Some money still exists in the concert fund, so we may be able to have the concert as well. Anyone willing to donate towards this contact Barb at the Town Hall Selectmen’s office.

Last weekend, a large turnout showed up at the Water District annual meeting.

The commissioners were given an opportunity to try to sell an increase in their stipend, but the people did not go for it, voting 50-13 against.

I was happy to hear the turnout was so great (I was out of town for the weekend, but paying attention).

I really think the use of water fees should be as carefully protected as every other taxpayer dollar, and saw no reason to be increasing these fees other than to benefit the commissioners personally.

The quote in the paper by Mike Blatus indicating that commissioners used to make $8000 bothered me, as I seem to remember being told that as clerk he was taking an annual fee of $20,000.

There is no reason to go back to those days.

The school committee meeting welcomed the new member, Betsy Murphy. A number of students were recognized for achievements, and the board asked that they return next month so that they can be more formerly recognized.  Oh, and it looks like Dr Mike McNamara is the chairman again.

At the Board of Selectmen’s meeting, we finally had the start of a discussion regarding the properties whose use the School Committee is currently considering.  Right now, they are presenting to the Selectmen the leasing of the Parker Elementary to the Middlesex special ed group.

There were no numbers presented, and it seems that the town’s lawyer is in communication with the School Department’s lawyer (anyone want to complain about town/school spending here?  wonder what those meetings are costing us to have us talk to ourselves).

The school committee did add a new meeting for next Monday evening to discuss their town meeting strategy (push for a proposition 2-1/2 tax override).

As you can see in the previous posting, The Library continues to have interesting events. This weekend on Saturday from 9:00 to 3:00 is the book sale, including the Jr Friends bake sale. Stop by and get some summer reading material.

M.G. Parker Memorial Library.  28 Arlington Street.  Dracut, MA.  978-454-5474.

Raised in a South Boston housing project, James “Whitey” Bulger became the most wanted fugitive of
his generation. In their riveting book, award-winning Boston Globe reporters Kevin Cullen and Shelley Murphy follow Whitey’s extraordinary criminal career—from teenage thievery to bank robberies to the building of his underworld empire and a string of brutal murders. Join them for
an evening of intrigue.

Kevin Cullen, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist who has written for the Boston Globe since 1985, was the first to raise questions about Whitey Bulger’s relationship with the FBI. A frequent commentator on NPR and the BBC, Cullen has won major journalism prizes including the Goldsmith Prize, the George Polk Award, and the Selden Ring Award.

Shelley Murphy has covered Whitey Bulger and organized crime in Boston since 1985, beginning at the Boston Herald and moving to the Globe in 1993. She has won a George Polk Award for National Reporting.

This program is free and open to the public.  Please register online at www.dracutlibrary.org.  Sponsored by the Friends of Dracut Library.

All donors must be between the ages of 18 and 44.

The drive consists of swabbing your cheek and testing it to see if you are a possible match to a patient that needs a Bone Marrow transplant.

There will be a raffle with prizes donated by local businesses and all proceeds will go to the be the Match foundation.

If you would like to donate raffle prizes or money to the Be The Match Foundation please contact Peter Goulet at (978) 957-5236

While many are claiming mismanagement of money in the town, nobody is watching what is happening over at the water district, where two of the commissioners have proposed doubling their own pay.

Where is all the outrage about wasted money?

When you look at your water bill, which has gone up significantly over the last few years, don’t you wonder why some of that money didn’t go to the schools? Do the schools get a discount? How do they measure the water use at the schools?

Yet at the DWSD town meeting this upcoming Saturday morning (9:00 a.m. at Harmony Hall), it will probably only be about 20-30 people who show up.. mostly employees and family members, to decide on the spending of those funds.. in this case to the benefit of the elected officials.

But yeah, we can’t blame that on George Malliaros or Cathy Richardson, so we don’t care about that.

But we have been informed that former Selectman George Malliaros may run for State Reprentative against Colleen Garry in the next election.

Seems like a “fight” or “altercation” or “incident” occurred at the Sports Zone following the election this week.

Billy McMahon and Dan O’Connell seem to have gotten into some sort of disagreement.. police are involved, charges flying..

I had heard about this a couple days ago, but the fact is I just attribute it to the anger and division that has settled on the town.

I spent the evening at the UMass Lowell South campus, attending a ceremony where he received a Leadership award that resulted from his creation of a university organization to help former foster children and other students learn their way through the maze of administration.

Good on him.

So thats why I really wasn’t paying much attention at the town.

As to the Election…

The threat of an override was a driving force in the campaign, but its interesting that on the school election the voters chose the two most in support of a large override, while in the Selectmen race (the race that most counts when it comes to actually raising revenue) they chose the two most apt to lack support for the large override.

An evaluation of the “blanks” may tell us something about whether a people just turned out for the school race or the selectmen race.  We’ll have to look at that later.

In the School Race, I was sort of surprised in that Miles came in last. Significantly. But then again, I really didn’t see him trying too hard this time, and even he agreed that all three candidates were good and he wouldn’t be hurt not to win it this time.

The schools need people who can figure out how to do more with less. The school department is tasked with spending, so support for or against an override doesn’t mean much in that race, but some voters may have thought so.  I need to review the figures some more, to compare them to the race for selectmen.

Miles’ focus on the at-risk student population did not bring him the support this time, as the election was about overall spending on education. I can understand that.

The override question will be over in a couple months, and having two members who understand the education system can’t be bad as the board has to figure out how to move forward.

In the race for the two Selectmen’s seats, I always saw it as a three way race between Malliaros, Richardson and Archinski. 

Nason didn’t bring much to the table, and had little knowledge of the issues.  You can’t win on a platform of “they’re all bad, throw them all out” unless you bring a reason for the voters to vote for you.

Dristiliaris had a history of being involved in some town functions, both public and private, but the fact is, she was unknown.  The Garry/Bond campaign behind her did get her some significant votes, but what she did become was the spoiler in the three way race.

Archinski had built up a base in his prior election runs, and continues to have strong union support. Richardson and Malliaros brought their own voting base to the table. All three thus arrived with about the same number of votes.

The “throw everyone out” crowd, that always exists..especially in a bad economy.. threw their support to Archinski and Dristiliaris, thus pushing Archinski to the top of the group of three.

As to second place, Richardson’s strong “no new taxes” stand pushed her over the line.

I’m told that someone started a rumor that the vote for an override was on the ballot, and that brought out a number of people. I think it was intended to bring out the “parent” crowd, but instead I’m told elderly were calling town hall during the day concerned that they didn’t see the question when they voted, or that they didn’t understand why it would be on the ballot yet.

This rumor may have brought out a large anti tax contingent, and be a harbinger for the future.

Selectmen:

• Tony Archinski: 2360
• Cathy Richardson: 2285
• George Malliaros: 2219
• Tami Dristiliaris: 2008
• Gil Nason: 471

School Committee:

• Betsy Murphy: 3100
• Mike McNamara: 3068
• Mike Miles: 2110

In other races unopposed races:

• Leo Gaudette for Moderator: 4017
• George Nangle for Housing Commissioner: 4047
• Clee Ace for Library Trustee: 4144
• Bob Corey for Water Commissioner: 3163

Gabriel Gomez won the Republican Primary, and he did win Dracut with 958 out of 1794 Republican voters.

On the Democrat side, Stephen Lynch beat out Markey: 2369 to 1098, out of 3492 Democrat voters.

Seems a bit hypocritical.

Throughout this campaign you have been complaining on your DATV shows about the stipend that Selectmen get while serving on the board.

Yet over at the Dracut Water Supply District, your Co-Host Bill Morin has proposed raising his own stipend from $2500 to $5000 a year.

What say you to that?

In his letter to the ratepayers, Morin says:

“In order to continue to keep our rates competitive in this difficult economic time, I personally will be reviewing the new hire employee benefits package and will push to establish cost sustaining or possible cost reducing by-laws.”

Raising his own benefit, yet looking at how to reduce others.

And yet, over at Article 12 on their Town Meeting warrant (to be held May 11th), he and Bill Zielinski call for the setting of the commissioners annual stipend to $5000. (as you can see in last year’s warrant, it was $2500 last year).

I would bet people would be watching your next show, awaiting your questioning of Morin on this issue.

I have already asked Bob Corey to appear on Saturday Morning Live this weekend on 980 WCAP. He will be appearing at 8:00 a.m.

We held an on-air poll of callers, open to everyone, with over a day’s notice, of Dracut voters on who they will vote for in Tuesday’s election.

The Results:

In the School Committee Race (2 seats available):

Mike Miles: 14

Dr McNamara: 8

Betsy Murphy: 5

And in the Race for Selectmen (also 2 seats up for election):

George Malliaros: 18

Cathy Richardson: 11

Tony Archinski: 11

Tami D (not gonna catch me on that again): 2

Gil Nason: 0

Again, this was unscientific, but gave us a chance to talk with voters about the election for a couple hours.

Thus, they lost the right to comment at all.

He was pointing out that an elected politician should not be providing input into a discussion via a letter. By doing so, he puts himself above the other members by denying the ability to discuss and challenge the statement.

That was a fair statement. You don’t see Selectmen when away or other school committee members when they’re out “mailing it in.”

The spinning of Malliaros’ point into something ugly, when he was trying to make the point light-heartedly, is just wrong and another example of one side working hard to split the community.

It is rare for me, but I now offer Mr Malliaros the location in front of my house for a political sign, and offer my support.  I think he earned it for the attacks that have been put on him while he tries to help resolve the budget issues.

Override options

On the point of the override, this morning’s paper informs us that the Selectmen will be offering an option of an override of a much more reasonable size, matched against the ending of our participation in the CPC program.

In the long run, taxes would stay about the same, and the schools would stay stable as we work ourselves out of the recession.

As to other options, on “their side,” the schools are sitting on three major assets: the Parker School, the admin building, and an unused wing at the Junior High School.

By turning over admin building to the town (and moving the administration to one of the two other properties), that asset could be converted to the cash needed for the school district tech upgrade and the Campbell School repairs, with some left over for municipal needs and a permanent new tax revenue source.

There isn’t a huge rush for the tech upgrade, in that the high school tech install doesn’t occur until the end of the project, and it would probably reduce costs to do the whole town at once… and this option would also allow the town to use some of the generated cash to upgrade its technology needs as well.

I watched the joint Selectmen and School Committee meeting and wondered when someone was going to come up with any ideas about how to best utilize the town’s money. Only one “idea” was mentioned – eliminating the CPA tax to make a new tax. All that does is redistribute money we’re already spending, and not necessarily in such a way that will save the town money in the long run. There were no cost-saving measures mentioned that will do anything close to the good that the CPA program has done. The money that has been spent during the CPA program will help the town because preserving land means fewer houses and children needing services.

Where are the ideas such as lowering the thermostat in all town buildings; reallocating schedules and shifts to eliminate or reduce overtime expenses; asking the DPW and school maintenance department to work together when necessary; combining purchasing of supplies in all departments so that we get a better rate; turning off lights when a building is closed; mailing student packages using bulk mailing rates as opposed to regular mail and, while you’re at it, combining all students from one family into one package; putting forms online and asking people to download them and send them in or drop them off; setting up compost bins in the town buildings to lessen trash tonnage; redistricting the schools in such a way that fewer buses are needed; rearranging the schedule so that lunch is after recess so students are hungry enough to eat their food instead of wasting it; reviewing what books/magazines are purchased for the schools’ libraries when we have these same ones available at the town library; utilizing vacant buildings in such a way that they make money; and petitioning our state legislators to review the funding for the Greater Lowell Tech or get additional funding for the town.

Kudos if any of these suggestions have already been implemented! If one person can come up with these, imagine what 10 people with a better knowledge of the inner workings of the town, and who collaborate with each other, can come up with. Dracut has proven time and time again that when we work together we succeed in a big way. The DSF Telethon, Old Home Day, and the renovations to the high school are perfect examples of that. The divisiveness needs to stop before these battles tear the town apart.

Those who are currently candidates for office cannot participate, in that they we would have to be sure everyone came in (but then again, if everyone wants to .. I’m up for that).

So, if your are interested in promoting a tax override, or discussing why you don’t agree with one, let me know in the comments here, or email me at sjashe@comcast.net.

What we’ve found so far is that nobody wants to discuss it, unless its with others in their own close circle of supporters.

…….

and as always, comments that come in that are unattributed, use fake names, or even moreso use multiple names from the same source, get moderated away magically.

I have been getting such from all sides in the election and just been tossing them away.

Find other venues to do the unfair, anonymous attacks.

Earlier in the day, members Joe Wilkie and Dan O’Connell, on their own, presented a warrant article to the town clerk that makes a request of a permanent $2.9 million Proposition 2-1/2 tax limitation override. That’s nearly three million dollars in increased taxes a year.. forever.

At an earlier meeting, the Town Manager told us that this would add about $300 a year to the property tax of the average home, on top of the $250 a year that will start appearing on next years bill to pay for the High School and Greater Lowell Tech renovations.

Wilkie and O’Connell did this on their own, without waiting for the input from other members of the school committee.

Last week, member Matt Sheehan had put forth a warrant article calling for the towns withdrawal from the Community Preservation Act program. He did this independently, after the school committee decided that they did not want to do such as a board. He did this to show his support of the Town Manager’s proposal.

At tonight’s meeting, Sheehan presented his support for Town Manager Piendak’s proposal to request an override to the town of $750,000, to be split among town departments with the majority of the funding going to the schools.  Ultimately, no vote was taken.

Following the meeting, Mike Miles said “We need an override, there’s no doubt about it.” But in referring to the Wilkie/O’Connell proposal, he was concerned that it was so much, and did not have support of the Town Manager and Selectmen.

“The manager’s proposal has a better chance, and I’d rather go with something more secure than take a chance,” he said.

Dr McNamara did not attend, and therefore did not take a formal stand on an override. As a candidate for re-election this would not look good for him, but he has always spoken in favor of the larger override.. so his opinion is known.

By putting forth the article calling for a nearly three million dollar override first, and then going to the board, Wilkie and O’Connell have continued to divide the town. This time it is in a division of the school committee itself by driving an override proposal without even asking for  board support.

The board ended its meeting after 15 minutes, with no unanimous support of any proposal, and a divided community.

 UPDATE: I updated that statement about Dr McNamara, it seemed too harsh. If he had not made it known ahead of time that he would support the article, it would have been weak and unfair not to be at the meeting, but his opinion was known from all the statements he had made in the past.  I would have liked to hear his opinion, however, of the others making the decision for the board.

Update again: I just found a voicemail from Dr Mc that came in after I fell asleep. He had been at a previous meeting that night at 5:30 with the school committee, and had to leave attend a family event.

He made the point that he is in full support of  the proposal put forth by Wilkie/O’Connell, and believes that the “town manager’s proposal will not provide what is necessary for the schools.”

FOLLOWING A controversy Monday about money raised in a benefit concert, Dracut School Committee member Mike Miles confirmed having a 20-year feud with Dracut’s 19-year incumbent state Rep. Colleen Garry.

Miles labeled Garry a “bully,” death-penalty flip-flopper, Teflon-coated campaign-finance violator, powerless House member and political opportunist who disappears in non-election years.

Garry’s none too thrilled with Miles, either, saying his recent actions are “downright evil” and that he needs to end “the political crap.”

Miles dates the fallout to Garry’s first campaign, as a pro-death-penalty candidate. Garry said she reversed herself “after years of serving on the Criminal Justice Committee and hearing hundreds of hours of testimony and facts of the costs of trying to put someone to death.” Miles points to Daniel LaPlante of Townsend, who killed a woman and her two small children in 1987. “If anyone deserved the death penalty, I thought at the time, it was him,” said Miles, a 34-year Lowell police officer.

The Garry-Miles feud ignited publicly on Monday night. Superintendent of Schools Steven Stone, responding to a question from committee Chairman Michael McNamara, said he had not received an accounting from the Dracut Performing Arts Boosters of how, or if, the group spent $18,000 raised by Hollywood actor and Dracut native Scott Grimes at last year’s Lowell concert to benefit the district’s music department.

“She made it seem like she was coming to the rescue of the kids in the music program with this Scott Grimes thing — of course, right before the election, surprise, surprise,” said Miles. “Nine months later, we don’t know where the money went, $18,000. There’s been no itemized list of expenditures, according to the superintendent. As a School Committee, it makes sense that we should know.”

The concert was Garry’s idea. She said the show was a success — no thanks to Miles, who didn’t attend.

She also blasted Miles for supporting her opponent last fall, Selectman Cathy Richardson, who opposed the Dracut High School project. It’s one more sign Miles doesn’t care about the schools, she said.

Miles said Garry promoted the Grimes concert to score political points in an election year by exploiting budget cuts and user fees imposed on student musicians.

Garry demanded a public apology.

“It’s about time Mr. Miles cuts the political crap, appreciated the work by volunteers to help our kids, and maybe this time he will even go to the concert to show his appreciation to Scott Grimes and the group instead of questioning their integrity,” said Garry, referring to the second Grimes fundraiser, set for June 1 at LoKai Restaurant.

“To insinuate anyone involved did anything wrong is outrageous, and he owes everyone involved a public apology,” said Garry.

The Dracut Performing Arts Boosters voted on April 1 on how to spend the money, and she did not have a vote in the decision, Garry said.

“I have just tried to help the program, of which I’m an alum and of which my nieces take part in. And for Mr. Miles to try to hijack this great program for political fodder is downright evil, and he should be ashamed of himself.”

Miles said Garry has inexplicably received a “free pass” from constituents despite a poor voting-attendance record at times, serving on two “stupid, non-impact (House) committees,” and being assessed a $5,000 fine by the state Office of Campaign Finance following her defeat of Richardson.

And he indicated Garry shouldn’t hold her breath waiting for that apology.

“It seems like everybody waltzes around this lady … She gets admonished by the Ethics Commission, and makes it look like she’s the victim. Are you kidding me?” said Miles.

Now, a number of people have noted that Colleen has had a number of “bullying” outbursts over the last few weeks.  Her response to Gerry Nutter’s warning about how the McLaughlin situation, as well as her own campaign finance and tax history could come out to harm her was pretty extreme.. resulting in her telling him to “keep his nose out of Dracut.”

Later we saw a comment here from Bob C. referring to a “nasty” response he received from her referrring to his support of Cathy Richardson in the last election when he had written her as a constituent, and now this response (which can be seen in the comments section) with regard to Miles questions in the joint meeting between the selectmen and school committee last week.

It is well known that Colleen is working on the Tami Dristiliaros campaign, having held fundraisers for her and providing the support of her campaign team.  It seems she is targeting Cathy Richardson, who dared to run against her. .. and it looks like anyone who supported Richardson as well.

And what was the point that Miles was making? When they were discussing forms of revenue for the schools, Miles asked where the money from last year’s concert was spent.. and the Superintendent responded that he did not know.

Colleen took that as an attack. If she didn’t want to make it a political issue and harm the ongoing efforts, she could have spoken with him privately. Instead it looks more like a “rally everyone against Miles because he hates music” thing.

I remember after the concert last year, when everyone was floored by the fact that after the concert  (that was promoted as a way to raise funds for the school fine arts program) the money was turned over to a private non-profit instead of the school department.  The entire school board was surprised when that happened. And now, nearly a year later, we’re told that group has just decided where to spend it.

Now I appreciated everything that happened last year to make that happen, but I see no problem with the question being asked when we are looking for every dollar possible.

Attacking him for not being present seems unfair. I think we can list another 26000 residents who were not there, should they all be attacked as well for perhaps having to work, or have family obligations?

If there is money available to fulfill needs of the music department that were going to be paid via school funds, then those funds can go to another purpose. It should be known.

Colleen does often vote the way I want. She might as well be a Republican. She votes against tax hikes and against anything that will harm the border community businesses.  That is good.

But I can see Miles’ point, as it is rare that she and Finegold appear before the town boards or committees unless it is during a campaign.

Now I’ve never hidden the fact that in terms of school candidates, I find Miles to be my first choice in the school race.  My own history working with troubled adolescents showed me how important it was to have someone with his skills on the committee. There are ways of dealing with at-risk youth (as Dr Fitz at the Jr High has shown), that Miles understands and many school board members, not to mention administrators, historically did not.

I have also voted for Dr McNamara in the past, having found him to be a good committee member, and in my discussions with Betsy Murphy I find that she is also well prepared to serve, but both she and McNamara come with a different set of skills, those being of the education establishment. These are important, but I’m not sure how much you want to load up the committee with such.

Again, this is all my opinion with regard to this, and think everyone should look at candidates with their own point of view.

I’m sure this Lowell Sun article will generate another whirlwind of anger and division in town, which will only continue to keep the eyes of the voters off of the real issue of having the town come together and make some important decisions.

As is happening all over the net, by even some of the most famous members of the world internet community, we follow some basic rules of conduct here.

I have been getting a few comments lately that are a little too opinionated, without their having a valid source (no valid email or identification). I have had to moderate them away.

As a reminder from the “About” page:

1) You may be anonymous if you want to ask a bona-fide question and get a bona-fide answer. The question must not be value-laden or accusatory.
The moderator decides what falls into these categories.

2) You may not be anonymous “you must provide a real, consistent name and a valid email address (Email is not displayed)” if you want to question policies, or state your opinion, or disagree with Dracut Forum people or others. Identification must be adequate in the view of the moderator.

3) In any event, stupid personal attacks and made-up attributions will just not be posted.

4) The decision of the moderator is final. If that is unsatisfactory, we invite you to participate in those other troll-filled sites that, more often than not, border on the ridiculous in terms of fairness, honesty and intellectual content. Be our guest!

So, as a reminder, comments need to have a valid email address that I can reach you at (usually from a major ISP, so that I can verify your identity if there is a problem later), and you can only use one name/identity on the site.

“I did it because I support the Town Manager’s proposal,” he said, referring to a plan proposed by Dennis Piendak to put forth a Proposition 2-1/2 tax override of $750,000 annually, pending the town’s vote to approve the withdrawal from the CPC program.

Ultimately, the difference to the taxpayer would be a wash, with the schools getting an increase of about $1.1-1.2 million over last year for their department (about a 4.5% increase).

Many on the school board are demanding an increase of nearly $3 million annually. This would be a nearly 9-10% increase for one department, and it is believed by most that the majority of taxpayers would not vote such an increase in this fiscal climate.

It is believed that a lesser increase, balanced by a reduction in the 2% surtax, has a much higher chance of passing.

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