Peabody Patriot has closed shop (again)(again)

UPDATED:
Keith Doucette has NOT pulled papers to run in Ward 6
Please see THIS post for more details

I have made this post too many times now. The Peabody Patriot has closed shop yet again. This is on the heels of Peabody Elections (Keith Doucette's blog) closing the previous day. For better or worse folks... I (again) will be here to host this forum for your comments, commendations and criticisms of the goings on here in the City of Peabody.

Everyone is welcome here to participate in an adult level of discourse concerning the important issues to the City of Peabody, Massachusetts.

At least Keith seems to have a reason for closing that blog - he has pulled papers to run for Ward 6 Councilor. This is a very smart move (closing the blog) in my opinion. As a public official (or someone running for such a post) it is probably not in your best interest to be confronting anonymous people in a public arena.

Now as for the Peabody Patriot... that is another issue altogether. It is really quite a bit of work to run an active blog, and frankly this newest PP was doing a pretty good job. I am sad to see another voice removed from the blog scene.

I also worry at to why..... Now everything I am about to say here-in is PURE CONJECTURE and has little factual information to back it up. It is PURE SPECULATION on my part.

Did you notice that one of the very last things the Patriot posted was that a MOLE in the City Clerk's office had told him that Keith Doucette had pulled papers to run for Ward Councilor...

Now, I DO KNOW a little bit about how City Hall operates - and a little TOO MUCH about how the computer infrastructure works. It is a FACT that ALL computer access is monitored 24 hours a day on City computers. This means EVERYTHING. Emails sent and received. Web sites accessed. Even instant messaging through your computer is recorded and logged... AND CHECKED.

Perhaps the MOLE was 'discovered' and some form of punishment or threats were in the offering? I have no idea BUT I would not put it past the current administration to view these actions as both illegal (using a city computer and city time for personal business) and disloyal.

Like I said... this is (mostly) conjecture. The way City Hall operates its computer system is NOT conjecture though - that is a fact.

Peabody in the News Spotlight Again

Well it seems that the executive director of the Peabody Housing Authority has been spending some quality time NOT at his desk... but in a local bar while on the clock. At least that is the story according to WHDH...

WHDH Video: Jonathan Hall Uncovers: Peabody Housing Authority
WHDH Article: Peabody Housing Authority
Salem News: Housing Authority to consider allegations against director

I know only two things that might matter here. The first is that people are innocent until proven guilty... even though this guy seem like he admits to the situation. And remember... it is this reporter's job to FIND and REPORT this stuff to GET RATINGS... so everything is always SPECTACULAR!


The second thing is that the Peabody Housing Authority is NOT a City function alone. In fact, the PHA does not report to the Mayor or City Hall at all. This doesn't mean that the City shouldn't be concerned about this behavior... but when folks go to hand out the blame... this really isn't a City Government issue.

Of course... WONDERFUL! If this is true we have yet another Public Employee behaving badly and we have more fodder for the media to beat up on all the good honest hard working public employees.

Now... I am not declaring this man guilty... in fact I was impressed with both his candor and his (partial) explanation for his being away from his duties. So I am interested in seeing what transpires over the next few days.

It is just sad to have PEABODY dragged through the mud in the press yet again.

Thanks to the Anon who posted the link!

Spring Pond - Clean Again!

The City is reporting that the sludge dumped by the City into Spring Pond over the course of many years, has been cleaned up and they have met the DEP deadlines.

Salem News: Spring Pond cleanup costs city $393,000

While there are certainly unanswered questions, and many more unsubstantiated rumors and claims/cross claims, surrounding the many years of intentional "overflow" dumping of water treatment sludge into Spring Pond... it is good to know that the work is complete and that the pond is back to its original state.

Here are some images from GoogleMaps and Maps.Live to refresh your memory of the situation. Click on each for a larger view.



The original intent of the (almost) $1 million dollar bond was not to just clean up the sludge, but to purchase new equipment and upgrade the facilities. I could not find the original estimates for each portion of the project, but I believe these numbers ($393,000) for clean up costs was in the estimated range.

For all the talk at the time, there has been little public discussion concerning the who, when and why this all happened from City Government. I would certainly be more in favor of a real investigation into this matter and a public airing of the findings. I feel this is important especially since so many wild allegations have been thrown around in the blogs and the street corners, ball fields and coffee shops.

So while I am glad this clean up in done, I would like to have seen the 'report' on the reasons we needed to do it in the first place.

Some "Green" greenbacks for Peabody

The City of Peabody just received almost $500,000 in blockgrant money for use in creating jobs that reduce energy use or promote green technologies. This is money from the Federal stimulus plan and distributed by the state.

The Salem News: 3 communities get greenbacks for 'green' jobs

I have not heard anything about such a program here in Peabody but think that this is a great move forward! The future is going to be more reliant on renewable energy resources and getting a foot-in-the-door by promoting these new ideas, experiments and business ventures here in the City of Peabody is a big step in the right direction!

Now if only the City Council will get off their collective duffs and begin to tackle the hard job of re-thinking the way we all want Peabody to be like in the next 25 years... think rezoning, planning, infrastructure, etc., then maybe we can become a center for innovation and creativity that will allow us to lead the region into the next decades and beyond.

Another Bad Moon Rising?

The recent article in the Salem news highlights a little known situation which, while not unique to Peabody at all, still will have a severe impact on our near-term, and long-term fiscal viability.

Salem News: Retirement Assets dip as market fails

Now, I will begin this post with a big admission... I don't know much about this... not much more than I read in the SNews.

The story in a nutshell - and feel free to let me know if I am getting this wrong somewhere...

Cities are required to fund the accounts that they plan to use to pay for employee retirement. However, they don't actually put in the $50 each week that employee X and Y are going to get in 10 or 15 years.

No. That would be logical. And safe.

So the Cities PROMISE that they will have the money for the retirees WHEN THEY RETIRE... but not before. In other words, the City will use these funds to do as they please (now I am sure that some is set aside for the retirees) but they don't need to come up with it until they actually retire.

This was a good scheme... until somebody noticed (or maybe someone retired somewhere and the City didn't have the dough?).

So the powers that be enacted a deadline (2028) where by the City must be fully funded for all retirees.

But the Cities didn't really want to put all their (our) money in the retirees bank accounts... they wanted to Play the Market and make a profit so we would have more funds to spend on City needs.

Unfortunately things are not so pretty in the market... in fact the S&P 500 has averaged -1.59% since 2000.... and is down -37% for 2008.

So... in order to still be able to meet the 2028 deadlines, all the Cities and Towns are going to need to be putting in even more tax money into these retirement accounts to make up for the bad investments made over the past few years. This is going to result in EVEN LESS WORKING CAPITAL FOR THE CITY.

Again, this is not problem unique to Peabody, nor was the fancy financial solution... in fact, it probably kept our level of taxes lower and services higher over the past several years... but it just adds one more straw to the camels back... and the sag is already starting to show LOTS of strain.

How will State Aid cuts affect Peabody?

The Lynn Item: State aid cuts affect some local communities more than others

The article above outlines a few City and Town leaders discussing how they plan on addressing the expected cuts in local aid. Here is the portion that pertains to Peabody:

...Peabody which picks up 20 percent of its budget from state aid.

Peabody Mayor Michael Bonfanti and his staff has been preparing for these cuts since they were first announced months ago. He asked all departments to trim 5 percent from their current budget and ordered that all potential hires come across his desk first. But, it's all in preparation - Bonfanti said there's no telling just how much Peabody will be affected.

"It'll have a devastating impact on us all," he said. "Until (Patrick) gets the 9C authority and makes those cuts official, we're just not sure."

Bonfanti said it's not only how much, but when the cuts would have to be made.

"When you have 9C cuts in the middle of a budget cycle, it really causes some disruption," he said. "If (Patrick) says to hold off until the next fiscal cycle, that'd be helpful."

A proposed 10 percent cut in local aid would equal at least $3.2 million for the city of Peabody, said Bonfanti. And with those cuts, could come the loss of several programs, including those for after-school children and adults with mental health disabilities.

"Some things don't impact you directly," he said. "They do so indirectly."

I don't have much to say about this right now. This is a huge amount of money to need to be cut from already tight budgets... and in the middle of the year, so many departments would have been spending based on previous figures, not these further reduced ones.

Someone recently commented that I am all doom and gloom (and worse!) The sad thing, in my opinion, is those folks who can't ever see what the reality of a situation is, and instead keep acting like it is just what they WISH or WANT it to be like.

These are the realities. Our already limited amount of public services and government access (thanks to our super low tax rate) is going to be cut even further. The incredibly prudent (even stingy) City financial accounting of the past two Mayors have left us with a dual legacy...

• Some money in reserve and a tax levy surplus (meaning they can choose to tax more without permission - an override)

• Very limited public services including uncared for property, lowest salaries in the area and second rate services (think snow plowing, sidewalk repair, etc.)

It would seem to me that the Cities and Towns which traditionally have higher budgets and more services will be better able to weather this current financial storm because they have somewhere to CUT that isn't already to the bone. But that is the political reality of the City of Peabody.

I fully expect to hear more people calling for tax CUTS because of the hard times not even recognizing that the City is in the same boat as well.

Full text of Mayor Bonfanti's 2009 mid-term Address

The Peabody & Lynnfield Weekly News: Transcript of Mayor Michael Bonfanti's 2009 mid-term address

(note: These links to the PLWN are only available for around 1 week!)

I will post the entire address in the first comment to save space on the main page of the Peabody Roundtable. Please feel free to comment.

City Hall to hand out across the board raises... despite economic woes

Salem News: Peabody's nonunion employees to receive raise

You know they say in the world of comedy...
Timing is Everything

Apparently this doesn't hold true for politics in the City of Peabody.

One day after a rather doom & gloom filled mid-term address to the City, Mayor Bonfanti announces a 3-year 9% raise for all nonunion employees.

Now, since the City is required by law to negotiate with the unions, they have always (if memory serves) given the same 'deal' to the nonunion employees after all the union contracts are completed. And the nonunion folks will be forced to accept the same higher portion of their medical benefits (with higher co-pays) as the union as well.

But what seem to be irking some, me included, is the idea that these raises are simple across the board increases without regard for any type of performance evaluation.

It is one thing when dealing with the union - in those cases the union has the authority regarding how it allocates pay levels. It is quite another when one considers nonunion employees. These folks are responsible for themselves and the City should not be rewarding everyone in every position regardless of performance.

What I am saying is this: Two employees, Bob and Bill.

Bob is kind of a slacker. He got his job and he used to work hard at it... but has come to see that it doesn't really matter if he hustles or not because he gets a raise either way. He is not always on time, doesn't work and play well with others and often seems to be thinking more about his upcoming weekend rather than the task at hand. I am not sure that Bob really deserves any raise at all.

Bill works really hard, is always on time, is helpful to his fellow workers and the public too. Does his job well and looks for ways to make things better. Bill deserves a nice big raise... but does he necessarily get one?

If times are so very tough... and folks, THEY ARE... Then maybe the answer is no. I hate saying that because while some will scoff at the Mayors assertion that if salaries are not keeping up with comparable jobs elsewhere we will lose good people, I absolutely agree with him.

But that is EVEN MORE REASON to institute a performance based system of raises! Frankly... we would probably all be happier if BOB LEFT.... but we should all be willing to PAY BILL MORE TO STAY!

And as far as timing goes... Jeez! You could NOT have created a more awkward situation if you had planned it for weeks! Then again... Ole Jorge at The Peabody Patriot called this exact situation DAYS AGO.

What would you cut right now?

Several people seem to think the City budget is rampant with waste and fat just begging to be CUT! Here is your place to tell us all what YOU Are ready to CUT TODAY!

The State of the City - January 2009

Lynn Item: Bonfanti gives mid-term address
Salem News: Difficult cash decisions will be in cards for Peabody

I was unable to attend Mayor Bonfanti's mid-term address and the seating of the new City Council last evening. And the text of the speech is NOT (yet?) available on the Mayor's page at the City website. So these comments are based on the newspaper reports and other comments made at those sites and on the Peabody Patriot blog.

First, I think that the overall tone of the message - one of difficult times ahead - is nothing but accurate and a clear thinking assessment of what is to come. I disagree with those people who say he should be emphasizing the positive and downplaying the difficult realities we will all be facing. While "perception equals reality" can be true at times, in these circumstances I would prefer straight talk and not hearts & flowers.

I do not look forward to this coming year (and to be more honest... let's say YEARS because this recession is looking like nothing we have seen in most of our lifetimes). The best estimates for the length of the world-wide financial crisis I have read point to a 18 month (minimum) to 42 month (maximum) time frame... so I am betting on 2-1/2 years of difficult choices and unhappy citizens.

While I would not like to see the schools take the brunt of these cuts (especially not FIRST) I see the reality of the lower enrollments finally coming to a head. We simply have fewer children to educate at this moment, and while I STRONGLY SUPPORT a comprehensive analysis of future demographic trends for Peabody, I believe we are going to see fewer students for the foreseeable future.

Thus the closing of one (or more) schools is both a political reality and a good move for the vast majority of Peabody folks. Of course this will be very hard on some families who might have chosen their home based on proximity to a certain school... and I actually am a huge supporter of neighborhood schools, the times dictate a more cost effective distribution of our limited educational funds. Fewer schools will yield more educational value per pupil and per education dollar.

I strongly agree with the Mayor on the issue of Downtown improvements and the need to repopulate Downtown with businesses... but I believe the most intelligent method for achieving this goal is through the REZONING of Downtown (and the rest of the City) to promote a mixed-use of public, residential and commercial/business in the greater Downtown area.

What are your thoughts?

Tim Spanos to remain Peabody City Clerk

The Daily Item: Peabody city clerk to stay.

I made comments on this story in the local papers and other places, but it bears repeating.

Tim Spanos is a total class act. He is a wonderful, friendly person who not only excels in his position, but he does it with style and caring that few other can muster.

He is a credit to the City of Peabody and one of the shining examples of what the words Public Servant can mean.

I hope Mr. Spanos will continue to serve this community for as long as he wishes.
Congratulation Tim, and thank you.

Peabody's Top Stories of 2008

A quick recap of what the Salem News (and a few others) considers to be the Top Peabody Stories of 2008

The Salem News: The top 10 local stories of 2008.

Dearborn Fire: May 29, 2008
While it has been stated by several officials that a single cigarette caused this blaze, there are others who see something sinister in the construction of the complex itself. I myself am satisfied with a State Fire Marshall’s report, but there are some who find official reports simply smokescreen when they get in the way of a good old fashioned conspiracy theory. Ahh where are the X-Files when you need them?

The Long saga of John “Jack” Brophy might have finally come to an end in 2008. The story, and the story of the story were interesting to follow. I will not bore people with all the details, but simplify it to this: For missing a 9-1-1 call and other issues Brophy was fired from the Peabody Fire Department, ultimately winning back his job, but then losing it again in a prolonged series of I got YOU… NO, I got YOU between the Mayor, the Chief and Brophy (and the lawyers, of course). The more interesting story to me was the horrendously slanted version of the Dozing Dispatcher played out almost daily in the Salem News. They were the ones to make up this silly name and then they REPORTED that people were calling him that! If I had any doubt about the journalistic integrity of the Salem News, I lost it then. By the way… I have known they have no integrity for a very long time.

Then came Lt. Edward Bettencourt, and another unhappy story. This time of a Peabody Police officer who used his authoritative position to spy on his fellow officers in a seemingly nonsensical action that netted him nothing but I know something you don’t know! Oh, and lost him his job and pension to boot. I was a bit dismayed by the reaction to the courts findings from blog readers. Many people were simply unwilling to consider that the courts were correct in their findings. Lt. Bettencourt could simply NOT be guilty because he coached kids baseball (or somesuch) was the general response. I find that so sad when many of these same people are all too ready to convict other public servants who they disagree with on little or no evidence... simply because they don’t like them.

Peabody Police Officer Justified in Fatal Shooting. This is certainly a sad tale for all involved. While the family might have lost a man dear to them, the officer who was responsible for his safety (and the safety of all of us) will carry this tragic action with him the rest of his life.

Peabody public services director resigns amid rumors. Dick Carnevale resigned as Director of Public Services. He has been a much unloved figure on most of the Peabody blogs for his actions/inactions concerning many issues, but chiefly over his handling of the water treatment waste overflows into Spring Pond. This story has fallen off the pages of the local media… but it is still on the minds of most of the folks who participate in these public forums. I must admit I too am of the opinion that we will never know the true extent of any of these issues.

So those were the big five (or so) as reported. What do you think? Are there any stories that should be included on this list? Please feel free to comment and tell us all how you feel.

Peabody Teachers Protest for Signed Contract

Peabody teachers are still awaiting the City to finalize their recently agreed upon, and one year late, contract.

Read the Salem News story here.

Now the article says that negotiators for both sides met on Friday of last week to iron out some minor details. This would then say to me that the big "delay" is only actually Monday (and now part of Tuesday) and NOT the three week ordeal described by the teacher's union representative.

Now don't get me wrong, I usually support the teachers as I think they are the most important people in this (or almost any) City... But I am NOT a huge fan of the teacher's union as a rule.

And in this instance I think they are making mountains out of molehills and all to get more attention for themselves. Truly, they only hurt themselves over and over again with these
protest marches and rallies.

If you REALLY want to get the people to be on your side of these issues... make them aware of the problems, show them what you are dealing with, and then let them express their concern to their elected officials.

By clogging up Peabody Square (again) you are giving more fodder to the ANTI-EDUCATION LEGION that seems to forever haunt Peabody.

Salem, Beverly and Peabody will explore merging health departments

The cities of Salem, Beverly and Peabody are meeting to explore the possibility of regionalizing their health departments.

Here is the link to the Salem News story.
Here is an additional link to the Peabody Weekly News story.

This seems like a pretty smart thing to consider in these difficult financial times. Now I am not saying that it would be a good idea to do this type of thing in all or even most instances... but when it DOES make sense AND it can save some money... it is the right thing to do.

I have read many comments on the blogs saying how government needs to CUT CUT CUT... and I hope that this is the type of smart cuts that people are talking about. I wonder if this is actually the type of thing that is happening everyday in many departments throughout the City... or if this is simply an isolated press conference moment to SEEM LIKE the politicians are actually trying to do something.

I really believe it is more likely the new normal way of conducting City business.

Sean Fitzgerald is new Town Manager for Plaistow, New Hampshire

The Mayors chief of staff, Sean Fitzgerald, has resigned from the City to take on the new job of Town Manager for the Plaistow, New Hampshire.

Here is the link to the Salem News article. Click the headline for the Plaistow press release.

From the Plaistow press release:

“We are excited to have Sean on board”, stated Chairman John Sherman, “so that we can move forward to continue to effectively provide the high-level of service that our citizens expect. Sean will work with the Board to actively plan for Plaistow’s future, while at the same time, managing the day-to-day activities in the Town. We need a hands-on Town Manager to tackle our current budget issues. This is a busy time of year as we wrap up one year and develop next year’s budget and prepare for Town Meeting.”

“I am very pleased to be offered this extraordinary opportunity to work in a place with such a strong sense of identity and community,” said Fitzgerald. “Plaistow is a great place to live, a great place to work, and a great place to raise a family. I am looking forward to getting to know the citizens, businesses, and the hardworking men and women working to move Plaistow forward. I'm very, very, very excited and happy to be offered this opportunity to help Plaistow and I know the next 90 days are going to be very, very busy,” Fitzgerald continued.

See, I knew Sean wasn't involved in any nefarious business. He is and has always been an honorable and pleasant person to work with. Plaistows gain is our loss.

Good luck Sean.