Please keep the conversation on topic and refrain from personal attacks on here. Thanks.

Thank you for the positive report given at last night's joint meeting. We are so fortunate to have so many individuals all working together to to make this town fiscally whole. Chelmsford remains a wonderful town in which to live. I am fortunate, also, to be able to say, ":I Choose Chelmsford"..

Mark- while I think your opinions are valid as opinions, I would suggest that they may be somewhat outdated from the days of elected town clerks, call fire departments and part-time police departments. I have worked with these professionals from many other towns in my work and was somewhat surprised at the level of training and certifications needed for these positions. The volume of regulations and laws the town clerk must adhere to for record keeping, elections and many of the daily tasks do require professionals and those professionals should be paid for their knowledge and skills that they bring to the job. As a tax payer, I would rather pay for a professionals in the town than to see Chelmsford being embarrassed in the news because of election problems, incorrect public bid documents or violation of state laws because someone didn't have the correct training or skill set for the job. As an individual, I expect to be paid for my expertise, level of resposibility and experience on par with my peers, why should someone who works for a municipality expect less??

I don't like the idea of bypassing the voters on the fire station. The plan looks good to me, and the price is much less than prior proposals, so why not give Chelmsford taxpayers a voice?

Asking for permission twice and then slipping around the side without permission might seem clever, but the real cost is increasing the deep distrust people have in our government.

The school committee saved about $500K by laying off the janitors, but the town had to pick up the $300K in unemployment costs? Is that a fair way to summarize the accounting?

Mike - That is exactly what happened with the library and no one can argue that it was not the right thing to do. The only reason to put a construction project on the ballot is when you seek to increase property taxes via a debt exclusion. We don't need to increase taxes and we can still resolve the problem of replacing a structurally unsound Center Fire Station. Every six months we have to pay engineers to examine that station to determine whether it should be closed due to safety concerns. Every report expresses increasing concern about the life expectency of the building. I hope that we can resolve the fire station problem without raising taxes before the building is condemned. Town Meeting will vote to approriate the funds so if the taxpayers have serious concerns they certainly have the opportunity to express those concerns to their elected Town Meeting representatives who will make that decision on their behalf. Therefore, the taxpayers will have a voice!

Marc - Stop by the Java Room this Saturday at 9:00 a.m. to discuss this during my office hours. You are so full of misinformation, I cannot address it in this forum.

Not for nothing, but when voters rejected the last two proposals at the ballot, wasn't the sentiment "we don't want to pay more taxes-go find a way to fix the old building or live within your means"? Seems this proposal is a way to "live within your means". I also thought estimates to repair the old building were included in the prior proposals.

I know it is not the main issue, and while I may not always agree with out Town Manager, Marc, I must disagree with the assertion that a town employee must live it town. The position is a contract position with a definite end, unless renewed. I think it is too much to ask for someone to sell a house, but a new one and then possibly be forced to sell again in 3-4 years. Spouses work, kids are in school. While very few of us have the guarantee of continued employment when we start a new job, I doubt many people would pick up their families and move for every new job we start, unless we had to do so. I would venture a guess that many town/city managers do not live in the town in which they work.

Very well said Mr. Creme. I had asked Paul Cohen this residency question when he was on my show a couple of years ago, and he gave a vey reasonable and rational answer at that time.
May I just add a comment about our new Town Clerk, Onorina Maloney. I have dealt with her a number of times at the Town Clerk's office and I have observed her do her job from the perspective of a Chelmsford resident, Town Meeting Rep. and Library Trustee....the conclusion I have reached is that our new Town Clerk is doing an outstanding job in every way. I am very pleased that she is on board here in town and I hope that she stays on the job for many years in the future.

Chelmsford, te opto. I refuse to join this conversation with so many unlit bulbs on the porch. When you enlighten yourselves about what the manager has actually proposed, I may rejoin the discourse. As I said before, Chelmsford, te opto.

Fran,

I am glad you are trying to enlighten us. But why bother if you have nothing to add. I will choose to ignore you.

A couple of points if I may:

1. The Town Charter calls for the TM to reside in the town within 12 months of his appointment unless the BOS waives that requirement. Having served on the Charter Review Committee a few years back, we examined this clause and found that the majority of towns in the Commonwealth do NOT have any residency requirement. I am sure you could find a few towns out there that still require it, but after our review of dozens of town charters and interviews with many officials across the state, we did not feel it appropriate to recommend a residency requirement. So while "many professions require you to move", it is generally accepted in the State of MA that TMs are not one of them.
2. You can't compare the salary of our Town Manager to that of the Town ADMINISTRATOR of Brookline since they have different responsibilities. A town manager has the power and duties that are outlined in MA State Law, while a town administrator has no similar statutory authority, but instead works under the direct supervision of the board of selectmen, which retains all of its statutory authority.

Marc - can you provide links for a list of town manager salaries in Massachusetts? Interested in seeing the raw data