Updates, reminders and random musings

Finally:  I finally put up the July 28th summary.  It isn’t listed in the “Recent Posts” section on the navigation bar because I had previously created a placeholder post, and have now just replaced that text with the summary text.  Not that you probably care, since the meeting is now ancient history, but there you go.

Tech tips:  Clicking on the blue type of the post title in the “Recent Comments” section will take you directly to that comment. Similarly, clicking on the blue type that says how many comments a post has will take you directly to the top of the comments for that post.  Either option is easier than clicking on the post title and scrolling all the way to the bottom if your only interest is the comments.  Also:  the “table of contents” outline at the beginning of each meeting summary is a list of links to each section, so clicking on any of them will take you directly to the topic that interests you, if you don’t want to read the whole thing.  The recurring theme here is that all blue type on the site is a link.  And so is some type that’s not blue.  (Don’t worry, I won’t list all of those.  When in doubt, mouse-over.)

Life on the Select Board:  Here’s the schedule of all the SB-related meetings and events I attended in the last two weeks:  Monday, 8/25:  office hours at Black Sheep, Amherst Housing Authority meeting (SB liaison,) and Select Board meeting; Wednesday, 8/27: new school year kick-off assembly for teachers and staff (SB invitation,) Friends of Amherst Recreation annual meeting (SB invitation,) and Conservation Commission meeting (SB liaison;) Thursday, 8/28: Annual UMass-Chamber Community Breakfast (SB invitation,) and Community Choices Facilitations Committee meeting (SB liaison;) Saturday, 8/30: water test results meeting; Wednesday, 9/3: Northampton Chamber event to tour new Gazette press machine (SB invitation;)  Thursday, 9/4: Norwottuck Rail Trail Advisory Committee meeting (SB invitation as liaison to Public Transportation and Bicycle Committee;) Friday, 9/5: Community Choices Facilitations Committee meeting (SB liaison,) and Committee Appointments dyad meeting with Diana. 

Like being in high school:  The beginning of the new school year must have me in an academic state of mind, because SB stuff keeps reminding me of high school.  (No, I don’t mean gossip and cliques...)  My parking pass for official SB business, and the one I have for meals-on-wheels, are like the hall passes I had for newspaper and yearbook back in the day.  I often wish I had a locker somewhere downtown (and too often end up using my car as such – hence the usefulness of the parking passes) because I’ll have multiple things to do – meetings before or after meals-on-wheels – and don’t want to be lugging all my related stuff from one to the next.  And something about rushing up or down the stairs in Town Hall, clutching notebooks and folders, completely sends me back to the feeling of going from one class to the next.  Hey, maybe we should have a prom!

Get involved:  I’ve mentioned this a few times lately, but now that I’m working on committee appointments for the first time, it’s particularly on my mind:  apply for a board or committee!  There are so many opportunities to get involved in Town stuff – from art to zoning, from sister cities to public transportation, from agriculture to recycling.  Check out the Boards and Committees section of the Town web site and submit a Citizen Activity Form to apply.

Your two cents:  The deadline to offer comment for the Town Manager’s evaluation is coming up.  (The postcard that went to Town Meeting members and members of committees said 9/12, but at a Select Board meeting, we said 9/15 – oops.)  Either way, it’s soon, so send your thoughts to the Select Board by e-mail at selectboard@amhersttma.gov or by regular mail to:

CONFIDENTIAL – EVALUATION
Gerald Weiss, Chair
Amherst Select Board
4 Boltwood Avenue
Amherst, MA 01002

Glutton for punishment:  If these meeting summaries have stirred great passions in you, perhaps you too should seek a seat on the Select Board.  The deadline for submitting nomination papers (requires 50 signatures) to the Town Clerk’s office is 5:00 p.m., Tuesday, September 16.

2 Fs – get used to it:  I had joked that that would be my campaign slogan.  Maybe it should have been.  People tell me they can’t find my web site, and it turns out that they’re spelling O’Keeffe wrong.  Or I’ll pick up my name tag at an event, and it will say O’Keefe.  Maybe I’ll start spelling my first name with double PHs and really confuse things.  Ahh, phunny, ffunny. 

The week that was:  From an E. Coli scare to West Nile Virus to remnants of Hurricane Hanna – what’s next?