During the Board of Selectmen’s meeting this evening, Selectman John Zimini made two proposals. One was to eliminate the annual gasoline reimbursement, and a second was to eliminate all pay to elected officials.

Although there was discussion on the first article, each article died for lack of a “second” to the motion.

Zimini’s reasoning was that because the town had asked all the unions to pass up their annual pay raises last year, it would be appropriate for the town leaders to do something similar. “We should take leadership on this,” he said.

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According to the Sun, the Community Preservation Committee is still looking into the Richardson property along Bridge St for new elderly affordable housing.

At this point, however, the committee has chosen to stop committing funds for studies and investigations until a price is settled.

The Richardson family knows that the more the CPC puts into the project, the more valuable the land is.

The article also reminds us that there is a long waiting list for state money for these projects (we were at the front of that list last year, but passed on the opportunity probably putting us back to the end of the line).

The town meeting got off pretty much on time. The quorum was close, but we made it (I still would prefer a zero quorum).

The first couple articles quickly were deferred until June. One was about changing the “envelope” around the APR property Mrs Ogonowski lives within.. the other about the town taking over two sewer lift stations.

The Budget item passed easily. It was mostly a reorganizing of some items, and adjusting the revenue figures to meet the actuals we’ve seen so far. (and the GLTech finally got their cash.. lol). At times I wish we could just “call the question” rather than hear all the details, but then again I would complain if I didn’t hear them.

The contentious article turned out not to be Louisburg (which was basically moot, so it was voted on just to get it over with), but the raising of sewer tie-in fees.

Finance Chair Gary Marsella came out saying that homeowner’s sewer rates were “in peril” if this wasn’t passed.

Bill Morin then spoke in favor of the bill, saying that he had had the sewer commission before the “Government Rules and Regulations” committee to explain this to them. In my mind, I was thinking “is that their role? I thought their position was to review the legality of the wording of new bylaws .. not rule on a recommendation of the content.”

Then the fireworks started (other than the microphone feedback problems).

Selectman Jim O’Loughlin came forward speaking to the need. Nobody had come to the selectmen saying why they needed more money, only that “other towns had done it, so why don’t we.” Tewksbury and Chelmsford, he pointed out, were not an example of the direction he wanted Dracut to go in.

He challenged Marsella on using the “in peril” line as a scare tactic. He didn’t believe sewer fees would be raised while the town studied the issue for a few months first. Nobody showed that the sewer commission needed additional money, only that they had found a way to get more.. at the cost of new home buyers and new businesses.

The rest of the Board of Selectmen had agreed with O’Loughlin, except- of course, John Zimini.

Zimini came out and immediately started mocking O’Loughlin’s statements, and made a great old fashioned Democrat pledge to support the “homeowners” and people on “fixed incomes”.

In my mind, once again, I was thinking that he was supposed to be the selectmen in support of bringing new businesses to town. An additional $2500 per unit on larger businesses such as those on 113 could cost a new business another quarter to half million dollars. When comparing locations between towns like Dracut, Tewksbury , etc.. its nice to be on the low side of fees and taxes to be competitive.

The town meeting voted not to defer, but to vote on the article, and then quickly voted to pass it (I belive on the belief that it was saving their sewer fees from increasing). I think this was at a cost to the town of future businesses, but like Obama’s “jobs created or saved”.. that just can’t be measured.

Something may have gone on in the Selectmen’s meeting before the town meeting, I’m not sure (I was over at the Salvation Army meeting). But Zimini did not just come out to speak.. he came out angry again. It seems to be his common theme lately.

It almost feels like we’ve got two people running against each other for office here.. with Zimini building his support structure throughout the town committees, while O’Loughlin is using conservative values to build a support base among the general populace.

PS. Props to Selectman Bob Cox for taking his stand on the Louisburg Vote, and then leading the applause for the woman who lives at the building who spoke to the disgust she felt towards the people who spoke as if she lived in a tenement. She loves her home, and feels that the whole Louisburg argument come down against the seniors in town and the opponents should feel ashamed of themselves.

DRACUT — A proposal to bring a Walgreens pharmacy to a busy part of town was shot down last night by the Planning Board in a 3-2 vote.

Board member Brian Bond said the new store would not satisfy any of the requirements for granting the special building permit required by the project.

“Is it in harmony with the intent of the bylaw?” Bond asked. “I don’t believe it was ever the intent of the bylaw to put such a large development into such a crowded area.”

The proposal called for Walgreens to take five lots to build a store next to Coburn Avenue, near the intersection of Lakeview Avenue and Mammoth Road. The larger area is zoned for commercial use, but the immediate neighbors of the development would all have been residential homes.

Despite the fact that current zoning bylaws could have allowed it, some board members argued that the impact to the neighborhood would be too great.

“The people I consider most are the people who are going to wake up each morning and see it,” said board member Robert Donnelly. “I don’t like it. I just think it’s wrong.”

Donnelly added that he thought the store, the lot for which would take up nearly 10 times the square footage of an average lot in that area, was too big and would be open too many hours each day.

Not everyone was against the project. Chairman Phil Thibault and member George Nangle voted in favor.

Thibault said he could see no legitimate reason to deny the special permit under current zoning bylaws. The area is zoned for commercial use, and the town’s master plan calls for lots in a commercial area to be one acre or more. That means the residential homes, the lots of which are all under one acre, are the ones not complying with zoning, Thibault said.

“Is a project of this size appropriate to this area? Our zoning bylaw says it is,” he said.

In order for the board to grant the special building permit, four of the five members would have had to vote in favor of the project, and not enough shared Thibault’s opinion.

Most argued that the project was too big and would draw too much traffic to the area, hurting the surrounding neighborhood.

“It’s a huge building that’s going to be dropped into a tight neighborhood,” Bond said. “The site is unable to provide that level of service.”

When Thibault announced that the proposal had been defeated, the crowd of about 40 residents applauded. Most said afterward that the store would have had too great an impact on town streets.

“It’s hard to say you’re going to stop progress, unless you have a good reason — and the reason is traffic,” one resident said. “It affects the whole neighborhood.”

Also voting against was member Philip Greene.

DRACUT — Town planners may have rejected a plan to bring Walgreens to Dracut, but residents who own the land are now planning to sell their lots so a strip mall can be built at the intersection of Mammoth Road and Lakeview Avenue instead.

And town officials and residents apparently can’t stop them.

“We’re just following the rules,” said Norman Marx, who lives at 1175 Mammoth Road. “We cannot sell it for anything other than commercial and we can’t build any other homes on it.”

Marx can sell the homes on his property to developers who can legally build commercial buildings up to 5,000 square feet without any approval from town officials. There’s enough space to fit several buildings on his property — enough for a strip mall, according to Marx.

“We have to move on with our life. We’re getting older and we have to move to a smaller place. It will be sold,” said Marx.

Marx and his wife Fran live in one home on the property, while his wife’s 93-year-old parents live in an adjacent house. The Marxes plan to sell the entire property so that all four of them can buy one home and they can care for the elderly couple.

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I heard that John Zimini was having a fundraiser last week, sponsored by Colleen Garry and Tim Murray. I think Joe Dirocco showed me his invitation. (I feel so left out… lol)

A fundraiser in an off year? I have nothing against that. I encourage more of them.

There has been some talk about town lately that Colleen may not run next year, and a number of people have been showing interest in running. There’s no official word, so for now I’ll bet against it.

From the Sun Column:

Dracut Selectman John Zimini said there is a very good reason he decided to throw a fundraiser even though he is not up for re-election until 2011; It was hosted by Lt Gov Tim Murray.
Bu the two-term selectman said he is not targeting State Sen Susan Tucker, state Rep. Colleen Garry, or any other higher position for that matter. Garry, in fact, co-sponsored the fete.
“I’m happy being a selectman,” Zimini said, explaining that the fundraiser; held at the Village Inn and attended by about 150 people, was just a matter of timing. “(Murray) and I have become pretty friendly over the years and he asked a while ago if there was anything he could do to repay me for my help in his campaigns. I figured we’d try this and see how it goes.”
Zimini, whose term ends in 2011, said the fundraiser was a risky move. A small turnout would lead to speculation that he is no longer relevant and has not support. In Zimini’s case, the sizeable crowd was an encouragement.
“I was very peased with the outcome,” ZImini said. “It could have easily gone either way. That’s the chance you take.”
It also demonstrates that ZImini has powerful friends in high places.

Now, Zimini may say that he is not targeting a higher office right now, but it sure seemed like he was giving a campaign speech last night during the discussion of naming the Canney Recreation facility after firefighters Dillon and McInespie who were lost in the line of duty back in the 1930’s.

“I was in support of firefighters before there were firefighters..” or somesuch speech.. which seemed awfully out of place, while the proposer of the motion, Joe DiRocco (a lifetime firefighter and past chief) had a stack of 1930s newspaper articles in front of him that he had gotten from the families of the deceased firefighters.

Seemed like a “steal your thunder” move to me.

Monday night’s School Committee meets Monday at 7:00 at the High School Library.

It will be interesting to see if they have any sort of budget worked out yet. This morning’s paper continues to discuss the situation in an article by the Lowell Sun’s Bridget Scrimenti (Dracut’s new reporter) on teachers losing jobs in the recession.

Once again, the school department was less than helpful to the press.. “The school superintendents office could not provide numbers on how many teachers were laid-off and how many will be hired back,” she wrote. Well, the number laid off should be public information, so I don’t see why anyone should have to fight to get that. How many will come back, that will only be known if we ever get a budget from the schools.

The Board of Selectmen’s meeting on Tuesday looks most interesting. The meeting is being held for the first time at Harmony Hall. Lets hope they all remember the word “Harmony.”

We have DATV coming in to visit. I’m sure that will be a very fun exchange. They’ve been “invited” to discuss their operation during that exchage a few weeks ago regarding the filming of a meeting over at the town hall.

Also up for discussion, hopefully for the last time, will be additional lighting for Veteran’s Park. This in itself will probably turn into another long discussion that has to be had, but needs to get settled.

I hear that we also have a couple local businesses being brought in for selling liquor to minors again.. at least one of them is a repeat.. that always brings out the best in our boys.

Update: I am told through my underground sources that 70 letters of layoff went out at the beginning of the month

From The Open Space Committee:

The Open Space Committee is going to hike the new trail through the Meadow Creek Golf Course this Sunday, 22nd March, at 2:30PM. If you would like to join us, please park near the clubhouse and be dressed for hiking.

The golf course has a great walking/hiking trail that is open to the public (as part of their permit for operation in town I believe).

This is a great opportunity for the townsfolk to check out the golf course and the available walking trail.

As the Lowell Sun reports this morning, Dennis Piendak feels that the town is handling things pretty well at least for this year.

Piendak is hoping to whittle that down, using contributions from the town school budget, Greater Lowell Technical High School and money from the FEMA disaster declaration in the wake of December’s ice storm.

“That gets us down to about $149,000, and we continue to identify savings,” Piendak said, adding that another $3,300 was saved when the printing fee for excise tax bills was recently waived. Smaller cost-cutting measures, such as the elimination of all bottled-water purchases, also have been implemented.

“Superintendent (W. Spencer) Mullin has already given us confirmation that we will get back $75,000 from the School Department,” Piendak said. “Whether we get the $25,000 from (Greater Lowell Tech) remains to be seen.”

And while layoffs do not seem imminent, town employees can expect a hiring freeze and no salary increases for a while. This drew criticism from board members who learned last week that the School Department has hired 53 people since July. In addition, the School Committee recently approved a salary increase for teachers of about 8 percent over the next three years, and a 5 percent raise for school administrators.Selectman Joe DiRocco made a motion to send a letter to the School Department, as well as Greater Lowell Tech, asking them to institute wage freezes for one year.