All Aboard!



From the Worcester Telegram
October 12, 2010

Administrator told to be in by 9 a.m.
STURBRIDGE — While he doesn’t punch a time clock, Town Administrator Shaun A. Suhoski is expected to be at his desk at 9 a.m.

Selectman Mary Blanchard said she’s heard what amounts to complaints from residents who’ve attempted to visit the town administrator only to find he wasn’t in. She termed the issue a serious matter and said she wanted Mr. Suhoski in the office at 8 a.m., when Town Hall opens.

But other board members said the previous administrator wasn’t held to such a rigid standard and agreed that 9 a.m. is a reasonable compromise. Selectmen were working to set goals for the administrator when the matter came up and dominated about a half hour with discussions.

Thomas R. Creamer, chairman of the board, said he’d heard similar comments and saw the time restriction as a “condition of employment” rather than a goal, but believes that time frames don’t determine how productive a person might be.

Mary Dowling said she didn’t want to set up a situation in which Mr. Suhoski might think he didn’t have to be in until 9 a.m. because there might be days when he needs to be in earlier.

“Nine is what we’re going to aim for,” she said.

Mr. Suhoski said he was sorry the matter took up so much time. He said that over the summer, when he did not have to drop off his children at school before his hour-long commute from Gardner, he did become lax and usually arrived at work by 10 a.m. and left in the early evening. His time sheets, he said, show he most always works more than 40 hours per week.
— Kim Ring

OK, I get it, based on the article above, we're all being taken for a ride on the Silly Train to Morontown.  That is the only explanation  I can come up with to justify why the subject in the article should ever come up.  Secondly, why would the subject ever make it to the newspaper?  Someone must think we all overdosed on Stupid Pills, and we'll accept most any kind of behavior here in town.

Now, bear with me, I have no clue as to what happens behind closed doors when a new job is explained to folks when they are hired, or what goes into their contracts.   I am on this damn train with the rest of you, and someone else is driving it.  One would think, better yet, one would know, that basic things like what days to show up at work, and what time to show up, and how to  long each work day was would be explained, and those things would also be written down in something like, oh , I don't know, like a contract.  Things like that happen in the beginning along with the directions on where to park their car.

The Town Administrator is not at his desk when the town hall opens for business each day?

Excuse me?

And, how long has this been going on?

One Select person is quoted as saying, " Nine is what we’re going to aim for" in regards to the time they expect the Town Administrator to be at work.

"...we're going to aim  for"?

Now, here comes the common sense.

If you agree that the new hire can come in late because they need to drop off their kids at school before they get to work, then so be it, you agreed, and hired them under that stipulation.  However, if the school bus duties were not used in the summer, and they still took their time coming to work, then we have a problem.  And, please, don't even mention an "hour long commute" again.  It's a simple fix.  Move closer, or leave earlier.  Or, avoid that entire issue, and apply only to jobs with a shorter commute.  Simple.

Oh, another thing, you don't "aim for" anything that is a condition of employment, you say it, and the expectation is set.


Coming to work as a Town administrator at 10:00 in the morning?  And, he stated, he leaves early in the evening?  Well, duh, 6:00 PM is early in the evening, and that is eight hours for the day, not counting lunch. 
 
Thank goodness the rocket scientist isn't the one driving this train.

Wait a minute, I think he is.

All Around Us There Are Lessons To Be Learned

Freedom of Speech
Norman Rockwell © 1943

After people vocalized their displeasure with the Registry of Motor Vehicles move to an inconvenient, and unsafe location on the Mass Pike, it is finally back home again in Southbridge on LaRochelle Way.  A much safer, and more convenient place.

Only took a year of negotiations.  RMV Registrar Rachel Kaprielian stated repeatedly that the Mass Pike site was safe.

And, her job is safety.  Cripes.

Well, the good news is that the RMV is now located in a place that has plenty of parking, and is convenient to all.  At the former Senior Center in the old Train Station, the RMV is now full service, and will also handle road tests at the site.  The road tests were previously held in Sturbridge during that Limbo period when the RMV was on the Pike.

This whole episode in Central Mass politics shows just what can be done to correct a wrong when people are loud enough, and persistent enough.  The key to their success?  The people refused to give up. They refused to accept something that was so obviously flawed.  They saw that those in the know should have known better, and refused to give in.  Those in charge repeatedly stated the original move was due to state budget woes, but their action was so severe, and so poorly thought out, that one would have a very hard time ever believing that that was really the reason.

Well, that is all old news, and the new, good news is that all those voices that  rose up together in a chorus of defiance, and demanded action, were finally heard.

Can I get an "Amen"?

A little further northwest of Southbridge in Brimfield there are some voices rising up as well.  The plan to put ten wind turbines with 250 foot towers with 250 foot blades on top of West Mountain in Brimfield has pulled the towns pigtails enough to get a major reaction from the people.  Selectmen took a trip to Maine to check out another First Wind wind farm, and some were not too impressed by the noise the turbines made, or the "flicker effect" thrown over the country side.  At a recent meeting in Brimfield attended by 250 people, the  Board of Selectmen listened to the people, and voted unanimously not to sign a Memorandum of Understanding between the town and First Wind.  The memo was  non-committal, and would have provided the town with $30,000 from First Wind for further research into the noise and other effects that were of a concern to the town.  None the less, they said "No thank you".

What's next?  No one has a clue, but the town has spoken.  The people have spoken.  Maybe First Wind will submit different plans.

So, here is todays lesson.  The united, consistent voice of the people will be heard eventually.  Don't ever forget that.  If enough people feel the same way about an issue, then it can happen.  Backing off, and lowering the volume of those voices will almost always insure that the opposite will occur.

When we hear of issues in town that cause concern, whether they be sidewalks, sewers, or intersections, if there are no united, consistent voices expressing concern, or need for change, then the other side has been handed a ticket for a free ride.

Take this lesson to heart.  It will come in handy in so many different ways in the future if you learn it well now.

Class dismissed.

I Can Hear The Jeopardy Theme Playing Now

There are now ten sewer options currently before the Board of Selectmen for old Route 15.  The options were presented by Dave Prickett of Tighe & Bond last Monday night. Which one the town will pursue?  Well, which ever one they choose, it will be very telling.

From a low cost of $5 Million dollars that would include the Jellystone Park Campground, but not the retirement community, to a higher cost of $13 million for a longer sewer line to serve more residents that would also reduce the overall cost to individuals, and to an option with a much higher cost of $26 million that would include a satellite treatment facility.  This option would give the highest waste treatment to the area according to Tighe & Bond.  There are seven other sewer options in between the low end of $5 million and the high of $26 million.

The choice will be based on a lot more than just cost.  The choice will be based no only on where the current folks on the Board  see the town in 10 years, but where they want the town to be as well.  If built too restrictive, and small, the system would not be able to support enough growth to make it all worthwhile.  Build it too big, and it will accommodate a lot of growth, but do we want to grow too big?

The is a the basic "Goldilocks Conundrum".  The GC, as we like to call it here at TOLIS , since we made it up, is figuring out which option is "just right".

Hmmm.  Bring on that theme music!

I really like to watch these thing play out. How they are decided upon, and the debate leading up to that eventual decision are very telling. They not only tell us the direction the town would like to take, but where some folks would like to take the town.  That can be like winning an Oscar for for some people if they  happen to decide on the same direction  the majority of people in town would like to go, or it can be their political undoing.

It's like some rural reality TV show playing out on Selectmen meetings broadcast on cable TV, and in letters to the editor.

Ya gotta love it.

Something as simple as how involved the sewer system should be on old Route 15 can reveal so much about those making the decision.

Now, if the first option is decided on then the road stays essentially as it is.  A few more businesses. that's about it. A lot of money, a lot of work with very little return, but they have to throw it out there.

The,  second option, I listed above, is better,  but still restrictive as to how much growth will be allowed.

The third is very good, but do we want to open ourselves up to that much more growth.  On I-84?

Hell yes.  Maybe we don't need a mega project, but we definitely need one that will allow for future growth.

For 45 years that goldmine of a road has essentially been ignored by the town.  Any other town in the nation would have capitalized on a major highway interstate rolling though it decades ago.  To think we have TWO of them intersecting right in the middle of town, and with the exception of a few roadsigns long covered by tree growth, we have done little to snatch that traffic off the highway, and lead them into our  businesses.  More businesses on Route 15, off I-84, would not only be a convenient location for people with a destination in mind, such as a sports complex, but would be a great place for businesses that would serve travelers as well.

The area is out of the center of town, and, essentially, in the boonies, so the traffic impact would not be felt up near the common, but what an impact the numbers would have on those businesses built along Route 15.

Cha-ching!  Can you say, "Revenue stream"?  Actually, more like a river if done right.

I will be watching this reality show closely as most of you will, too.  Let us hope that our elected representatives will listen to us, weigh our concerns, get back to us with answers if they don't have any, and put our opinions on the front burner.  If we need more information to make a good decision, then it is their job to teach us.  Just don't go it alone.  Representatives do just that, represent, they don't fly solo.

Soloist still need help from the ground.


To read the article on the subject in the  Tantasqua Town Common click here.

Tell Me Again

Zen And The Art Of Local Politics

Sometimes I feel a need to address some of the comments left after some of posts, but I refrain, and let them grow on their own.  It works well.  Then there are times when I am drawn to respond to a general feeling I get from those comments.

Today is one of those times.

Seems that there is a general sense of frustration going around, and as with most symptoms, it can only get worse  before it ever gets better.

With most towns, there is always a certain amount of frustration that is around.  When there are a variety of opinions, and one of them is the one that wins out over the others, there will always be those that are frustrated to a point.  Real, deep frustration comes from this scenario happening over and over again.

A lot like the Red Sox felt for eighty six years.

It's that real, deep frustration that  I am feeling here in town from the comments that are being left.

I know the feeling.  I can get frustrated, too. I can get frustrated about local things, job things, family things, national things.  A  lot of things can frustrate me, but, they don't.  Not much, and those things that do, I have learned to deal with for the most part.  Sometimes effectively, sometimes I could have done better.

Now, I am not some "better than thou" guy.  Far from it.  I've just learned, over time,  that some things I have the power to change, and other things I don't have the power to change.  Sort of like a little Serenity Prayer playing in the background to make things clearer for me.  You know the one...

God grant me the serenity 

to accept the things I cannot change; 

courage to change the things I can;

and wisdom to know the difference.

It's that "wisdom to know the difference" part that took me some time to get right.

Now, I don't mean to get all spiritual on you.  Not at all.  It's not only a prayer, but secular sage advise as well.  Whatever team you are playing for, the words mean the same.

The ability of being able to change something is not only based on where your head is at, but on who you are, if you wield any power, if you are respected, or if you just intimidate people.  Both work, it's just one is a better way than the other.  Now, depending on where you stand in the scheme of things will depend on how much you can influence change.

So, for those out there that are frustrated by events, it's OK, just redirect the energy spent on being frustrated elsewhere.  Maybe towards something that will evoke change.

Start small.  Attend a meeting of a board, or committee.  Listen.  Maybe the next time say something.  Speak your mind.  You will feel something, and it won't be frustration.  It will be accomplishment.  Frustration, in a different way, will definitely come, but you now know how to get over it, and to change it.

Redirect the energy.  

Be Zen like. Moving on does not mean giving up.

Think on it, then see what happens.