Our Town Administrator is asking for, and our Select Board is considering expanding town staff positions to include an assistant town administrator , A Land Use Director and Financial Director ,  as well as permission to pursue regionalization opportunities in a warrant article for this November's town Meeting.  In my opinion, these propose significant changes in staffing, expenses and how this new staff will influence town growth choices.  I recommend that this idea be offered, instead, at our Spring Town meeting following a healthy, informed public debate on its merits.  

It appears that posting this warrant article on A Fall Town Meeting is an attempt,  on short notice, to avoid transparency and take advantage of historically low attendance at Fall Town Meetings to pass a controversial warrant article. Further, as my Town Administrator Work Evaluations indicate, in my opinion the Town Administrator hires according to his vision for Pepperell while not understanding and ignoring the public's wishes.

I welcome a debate on this proposal. I don't believe we can afford the cost of these positions at this time. While having merit, it has not yet been properly vetted and may be misused by current staff planning to further develop Pepperell.  

While already posted on the warrant for Fall Town Meeting, on this Wednesday, tomorrow night, October 22nd, the Select Board will hold a hearing seeking public input on this matter.  Please attend, learn more and share your opinion.

Regards, Tony Beattie, Pepperell Select Board

Some of the feedback on my override news post suggest that I oppose new growth in Pepperell.  With exceptions, I do advocate against zoning changes designed to increase single family housing.  I am working instead, to bring affordable housing into our community and recreational businesses that celebrate our natural resources. Here's why.

I'm aligned with the folks that wrote the ten year Master Plan, that was voted in for Pepperell's growth path, that cited the goal of remaining a rural community.  I credit our Planning Board members, past and present, for their volunteer, good willed efforts to guide our town's development path.  As a fellow volunteer on the Select Board, I understand and appreciate anyone willing to enter the debate in deciding our communities future.  We've been doing this for two hundred and fifty years! Our Planning Board, Finance Committee, Town Planner, Select Board and Town Administrator have resisted including climate change in their town planning.  We need a paradigm shift to reduce our carbon pollution and our leaders won't hear it., clinging to out of date growth planning that leads to more pollution, a lower quality of community life and loss of our open lands and farms. 

I find myself at a point in history where growth planning, as never before, needs to protect our planet and our children's protection from catastrophic environmental harm, including losing our secure  food supply.  Call me a chicken running around declaring the sky is falling, and you will be right!  It is hard to believe, and the temptation to deny the level of risk we face is strong.  As a farmer, I've experienced the hardship of climate change.  The science literature is good enough to lead to actions that reduce the current effects and future risks.

What is missing for our leaders is a curriculum and training on how to plan very differently.  The Commonwealth has offered all kinds of trainings.  More affluent cities and towns have been able to tie into new ways of growing.  Small towns remain challenged and under resourced. As Chair of North Central Climate Change Coalition, I have attended many State level trainings and webinars whose mission has been to help towns move to a climate friendly path.  I have pointed out to State staff that small towns are being left out of the opportunities going to bigger, better resourced towns.

Quinten Palfrey, head of the Federal Infrastructure Partnership Office recently reflected in his monthly opening remarks, that they recognize that small, rural towns have not been getting their fair share of climate dollars.  Adequate solutions have not yet been offered.

My wish,, my ask, and it's a big one,  is that our Planning Board take the lead, along with our Climate Change Committee, in getting the training they need to start including reduction of our carbon footprint in their planning efforts.  We now have a shared climate change staff person who can help move us in that essential direction.

Happy Spring Time,  and Thank you for your support, Tony Beattie 

 

$780,000 in our tax override vote that never went towards the school budget, does, in part, in fact exists.  We are taxed quarterly and the full amount will have been collected in full at the end of our fourth quarter at the end of June.  That amount, ($780,000), while morphed into different town accounts, is available to meet this years override amount.  (see flow chart).

Statements that $780,000 doesn't exist in our treasury is misleading, a lie of omission, in my opinion, an attempt to squeeze more tax dollars from our voters.  I have no doubts that Pepperell, and. many other small towns, are desperate for funding to maintain minimum services.  I attribute that to income inequality and class warfare.  The middle-class and poor are under attach and losing badly.  However deception by local government is wrong and I advocate for our children, seniors and young families with honesty.  ensuring that they can afford to live in their homes, eat healthy foods, breath clean air, receive fair compensation, be educated and enjoy their free time and participate in a happy community life.

To explain the flow chart below,  we vote to pay on warrant articles at Town Meeting.  Those amounts are taxed and payments are made quarterly, with full amounts collected by year's end. $585,000 of the $780,000 has been collected. $780,000 will be in our treasury at the end of June. It and other money flows into the treasury to pay weekly and bi-weekly bills, fund department budgets such as schools, police and fire, DPW, etc..  Some of the incoming taxes also go into an overlay budget, under the control of the Board of Assessors.  There is $700,000 in that overlay account and that can be moved to meet other needs as they arise. (think school budget).  Some tax revenue will end up in "reserves" ($437,000) and "free cash"  (1,186,000). (also available for the school budget.)

On the one hand you might say that the $780, 000 doesn't or never existed as an available budget source.  But only because of how our book keeping system works.  It is common sense and thankfully still available to pull that amount, or some part of it, back from our budgets accounts and apply towards paying the schools their budget request for this year.

I am sympathetic to Pepperell's need for more income and better savings on our budgeting path.  I believe some relief can come from green energy efforts and better informed town development planning  We live in extraordinarily complicated and hard times, despite living in a world that has never been better off.  Restoring income equality is a long, hard fight and it hurts the most when we can't assure our children of an educated and bright future for them . 

Please protect those that we can and vote no to an override this year, knowing that we can cover the $350,000 school budget request from existing revenues.