Lets have some fun with this post! You have all heard of Fantasy Football right?
Where you get to choose your own team by selecting players from different positions and assembling your own "customized" team.
Lets play Fantasy Councilors!
OK, time to choose who will be your fantasy town council.
You must pick 7 people, 4 of who must be district councilors ( your choice must live in the district that he/she represents) and 3 at large members who can live anywhere town wide.
Now question # 2
You have just been elected as town councilor. What would you do once you have been elected? What would you do differently than the "real" councilors?
If you were to make any cuts in budgets, What would those be?
Lets have some fun with this, but remember to keep this in good taste otherwise you will not see it posted!
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94 comments:
Now a lot more cost effectively residing in a neighboring town I suggest the following Allstar Derry council:
Reisdorf
Katsakories
Dimmock
Rose
Buckley
Casten
Dowd
alternate: Chirchellio
Maybe this is why I heard Dowd is pushing a parking garage. This brain trust will draw over flow crowds.
Dimmock would get us a syndicated TV deal because the meetings would be so entertaining.
8:18 you are cruel. I presume that you are referring to Mr. Bulkley. Mae Casten is of course dead (but still not in last place among your dream team.)
I can not blame you for running to another town. However some of us plan to fight to the end.
Here's my fantasy Council,
How about the one we are currently stuck with does something to run the town efficiently.
Brian - this might be better as a new thread vs. a post under "Who's to pay".
What's everyone think of the new property appraisals? Got mine in the mail this past weekend. Quite a drop from my previous appraisal - multiple 5 figure difference! I wish I could get those tax dollars back.
Now of course I'm no fool - just waiting to see the tax rate now double to make up the difference - I know there is no way I'll see a penny of savings despite the decline in my property value!!!
12:15, you are right. I think everyone's assessment probably fell by about 10%. Unfortunately I think even the most pessimistic of us will be stunned by our tax bills in the next several years. I think someone elses post is right on. The ADT should spend some time looking at the schools.
anon 12:51 you've got it right.
BC and many of his cohorts fail to see that CUTS are mandatory not discretionary. in my case we are looking at nearly a ten percent drop in valuation.
derry needs to reduce town and school expenditures by a similar amount. if it means a decline in service, so be it. for too long this community has been guided by back room deals and wink and nod contracts.
now that the fools paradise that has been the hallmark of the derry TC and school board largess can no longer be argued against the backdrop of a liquidity driven real estate bull market we need to revisit reality i.e. cut expenditures.
if we expect our real estate valuations to rebound on par with surrounding communities this needs be done now. if not, we are destined to become a community held captive by a fixed cost burden that will serve to impeded any future progress.
Anon 9:09 well said. Until we start doing the necessary cuts, we'll never see tax relief. Tough times call for tough measures ... will it be tough to make these cuts, it certainly will, but both the TC and School Board need to face reality. Make the tough decisions now and plan accordingly for our future.
anon 9:09,
I have been saying that things will be getting tougher in up coming budgets that may lead to lay-offs for awhile now. As someone who has seen 4 budgets and the tax cap keeping local taxes in line-the writing is "on the wall" for upcoming budgets. Now having said that-I, unlike other councliors would lay-off seasonal part time workers first before I lay-off any emergency responders.
Also you make it sound like Derry is the only place with home prices losing value. Well I can tell you it is 98% of the country in similiar situations. Some alot worse off than Derry NH I may add.
no BC, i did not say derry is the only community that is experiencing a decline in market value. what i am saying is that other communities that run a tighter fiscal ship have a lesser tax burden which has led to generally higher comps due to a lesser tax burden.
remember BC, every dollar spent on property tax is a dollar not spent on P&I. at these levels derry's tax burden adversely impact it's relative property valuation with surrounding communities.....this is a fact.
the fixed costs that have resulted from over staffing, failed exit expenditures, ridiculously large town halls, ect...ect...ect have come home to roost. unless we cut expenditures at the town and school level our tax burden will only increase. and to the extent that we fail to reduce our tax burden our property values will only decrease in absolute terms and in relation to those community's that cut more effectively than we do.
one more point BC, it is precisely your wrong headed contention, that part time seasonal workers be the first to go, that we all expect to hear out of the vast majority of our elected officials that presided over this mess over the past decade. seasonal workers are cheaper, work very hard and have no benefit costs...... on the other hand, i can understand why a politician would be willing to take the less politically damaging path of throwing this non-unionized, generally younger group and throw them under the bus.
BC:
Which CPI does the Town use for the tax cap and why?
National or Boston?
I apologize for my off topic post.
I read the UL today and noticed that the resluts of food-establishment inspections were listed for Bedford.
Is there any way to gather this information for Derry? Does it even exist? I'd like to see the results...
Having property in another town that went to 100% valuation and had the property values adjusted down - I can assure you that it is ulikely the town will just give up on that 10% of revenue - we will see a change in the tax rate to make up for it - and if I am right the adjustment will actually end up costing each of us a bit more - voila! more revenue to the town and they blame it on the valuation adjustment process.
anon 9:23,
You need to brush up on how municipalities work. I'm not saying its right or wrong, however with the Unions in place, we all know that its the seasonal worker- part time people that will go first. They have whats called a bumping order any time someone has left or moved into a different job.
This has nothing to do with "political posturing" as you have suggested. But is what reality is in Municipalities.
anon 9:36,
I believe it is National. As you are probably aware the Boston CPI would be a higher % allowed because of the Northeast economies typically higher than most excl California/west coast.
I believe the authors of the tax cap wrote this into the towns charter this way.
anon 10:45,
You are correct. Basically 1/3 taxes will stay the same 1/3 lower 1/3 higher when re-adjusted WITHOUT the increases already voted on at school, town and county levels for this year. Of course school budget has gone up ( not sure of how much) Town is going up .18 Cents and State County will add increases.
Ontop of this we will have a "shift" of over 9MILLION dollars of property value from the senior exemptions that were recently passed by some of the council
( NOT ME!) This will add to the tax burden for the rest of the taxpayers.
anon 11:43,
The key to lower taxes will be bringing in business into Derry. Some think Derry should revert back to a town of 7000 people and think along those days. It will not happen! We can't erase housing, apartments that are already here. Derry has more mixed housing per capita than Manchester.
We just don't have the business offsetting residentail taxes here.
Thats how we will eventually lower taxes. The town has the tax cap and School, state, county do not.
Wouldn't it make more sense if the Town followed the Boston CPI since that is the region we are in?
Following the national CPI seems a little unrealistic.
BC, why is it you always go back to blaming the Unions whenever we have fiscal / budget problems. We wouldn't be in this mess if the Council did its job and scrutinized the Department Heads and their constant spend…spend...hire more employees mantra. Instead of layoffs, why don't we have a hiring freeze? We have a situation where many many police officers have recently left the town. Why are we filling those vacancies now if we are looking at layoffs in the spring? The Fire Department is way over staffed, the Recreation Department is a joke. Since salaries and benefits are our largest budget item, there should be a town wide hiring freeze until we are able to get the budget under control.
anon 1:52,
I'm not blaming anyone. I'm trying to let outsiders understand things from a municipalities scenerio vs. Private industry one. People think its very easy and its not. I'm trying to educate as much as possible. Keep in mind everyone has different opinions on what they or what they don't want. Or if it were a private business and they were CEO making individual decisions- Its not.
The issues today can not be blamed on current councils but yet decisions were made in the past that effect us today. If you think any one councilor has a magic wand to make things better-you are watching to many bad tv shows.
Now in the same token-the present council isn't perfect and we all take some heat for different things which comes with the council job. We are all in this together-for better or worse.
as far as hiring freeze! Police is the only jobs I would not freeze.
And after freezing positions, less people to do same work = more overtime $$$ being spent. Remember we have a tax cap on the local level where since I have been on council the avg increase was 3% ( rate of inflation) and we avg 7% increase in health care costs. The councils have done a good job on the local level- Not perfect, but have done a good job in my mind.
Think its easy? Put your name in for election and see it from the inside!!
Whatever the Town does, do not cut the Code Enforcement budget. That office is already under staffed. They don't have the time to review returned certified letters even when they forget the postage. They just put them in a pile and hope nobody notices. We certainly couldn't cut any position from that department, they do such an outstanding job. Let’s take a seasonal worker and have them go through the mail.
BC, you're right, in order to truly reduce taxes, we need to increase our commercial tax base. But to do that we need infrastructure to these areas, let's start by improve our own Auto Mile -- Used Car Auto Mile that is on Rt. 28. Infrastructure would increase the value and the interest in these properties thus making it too valuable for used cars to sit on.
I have a question regarding town infrastrure. Birch St. near the hospital, is that town sewer and town water? I am just wondering because you hear that if we have this in place then business will follow, we won't have the car lots etc. If we do have this infrastructure in this part of town then why is that car lot there? Why hasn't anyone purchased that Shutes corner property(which is an eyesore)? Is the zoning restrictions that strict? I tend to think no, not with all the construction going on around there. Any insight as to why these parcels of land have not been developed, if they do indeed have town sewer and water.
We have allot of smart bloggers here with good ideas.
I hate to burst your bubble but nothing will work.
Reason is nobody wants to give up their "cookies and milk". It is okay to attempt to make others give theirs up though.
This is how governemnt works.
In a real business there is an accountability for expenditures and decisions are made in the best interest of the business.
Take a look at when businessman Benson became governor, he tried to make intelligent cuts however they all got denied because each one affected a group.
I chuckle every time I go through the Hampton tolls. He tried to make it efficient by collecting tolls in one direction only. The down side was half the personal would no longer be needed. A very common sense idea but half the tolls takers did not want to give up their "cookies and milk" so its now back to its inefficiency.
Poor Derry Taxpayer- Don't give up yet. Let's push to privatize the Derry EMS. Sometimes more can be won in a large battle than in 1000 little skermishes. Or we could push for a tax cap on the schools. Or at least a revision to the law such that the voters are given real alternative school budgets. If we don't do it, it won't get done.
I WISH FAIRBANKS STEPS DOWN.ALL SHE DOES IS COMPLAIN ABOUT EVERYTHING AND TRY TO DIVIDE THIS TOWN IF SHE EVER SMILED I BET HER FACE WILL CRACK .AND TAKE YOUR BUDDY COYLE WITH YOU THIS GUY IS A CLOWN PROBABLY GOT BEAT UP IN SCHOOL.
5:48
Lets not make fun of people, be respectful of their position.
This is not Middle school.
5:48 Clearly, you are not one of Derry's intellectual giants. How does it feel to know that everyone is smarter than you? Please submit postings only if you actually have something to add to the conversation. You waste our time.
My Fantasy Councilors would do the right thing for the people who elected them. BC are you favoring the proposed Fire Dept Contract?
still looking it over.
BC Glad to see you are still reviewing it.
Let me point out parts that caught my attention:
Lifetime employment for the majority of the force.
Benefits far in excess of those seen in comparable contracts for other NH municipalities.
"Evergreen clause" such that benefits will NEVER be reduced. (Any attempt to reduce them would be met by simply rolling over the existing contract.)
The union gets to pick who gets certain key jobs. e.g. Director of Communication and Technology.
Signing bonus!!!!! Giving them a contract much fatter than the norm and then bribing them to sign it??? "thank you sir may I have another?"
Union can block any subcontracting of any emergency services.
sloppy..."savings clause" is a fragment sentence.
If this sort of contract arrived of the desks of any Board of Directors in America the entire negotiating team would be dismissed. If the Board signed it there would be an immediate shareholder law suit. I don't believe in double standards. Do you? How could you possibly sign this?
DJN
To be fair, just about everything except the signing bonus is in the expired contract that the current evergreen clause protects. What you failed to cover was that the FF's agreed to larger contributions to the insurance going forward. The buyout of the insurance will be capped at $2500 a year for those who wish to take the buyout in the future. I looked at both the new and expired contracts. If you consider that the old agreement expired a year and a half ago the signing bonus seems to take the place of having to go back and repay the wage increase hourly and overtime for the last year and a half. Going back to the insurance, I would think that it would be cheaper for the town to pay the buyout instead of paying the entire cost for a family plan for most employees. The deal isn't perfect but it does show both sides were willing to bend. Keep in mind that if the deal doesn't pass that the old deal will still be in effect that already has most of the parts that caught your attention.
Anon 10:50 I have more detailed analysis that you might find interesting. I'll have copies at the ADT booth at Derryfest. It shows how completely out of touch this proposed contract is with the realities of other fire departments in NH.
You may be correct regarding the evergreen clause. Previous councils "wrote checks that future councils have to cash." When you see one of those previous councilors, point that out to them. They have done the town a great disservice in this regard.
Their decisions may cost Derry millions a year for many years to come.
Based upon the evergreen clause, the union (who I hold faultless in all this) can just roll the current contract over forever. The town can withhold a new contract forever. At some point in time the lines cross and I suspect that the majority of the union is worse off. Perhaps cooler heads can prevail. I'm not optimistic, this is the worst labor contract I have ever read.
Anon 10:50... wouldn't the total cost to the town of the old contract rolled over still be cheaper than the new contract? If so why should we sign it?
DJN:
I think that the town would be better served to make the deal they have on the table now. The FF's are going to make a larger contribution to the insurance and the deal is only retroactive to July 2008. If the town doesn't make the deal then they are on the hook for whatever the difference is between the old insurance rate and what it is now a year and a half later. The evergreen clause allows for the previous contract to remain in effect after it expires so that both sides are covered by a deal. There is a no strike provision and the evergreen clause kind of goes along with that. The FF's can't strike because at worst case, they still have their old contract in effect. It's in the best interests of both sides to get something done.
Hampstead is a good example of what happens to a town that pays their FF's below other area towns. They have 4 full time positions and over the past couple of years they have lost 3 or 4 of those people to other towns in the area after they invested the time and money to train those people. It's cheaper to retain and pay the same employees then it is to keep shouldering the costs of having to train and outfit a couple of new ones every two years. Nothing like having your house on fire and two people show up. That worked out real well in Newington a couple of months back. It's not just a matter of safety for the FF's and the citizens but the difference between making repairs to your house or living in the basement because that's all that's left.
Anon 10:17
Your right on the money with that one.
A similar situation keeps happening in my hometown of Auburn.
The town hired 2 fulltime firefighters about 3 or 4 years ago. Now, each year they have to hire a new one because one has left. This is a huge cost burden with training and uniforms among other things.
For the past 3 months they have only had one firefighter in Auburn becuase they can't find anyone willing to work for minimal wages.
These poorly paid departments become the recruiting centers for departments that pay the average wage a firefighter should earn.
Anon 10:17
You're right on the money with that one.
A similar situation keeps happening in my hometown of Auburn.
The town hired 2 fulltime firefighters about 3 or 4 years ago. Now, each year they have to hire a new one because one has left. This is a huge cost burden with training and uniforms among other things.
For the past 3 months they have only had one firefighter in Auburn becuase they can't find anyone willing to work for minimal wages.
These poorly paid departments become the recruiting centers for departments that pay the average wage a firefighter should earn.
Has anyone taken a look at the employment section of the Town's website lately?
Has the Police chief finally admitted that too many veteran officers have left the department?
The Town is actively seeking officers with 5 years or more as a fulltime officer and is willing to pay them more than a new officer would normally receive.
Nope. There's no problem at all at the police department. Just business as usual in Derry!
djn,
Does your analysis come with a solution? The old contract remains in effect till they sign a new one. How are the taxpayers better off with the old contract?
10:17 No one is suggesting paying the firefighters below the rate of other towns. I agree that would be a bad move since you would run into retention problems. Derry however offers a package well above other similar towns thus wasting taxpayer money. Fires are not suppressed any faster by giving 12 weeks vacation/sick time, it just costs the taxpayers more (much more). I expect to be presenting an analysis of comparable towns to the council in the near future.
Anon 9:49 I don't believe that is correct. I don't have the contracts in front of me but the COLA costs and the "signing bonuses" should far exceed the tiny increase in health care contributions. Good question however, I should include that calculation in my presentation, that would be the basic "do nothing" vs. "sign the contract" costs.
Also by the way, most other towns have no evergreen clause and still have a no strike provision.
11:41 - Yes, I believe the taxpayers are better off by simply extending the old contract. Unfortunately the town has allowed itself to be negotiated into a corner. There is no easy way out. We will pay for many years for the errors of the past. This will result in Derry continuing to be uncompetitive with surrounding towns in terms of taxes (and therefore see little on no development). Why would someone develop in Derry at $22.05/$1000 when they can go next door to Londonderry at $18.22?
A $10 million building would pay $766,000 more real estate taxes in Derry vs Londonderry over 20 years useful life. Developers can do math. What does the developer get for that money, firemen with longer vacations? That's a tough sell.
11:14 Please check the data, Derry Fire Dept costs significantly more than surrounding towns of about the same size. Why would you assume that we are underpaying our employees? People who are being underpaid do not negotiate for guaranteed lifetime employment.
There is no such thing as just rolling over the current deal. It's not a choice to just roll it over for either side. The evergreen clause is there so that the town and the union can have a buffer to negotiate a contract if need be. Other towns that have a no strike clause with nothing to protect themselves against their towns not bargining with them are plain stupid. The costs of the COLAS and the "signing bonus" are close to what the increase in the insurance is. Another area that I saw the FFs bend on is that the new contract is only retroactive to July 2008. One would think that they could've gone back to when the old contract expired. The "signing bonus" is getting off light for the town from the looks of it.
BC: on 9/13/08 you were still looking over the contract. Has that status changed?
DJN-
Once again you are hijacking BC's blog. You should start your own.
Doug,
I can't recall the RSA but isn't the 'evergreen clause' part of a newly passed law in NH?
anon 1:16,
You are correct. The evergreen clause was recenly approved by Gov. Lynch.
It looks like 12:46 doesn't want to hear more from me here. Breaks my heart. So I think I'll save it for the council meeting on the 7th.
BC it doesn't look like you answered 8:37's question. Do you plan on voting on the fire contract? If so how and why?
BC. I would like to echo djn question how are you going to vote on the Fire contract?
Your vote is going to greatly influence my decision in future elections. Your decision should be clear cut by now BC, yea or nay?
Still undecided. Lots of info to weight. I will use all my time to go over everything before I vote.
BC- OK you were prepared to vote last Tuesday night when you tried to force a vote but are undecided now. Am I missing something?
From the context of the questioners it appears that some people would like for BC to state his opposition to the contracts prior to the public hearing. But I suspect those same people would try to run him out of town for not listening to the will of the voters if he stated a remotely affirmative position before the last speaker at the public hearing had their say. Sounds a tad hypocritical to me. Not surprising, just hypocritical.
Let’s not forget the council is obligated to look out for the interests of all 34,000 residents in Derry, not just the handful that show up for ADT hyped public hearings.
I agree with 10:20 a.m. about the councilors looking after the interests of all 34,000 Derry residents (who are paying much more per capita for fire protection than residents of other towns).
I'm not looking for him to commit either way I just can't understand why he was incensed that they didn't vote Tuesday but is undecided today. Did new information become available? If so can he share it with us?
Yeah - what was that super secret meeting all about in the middle of the discussion? BC - you initiated that by saying you had info you didn't want to share in public. What's with all the secrecy - seems to subvert the ideals behind open meeting laws if you can simply call a private session. I'd sure like to know if the info being discussed in that private session actually met the criteria for a nonpublic session. Just not wanting to say something in front of the public doesn't seem to meet that criteria as far as I can tell.
No answer BC?
Its non -public. Believe me, if it was not a non-public item that was brought up KC JF or Carney would of said something as soon as we got back.
anon 3:20,
Wouldn't the world be a great place if we were like everyone else, heck less be like Candia and have an all call fire dept. It can't cost that much right. It is silly to try and compare towns apple to apple. Just like some one said- My family member gets only 4 weeks vacation no matter how long he works at his job- everyone should be the same,
heck, why stop there-Walmart has part timers and pays for NO vacation time, lets demand everyone fits into that catergory!
PLEASE
No BC, comparing a call force to a fulltime force is NOT apples to apples. Please explain why our force cannot be compared to Londonderry or Concord? Your 5:59 comment was not particularly lucid. Putting up very weak strawmen and knocking them down is no way to win a debate. Once again, how is comparing Derry's professional firefighting team to those of very similar sized towns not valid?
Concord-Yes I agree. Londonderry is still in a building faze with thier fire dept. As a matter of fact they still want to build firestations and are not done building thier dept. ( thanks to Derry for many years, they had used our services) Lets look at Manchester, Nashua because they have been established for many years! Remember, we are the 4th largest in the state with the 3rd largest school district.
Everyone says that we should concentrate on bringing in the medical field for our economic development-they look at the professionalism of our fire and ambulance men and women as a place where we take those fields seriously. We are not Troy NH-population 23. However the mentality of some think that Derry has 8000 people like back in the early 80's.
7:37
Derry will soon have 8000 residents due to the high taxes killing homeowners ability to pay their mortgage.
Then, wee everyone knows what follows.
and you think that you will save big tax dollars how? By slashing nickles and dimes? Tell me how you're going slash taxes in half?
Not by picking on town side budget I can tell you that. Remember we operate under a tax cap and have done so for at least 10 years. No growth year higher than rate of inflation. I do understand that some political groups need to make issue an issue to get elected.
"I do understand that some political groups need to make issue an issue to get elected" Poor excuse, BC there isn't a municipal election for another 6 months. Questioning motives gets you nowhere.
Also, the way you reduce taxes significantly is be not spending millions of additional dollars on fire protection. (Of course first you would have to elect more councilors with guts.)
OK let's look at Concord. About 25% more people but they pay less for fire/ambulance. If we had their deal we would save about $2 million a year.
You really don't want to compare to Manchester or Nashua (somebody from the fire dept stop BC before he asks for more comparisons!). Didn't anyone teach you not to ask questions in a debate when you don't know the answer... watch more TV lawyer shows)
KC's letter in the Derry News reminded me of Rocky's retirement speach. It was just a little too self serving for me. Sounds like he's punching out a little early. I fought the good fight and all. Maybe if he gets out of the way you folks can get something done. You still have the nag and boy blunder to deal with.
I'm so impressed with the high road chosen by BC and his followers in this blog. If anyone disagrees with BC they must be running for office or some other self-serving purpose. And the name calling anon 1:46, very mature, very impressive. We can tell that you are a deep thinker and extremely articulate.
Perhaps it's the same "high road" as those who think that we need to elect more councilors with guts! It's all well and good as long as no one picks on the trio. I get it now! BC has the guts to stand in there and take the punches tossed his way here in the open. I have a lot more respect for that then to hide behind the print of the paper. I guess it all depends on where you want to go looking for the truth.
DJN: The FF's contract only states that members of the FF's bargaining unit MAY fill the assignments of Director of Emergency Medical Services, Communications, and Fire Prevention. Meaning that a FF Private could elevate to one of those positions without having to become an Officer. The same section is there in the Officer's contract. The Fire Chief would still as always have the final say as to who would hold those positions.
Quarterback Al Dimmock - thats funny I don't care whio you are
Center Paul hofgarten....he's fun to watch
Craig Bulkley
Katsakories
Jack Dowd
Grant Benson
and Mike Houle - so we can begin the process of getting rid of Ed garone once and for all!
hu sed u ned 2 b a dep thnkr ?
;)
4:12
What are you accomplishing with the name bashing?
How does this sound. lets get rid of 4:12 once and for all.
To me its sounds dumb.
Anon 4:04 - You are correct. At Derryfest I chatted with a member of the fire union and the misintrepretation was pointed out to me. I agreed to remove that reference from all future presentations (like the one 10/7/08).
3:48 So you are condeming the six councilors who doesn't have a blog? I don't believe the "no guts" posting mentioned BC, why did you immediately think of him? I think we all give BC credit for his attempts to answer questions on this site. That's much better than my councilor who says nothing of substance and just votes the way he is told.
Doug,
Did you ever stop to think that maybe, just maybe, you and the ADT should research your political positions before you publish and ditribute those very lies to the entire community? Just wondering...
Maybe you should submit a statement that you lied to the entire Town of Derry.
It's a good thing the voters were smart enough not to elect you to the Council last year.
Celtic:
What lie would you be accusing me of?
Doug;
On your 6:54 post you clearly admit that you "misinterpreted" an item in the contract.
However, you present your beleifs as facts and distribute them via newspaper, flyers, and word of mouth.
Some people, God help them, may actually beleive what you publish. Either way, when you take it upon yourself to publish statements, they are facts or lies. In this case, it was a lie.
As a representative of a taxpayer group, you discredit yourself and the group by making false statements. Now, in the future I will have always question whether your positions are truth, or misinterpretations.
BC,
PLEASE DONT LET THE LOCAL 4392 SHORT CHANGE THE FIREFIGHTERS WITH ONLY AN ACCRUAL LIMIT OF 1344 HRS.
WITH OVER 99 PERCENT OF TAXPAYERS ONLY ACCRUING 120 HRS. AFTER 5 YRS. EMPLOYMENT.
" PEOPLE" READ THE NEW CONTRACT BETWEEN DFD AND TOWN AND SAY GOOD-BY TO ANY MONEY YOU MIGHT BE SAVING FOR YOUR KIDS COLLEGE FUND.
Anon 8:32
Apparently you can't grasp the fact that allowing individualy to accrue time instead mandating its use saves the Town money.
Sure, lower the accrual, and see the amount of overtime go through the roof.
I don't think you follow the financial situation worldwide.
Soon there will be mass layoffs everywhere including fire depts.
Anon 8:14
While I doubt you care about facts and I suspect that you simply delight in any opportunity to bash me, let me share with you (and, more importantly, with other readers) the text from the union contract, and several interpretations of an ambiguous phrase.
"The Town and Unit agree that members of this bargaining unit may fill the following assignments:"
Interpretation #1: the bargaining unit (the firefighters union) may choose who will work in the following jobs.
Interpretation #2: members of the firefighters union are allowed to be employed in the following jobs.
The ambiguity is with the term "may fill". In talking to a member of the union, he viewed it according to interpretation #2 whereas I had originally viewed it according to interpretation #1. Since interpretation #2 is more beneficial to the residents of Derry I was delighted to accept his interpretation and pull that slide from my October 7th deck. However I would suggest that the sentence in question be rewritten to avoid confusion. The last thing any of us need is for the town and union to waste time and money in court haggling over ambiguities.
I also accepted interpretation #2 because this is a trivial matter in the larger analysis of the fire union contracts. That analysis shows that the Town of Derry is spending millions of dollars more per year than it would under the contracts and management teams that govern fire departments in similar sized New Hampshire communities. The data source for this analysis was hundreds of pages of budget documents and an equal or greater number of pages of labor contracts. That analysis was performed as a free service to the citizens of Derry by the Alliance of Derry Taxpayers.
Now I'll ask you Anon 8:14, please describe the benefit to Derry taxpayers of providing firefighters with the benefits package that is far in excess of that seen in similar communities. Furthermore please explain your recent contributions to improving the governance of Derry.
11;04 there will not be mass layoffs in the Derry Fire Dept. The vast majority of firefighters have guarenteed employment for life.
Celtic - you haven't answered Newell's question. Have you slithered back under the rock? What do you have to say for yourself?
Doug:
When you take your opinion on a matter and present it as fact, but your opinion is neither truth or fact, then it is a lie.
It doesn't matter what your opinion is. You and the ADT should be publishing facts. You should investigate your positions so that these situations don't occur.
How many copies of this propaganda did the ADT hand out last week?
Have you taken the time to look into your other statements to see if they are fact or not?
I would hate for you to make a fool of yourself at the council meeting by presenting false statements. My guess is that town administration will happily point out everything you state that is incorrect or misleading.
Celtic- You clearly have no concept of the term "lie". Stating one's opinion is not lying since by definition an opinion is the person's interpretation of what is true. I cannot be saying what I believe to be true and lying. I may be incorrect but as I pointed out the interpretation of that ambiguous phrase was trivial. (I'd also point out that the fireman who suggested what I refer to as interpretation #2 was not speaking officially for the union.)
Now as to lies, do you really think people will believe that you would hate for me to make a fool of myself at the council meeting by presenting false statements? Few things would delight you more.
Why don't you stop being so damn lazy and dig out the facts yourself instead of calling people liars and hoping that the administration will prove you right?
Finally regarding how many copies we passed out, the answer is "not enough". It was a very popular item.
Since you have no facts about anything just a loud mouth, I will not get into your characterization of the analysis as propaganda. If you don't know what a lie is you almost certainly don't understand "propaganda". I sure hope you are not a product of Derry schools, if so someone should get a refund.
djn:
I have to agree with Celtic.
You still have not owned up to the fact that you and the ADT are misleading the public.
Nor have you admitted that you should research topics prior to distribution of position statements.
Oh, by the way...from Wikipedia:
Propaganda is a concerted set of messages aimed at influencing the opinions or behaviors of large numbers of people. As opposed to impartially providing information, propaganda in its most basic sense presents information in order to influence its audience. Propaganda often presents facts selectively (thus lying by omission) to encourage a particular synthesis, or gives loaded messages in order to produce an emotional rather than rational response to the information presented. The desired result is a change of the cognitive narrative of the subject in the target audience to further a political agenda.
This sounds exactly like what the Doug and the ADT are up to...
9:34 we all look forward to your unbiased presentation of FACTS to the council on the 7th. You do have facts don't you? How about sharing some of those with us all?
It appears that Doug and the ADT are the only ones who are actually researching the facts. All we get from the rest of you are b.s. opinions. (with the notable exception of the Derry News' front page story on the lavish benefits provided in the contract).
Anon 9:34, I do not know DJN personally. But I do view him as a thorough individual that not only makes sense ( the majority of the time) but attempts to supports his opinions with facts. This I say based upon some presentations I have heard him make.
I must also acknowledge, that I do not know you personally. Obviously, because you have elected to post anonymously ( which is fine.) But I find it plausible that you could be anyone of a number of people I have heard make presentations in town. You see, sadly, there is no lack of folks swirling about that feel by virtue of their saying something, or some department head saying something, that it must be true. Supporting facts be damned or kept at a minimum.
Seems to me that this community and its leaders have been asleep at the wheel for a long time. I am glad that their are people capable and willing to stand up and asking intelligent questions which lead to intelligent answers.
What remains to be seen however is are our leaders and people like you anon 9:34 equally capable and willing to say "no" for a change.
In legal writing the use of "may" is limited to the grant of discretion or authority.
That being the case Mr. Newells interpretation would be correct.
While one may say the Mr. Newell deliberately misinterpreted the point in question one also could say that the drafter that chose to phrase the sentence did so without being particularly resistant to misinterpretation and that may or may not have been incidental or deliberate.
In following a tried-and-true format, a legal document leaves little open to interpretation.
Clearly that line needs to be changed.
Where was Mr Newell 4 years ago when that language was added to the contract?
If he cared back then, maybe it wouldn't be in the proposed contract. Maybe if the people of Derry thought he would be a viable candidate, he could vote on this contract.
Weel the people of Derry didn't like Mr Newell back then and we still don't.
anon 5:05 there is nothing like an economic contraction that sends good-time charlie spend thrift politicians running for the exits with an angered and disillusioned electorate on their heels.
locally, we began to witness the above referenced phenomenon last election cycle. some long time pols ran for the exits rather than run for office as the "incompetency scramble" picked up momentum. next election should accomplish more positive council change as the cumulative effects of prior mis-management and poor judgement becomes clear for all to see as the times grow rougher and questions get tougher.
so enjoy your delusions about what the town "likes" while you can anon 5:05, because the good times with good- time spend thrift charlie pols are ov-ah.
I agree with Anon 2:26
I've on one occasion talked with Mr. Newell and found him to be fair and reasonable in his assessments of the town; which is more than I can say about some. I'll not only be supporting him if he chooses to run for a position in town but for the first time in my life I'll be out campaigning for him. I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore!!!!!!!!
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