Longmeadow Select Board Meeting 1/24/11

The Longmeadow Select Board met on January 24 to approve the updated MSBA "statements of interest" for the Glenbrook and Williams Middle Schools.  These documents presented by the School Committee and the School Superintendent contained such a large number of factual errors that Ms. Swanson and Mr. Gold refused to approve the documents.  It is interesting to watch this discussion where the school superintendent and SC chairman tried to push through a poorly prepared document at a time when our town cannot afford to build new or significantly renovate these schools.

I attended the “emergency” SB meeting on January 25 to see if the SOI’s for renovating/ replacing the two middle schools in town would be approved in time for the Wednesday, January 26 deadline at 5 PM. There was a fairly sizable crowd- most of which were School Committee members and School Dept staff. Interestingly enough Ms. Swanson was not in attendance. Given her stance on Monday night, perhaps she didn’t want to be seen as voting no for a school project.

This emergency meeting was called in an attempt to present two “accurate” SOIs to the SB for their approval. The school superintendent spent almost 25 minutes outlining all of the corrections that needed to be made in the SOIs- some of which were to correct some pretty sizable errors in the original document. Additional corrections were added during the discussion. Where was the due diligence by the SS and her staff for such an important document?

When the preface of each of the latest SOIs reads:

"Replacement or renovation of a building which is structurally unsound or otherwise in a condition seriously jeopardizing the health and safety of school children where no alternative exists."

the School Committee is obviously looking to get a high priority status. It is also possible that the "errors" in the latest SOIs, many of which were related to capital improvements made to each school over the past 4 years, were deliberate oversights since it made the story more convincing.

An attempt to discuss the question of affordability raised by Mark Gold was quickly extinguished by Rob Aseltine. Mr Aseltine did comment that he thought the town was not going to be able to afford significant renovations or a new facility any time soon but that this question would be discussed at a future date.

However, the game plan is the same…. submit the SOI…. Wait for the MSBA to give the green light and then start the school building process all over again.  The Lancer Pride group has strong membership and can probably repeat their success once again.  

Concerned Longmeadow citizens need to wake up.

Tear down these schools

“If you seek new school projects, if you seek increased taxes for Longmeadow residents, if you seek financial ruin: Come here, to this town.  Ms. Katherine Craven, tear down these schools.”

This quote is adapted from a famous Presidential speech to be used in a future speech by Armand Wray (or the next SC chair) in 2011 about the new Glenbrook/ Williams Middle School building projects.

I’m sure that the Longmeadow School Committee (or a future School Building Committee) will be able to point out a crumbling wall or two (like the crack in the northwest corner of LHS) that will convince Ms. Craven and the MSBA of the need to build two (or one larger) new middle school(s) in Longmeadow.

Last night’s SB meeting was evidence to the agenda of the Longmeadow School Committee and certain members of the Select Board.  If you didn’t watch last night’s discussion regarding the MSBA “statements of interest” (SOIs) for our middle schools, you should take 30 minutes at 7 PM tonight to watch the rebroadcast.  I understand the first 10 minutes of the discussion (which were not broadcast last night due to technical problems) will also be aired tonight.

Here are statements from the first section of both SOIs…

The following priorities have been included in the SOI:

1. Replacement or renovation of a building which is structurally unsound or
   otherwise in a condition seriously jeopardizing the health and safety of school children where no alternative exists.
2. Elimination of existing severe overcrowding.

It may sound like the health and well being of our middle school children and teachers are being jeopardized, but according to the SC + superintendent comments, this language  is necessary (even if untrue) in the SOI in order to get a high project priority!! 

Last night was supposed to be a simple SC/SB joint meeting for the SB to approve the SOI’s which are due January 26 at 5 PM.  Comments by Swanson and Gold pointed out a large number of factual errors (not minor) and both SB members appear to be unwilling to sign an official town document containing such errors.  It turns out that the MSBA notified the School Superintendent last June that Longmeadow’s SOIs needed to be updated.  The deadline is about to pass with some lame excuse that the MSBA system has changed and that is why the documents are being submitted at the last minute.  There was not a satisfactory explanation as to why the SOIs were not accurate.

The SB agreed to continue their joint meeting tonight at 6 PM in an effort to resolve the errors and be able to submit an accurate SOI before the deadline passes.  It will be interesting to see what happens.   

BTW… the meeting is not being videotaped so you will need to attend the meeting at 6 PM at the Police Dept Community Room if you want to view the proceedings.

Some local quotes....

Sounds like a good idea....

Longmeadow Demographics

According to the 2010 Longmeadow census, there are a total of 5,406 town residents over the age of 55 and a large segment (2,763) between the ages of 45-54.  

Our town has an aging population (like most towns) and the need for senior services and facilities is likely to increase not decrease over the next 10 years.

In the same way as it is possible to predict the school age population for future years, the demographics of our aging population can be estimated using some basic assumptions. Our town should consider our entire town demographics (not just the school age population) when planning for the future.

Below is a chart that shows the change in our town demographics between 2000 and 2010.  You will see that there was a significant increase in the number of town residents over the age of 55 (4,550 --> 5,406, an increase of 18.8% or 856 people!)

click here to enlarge chart

The above data shows that an estimated 48% of Longmeadow taxpayers are over 55 (assuming that most of the 0-24 segment are not likely to be taxpayers).

There is also a large segment of the current Longmeadow population that is between 45-54 and within the next ten years will likely significantly increase the percentage of our population that is over 55 years of age.   

Here come the baby boomers!

Between 2000 and 2010 there was a significant decrease in the number of residents in the 25-44 age group. (3,440 --> 3,162) while the number of school aged residents has increased (4,909 --> 5,210).

Towns including East Longmeadow, West Springfield, Chicopee, Westfield, Springfield, Palmer, Agawam, Granby, Holyoke and others have built new facilities, renovated or updated existing facilities or are considering new facilities for their senior services. They have recognized the need and are doing something about it.

The Longmeadow Select Board should not consider actions in the coming budget cycle that will reduce senior services in order to cut town government expenses.  Longmeadow should increase the commitment to senior services and include a major renovation or new facility for our seniors in our long range capital plan. 

Our town leaders should consider the needs for all town residents- not just the school age segment when planning for the future.

School Building Committee Meeting- 1/5/11

I attended the SBC meeting last Thursday to hear an update on the Longmeadow High School project including the cost and prioritization of possible “add alternates”.  SBC members, representatives from Joslin Lesser & Associates, OMR Architects and Gilbane Building Company were in attendance- a total of 20 people. As has been the case for past meetings, public attendance was almost non-existent (2 town residents, including myself).

Below are my meeting notes…

1. “Add Alternates” Update

“Add Alternates” are additional project elements that were not included as part of the original scope.  At the last meeting, the following items were outlined:

Trade- Add Alternates (these items must be prioritized)

#1: Replacement of the natatorium ceramic tile floor + relocation of the diving board
Update: Latest cost estimate is now ~ $160K.

#2: Addition of stage lift mechanism
Update: Latest cost estimate is now ~ $250K -$50K credit for original manual lift design = $200K).  The system being considered is an electro-mechanical lift mechanism that will result in a stage extension of 8 ft x 43 ft.

#3: Under Terrace outdoor storage area, $150K
Update: No change in estimate

The SBC voted to select natatorium as priority #1, lift mechanism as #2 and the under terrace storage area as priority #3.

Non-Trade Add Alternates (these items do not need to be prioritized)

#1: Additional site landscaping features
Update: Design drawings for the proposed enhancements were presented to SBC.  This included an exterior gardenscape including seating and trellis. Latest cost estimate ~ $155K

The SBC vote to include all of the above 4 items in the project bid specification.

The SBC decided to not include the synthetic turf as an add alternate with the project bid specification package but to defer a decision until more information could be developed.  A SBC sub-committee (Barkett, Wrabel, Joyal, Greenberg and Bistran) was appointed to study the synthetic turf options and provide the SBC with additional information.

2. Project Cost Estimates

The overall project detailed drawings and design package is now 60% completed. It is expected that the 90% design package will be completed by the end of February with a targeted March 9, 2011 project bid package release.

Tom Murphy of Joslin Lesser & Associates provided the SBC with an update of the estimated project costs based upon the 60% design package.  The results are based upon estimates from multiple sources.   The range for the latest cost estimates was very small ($63.6 million – $63.8 million) and very close to the original estimate provided to the MSBA ($63.8 million) which was based upon the project schematic design which had significantly less detailed drawings and specs than the 60% design package.

Bottom line: The project costs are on target vs. the original estimates which is good news.

However, it should be noted that these numbers do not represent the Guaranteed Maximum Price (GMP).  It was explained to me after the meeting that these numbers are not inclusive of all costs (e.g., architect fees, some construction site costs, etc. are not included).  The total project cost is still estimated at ~ $78M as originally approved by Longmeadow voters.  Only after the project bids are submitted sometime this spring will the project GMP be determined.

The current construction bid environment is still pretty soft so Longmeadow will likely benefit from lower bids than what has been estimated.  The new Wilbraham-Hampden Regional High School ended up at $65M vs. an original estimate of $82.2M.  Hopefully, Longmeadow will be able to achieve a similar savings.

Additional Comments

1. After listening to the SBC discussion about the various add alternates and their merits, it seemed to me that the stage lift, natatorium upgrades and the outdoor storage options are high valued and should be included with the project.  Furthermore, these alternates represent a total of $510,000 which is less than 1% of the overall project cost.
   
2. The additional landscaping seems a bit over the top given that the project has significant landscaping costs already included as part of the original project scope.
   
3. At this meeting I received a copy of the December 16 meeting minutes.  However,  as of today, meeting minutes from the November and December meetings have still not been posted on the SBC website.   SBC meeting minutes should be posted on the town website in a timely manner.
   
4. During the past two meetings it has been interesting to hear various SBC members speak to the issue of “prudent” spending of taxpayer money.  I’m glad to see that the SBC did not include synthetic turf practice fields as part of the add alternates specifications.  However, I am concerned that this item has not disappeared from future consideration.

Emergency Notifications

I watched the Longmeadow Select Board meeting this past Monday night and found one particular aspect of the discussion about the problems being encountered with the installation of new water meters very concerning.

New water meter installation work has been underway for one "billing" zone (1 out of 6) over the past few months.  Without getting into the details of the discussion it turns out that about 25% of the homeowners in this zone have no contact phone number registered with the town nor is the number published or found in any of the conventional sources.  This includes the town's database for the Emergency Notification Phone System which the town uses for calling town residents about emergency or crisis situations.

If the 25% figure is typical for the rest of the town, then there are approximately 1400 residences in town that cannot be notified quickly via telephone in the event of town emergency such as a gas leak, chemical spill, tornado or other emergency event.

I would urge everyone in town to make sure that they have a contact number (cell, or land line) registered with the town to be used in event of an emergency. Simply click on the above graphic or visit the town website to sign up.

A New Year's Message

2010 has a been a year of change for Longmeadow's presence on the Internet, but there are new opportunities ahead.  I am looking forward to an exciting 2011!

This past July a brand new website- www.LongmeadowMA.org was created to capture and maintain a significant amount of the community oriented content for town residents.  This includes photos, webpages for community groups such as Long Meddowe Days, etc that may not be maintained by our town website in the future.

Looking back to 1997... a volunteer group of town residents wanted to provide a means for better communication in our town.  From that beginning, a tremendous amount of energy was devoted into making our town website- www.Longmeadow.org an outstanding resource for keeping town residents informed.  There was not much information about the town of Longmeadow that could not be found on Longmeadow.org.

About 3 years ago I created the LongmeadowBuzz blog which was designed to provide a means for people in town to express their opinions and discuss controversial topics that were not appropriate for inclusion on the Longmeadow.org town website. 

The LongmeadowBuzz blog provided and still provides town residents with information that is not usually found in the Springfield Republican or the Longmeadow News.  Not just opinion, but background information and facts so that the reader can make informed decisions about a subject.

The LongmeadowBuzz blog is not intended to be a place for "one man's opinion", so other postings have always been welcome as long as the author is identified and is respectful of other opinions.  With the many challenges that Longmeadow faces in the coming years, I am very hopeful that the LongmeadowBuzz blog will become an important means to express different viewpoints/ prospectives and to reduce any polarization that might exist in our town.

Looking forward to 2011, I have renewed energies and excitement about the www.LongmeadowBiz.com website.  Not only will it continue to be a key resource with its Town Calendar and revamped Longmeadow Community Bulletin Board, it will also provide a much needed connection between town residents and the businesses that service our town.   In today's challenging economy we need to support our local businesses.  We have already seen a significant number of local businesses disappear.

New "social media" like Facebook, Twitter and others will come into much greater use in 2011 and provide new opportunities to improve communication and to help us thrive and prosper as a community.

Become a FAN of LongmeadowBiz by clicking the "Like" button on the new Facebook fanpage and join in the conversation.

You can also Follow LongmeadowBiz on Twitter.

Longmeadow is a great place to live.... let's keep it that way!

I'm always interested in feedback/ new ideas for LongmeadowBiz.com or the LongmeadowBuzz blog so please send them to me at longmeadowbiz@comcast.net

Best Regards and Happy New Year!

Longmeadow Deserves Better....

Below are links to the latest press releases that were posted this morning (12/28/10) on the Longmeadow town website- www.Longmeadow.org

Holiday Trash Collection

Annual Town Meeting- Warrant Article Deadline

Long Meddowe Days- Planning Meeting

A couple of comments.... 

• The press releases for the Holiday Trash Collection and the ATM warrant articles were released for immediate publication by the Town Manager on December 20.   Why does it take 8 days for the notices to be posted?  In addition, the holiday trash collection notice was a bit too late for those who had their trash collected yesterday to find out that there was a Select Board Christmas gift of one additional FREE trash bag.
• Yesterday, there was a snow emergency declared for the state of Massachusetts but there was no information posted on the town website about town related operations including snowplowing, parking regulations, town hall hours or trash collections.  In the past, town residents could visit the town website for the latest storm related information.
• The Long Meddowe Days planning meeting notice is interesting.... I guess that there will be an attempt to provide posting of private group notices on the town website as well.
• A suggestion.... there are a couple of notices that should be removed since the events have passed.  With all of the clutter, it is difficult to find important notices.
  

All of the above notices would have been posted within 24 hours on the Longmeadow Community Bulletin Board (as they have been posted for the past five years) if they were sent to LongmeadowBiz.  However, the Select Board chairman has notified all town departments that LongmeadowBiz should not be included with the distribution of press releases since it is not considered an "official" media outlet- (whatever that means).

In a past Buzz blog post I have highlighted the website for the town of Amherst as a great benchmark for Longmeadow to emulate but have been criticized by a member of the Town Manager's Website Taskforce because he felt that a simple Wordpress CMS "right out of the box" would work just fine and would be "free" or very low cost to the town.  

Amherst just released a "new look" for their town website designed to be easier for people to use according to an article this past weekend in the Springfield Republican.  I would encourage town residents to take a look... but don't expect Longmeadow's new website to match up very well.

It's been almost six months since the town website was "taken over" by the Rob Aseltine and the Longmeadow Select Board.  Let's hope that the announced unveiling of the new town website scheduled for January 1 will actually happen and be responsive to the needs of Longmeadow residents.

In the meantime, town residents can visit the Longmeadow Community Bulletin Board and the Town Calendar and the rest of the LongmeadowBiz website to stay connected with what's happening in our town.  Also, they should also consider following LongmeadowBiz on Facebook.

My Final Comments

I read Alex Grant’s column in last week’s (December 16) edition of the Longmeadow News (click here to read complete column) but was not surprised to learn that his recent FOI request to the Town of Longmeadow for additional documents relating to the series of SBC/ MSBA correspondence and meetings in November 2009 did not reveal any new information nor any insight as to why the MSBA withdrew at the last minute their concerns (build "new" vs. renovation) for Longmeadow's high school project.    

Click here to view all of the documents obtained through this latest FOI request.

From the documents...

There was an important project meeting between the MSBA and the Longmeadow SBC at the MSBA headquarters (at Longmeadow's request) on November 16- two days before the MSBA Board was scheduled to make their decision on the Longmeadow project.  This meeting was viewed as critical for the project with 15 representatives from Longmeadow (including SBC members, project architects, and local politicians) in attendance.  However, it is quite surprising that no meeting minutes or other published notes were taken by either side (or at least not made public through two separate FOI requests).  The only documentation obtained through the latest FOI request were a series of letters including one (11/17/09) from the School Superintendent thanking the MSBA for the opportunity to present Longmeadow’s information and hoping that it was sufficient for a positive recommendation to the MSBA board on the next day (11/18/10).  Click here to view this correspondence.

Meeting minutes for the two SBC meetings that took place in November 2009 (11/05/09 + 11/19/09) revealed very little about the SBC/MSBA project correspondence, "renovation" vs. "build new" concerns or discussions that took place.

Followers of the Buzz blog know that I was a strong supporter of the school building project until April 2010 when it became apparent that the financial impact on increased property taxes for a new school might become a significant hardship for many residents in town and I publicly spoke out in favor of renovation vs. new construction.

From the beginning of the high school building project activities in June 2009 and through early June 2010 I provided significant IT support to the SBC by creating and maintaining the SBC website which helped keep residents updated and informed about the project.  As the project moved forward, there was no question that the vast majority of town residents believed that we needed to do something about the condition of our high school.  What prompted me to write the blog post in early June 2010 that got me fired as town webmaster was that this entire critical interaction between the MSBA and the SBC in November 2009 was virtually hidden from public view until just prior to the town vote in early June.

When town employees or elected or appointed officials believe that the "end result justifies the means" and that hiding critical project issues from public view is acceptable, this becomes an issue of public trust and transparency in our town government.  This controversy was not about a YES or NO position on the high school building project.

Thank you Alex Grant for trying to get the rest of the story…. I guess that we will never know what really happened.

Select Board Holiday Dance

The Longmeadow Buzz blog has been following the actions of the Longmeadow Select Board on Monday nights for quite some time and the proceedings can sometimes be pretty entertaining as well as informative.

The LongmeadowBuzz provides town residents with information that is not normally found in the Springfield Republican or the Longmeadow News.  Not just opinion but background information and facts so that the reader can make up their own mind about the subject.

The LongmeadowBuzz blog is also not intended to be "one man's opinion" so other postings are always welcome as long as the author identifies himself.

The year ahead looks pretty challenging for the Select Board with the following items on the 2011 agenda:

• another difficult budget year with significant state aid reductions, loss of federal stimulus money
• new teacher contract negotiations
• unsettled current contracts for firefighters and police officers
• new photovoltaic solar energy facility project
• consolidation of town's  IT department under the auspices of the School Department
  (Hopefully, the transition will be faster and more successful than the 6 year old town wide maintenance dept consolidation)
• revamping and updating of the town website- http://www.longmeadow.org/

Stay tuned...I will continue to watch and comment on the actions of the Select Board.