Falmouth First review

Wednesday at 7pm was Falmouth First, a local television show produced by Kevin Lynch at, and shown on FCTV-13. Jay Zavala was our host.

This format was a little different from what we've had in the past, and not only did we field questions from Jay and the viewers at home, but we got to ask questions of each other.

My first question, directed to incumbent Catherine Bumpus, was about the divisions in town and what she has done to get out to the people (other than planned campaign events or precinct meetings) in parts of town other than her own neighborhood. I'm the president of my neighborhood association (the Old Barnstable/John Parker Neighborhood Association) and the East Falmouth Village Association. However, in spite of the fact that our meetings our open to the public and publicized in the local paper, I've never seen her - or any selectman - attend.

It's a pet peeve of mine, and the reason why I go door to door.

Consider the race last year. Other candidates were talking about things like sewering and beaches, yet the people's biggest issues were a desire to have new/fresh blood in town hall, 40B/development, and the town administration. There was a disconnect that - unfortunately - is still there.

This time around we see advertisements that mention wastewater and education, and candidates talking about the Local Comprehensive Plan, but the man on the street is talking about accountability in government and asking for answers about the high school.

Incumbent Ahmed Mustafa's first question - "Are you having fun?" - was directed to both of us.

My second question was directed to Mr. Mustafa. I noted that we've had three consecutive years of overrides on the ballot, and asked whether we should consider a permanent override at some point, since year after year of temporary overrides are, in essence, permanent.

Those who watched the show will note that I prefaced my question by saying that I wasn't singling anyone out, but that everyone got a turn. I did this because Mr. Mustafa had prefaced his first question by stating that he didn't want to single-out anyone. I'll admit to being a little disturbed by the statement - he made it sound like I was singling out Ms. Bumpus by asking her the first question.

But speaking of singling out...ironically, both of Ms. Bumpus' questions were directed to me.

Her first question was about one of my statements during the League of Women Voters forum. I had stated that by cutting just 5 percent from the budget, we could save $5 million (it's a $105 million annual budget). Ms. Bumpus asked how, given the current state of "level funding" (i.e., no budget increases) in town government, we would find any savings.

I used my own company as an example. Every year, my employer holds a technology conference in Utah. This is our conference - we host it - so they don't need to profit from my attendance. I can go at cost, but even then, the cost is significant enough to limit my attendance to every other year.

However, in spite of the "level funding", Falmouth still has tens of thousands of dollars earmarked for out-of-state travel for various departments, including more than $9,000 for the town manager's office.

Later in the evening, I also made mention of the $30,000 spent to give the little used Depot Avenue parking lot a facelift. This is unnecessary spending given the fact that there are eight unfunded - and unfilled - positions right now.

It was during my answer to this question that I tossed out an idea I've been thinking about for some time now. The selectmen get a stipend of $3,000, but I've no real need for the money, so I suggested using it to fund a prize that would go toward a town resident or employee who could come up with a way to save us a significant amount of money.

Such incentives are used in the private sector. Why not use them in government?

For her second question, Ms. Bumpus asked if I supported the current wastewater process for addressing the nitrogen issue with the south-facing embayments. Of course I do! And I said so. Although I did take issue with the term "south-facing embayments" because West Falmouth Harbor also suffers from nitrogen loading.

I added that we need to look at alternatives, and cited Mashpee, which also suffers from nitrogen loading. When presented with a $400-600 million price tag for sewering, Mashpee's selectmen immediately looked around for alternatives, such as Nitrex.

The cold, hard truth is that Falmouth residents cannot afford a $500 million project (note that we have many more embayments to address than Mashpee does). As one person at the post office suggested to me, at that price we might as well just buy properties and intentionally abandon them.

The evening ended on a high note when Moderator Jay Zavala noted that we still had a few more minutes. I found myself the beneficiary of the rotation, getting the last word on a question about instilling trust in the high school project. My answer should come as no surprise...open the books, open the doors and let the people see what is going on - that is how you build trust in government.