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April 9, 2008
Chelmsford shakeup a sign of the times?
THE DEFEAT of an incumbent selectman, coupled with the rejection of a Proposition 2 1/2 override, has emotions running high in Chelmsford.
Witness, for example, the following exchange Tuesday night at Town Hall after it was evident that incumbent Selectman Sam Chase was ousted and the $2.8 million override for the School Department went down in flames.
"I hope you're ready to solve all the problems you've caused," Kathy Duffett, School Committee chairwoman and override proponent, told Eric Dahlberg, who handily defeated Chase while opposing the override.
Dahlberg shrugged off the verbal attack.
"She was laughing when she said it, and she shook my hand," he said. "She's a nice person and just really passionate about the schools. This won't color my relationship with the School Committee going forward."
We're wondering if Duffett has the same warm and fuzzy feelings.
In other election tidbits:
* Bernie Lynch, the former town manager, received six write-in votes in Precinct 7 for School Committee. The committee's two incumbents, Angelo Taranto and Duffett, ran unopposed.
* Dahlberg swept all nine of the town's precincts, including Precinct 1, which is Chase's turf.
* Not on my property: Once gasoline-station owner Jimmy Good learned Chase was supporting Town Manager Paul Cohen's proposal for a Fire Department-run ambulance service, Good asked Chase to remove his sign and then replaced it with a
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Dahlberg placard.
* Chase arranged a $1,600 bulk mailing through the North Chelmsford Post Office the Friday before the election. Only one problem. Chase's fliers arrived at 4,000 homes the day after the election. Chase is seeking an official investigation.
* Is Selectman Bill Dalton reading tea leaves? He said he's probably going to seek re-election next year, but the defeat of his political confidante, Chase, must be weighing heavily on his mind.
* School Committee member Evelyn Thoren barely held on to her Town Meeting representative seat, while her husband, Glenn, who happened to be Chase's campaign manager, lost his.
A LOWELL School Committee majority has a message to Dave Conway, the former Lowell High School housemaster who joined the committee in January: You might have topped the ticket in November's election, but you're not the school king.
In other words, relax.
Committee members Jackie Doherty, John Leahy, Jim Leary and Connie Martin went ballistic a week ago when they learned that Conway scheduled a visit to the high school with the new Superintendent of Schools Chris Augusta Scott, without bringing any of them into the fold.
Martin was so incensed, she scheduled a meeting of the committee's personnel subcommittee last week as a refresher to member protocol. Calling the meeting was a direct salvo at Conway.
"I thought it was out of line," said Leahy, who was caught like a deer in headlights in the school's Courtyard Restaurant by Scott's appearance. He was there having lunch with Leary and United Teachers of Lowell president Paul Georges.
Doherty said she never received the supposed Friday morning e-mail from Conway notifying other committee members about the visit.
"We were all together Thursday night. Why didn't you tell us then?" she asked Conway.
Conway said he did not think it was a problem. He said he extended the invitation to Scott as an "olive branch," because she was not his first choice to succeed Karla Brooks Baehr. Conway's choice was Wendy Jack, the high-school curriculum and instruction director.
It's not just the high-school visit that ticked off the members. Conway has apparently been making the rounds at some of the middle schools, too.
ANOTHER PART of that Scott visit raised eyebrows.
Martin asked whether the visit cost the district any money. Conway said he paid for the lunch. The only other expense was that of a substitute teacher needed to cover two classes for teacher Jennifer Carey, the school's liaison to UMass Lowell and Middlesex Community College, so she could attend.
Baehr was surprised to hear of Carey's new position.
Conway explained that it is an unpaid volunteer position that he held before retiring as a housemaster last December. Before he left, he asked around to find someone willing to pick up the slack. Carey agreed.
Baehr said that is something that should be appointed by the district, not by a School Committee member.
"As a School Committee person, it is not appropriate to appoint somebody to any position in the schools," said Doherty.
Solicitor Christine O'Connor said committee members cannot interfere with day-to-day operations of the schools, or with the authority of principals or the headmaster. Their only direct report is the superintendent.
Committee member Regina Faticanti piped up that it also includes questioning headmasters, principals or housemasters for reports, saying that Doherty called housemasters about reports during last month's ONE Lowell controversy.
"Let's not get personal here. We all have some anger in us about everybody here," said Leahy.
"All I'm saying is that people in glass houses shouldn't throw stones," retorted Faticanti.
Doherty, sitting directly across from Faticanti, fought back.
"So, that would include yelling at principals as well," she spat back at Faticanti.
Conway learned that he was outside of his authority when he recently visited a school principal to inquire as to whether enough had been done to remedy a situation in which, ultimately, a teacher was not asked to come back to teach there next year.
"That is totally inappropriate," O'Connor said.
"We should have had this meeting 12 years ago," quipped Conway, stating that when he was a housemaster School Committee members called him frequently, yelling on several occasions.
TWO YEARS ago, a sharply split Lowell City Council voted to use its eminent-domain powers to take a seven-acre swath of vacant lots and decrepit mill buildings owned by downtown land magnate James Lichoulas Jr.
Lichoulas' land comprises almost half of what city planners call the Hamilton Canal District, now a blighted, city-owned 15-acre site on the fringe of downtown. Lowell officials envision selling the district land to the state and Boston-based master-development firm Trinity Financial to be converted into a new $125 million state judicial center and a sparkling new $500 million to $800 million commercial and residential zone.
In April 2006, the City Council was split on whether to accept a buyout package that former City Manager John Cox's administration had negotiated with Lichoulas and his attorneys or to take it by eminent domain.
A council majority -- then-Mayor Bill Martin and Councilors Kevin Broderick, Eileen Donoghue, Rodney Elliott, Jim Milinazzo and George Ramirez -- opted to reject Cox's package for lack of trust in Lichoulas, who has drawn criticism for essentially allowing his historic mill buildings to crumble to dust.
Councilors Edward "Bud" Caulfield (the current mayor), Armand Mercier and Rita Mercier favored Cox's advice to go the negotiated buyout route, to avoid the risk of costly lawsuit from Lichoulas.
That brings us to today.
Last Monday, a U.S. District Court judge dismissed Lichoulas' federal lawsuit, dealing a significant blow to the landowner, who nevertheless has appealed and could still come back to haunt the council for its decision.
THE FIRST Amendment is alive and well in Billerica.
In the week leading up to yesterday's town election, town cemetery workers made their allegiance clear by posting large placards in support of selectman candidate and fellow town employee (police dispatcher) Bob Accomando on their private vehicles.
However, those vehicles were parked on town-owned land, a situation that did not sit well with Cemetery Commissioner Frank Busalacchi, who questioned the legality. He is also a supporter of Selectman Marc Lombardo, who is seeking re-election.
Busalacchi asked the worked to remove the signs. They refused.
DPW Director Abdul Alkhatib received an opinion on the matter from town counsel, who backed the workers' rights to support the candidate of their choice, regardless of where their vehicles are parked.
"I may not like it either," said Alkhatib. "But it is a First Amendment issue, and this is a free country."
Lombardo was riding along with Busalacchi when he stopped at the cemetery, but says he did not say anything to the workers and was unaware that Busalacchi was going there until they arrived.
"I didn't say anything to anyone, just was a witness to Frank's question to the crew," Lombardo wrote in an e-mail. "I didn't think it was my place, so I said nothing."
JUST WHEN it seemed that the circus-like atmosphere surrounding the continually continued public hearings on the $20 million Billerica Mall revitalization plan could not possibly be any more comical, the Billerica Fire Department came to the rescue.
In the middle of last week's Planning Board meeting, BFD Deputy Chief Thomas Ferraro waded through the throngs spilling out into the hallway, suddenly appearing at the rear of the steamy, crowded hearing room. He was counting heads. Then he called Planning Board Chairman Paul Marasco out into the hall.
The room was over capacity by about 15 people. The doorway needed to be kept clear.
It was suspected that a disabled gentleman who had protested earlier in the evening about the inaccessibility of the small hearing room had dropped a dime to the Fire Department.
The board recessed to consider options. The board was unable to secure the Town Hall auditorium because the Substance Abuse Prevention Committee was holding an event. The Conway hearing room, usually used by the selectmen, was locked and likely still too small for the crowd of nearly 80 people.
In the end, the board continued on, trying to wrap up. It dragged on, prompting a return appearance from the mustachioed jake.
Ferraro called Town Planner Peter Kennedy out into the hall and told him to wrap it up or move it out.
Then, the peanut gallery piped in. Someone suggested holding the next hearing at the Billerica Mall.
"There's too much mold there," someone shouted.
"You better hope it doesn't rain. Bring your rain gear -- that place leaks," yelled another.
Well, it has been dragging on for more than two years ... but it is never boring.
AYER SELECTMEN Chairman Gary Luca returned to his duties on the board this week. He's recovering from a fractured right heel he suffered when he fell about 12 feet from his roof while clearing snow off a satellite dish a couple of weeks ago. He said he will likely be out of work as postmaster in Ashland until the end of April.
At least the injury came with benefit. Luca is stuck home most of the day watching television.
SLIM CHANCE.
That's how residents are categorizing the odds of a Proposition 2 1/2 override passing in Tyngsboro this year.
It's the economy, right? Actually, people are pointing to recent history.
In 2006, a $1.6 million override request failed 62 percent to 38 percent.
A second request for $630,000 to fund pay for highway and fire equipment, as well as the completion of the roof at the Early Childhood Center failed 64 percent to 36 percent.
In 2005, an override -- which appeared on the ballot in $1.25 million, $1.6 million and $1.9 million amounts -- was struck down by more than a 2-1 ratio.
Selectmen decide tomorrow night whether an $800,000 override request for the School Department makes the ballot.q
IT'S OFFICIAL: Tewksbury is the poor kid on the block.
During the unveiling of a draft School Master Plan in Wilmington last Monday, Selectman Michael McCoy pointed at its neighbor while arguing that it may not be the right time for a new Wilmington High School.
"I don't want to be like Tewksbury," McCoy said at the height of his argument. "They're bankrupting that community. Those officials should be ashamed of themselves."
Granted, Tewksbury is facing a $6.2 million budget deficit next fiscal year -- unarguably the largest shortfall in Greater Lowell.
But officials there do appear to be working hard on bringing back some fiscal stability, even delaying the placement of a Proposition 2 1/2 override question on the ballot until every internal cut is made and every efficiency is found.
This week's Column was written by Jennifer Myers, reporting from Billerica and the Lowell School Department; Michael Lafleur in Lowell City Hall; Rita Savard in Chelmsford; Jack Minch in Ayer; Chris Camire in Tyngsboro; Alexandra Mayer-Hohdahl in Tewksbury/Wilmington; and City Editor Christopher Scott.
Posted by Admin at April 9, 2008 3:37 PM
