Town Administrator

Hello to all eNewsletter Readers!

The beautiful colors of Fall are gone, and we are in November. It can be bleak ...but here at Town Hall, everyone is busy.

Town Budgeting

This is a busy time for the Town Administrator and Town Accountant. I described the yearly budget process last month. Trudi Brazil, the Town Accountant, and I are busy trying to review all Departmental budget submissions for Fiscal Year 2012 (can you believe it!). We prognosticate quite far in advance!!!

Trudi and I will sit with all Departments to review their budgets, then we will hand them over to the Board of Selectmen and the Finance Committee in January for their review. Department Heads may be asked three times over to appear before either board to defend their budget. The budgets are carefully created, based on last year's (FY 2010) actuals and the actuals through half a year of Fiscal Year 2011 (July 2010-Dec 2010).

Collective Bargaining Negotiations

I have begun collective bargaining negotiations with Truro's three unions. Our employees who are in a union are represented by either the Truro Police Federation which represents all employees in the Police Department, LIUNA who represents clerical and professional employees, or AFSCME which represents manual laborers.

It is a terrifically difficult time to negotiate as the stalling, slumping economy limits any attempts to allocate new money to salaries, terms and conditions and new programs. Truro has level funded our Departmental Budgets for the entire seven years I have been here. Therefore, budgets already are tight. But we are legally bound to negotiate new contracts with our collective bargaining units.

We are well underway with AFSCME, and the Police Federation and LIUNA negotiations begin at the end of November. We will bargain in good faith and try our best!

Open Cape - Broadband to Cape Cod

I attended a meeting in Wellfleet in which the Towns of Eastham, Wellfleet and Truro were represented. The discussion was led by Open Cape. Open Cape has received millions of dollars from the federal government to provide wider internet services and wider Broadband to Cape Cod, and to hopefully provide service to residents who cannot obtain a provider, the Last Mile residents. I was excited about the idea that better connectivity could lead to more business opportunities on Cape Cod. There are many people who would like to conduct their business here on the Cape, but limited broadband services prevent them from doing so. Truro is part of the ground-floor effort to bring better internet service to our community.

Community Garden and Farmers Market

I also called a meeting of Town representatives to look at the idea of a Community Garden and Farmers' Market in Truro. The Truro Council on Aging Director, Susan Travers, the Recreation Director, Kelly Sullivan, Assistant Town Administrator Charleen Greenhalgh, DPW Director Paul Morris, Agricultural Fair's Francie Randolph and Rockspray Gardens Dave DeWitt met with me in November.

We feel there are people in our community who would like to establish a Community Garden, possibly with a Farmers' Market to follow. We discussed locations for such a garden. We need an area which is cleared and has access to water and electricity. In other communities, appropriate space has been "lent" to the communities for a community garden. If anyone has land on which the Town could establish a Community Garden, please contact me. Francie Randolph and Dave DeWitt caution that the land will have to be prepared so it is healthy enough for a garden. We are in the "idea stage." All thoughts and comments are welcome.

Kudos to Lorial Russell

We are all happy that the lost dog, Claude Monet, a yellow Labrador Retriever was collected and returned to his Kingston, MA home. Claude ran away in Truro, after an automobile accident. Our Animal Control Officer, Lorial Russell never gave up trying to find Claude. She set up cameras and set out food for the poor lost dog. One day a S. Pamet road resident called to tell Lorial that the dog was in her back yard. Lorial crawled on her hands and knees, so as not to scare the animal, and retrieved Claude. Animal Control Officer Lorial Russell is a valuable employee who loves animals! I am glad she works for Truro.

Regionalization

The Intermunicipal Cooperation Committee (Regionalization Committee) has been operating for over a year now. The Towns included are Eastham, Wellfleet, Truro and Provincetown. We are studying opportunities to combine Town functions by merging some services with our neighboring communities to save money. We are looking closely at combined Police and Fire services in the form of the possibility of combining "Dispatch Services."

We are also examining the role of Human Resource functions in our four communities. This area is ripe for litigation, and we must have professionals, like Department Heads, trained to deal with personnel issues. We are also studying ways to combine our Inspection Services, Assessing and Computer Operations. Some ideas have actually been turned into reality. We have combined to bid our seasonal needs together and received better prices due to the size of the four communities bidding together.

The Board of Selectmen is dedicated to this effort, and the Chair or member of the Board of Selectmen of each town serves on this Committee with the Town Administrator or Manager of each town.

Enough from me....I will keep you informed of the view of Town Hall from where I sit. Thanks for reading.