Avoid Chaos - Learn The Rules

Ken O’Brien

On Tuesday I poked a little fun at the prior night’s meeting of the Southbridge Town Council.

The fact is, however, that over an hour of wasted time as well as a vote to reconsider just before the close of the meeting could have been avoided easily.

All that was required was a fundamental understanding of the provisions of Robert’s Rules of Order as they apply to points of order.

Southbridge Town Council: Budge It On Town’s Budget

Ken O’Brien

The gravy train is coming to an end folks!

For those of you who have been asleep for the past four months, we found out that the landfill wasn’t the $100 million bonanza we were originally promised.

For three years I’ve been trying to wake you up to the fact that bemoaning the tax rate when it is set in December is a fruitless exercise. That tax rate is effectively set in May when the Town Council adopts the budget.

Reed Contract Still In Limbo

Ken O’Brien

An article posted tonight on the Worcester Telegram website indicates that the proposed contract between Southbridge and Robert Reed for the latter to serve as Acting Town Manager is still hung up over the issue of a town provided vehicle.

In the article titled “Car clause derails Southbridge town manager contract” Brian Lee reports, “After hitting a roadblock over use of a town-issued SUV, officials continue to negotiate with Robert T. Reed about serving as interim manager for six months, Council Chairman David S. Langevin said Friday.” 

[In another article, Brian Lee reports on the turmoil in the leadership of Southbridge Schools. See “Southbridge facing shake-up among principals”.]

Featherbedding And Ignorance At Southbridge Town Hall

Ken O’Brien

Featherbedding.

To those unfamiliar with the term it gained currency in the days when trade unions defended maintaining positions that were viewed as no longer necessary by the management of passenger and freight railways operators.

The Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary defines the term as follows:

The requiring of an employer usually under a union rule or safety statute to hire more employees than are needed or to limit production.

Southbridge’s Rogue Regime

Ken O’Brien

John Adams famously observed that a republic is “a government of laws, and not of men.”

This view was subsequently enshrined in the Massachusetts Constitution of 1780. Article XXX of the Bill of Rights states:

“Art. XXX. In the government of this commonwealth, the legislative department shall never exercise the executive and judicial powers, or either of them; the executive shall never exercise the legislative and judicial powers, or either of them; the judicial shall never exercise the legislative and executive powers, or either of them; to the end it may be a government of laws, and not of men. “

At January 23^rd’s meeting of the Southbridge Town Council, the ruling majority threw this concept out the window