.
The House delegation was not told about the senator's plan.
The bill now goes to conference committee, but for those wondering who's plan will win out, the safest bet is with Panagiotakos.
WHILE SOME Billerica pols were tossing a few back at the Irish American Club on St. Patrick's Day, about 100 residents were hanging out with the Planning Board (unfortunately sans spirits), in the hot and humid sauna that doubles as the Town Hall Auditorium, for yet another lengthy hearing on the proposed $20 million revitalization of the Billerica Mall.
The developer's attorney, Steve Lentine, began his presentation by thanking everyone, including the board for coming out on a "quasi-holiday."
"I know the holiday is particularly important to two members of the board," he said, jokingly referring to Chairman Paul Marasco and member Richard Tortola.
"Tonight we are all Irish, Steve," replied Marasco, who continued by pointing out that Lentine is also Italian.
But, Lentine explained, his wife is Irish.
Suggestion to the Planning Board: Next time serve shots of Jameson Irish whiskey. The night will go much more smoothly.
LEAVE IT to no-nonsense Billerica Planning Board member Ed McLaughlin to get a laugh at last week's never-ending meeting.
Planning Board member Bob Casey, who has not hidden his opposition to the proposal to bring Home Depot to the center of town, bemoaned that no one has studied the economic impact. He called out former Town Manager Rocco Longo and Chief Assessor (and current acting interim town manager) Rich Scanlon for not responding to the board's invitation to attend a meeting to provide that information.
Casey asked Town Planner Peter Kennedy to ask the "town administration" to respond, stating that "maybe they'll listen to you."
"We don't have one (administrator)," deadpanned McLaughlin. "He left with a $5,000 check."
McLaughlin was referring to the $5,000 kiss Longo was given by the town for 10 days of unused vacation. Under the terms of his signed employment contract, Longo's benefit should have been dead in the water because he only gave the selectmen 35 days' notice, not the required 90.
LITTLETON REPUBLICAN Paul Avella has scheduled his campaign kickoff event for next Saturday at the Nabnasset Country Club in Westford to officially launch his bid to unseat Westford state Rep. Geoffrey Hall, a Democrat.
Avella, vice chairman of the Littleton School Committee, is a retired U.S. Air Force colonel who has been awarded a Bronze Star for his military service, according to a campaign statement. He currently works as an executive in Raytheon's satellite communications division.
BIG NEWS IS ON the horizon for Middlesex Community College. Word is the college will soon gain control of the Rialto Building on Central Street for a students' performing arts center.
The Rialto is owned by the Lowell National Historic Park Service. The local park service recently won federal approval to transfer the building to MCC. Lowell Park Service Superintendent Michael Creasey has been the driving force behind the plan with MCC President Carole Cowan.
The Rialto has sat dormant for several decades, although the federal government has pumped millions of dollars into restoring the facade and improving structural defects. But the Rialto has no practical government purpose, and needs major internal construction work. MCC will take over the job of raising money to turn it into a first-class arts center.
This week's Column was written by Sun Editor Jim Campanini and City Editor Christopher Scott, with contributions from Michael Lafleur at Lowell City Hall, Jennifer Myers in the Lowell School Department and Billerica, Chris Camire in Tyngsboro, Rita Savard in Chelmsford and Matt Murphy at the Statehouse.
Posted by Admin at March 24, 2008 1:09 PM
