selectmen

[Tom]

Noting that the school committee's tentative budget for the next academic year calls for $1.6 million more than likely will be available, Town Administrator Michael Boynton said "substantial position cuts seem inevitable."

Faced with yet another year in which revenues will not keep pace with costs, the administrator said it's time for serious discussions with neighboring communities about a regional approach for some services.

In presenting his townwide budget plan for the coming fiscal year Monday, Feb. 1, Boynton said the schools are "facing a whole host of challenges," notably cutbacks in state and federal counts. In addition, the schools are looking at $1.5 million in higher costs under collective bargaining agreements, he said.

Speaking from the floor at the Town Hall session, Chairman John Desmond responded that the school committee cut $500,000 last week from the superintendent's proposed FY 10-11 budget and is talking with the unions about reducing the remaining gap.

The $500,000 cut, Desmond said, will eliminate eight positions, notably middle school teachers. There'll be 28 pupils in a first grade class, he added.

Overall, Boynton proposes a $67 million budget for FY 2011, which will begin July 1 -- a $2.5 million (4 percent) increase. Half of the increase goes for "non-discretionary" spending, including debt and state assessments. Of the other $1.3 million, $855,000 would go to the schools in keeping with their traditional two-thirds share. Boynton proposes $30.9 million for schools, the school committee's tentative budget calls for $32.5 million.

Boynton's budget plan pares capital spending to $500,000 and eliminates two positions -- a library professional slot and a part-time DPW post.

He repeated his call for more control over health insurance costs and gave new emphasis to the potential for regional approaches.

"... if we are looking for true long-term cost savings, the time has arrived for Walpole to engage in meaningful regional services discussions with our neighbors.

"While it is unlikely that regionalization will materialize in the next one to three months, the opportunities are indeed there to see changes within the next one to three years. Not every operation or department is a candidate here. However, some may present great options for Walpole.

"Health services, animal control, engineering, dispatching, and yes even library services should be explored as soon as possible to identify the pros and cons of joining with one or more neighboring communities. In the past, turf battles and control issues have derailed regional efforts in Massachusetts. Those parochial days truly need to fade away if communities are to survive and thrive in the face of continuously declining revenues," Boynton said.

The town administrator's page on the town web site offers links to the text of Boynton's FY 2011 budget message and summaries of the proposed spending plan. (pdf files) The video of the presentation can be reached from this page.

[Tom]

Siemens Healthcare Diagnostics has strongly backed selectmen's proposed solution to a zoning tangle created by last year's rewrite effort.

"We almost ended up hurting our biggest taxpayer," selectmen Chairman Christopher Timson noted at Tuesday's board meeting.

A top executive from the Coney Street facility told the board Tuesday night that Siemens wants to continue to grow in Walpole; it's spent half-a-billion dollars over 30 years to expand its campus here. But growth would be limited if the town revised zoning to eliminate the possibility of doing Level 3 work at the facility, engineering director Michael Canary told the board.

The Walpole facility has an airtight laboratory that meets the physical requirements to work with Level 3 biohazards, dangerous pathogens that spread through the air.

Siemens does not yet have the federal and state approvals needed to do Level 3 work. But there are Level 3 programs in the pipeline, Canary said. If the work cannot be done in Walpole, he said, it will go to a facility in Germany.

The old zoning bylaw allowed Level 3 by special permit. An amendment to eliminate those levels was pulled from the warrant in the days before Town Meeting when its impact on Siemens was made clear.

Given widespread concern about biohazards, selectmen will ask spring Town Meeting to retain Level 3 zoning only for a limited overlay district -- the Siemens campus. That approach, Canary said, meets Siemens' objectives.

Canary pointed to the Walpole facility's exemplary safety record and noted the amount of expertise and money ($2,000 a square foot for a lab) it takes for Level 3. But the concerns of townspeople are genuine, he said.

The board of health is working on town regulations for biohazards that will be presented at a public hearing. The planning board will hold its hearing on the zoning article April 1.

Farmers market
Selectmen want a farmers market downtown this summer, likely in the municipal parking lot behind the police station.

Board members had considered a location on the Common, but a Saturday morning market was found to pose conflicts with church activities.

Bill Norwood, proprietor of the new Dick and Jane's General Store, came to the board Tuesday night, March 9, to urge use of the parking lot, rather than closing off a street. With experience as both a vendor and organizer of farmers markets in California, Norwood said the lot would be better for safety and set-up, and offers ample parking on Saturdays before 1 p.m.

The lot location is backed by Stephanie Mercandetti, the town's development officer, who's been working on the project, a priority for selectmen as a downtown enhancement. Police and fire departments do not have a problem with it, she said.

Norwood and Mercandetti will be sounding out downtown businesses and potential vendors. Selectmen will name a five-member committee with an eye toward a June start.

Norwood suggested that in addition to Saturdays, the market could run one night a week, perhaps at Blackburn Hall. Two sessions a week would make participation more attractive for vendors, he said.

Based on his California experience, Norwood told the board there are three requirements for a successful market: farmers, participation by the business community and some sort of family entertainment to help draw customers.

Parking enforcers
Chief Richard Stillman told selectmen Tuesday that jackets are on order for the workers in the town's property tax reduction program who'll soon be enforcing parking limits downtown.

The chief had checked out the possibility of parking meters, but that idea was dropped after running into opposition from downtown businesses.

Downtown businessman Bill Norwood, who was as the meeting to talk about farmers markets, suggested the town increase its fine for overtime parking from $15 to, say, $35 as in some nearby communities. A $15 fine is not an effective disincentive, he said.

Selectmen Chairman Christopher Timson responded that the board will see how the new enforcement works out before considering other steps.

[Tom]

http://www.walpolenews.com/march23.html
Selectmen told school committee members March 23 that in view of concessions by the teachers' union they'll try to help reduce the remaining $1.4 million gap in the 2010-2011 school budget.

In the clip on the link above, selectmen Chairman Chris Timson talks about the one idea that appeared to gain support of the board: limiting the amount a household could put out for rubbish collection in order to save the $70 a ton disposal cost and encourage recycling. While Timson raised the possibility of a town-imposed meals tax, Selectmen David Sullivan and Nancy Mackenzie said they are against it, given the tough business climate for restaurants.

The clip from the March 23 selectmen's session comes from the complete archive copy, available along with others via this town page. The new town service also offers live streaming of selectmen's meetings.

[Tom]

June 29: Longview Farm, deputy police chief
In 2007, Police Chief Richard Stillman told selectmen June 29, the Home for Little Wanderers contracted not to turn away any youngster referred to it by state agencies. That's when the real problems began at the Home's Longview Farm in West Walpole.

Before then, Walpole police responded to the Farm 25 or so times a year. In 2007, the number of responses doubled; they doubled again in 2008 and again last year. The pace this year is for 130 to 140 calls -- some of them requiring response by half the officers on a shift and undercutting protection elsewhere in town, the chief said. The number of calls, he said, is "intolerable and unsustainable... endangering the rest of the community."

The chief told the board that it is "ridiculous" for the Home to be planning to double the size and enrollment at the Farm when it's not handling what's there now. He stressed that an incident at the farm can cost several members of his department hours of work each, whether responding, transferring youngsters to a distant secure facility, doing the paperwork and in some cases, going to court.

The chief spoke during a session requested by neighbors of the Farm seeking selectmen's help in convincing the Home to back off its plan for a 95-foot extension of a classroom building and a new 105-foot dorm that would bring what's now a low-lying complex to a four-story height. The expansion would accommodate youngsters from the Knight Children's Center in Jamaica Plain, for the first time, bringing girls, age 5 to 13, to the Farm. There would be a total of 80 youngsters, resident or daytime.

Neighbors noted in the police log for a week in mid-June, Walpole officers were called to the Farm five times -- in one instance, requiring assistance from Norfolk. Since Jan. 1, 2008, police records show 283 responses to Longview, including reports of rape, assault, larceny, drug possession and runaways, neighbors told selectmen.

Longview has changed dramatically since 2007, the chief said. "It's a very different organization." Selectman Cliff Snuffer said the Farm is now "a holding institution," operating under the name of a school and thus sidestepping town oversight -- a situation, he said, that can be challenged in court. "To call Longview Farm a school is akin to calling Cedar Junction a university."

As an educational facility, the Farm is exempt from the town's zoning bylaw. But selectmen said that they have some authority as road commissioners and because Lincoln Road is a designated scenic roadway. There was also discussion of going to the state agencies overseeing the youngsters to discuss present and future security.

Neighbors said that given the change at the Farm, shortcomings in security and runaways, they are deeply concerned about the safety of their families.

Their presentation also aimed to show that the "massive" building project on the streetfront of the 160-acre property, complete, neighbors said, with a tower a la the Wrentham Mall, would "devastate" the rural character of Lincoln Road. The Home informed them last June that it was considering a minor expansion, then without further contact, presented the current plan in February. There were four meetings since then; the consultants were condescending, neighbors said, and maintained the Home's attitude seems to be that it's their property, they're not covered by zoning and so they can do what they want.

Selectmen indicated they will ask Home officials to a meeting to discuss problems and plans. The planning board's hearing continues July 15. Neighbors said they expect revisions, but have not heard lately from the Home.

Deputy police chief
Selectmen voted 4-1 June 29 in favor of Police Chief Richard Stillman's request to post and advertise for a deputy chief.

Michael Berry voted no, saying that with calls up 12 percent over last year and the situation at Longview Farm, it might make more sense to add a patrolman instead.

Stillman disagreed, listing the many duties in the deputy chief's job description and noting that the position was created in 2004 by replacing a lieutenant's slot at little additional cost in salary.

Since Scott Bushway's retirement, the chief said he's been spending considerable time performing tasks he hasn't done since he was a lieutenant. Comparable departments have more lieutenants (or captains) than Walpole, he said, and a vacancy would mean a town is deprived of some of the services a chief should be providing.

The town will also advertise for a fulltime veterans agent to replace John Spillane, who retired this week, after Foxboro selectmen decided not to pursue a proposal for a combined position with Walpole.

Walpole is employing a parttime animal control officer to replace Spillane in that function.

[Tom]

July 28: Longview Farm promises tighter screening
Longview Farm is revising its procedures and will determine more quickly whether or not a youth is a good fit for its programs, Joan Wallace-Benjamin, president of the New England Home for Little Wanderers, told selectmen July 27.

Four of five youths arrested after a disturbance at the Farm July 19 are not being allowed to continue in the program, Wallace-Benjamin said. Problems with them were not new: "We know now that we should have acted sooner." The Home, parent of Longview, will be talking with the state about new enrollment guidelines, she indicated in her presentation.

Last month, Police Chief Richard Stillman told the board that the serious troubles at Longview began three years ago after the Home agreed not to turn away youths referred to it by the state. Neighbors have made the same point repeatedly.

At a meeting with two selectmen and the police and fire chiefs July 22, the Home made several commitments, including an outside review of its procedures. Chief Stillman told selectmen that based on that meeting, he believes the Home is heading in the right direction.

The Home agreed to return to the board within six months for a follow-up. In response to a question by Selectman Michael Berry, Wallace-Benjamin said she would consider hiring outside security if the situation hasn't been resolved by then.

Concern by neighbors and town officials about safety has been heightened by the Home's plan to double enrollment at the Farm from 40 to 80 through the addition of younger boys and girls. At the July 27 meeting, Selectman Cliff Snuffer repeated his concern about bringing in young girls to what is now a school for teenage boys.

[Tom]

Aug. 10: Board requests Longview expansion delay
If town counsel agrees, selectmen will send a letter to the Home for Little Wanderers asking that it agree to a six-month moratorium on its applications to expand its Longview Farm.

The board's intent, as urged by Selectman Cliff Snuffer, is to provide time to determine whether improvements in procedures promised to the board two weeks ago will eliminate what have been frequent situations requiring a police response. The Farm now enrolls 40 teenage boys as boarding or day students, referred by the state or school districts. The expansion would increase that number to 80, including, for the first time, young girls.

At the Aug. 10 board meeting, Selectman Chris Timson blamed the school for "allowing kids to run rampant in the neighborhood."

Town Administrator Michael Boynton noted that as a school, Longview Farm is sheltered from the town's zoning bylaw. Under land use law, town officials do not have the authority to require the Home to accept a moratorium. But selectmen might be able to have an impact in their capacity as police commissioners, Boynton and board members maintained.

Selectmen voted to ask town counsel for advice on the extent of their public safety authority.