Town Hall 6/25
It was a busy night at town hall. I started with the budget committee, after having recused myself from the discussion on the fund balance policy (because it included a presentation by my employer). I then joined in the discussion with the CFD pension plan. My main concern was ensuring that the FD had considered a defined contribution and not only a defined benefit plan. And they said they did... although I'm still not convinced that town hall staff have even a rudimentary understanding of a defined contribution plan... and that's concerning to me because long-term liabilities are a huge concern for both governments and businesses... and to not understand the basics is a serious deficiency, IMO.
Simultaneously, there was a PBC meeting on the Norton boiler project. I'm not sure how that went, as I didn't attend.
I scooted off to the Energy Commission. They discussed a host of issues and kicked it off with the pool consultant report. And while I can't remember what they said in their comments for the Council, I know what I think of the pool consultant report... that was $20,000 that we wasted. I'm glad I voted against that waste of money. They discussed the Norton boiler project and raised some good points, an RFP for townwide energy services, the purchase of streetlights from CL&P (still recommending the wait'n'see mode... and wouldn't this put a twist on the pole posting issue?) and the 20% by 2010 clean energy program (we're over 200 households now, so we'll get a second photovoltaic) among other issues.
Finally, the PZC met tonight. I didn't attend the meeting, but was told that there was no vote on the proposed ND.
About tomorrow's Council meeting... I still haven't seen any resolution or anything related to the proposed investigation. So while it is an issue of concern to many... I'm still at a total loss as to where this is going.
Signing off...
Tim White
Town Council, 4th District
3 comments:
Is any consultant, ever, at anything, worth the money?
Lemme guess, the report's closing recommendations included "needs further study".
Tim leave the firefighters alone-they work for just about nothing and you are going to penny pinch them over a few bucks/
You may think you are doing the work of "saving money for the taxpayers' but you are not!
12:30... my concern is not with the FD. They considered the DC plan and said no. I'm ok with that.
My concern is with Town Hall staff. They don't seem to understand some of the basics of a DC plan. For instance, they argue that DC plans are good because of matching contributions. And while that can be true... it is a spurious argument in this situation. (actually, it's a bit more complicated, but I'm not going to explain it all here... I have to get going.)
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