Monday night "Manny"a

It's been a while since I offered some follow-up to a selectmen's meeting, but then there hasn't been too much to speak of lately. However, this past Monday offered a few issues that are worth discussing in more depth...

Proclamations

Although we've traded a few barbs from time to time, I do like Selectman Carey Murphy; he's a nice guy. I just don't always agree with his politics. For example, his suggestion that every member of the board read one of the five proclamations we had on Monday's agenda.

It was a long agenda, and it takes time to read a proclamation - let alone five of them. Moreover, it was a little presumptuous of Mr. Murphy to make the suggestion, so I suggested that he read them all. It was an innocent suggestion - I meant no offense by it, and I told Mr. Murphy that after the meeting - but it was enough to convince him to withdraw his holds.

Approve Support Letter for CPA Legislation Amendment

There's no doubt that the Community Preservation Act (CPA) has done great things for Falmouth, and the reduction in state matching funds obviously means less funds for other great projects.

However - and contrary to what some have argued - the CPA is a tax, and a tax increase will hurt. No one is broken by any one tax, rather it's an incremental thing. Raise the gas tax here, the sales tax there, income taxes - and yes, deed fees (a fee is a tax by another name) - and it hurts.

And let's not be fooled here...it may not just be the deed fees that go up. The resolution we were asked to approve states that it will sustain the 75 percent match, "either by raising the deed recording fee, or identifying another suitable revenue source." That's a loophole big enough to drive a Mack truck through.


Talk about a wolf in sheep's clothing! By sweetening the pot to encourage more cities to participate, it will put more pressure on the state to maintain that 75 percent match. When people have cried 'uncle' over the deed fees, the legislature will have to turn to "another suitable revenue source", i.e., another tax.

Yes, Falmouth will have less to work with as the state match gets smaller, but we literally mortgaged our future, buying so much land via the Land Bank that we committed our CPA funds to paying off that debt for the next 20 years.

I agreed with Selectman Kevin Murphy on this one; even the government has to tighten its belt. I'm not inclined to encourage Beacon Hill to tax us more.

Appointment of Selectmen Liaison to High School Building Committee

Originally, this was a simple request to wait until after the election so that the newest member of the board could weigh in. Frankly, it seems like there are a lot of things that are being rushed lately. The dump, for example.

I might even like to be the liaison, so I let the board know that too.

However, it was the suggestion that I don't know what's going on because I've not been to any meetings (not true, actually, but not worth arguing either) which really raised my ire. Each of the selectmen has liaison assignments to various boards, commissions and committees, the purpose of which is to maintain communication between the selectmen and their appointees. In the case of the High School Building Committee, it is up to Selectman Kevin Murphy to keep the rest of the selectmen appraised of what happens.

To suggest that I don't know what is happening is to suggest that Mr. Murphy isn't doing his job to keep the other selectmen informed.

Moreover, I would have attended more of the building committee meetings, but there are two issues with that:

First, I have other meetings to attend. I'm a liaison to the Beach Committee, Community Preservation Committee and CPC Working Group, among others. These folks can tell you that I do my job. The selectmen should be reviewing all of the liaisons at one time. That way, someone else could take something off my hands so I'd have time for the building committee meetings.

Second, if I did attend every one of these meetings with Selectman Murphy and Chairman Mustafa, we would have a quorum which would have required a public notice, or someone would have had to go home. Rather than create a difficult scenario by showing, I trusted my fellow selectmen to keep me informed.

Perhaps I was wrong to do so.

And kudos to Selectman Mary Pat Flynn for supporting this reasonable request.

Confirmation of Appointment - Police Chief

Frankly folks, I was blind-sided here.

I'm sure that some folks are probably thinking, "Yeah, you had it coming." Although I've been accused of doing it, I've never intentionally blind-sided anyone. I just ask questions and present information as the opportunity allows. Unfortunately, it seems to catch folks off guard, which says volumes about their preparedness - or lack thereof.

I've repeatedly argued for time to do our homework. One of the most important jobs the Board has is with its appointments. There is a significant amount of authority here, and it is not something that should be taken lightly. So when Town Manager Robert Whritenour provided the Board with a rather large packet of information (100 or so pages) of the things Police Chief Anthony Riello has done during his tenure, I wanted to give it a thorough review.

Just as I opposed the reading of proclamation after proclamation, I respectfully asked for more time to review the materials.

You could have heard crickets chirping.

Truth be told, Chief Riello's reappointment didn't need to be approved until June 30. If the Board didn't act by then, his appointment would automatically be renewed anyway. With little time to review the materials and no real rush to get it done now, I made what I thought was a reasonable request. Indeed, two of the other selectmen agreed with me.

At least, that's what they said prior to the meeting.

Discussion of Sign Variances

The number of recent sign variances requested brought former chair of the Design Review Committee Arthur Calfee before the selectmen. Interestingly enough, he noted that the sign codes haven't been revised since 1991.

I know that some folks were a little disturbed when I voted against a sign variance for the Lutheran Church on Brick Kiln Road. Indeed, according to the bylaws, a variance should only be granted if "strict application" of the bylaw "would be impractical, impossible or create undue hardship". The request simply didn't fit this criteria for a variance.

However, after seeing the four square foot sign (the bylaw allows 2 square feet) in place, I wondered aloud if the bylaw was the boogie man here; four square feet seems to be a perfectly reasonable size. Unfortunately, the bylaw doesn't allow it. Selectman Kevin Murphy even suggested that non-profits might be treated differently from businesses, since they are not out to make money.

These are ideas worth pursuing, and I hope to the the Design Review Committee hold some public hearings to discuss them.

Some final thoughts...

There were occasions on Monday when I felt like I was out in left field - reminiscent of Manny Ramirez. It's an apt analogy, as many consider politics to be a sport.

I don't.

I don't "play" politics. I was elected by the citizens of Falmouth to do a job, and if that means being a lone voice in the wilderness, I'm OK with that.

If you like the sports analogy, remember that eventually, almost everyone gets traded away or retires, but not everyone will be in the Hall of Fame. Regardless of what you think of Manny, he's one of the best, even if he's not the most lovable character. He'll probably be there.

Most of his teammates won't be.