June Artist of the Month

Posted on June 19, 2009 by billmanzi

MAYOR MANZI NAMES PATRICIA BEAULIEU AS JUNE’S ARTIST OF THE MONTH
Artist’s Work on Display in the Mayor’s Office

Mayor William M. Manzi has named Patricia Beaulieu as June’s Artist of the Month. Patricia graduated from Lowell High School and continued her art education at Middlesex Community College. She also took classes at Mass College of Art, as well as Adult Ed classes at NECCO. She is a proud member of the Methuen-based Arts Institute Group of Merrimack Valley, Inc.

Patricia specializes in portraits of animals, and she has worked as a pet-sitter for the past 13 years after being inspired by her great love for her Yorkshire Terrier, Francine. Her pet portraits allow her to meld her long time pet-sitting service and artwork.

“As a pet-sitter for over a decade, my love for animals has grown stronger with each passing year. Being able to then begin capturing their essence through my art has been a special blessing to me.” Beaulieu said.

Mayor Manzi stated, “Patricia is one of the many talented artists who are members of Methuen’s Arts Institute Group. I encourage the public to come by City Hall and view her colorful paintings of animals.”

The Methuen Artist of the Month Program was created by Mayor Manzi three years ago in order to give members of the Methuen Arts Community a forum to display their work and to encourage participation in Methuen’s growing creative economy. Methuen artists interested in being considered for Artist of the Month should contact the Mayor’s Office.

June's Artist of the Month

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Transportation Bill is Out of Conference

Posted on June 18, 2009 by billmanzi

House and Senate conferees last night reported out a Transportation Bill, which should be voted on by both branches today. Some of the highlights include forcing MBTA employees into the State health care system (GIC) starting in FY2010, ending the 23 and out retirement system for new employees at the MBTA, abolishing the Massachusetts Turnpike and folding it into a new agency called the Massachusetts Department of Transportation. I will post a bill summary when one becomes available. The Speaker and the Senate President issued a statement praising the bill, and the Senate President issued a thinly disguised barb at the Governor.

In a jab at Patrick, Senate President Therese Murray said in a press release, “Since November, when all we were hearing about was a gas tax, the Senate has insisted that we cannot simply throw new revenue into a broken transportation system … we need to reform the system first.”

In the same release, House Speaker Robert DeLeo said, “This bill eliminates the antiquated and inefficient transportation structure in Massachusetts. It also brings considerable cost-savings. In a very short time, we have delivered on our promise to reform our transportation and pension systems, and I look forward to further action on ethics reform and the budget soon.”

The Governor, now that the bill is out, will finally get a chance to read it. His intentions are unclear, as his press statement pledged a review.

“We appreciate the movement on this critical piece of the Governor’s reform agenda,” Kyle Sullivan, a Patrick spokesman, said in a statement. “We look forward to analyzing it to determine whether it meets the long-term needs and interests of the Commonwealth. We will have no further comment until we have fully reviewed the conference report.”

The bill has received praise from Michael Widmer as well as from Stephen Silveira, who chaired the Transportation Finance Commission. Both had been sharply critical of the earlier Senate version of reform. The Governor now has a tough choice to make, as this bill contains no additional finance options beyond the $275 million allocated from the sales tax increase. I think he signs it, but I would not bet the house on it. Your move Governor!

http://c.brightcove.com/services/viewer/federated_f9/16977198001?isVid=1&publisherID=245991542

transportation

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New Fire Chief in Methuen

Posted on June 18, 2009 by billmanzi

I have announced the selection of the new Fire Chief in Methuen, and it is Deputy Chief Steve Buote. The press release is below.

MANZI TO NAME STEVEN R. BUOTE AS METHUEN’S NEXT FIRE CHEIF
New Chief is a 29- year veteran of the Methuen Fire Department

Mayor William M. Manzi announced today that he has selected Deputy Fire Chief Steven R. Buote as the city’s next Fire Chief. Buote will replace Chief Clifford Gallant who will retire at the end of the month. Buote is a 29-year veteran of the Methuen Fire Department. Through the years, he has held the positions of firefighter, lieutenant and deputy chief. He has also served as Acting Fire Chief on many occasions. Buote holds a Associates Degree in Fire Science from North Shore Community College and has attended many advanced training courses in recent years.

Steven Buote comes from a family of firefighters. His father served on the Methuen Fire Department for 32 years. His brother, Michael Buote, is currently a Captain in the Methuen department, and his grandfather lost his life in 1955 while serving in the Lawrence Fire Department. In addition to his duties on the Fire Department, Mr. Buote also serves as Methuen’s Emergency Management Coordinator.

“I believe Steven Buote will make an excellent Fire Chief,” said Mayor Manzi. “He has the education and experience needed to perform at the highest level. He also has a vast knowledge of the city and the Methuen Fire Department.” Manzi also thanked the three other candidates who applied for the job. “I was very impressed with the pool of candidates that I had to select from. This was not an easy decision.”

Buote will be appointed as Interim Chief until his full appointment is confirmed by the City Council on July 13th. He looks forward to serving as Chief and is excited to get started.

Mayor Manzi and new Fire Chief Steve Buote

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Train Wreck Coming in Transportation?

Posted on June 17, 2009 by billmanzi

As the Legislative Conference Committee on Transportation nears the end of its work Governor Patrick and top leadership have intensified the verbal warfare over the final package. The Governor in recent days has complained about being shut out of the legislative process by the Conference Committee, which has barred his staff from participation. From the State House News Service:

“Look, in an ideal world, we’d see the bill, we’d be talking about specific language, we would contribute to that language, so we would all know where we were going and whether or not we were on a collision course,” Patrick said. “We have not gotten that level of – we haven’t gotten that yet from the transportation chair.”

Which Transportation Chair is that Governor, Baddour or Wagner? Well the Governor took a shot at the House Chair in describing conversations about the conference report.

“I had a conversation last week with the House chair of transportation which was frankly not that informative, but we’ve been clear about what we want to see in those bills,” he said.

Well at least Wagner is talking to him, even if he is not saying much. But Wagner delivered a pretty strong counter to the Governor’s pointed critique.

“I have two recollections about the meeting,” he said. “The first is that we had agreed that outside of that room we weren’t going to talk about the meeting. And my second recollection is that it was very informative, at least from my point of view.”

He added, “We had agreed at the request of the governor not to talk about the meeting outside the meeting.”

If Wagner is correct then the Governor asked that the meeting not be discussed, and then went out and discussed the meeting. That will not lead to more input from the Governor on the conference committee bill. We may be heading into a situation where the main players dislike each other so much that a veto of the Transportation bill will be the result. The Speaker expected a bill this past Tuesday, and that has been pushed back to Thursday. A critical policy area intertwined with some real nasty politics. Look out below!

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California Teeters

Posted on June 17, 2009 by billmanzi

With California moving closer to the financial abyss the Obama Administration is saying no to a federal bailout of the State. Yesterday’s Washington Post detailed the federal concern that a state meltdown would cause a severe problem to the national economy, but despite that concern would refuse to give federal financial help immediately. California is faced with a deficit of about $24 billion dollars, and has gridlocked politically on solutions. With the State close to meltdown California has begun to call for help.

Facing gridlock and few options other than severe cuts, California began to look to Washington for help. State Treasurer Bill Lockyer sent a letter to Geithner in mid-May, urging him to consider helping cash-strapped municipalities.

“A fiscal meltdown by California or any other large state or municipality would surely destabilize the U.S., if not worldwide, financial markets,” Lockyer wrote. If the state were to default, it could shake bond markets and undermine investor confidence in a still-fragile financial system.

The federal response has not been enthusiastic.

In testimony before Congress, Geithner did not rule out aiding California. But he was far from enthusiastic about such a proposal, instead suggesting that Congress was better positioned to help the states — and that states should balance their budgets.

“A lot of the burden,” Geithner said, “is going to be on them to lay out a path that gets their deficits down to the point where they’re going to be able to fund themselves comfortably.”

California’s crazy political system, including legislative districts that appear to have produced extremes of both left and right, has contributed to the paralysis. The federal refusal is unfortunately the correct course. California must self govern and balance their own budget. If they cannot do that temporary federal help will not solve anything, but merely postpone the day of reckoning. But then again many in government have made postponement of reality formal policy. Read the Washington Post story here.

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Methuen Firefighters Memorial

Posted on June 14, 2009 by billmanzi

Today was the Methuen Firefighters Memorial, held at the Central Station. The weather was not cooperative, so the service was held indoors. The Firefighters put out a hearty breakfast for after the Memorial that is always delicious. I posted a few photos on Facebook, and I already had one wiseacre ask if I had brought along a food taster. I will have everyone know that the Firefighters specifically told me that they had made a “special plate” for me. Unfortunately a scheduling conflict forced me to leave before I could consume that breakfast plate. It was a nice ceremony, and the last one for Fire Chief Cliff Gallant as Chief. He retires at the end of this month. Thank you to the Firefighters for their hospitality.

Mayor Manzi and Chief Gallant

View the photo set here.

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President Obama Stays on Health Care

Posted on June 13, 2009 by billmanzi

The President, for the second consecutive week, stayed on the subject of health care, talking about the importance of health care reform and how our economy is so dependent on real reform. We have a President that understands the vital necessity to our economy of reducing health care costs that are dragging us into the abyss. I will post the Republican plan shortly.

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Governor Patrick on Pension Reform

Posted on June 12, 2009 by billmanzi

Governor Patrick talks about the recently passed pension reform bill, and the future of ethics and transportation reform.

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Letter From the Treasurer

Posted on June 12, 2009 by billmanzi

Although I did not do a posting on it the Globe has published another hit piece on Treasurer Tim Cahill, citing his support for a retirement under Group 4 for a campaign supporter. Group 4 is the pension category reserved for public safety personnel, and the Globe story paints Cahill as essentially fixing it so a campaign supporter could retire with a better pension. Cahill has been taking a pounding from the Globe, and the blogs, and really has not responded. Today he sent a letter out that he has sent to the Globe defending his actions, and the actions of Josephine Shea, the retiree in question. The Treasurer sees the need at this point to respond, and I believe he needs to engage. Below is the Cahill letter, sent via email.

Dear Friend,

In response to a recent Boston Globe article, below is my letter to the Globe’s editor submitted on June 10, 2009. We expect that an edited version will appear in the Globe in the near future. We thank you for your continued support and hope this letter provides you with a more comprehensive representation of the facts.

As State Treasurer, and someone rumored to be running for Governor, I understand and expect criticism of my record. The fact is, I welcome that examination. Time and again, my record proves to those interested that I have always followed the law in carrying out my duties as a public official.

When, however, speculation of my future plans causes political adversaries to use the Boston Globe to falsely and unfairly attack the accomplished record of a private citizen in an attempt to tarnish my reputation, I feel it necessary to set the record straight.

Josephine Shea served the people of Norfolk County with tireless dedication for over 22 years, working at the Norfolk County House of Corrections. She secured her position there when she was 26 years old and worked her way up the ranks, on her own merits, to the point where there were times that she was running the inmate population of the jail. For more than half of her career, Mrs. Shea worked in job classifications that the law categorizes as Group 4 such as Assistant Superintendent and Superintendent (Provision of Group 4 Recommendations can be found in full text on Treasurer Cahill’s website). Significantly, she also served as acting Sheriff. There were times during her career when circumstances required that Mrs. Shea actually had to have police protection at her home as a result of threats received while working at the Norfolk County House of Corrections.

Josephine Shea earned her retirement based on a lifetime of work in direct and indirect oversight of all aspects of the jail. She qualified for her pension under the law and it was approved by PERAC, which reviews and approves the retirements sent to them by local boards.

The fact is, Mrs. Shea’s only crime is being a supporter of mine during a time when political opportunists are directing the Globe to shine a bright light on my career simply because I have the temerity to publicly challenge the Governor’s policies.

I appreciate Mrs. Shea’s support and, more than anything, I respect and admire the dedication with which she served the people of Norfolk County. Once again, I welcome and encourage an examination of the public record I am so proud of. My supporters can have confidence that we have always done things the right way and that I will not allow corner office politics to wrongfully bring them down without a fight.

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Pension Bill Passes

Posted on June 12, 2009 by billmanzi

The Conference Committee of the Legislature dealing with the separate House and Senate Pension reform efforts reported out a bill in the last couple of days, and it contained the deeper reforms that were contained in the original Senate bill. (Reforms enacted to apply to existing personnel.) And those reforms took out some of the most prominent abuses that the existing system had promulgated. The Boston Globe highlighted the changes:

Removing a provision that credits a full year of service to employees after they have worked as little as one day in that year.

Preventing elected officials from claiming a “termination allowance” that has been granted after they have failed to win reelection.

Changing the current accidental disability retirement benefit for individuals who are injured while temporarily filing in for their supervisor. Some firefighters in Boston have collected pension benefits based on their bosses’ higher pay level after they were injured on the job while subbing for them.

Limiting the definition of “compensation” to wages and salary and specifically excluding housing benefits, annuities, or the use of motor vehicles. This would prevent presidents at the state’s public colleges and universities from counting housing and transportation allowances as compensation.

Eliminating a current provision that allows certain officials to establish pension credits for holding unpaid jobs.

And while everyone agreed that this change was badly needed, it is clear that it is only a first step. The Massachusetts Pension system is in tatters.

State lawmakers characterized the pension legislation as a first step, one that largely addresses the symbolic abuses that resonate in the public, and they vowed to make further changes in the future that could save the state substantial money. The legislation calls for establishing a commission to review broader changes and issue a report by Sept. 1.

The press announcement of the conference report really highlighted the bruised feelings that still exist between the big three. Therese Murray treated Governor Patrick like he was radioactive waste. And although the Governor seems to be taking more than a few bows here the real credit belongs to Senate President Murray, whose chamber produced a bill that applies to current employees, and held the line when the House tried to limit reforms to future employees. As has been noted elsewhere the Governor did not produce a pension reform bill.

pensionreport

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