Christmas Tourney Heats Up

Posted on December 30, 2008 by billmanzi

In the Greater Lawrence Boys Basketball Christmas Tournament Methuen defeated Greater Lawrence Regional by a 59-50 score. Methuen controlled the tempo and withstood some late pressure from the Reggies to chalk up the win. In a highly anticipated matchup State Champion Central Catholic crushed Lawrence High School 74-47 behind Billy Marsden and Carson Desrosiers. It was my first look at CCHS this year and they look like a true juggernaut. In the evening finale Andover High, after a sluggish start, defeated Salem High behind Joe Bramanti, who dropped in five three pointers that helped break Salem’s back. Andover played typical Dave Fazio style, with swarming defense and great ball movement.

The Christmas Tourney finals will be held Friday January 2nd at Lawrence. The lineup is as follows. North Andover vs. Greater Lawrence,1:15 p.m, Pinkerton vs. Methuen, 3 p.m, Lawrence vs. Salem, 6 p .m., and the Tournament championship game Central Catholic vs. Andover, 8 p.m. The admission will be split, with the evening games charged a separate admission.

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Thank You to those that helped

Posted on December 29, 2008 by billmanzi

The Eagle Tribune wrote a very nice editorial about people pulling together to help during the recent ice storm that crippled the region. They pointed out that many pitched in and praised the spirit of giving that characterizes the people of the Merrimack Valley. I would like to thank those in Methuen that showed the spirit that the Tribune editorial speaks of.
Our Department of Public Works was faced with a situation in which we had over 168 trees downed, with many taking down power lines and utility poles. They did an admirable job in difficult conditions, with all DPW Departments working on the problem. But the downed trees only were the most visible part of the problem. DPW, with power down, had to manually deal with water and sewer pump stations that lost power. All were kept going without incident. Our Water Treatment Plant and Water Storage Tanks were driven by backup generator without incident. During all of this activity our DPW responded to five water main breaks within 24 hours, as well as assisting in the pumping out of over 35 basements for our residents.
Our Emergency Management Team, headed by Police Office John Santoro, responded quickly and effectively to the crisis. We set up our first command post at the Methuen Police Department, with the operation soon moved to our Fire Department. That operation was up 24/7, and was staffed in large part by our Cert volunteers. These volunteers are part of our Emergency Management program, and have taken courses that allow them to bring an added level of expertise to our Emergency Management Operations. They staffed our Emergency Management Center as well as the shelter we set up at the CGS.
I would like to note the difficult operation that our team undertook to safely evacuate the residents of the Methuen Housing Authority senior population at Mystic Street and Edgewood Avenue. Due to the lack of power and heat at the MHA I gave a mandatory evacuation order at 4:00 p.m. on that Friday. Our teams consisted of all of the employees at the Methuen Housing Authority, as well as a large contingent of Methuen Police Officers under the direction of Captain Tom Fram. We went door to door with flashlights and brought in a big light pole to illuminate the parking lot, going over a roster of residents and accounting for them apartment by apartment. We took the residents out by bus to our shelter over at the CGS, where they were fed and kept warm. The Methuen Housing Authority team, led by Director Ken Martin, did an outstanding job, as did our police department. The evac was completed in about two hours in darkness and without incident. The MHA maintenance crew, led by Mike Farelli, deserves a special nod of recognition. My thanks to the MVRTA, who provided the buses used to transport our residents to safety, and then brought them back when we were repowered. The American Red Cross set up a regional shelter at the CGS, and kept our citizens safe and warm during the storm. Thank you to Deb Duxbury and her wonderful team.
My thanks to Methuen School Department Transportation Chief Brian Fowler, who did a great job of assisting us throughout the storm. Methuen School Food Services Director Wayne Vespa also was on hand to feed our citizens at the shelter, and I would like to publicly thank him.
Both Emergency Management Director John Santoro and Emergency Management Coordinator Deputy Steve Buote deserve our highest commendations for a job well done. That spririt referenced in the Trib editorial is alive and well in Methuen, and I am grateful to be the Mayor of a community that pulls together so well during a crisis. Thank you Methuen!

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More Authority for Mayors Part 2

Posted on December 28, 2008 by billmanzi

Today’s Eagle Tribune has an article that again discusses the potential for changing the criteria for cities to join the State GIC. Under current state law for a city to join the state GIC and take advantage of its lower cost structure it must receive 70 percent approval from the affected municipal unions. Under that provision only a handful of cities have joined the GIC, and the effort has been a failure. In light of that, and with steep local aid cuts looming on the horizon, Speaker Sal Dimasi has indicated that he will support removing the union ability to impact such decisions by removing or modifying the 70 percent union approval currently required. From the Eagle Tribune:

As local leaders brace for budget cuts, mayors say they need to get ballooning health care costs under control.

Massachusetts cities and towns could have saved as much as $100 million this year, $750 million in fiscal 2013 and $2.5 billion in fiscal year 2018 if they all joined the GIC this year, according to a report jointly released in August 2007 by the Boston Municipal Research Bureau and the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation.

Those are some substantial savings, and are ever more critical with the financial news getting worse by the day. But it is important to note that with or without the fiscal crisis the rate of increase in health care was never going to be sustainable for municipalities. This crisis only accelerated the day of reckoning. The Massachusetts Teachers Association predictably criticized the plan.

The Massachusetts Teachers Association, a statewide teachers union, released a statement calling DiMasi’s plan “an attack” on workers’ rights.

“Collective bargaining is the mechanism through which ordinary workers have meaningful input in what their economic lives will look like,” it said. “Denying employees the right to have any say over their health insurance plans is an attack on the rights and interests of working people in this Commonwealth.”

They are no doubt correct in saying that the bill diminishes their collective bargaining rights. But they consistently fail to say how the existing cost structure, which cannot be sustained with current revenues, should go forward. Without adjustments to the cost structure in place today the result must necessarily be layoffs to union workers. That is a given. I must have missed the portion of their press release detailing how they would increase revenues to localities to fund ongoing operations.

Finally my interview on the subject contained extensive discussion of the other potential that exists, which is giving mayors and managers control over plan design outside of the collective bargaining process. That option would satisfy some unions preferences for local plans as opposed to the GIC, but would give management the same rights the Governor currently has over the GIC. Those comments did not make the paper, but are really at the heart of this debate. One of the reasons the GIC has had such a cost advantage over local plans is because of that power. And a prime example of that is reflected in the comments of Haverhill Mayor James Fiorentini, who would like to push the co-pay for doctors visits from $5 to $15.

Fiorentini wants to raise the co-payment to $15 per doctor’s visit. He said that would save Haverhill $400,000 a year. He noted that the police union agreed to start paying higher co-payments beginning next month as part of its latest contract.

If Mayor Fiorentini had control over plan design he could save that money now, and in so doing likely save union jobs. Ultimately the union membership will benefit, both from saved jobs and cheaper premiums. That fact appears to be lost on most of our negotiating partners.

At the State level we did get an expression of support from Representative Campbell in the Trib story. And I must say that this headline was much easier to take than the one that dealt with my call for increased authority in the area of school collective bargaining contracts. These are not power grabs by Mayors, but rather a serious attempt to gain control over costs that will put localities under water in short order. For those opposed to this increased management authority I ask “what is your plan”? Every time that question gets asked we only hear crickets chirping in response. Read the Tribune article here.

Posted in Methuen, Municipal Finance, State News | Tagged , | 3 Comments

Caroline Steps out (Gingerly)

Posted on December 28, 2008 by billmanzi

Caroline Kennedy, taking increasing flak from within New York’s Democratic establishment, has started to interact a little bit more with the media, granting the Associated Press and the New York Times interviews. This clip from MSNBC has some highlights. Kennedy (and the non-campaign campaign) has lost some important support in the past week, including powerful Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver. The Governor has publicly expressed some irritation over media reports that Caroline’s appointment is inevitable, and her close relationship with New York Mayor David Bloomberg has caused her some problems with Democratic officials that are not favorably inclined towards the Republican turned Independent Mayor. The Times has posted audio clips from her interview on its website which you can access at this link. Kennedy took some positions during the Times interview. From the New York Times:

Ms. Kennedy, 51, has had only a few weeks to think through a platform and a message, and she has already taken positions on issues like same-sex marriage, which she supports, and school vouchers, which she opposes. She spoke knowledgeably about education issues and said that, if appointed, she hoped to be particularly involved in the debate over the reauthorization of the federal legislation known as No Child Left Behind, of which her uncle Senator Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts was a lead author.

But she also demurred on a few issues, including the question of potential differences with others or in areas where she could point to differences with standard Democratic orthodoxy.

But in the interview on Saturday, she said she hoped to be a consensus-builder, and declined to describe her positions on other pressing public issues — even in education, where she has some expertise. Ms. Kennedy would not say, for example, whether she supported proposals to abolish tenure for teachers and offer them merit pay instead.

“To pick out the most controversial one as a stand-alone thing, I don’t think that’s really the way to go about this,” Ms. Kennedy said. “People can vote; it’ll be really interesting to see what happens. There’s a lot of experimentation going on in the country that we should pay attention to.”

So her initial thrust is carefully calibrated to diminish the criticism over lack of press access without taking positions that will lead powerful Democratic constituencies to oppose her appointment. She could use a little more polish, but overall she managed to get her limited press agenda accomplished without damage. She still brings a powerful political presence that presents Governor Paterson with an interesting political quandry.

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Merrimack Valley Christmas Tournament

Posted on December 27, 2008 by billmanzi

I did not have a chance to make it to the first day of the Boys Basketball Christmas Tourney being played this year in Lawrence, but I am sure there was some great basketball played. Methuen lost to the undefeated Andover squad by a score of 60-47. Coach Fazio up in Andover has put together a great team again. In other action it was Lawrence 67, North Andover 44, the State Champion Central Catholic Red Raiders 64, Pinkerton 35, while Salem defeated Greater Lawrence 76- 53. The Tournament continues Monday December 29th , with North Andover vs. Pinkerton at 2:30 p.m, Greater Lawrence vs. Methuen, 4:15 p.m, Lawrence vs. Central Catholic, 6 p.m, and Salem vs. Andover, 7:45 p.m. If you want to see some truly great basketball head on over to Lawrence High School for some real barnburners. See you there!

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The Obama Holiday Message

Posted on December 25, 2008 by billmanzi

President Elect Barack Obama’s weekly radio message with a holiday theme. Nice job. What do you think of his putting the weekly “radio” address on You Tube?

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Merry Christmas to All

Posted on December 25, 2008 by billmanzi

Merry Christmas to all. I have included one of my favorite pop Christmas tunes from the Bare Naked Ladies, with Sarah Maclachlan. Enjoy the holiday!

christmas-bare-naked-ladies-sarah-mclachlan-god-rest-ye-merry-gentlemen

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Answering the boo birds

Posted on December 24, 2008 by billmanzi

The comment section over at the Eagle Tribune is a very popular section of their online edition, with folks given a chance to comment on the story of the day and mix in praise and criticism of public officials and usually have a robust debate about the issue at hand. Many times the critcism of elected officials is done anonymously. I try to read them as much as possible, and I do take some pretty hard lumps occasionally (ok maybe it is more than occassionally). My prior posting today had to do with my contention that Mayors ought to have more authority in dealing with school collective bargaining agreements. Frequent mayoral critic Jack Burke posted some criticism in that section, which I have “liberated” from the ET website. That full comment by Jack is below. From the Eagle Tribune:

Can someone explain to me how adding more staff and giving out continuous raises to employees is getting “spending under control”?
The Mayor doesn’t need more power.
He needs to exercise the Administerial powers we elected that individual to perform.
The mayor likes to point out that he is “Chief Executive Officer” of Methuen. just as the CEO’s of the automakers are out of touch with their constituency, so are you Mr. Mayor.
I was always taught that responsibility is not a thing that is given, but a thing that is earned. Time for you to “earn” that part of your job.
Don’t be fooled by all the numbers in this article. The average raise in pay for city workers was $10,989 and for School workers has been $12,379 over those 4 years. The $1300 difference could be accounted for by the higher educational requirements for school personnel.
The bottom line is spending has not been adequately controlled. That spending is under the control of the Mayor.
He oversees the Municipal budget process for presentation to the City Council and sits (as a voting member and chairperson) on the School Committee that approves the school budget.
Maybe the correct step would be to remove the Mayor as a member of the elected School Committee. This would allow the mayor to not be confused between his administrative duties to the city and the legislative responsibility as a school committee member.

Jack’s generic criticism is fair enough, but like Walter Mondale I must ask “where is the beef”? Yes, Yes, responsibility and authority must be earned. We get all those platitudes Jack. The question is who should be accountable for collective bargaining contracts that MUST be funded by the City taxpayers. On the City side the Mayor is responsible for negotiating the Agreements, and the City Council must approve them. As the Mayor and Council must set the mechanisms of finance for all school spending the question is who is accountable for asking the taxpayers to fund agreements that require expenditure of taxpayer money? You never answer that question. Instead you say “The bottom line is spending has not been adequately controlled. That spending is under the control of the Mayor.” Well that is just the point Jack! Well over 50 percent of the municipal budget IS NOT under “my control”. I might add that at budget time City Councils have the right, by majority vote, to reduce any line item in the city budget. They DO NOT have that authority when it comes to school budgets. And maybe they should not have that authority! But if they do not can they be blamed for ever increasing property taxes? If there is no line of responsibility to Mayor’s and City Councils then how can the critics reject increasing that responsibility and then holding people accountable? Does not make much sense to me. Lets take a look at what Jack casually dismisses in terms of overall numbers for school spending over a five year period.

School Net School Spending Number over 5 years. (Does not include Transportation costs, which are fully funded by the City outside of this number and which total over $3 million per year)

FY 2004 $43,466.798
FY 2005 $47,400,726
FY2006 $49,832,512
FY 2007 $52,094,405
FY 2008 $55,651,898
FY2009 $57,848,039

I do not post those numbers to be critical, but rather to point to the increase in the budget on the school side, much of it with state chapter 70 money. But not all of that increase is from Chapter 70. Much comes from property taxes.

Finally there is an implication that I have “added positions” or given out raises willy nilly. Come on critics, be fair. What specific instances are you referring to? And finally let me say that there is no confusion in my mind about the roles as Mayor and Chair of the School Committee. I sponsored, as a legislator, the charter change that made the Mayor (then Dennis DiZoglio) the chair of the School Committee. That change was ratified by the voters of Methuen. I would guess that given the opportunity the voters would make the same choice today.

My best wishes to Jack for a happy Christmas and a productive New Year. I look forward to a New Year filled with debate. I can only hope that the debate centers on empirical data, and not pre-ordained political positions.

Posted in Methuen, Methuen City Council, Municipal Finance, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | 6 Comments

More Authority for Mayors

Posted on December 24, 2008 by billmanzi

Today’s Eagle Tribune has a story talking about my belief that Mayor’s ought to have a greater role in the awarding of school side collective bargaining contracts. It was an accurate reflection of my position and one that I believe needs to be addressed by the Commonwealth as we enter the worst fiscal crisis of our lifetime.

My thoughts on this are flexible enough to allow the existing negotiating authority to remain as is, with some degree of mandatory authority given to the CEO of the community. That authority could take several forms, including the ability to set a financial ceiling, the ability to veto any contract that did not comport with the overall financial goals of the city, or the ability to directly negotiate the contracts. Additionally it is important that city side and school side contracts cover the same time periods, so unions do not continually use the last contracts given out by the “other” side of government as benchmarks.

Naturally any such suggestion will cause consternation on the school side. But the plain fact is that the responsibility for local property taxes does not lie with Superintendents and school committees. Their actions, under current law, must be funded by Mayors and City Councils at tax setting time. The proper roles of Superintendents and school committees is educational, and until the Commonwealth allows the school departments to send their own property tax bills to fund operations the CEO’s need to have a more direct say on matters that have a major impact on the financial life of their cities and towns. To ask for that authority is no reflection on school committees or superintendents, but is a recognition of the new dose of fiscal cold water being thrown in our face by the economy. With major cuts coming from the state in local aid that reality is now upon us. Read the Tribune story here.

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Clean Coal takes to airwaves

Posted on December 22, 2008 by billmanzi

“This is Reality” has put out a new ad “touting” clean coal. Pretty good humor for the holidays.

Posted in National News | Tagged , | 4 Comments