Is Hamilton BOS ever going to get off dead center

Aesop fable: There once was a donkey (Hamilton BOS) who was very very hungry.  He wondered into an opening (Patton property). There he perceived two piles of scrumptious hay (housing, Soccer fields, B&Bs, river walks etc)  equally distant.  He got perplexed and could not make up his mind which to eat first. So he starved to death.

It has been almost a year now and NOTHING.  A recent meeting reviled yet another group of possibilities that will be chased.  This could have been a duplicate of the first meeting one year ago. The team lacks positive leadership.  Views and soccer fields seem to take president over revenue. One gets the impression that any revenue gleaned from this property is already slated to be spent on recreation.  Here is a novel thought –reduce the tax rate?

There are some no brainers in this world and this is one such instance.  We need tax revenue.  “Hello McFee anybody home” Anything else is secondary.  The Hamilton BOS has a spending problem, they can’t figure out which item to SPEND money on first.  Pools, soccer fields, nature walks, they are all “good” endeavors, but how about concentrating on how to increase the tax revenue.  How many times have they been told by various people “ build the 12 houses and tax money will come”

One of these problems is the constant use of “The Subcommittee”.  It is almost liken to Claude Rains’s “ Round up the usual suspects “.  There are usually too many, they are too diverse (like herding cats), and it is always the same group.  This results in procrastination, and an inability to come to any consensus.  We pay very good money for a town manager, yet we do not let him do his job.  The 12 Patton houses would have been well on their way to being built by now if the BOS just would let him do his job.   Instead we form a committee---so what do we get?---   soccer fields and B&Bs and nature walks.   If the BOS will not “let go” of the old ways, than we should fire the town manager and hire a town administrator for a lot less money.

The present property cost us about $80,000/year, 35K for an attendant, some utilities and 37K in tax loss.  The BOS does not want to consider the tax loss (37K) as a cost.  They are welcome to their type of spin economics. It is a loss of income no matter who Mrs Patton may have sold it to and since we own it, IT IS A LOSS, it is land and house  that does not generate income.  The clock keeps ticking even if they were to make a decision today it would be another year until we would start building, and therefore another 80K -- Other alternatives are either gambles with significant probabilities of loss or are in the expense column.  Build the houses first and than, consider what is left over.  If a soccer field is in the mix, than let the Rec. Dep.,  mount a fundraiser to pay for it.  Just like they did in Marblehead for their artificial turff field. This is what they do in other towns.  We need to stop spending on non-priority items. 

Coupled with this indecision, is the lack of preparation.  To this day BOS don’t seem to know if they need a zoning change to affect the 12 houses, in fact they don’t even have a consensus of what type of houses to build.   It is perplexing that we can’t plan the simplest of plans.  How long does it take to determine what kind of zoning is necessary for twelve house lots?  What have we been doing for a year?  Maybe they have been considering a B&B and/or soccer fields and poo-pooing the house lots.  When asked if there is a zoning requirement almost all of selectmen  have a different view.  It is disconcerting that nobody seems to have a handle on the requirements.  Are our zoning laws so complicated that nobody can answer a simple zoning question?   { Probably why we can’t seem to get any development in town}  And of course this unknown answer is put off so that window of opportunity (the town meetings) is lost, thus extending the time to execute a decision.  It would seem reasonable that we put forth to the town a specific plan at the next town meeting with 2 articles.  Permission to sell the 12 lot parcel and any zoning change that may be required (after they figure out what they are doing).  

This process is not that complicated ---There is no reason that the BOS cannot put forth a solid plan in a few months.  Remember, it is not valid until you sign on the bottom line.  There is no reason you cannot prepare a very specific detailed plan ready for execution.  Plans from the BOS are always been nebulous and vague and give little feeling of confidence. This is not rocket science, in fact it is rather simple minded.

Procrastination of decisions because of there inability to make decisions only leads to starvation of progress and the donkey dies.

Respectfully

William Dery