Subcommittee To Review Amendment To Casella Agreement

Ken O’Brien

Tonight at 6:30 the General Government subcommittee will meet in the Rice Conference Room in the Town Hall. On the agenda is the following item:

Discuss First Amendment to the Extension Agreement for the Operation of the Barefoot Road Sanitary Landfill, and Refuse and Recyclables Collection and entertain a motion to submit to the Council for ratification.

What does this amendment contain? 

Pinch Every Penny

Ken O’Brien

At Monday night’s town council meeting local resident Kevin Buxton expressed the frustration of many citizens regarding the never-ending upward spiral in Southbridge taxes.

The response from Councilor Moriarty during councilors’ forum was to urge attendance at subcommittee meetings where the real work is done on the budget. Once the budget is determined, the setting of the tax rate is a mere mathematical exercise.

In this context, I thought that the report of the April 1 meeting of the General Government subcommittee was especially enlightening.

The chart below is taken from the agenda for that meeting. It has added to it the amount approved and forwarded to the full council with a favorable recommendation. As can be seen, the items approved (with a couple of blanks) amounted to almost $12 million, or over 20% of the proposed FY 2015 budget.

Bylaw Brigandry?

Ken O’Brien

Councilor Nikolla

Apparently there are some things that former Town Council Chairman Nikolla has learned.

One is clearly how to undertake a major project and keep the product out of public view until it is a fait accompli.

Such is the case with the work of the Bylaw Review Committee.

The lesson learned came from the experience of the Charter Review Committee (CRC).

Southbridge General Government Subcommittee To Consider “Absentee Voting” At Town Council Meetings

Ken O’Brien

This Wednesday, September 5, at 7 pm, the General Government subcommittee will meet in the Rice Conference Room in the Southbridge Town Hall.

There will be only one item on the agenda: 

Background For Monday's Southbridge Town Council Meeting - Wednesday's General Government Subcommittee Meeting

A Film by Paul Zotos

One More Time, Southbridge, Bend Over

Ken O’Brien

According to some of those present, last night’s meeting of the General Government subcommittee reviewed a proposal to add another employee to the town manager’s office.

The responsibility of this person would be to review resumes of applicants for town positions. In essence, they would act as a “personnel officer”, thus sparing our town manager of one more task that has been traditionally performed by this office. (How much more do we have to pay him to do the job for which he was hired?)

According to those commenting, the salary range under discussion was $50,000 per year plus benefits.

The Charter Chupacabra

CHUPACABRA

Kenneth M. O’Brien

Wasting no time, the new Town Council leadership took a meat axe to the recommendations of the Charter Review Committee.

While the absence of members of the Charter Review Committee (CRC) was lamented, such posturing was disingenuous in the extreme.

Members of the CRC were never informed of the hearing or invited to attend. The Chairman was on vacation in Maine. Other members found out only through an email from the Chairman of the CRC on Monday or through reading about it in the newspaper.