Monday/Tuesday.. what do I know

It felt like a Monday, so I once again missed the Board of Selectmen’s meeting. I’ll catch it on the rerun.

Brian posted about it over on his Dracut Politics blog, indicating two major topics came up.

The first is the Committee on Government Rules & Regulations. A committee that has been quietly performing its duties for years suddenly becomes activist once Mr Deeb is appointed to it. I have also heard that three of its members have decided to withdraw from it now, and that Town Moderator Gary McCarthy “regrets” the appointment as Brian says.

At the Finance Committee meeting, Town Manager Piendak indicated that Town Counsel had written an opinion arguing against this warrant article, for a reason that I actually saw when I first read it. The article takes away the rights of the appointing authority in choosing candidates, and places it on a state board and the Town Clerk. This goes against the Town Charter.

We discussed the DATV thing the other day on Saturday Morning Live. DATV showed up at a Selectman’s workshop to tape the meeting. There was nothing illegal about this. Some of the committee feel that it would have been fair to have prior notice so that the board can be dressed more appropriately.

There is some feel here from some that DATV is getting drawn into political squabbles. I’m not sure how true that is, but the talk is out there.

I have called repeatedly for all meetings to be televised and recorded. DATV should be spending whatever is necessary to install equipment at Harmony Hall or elsewhere that would allow any meeting director to turn on permanently installed equipment with ease.

Planning Board, Zoning Board, Finance Committee, Rec Commission.. they should all be broadcast so that the people of the town can see what it takes to run a town and appreciate the work that these boards do.