Stephanie's Blog
I said I wasn't going to do this, but I changed my mind.
Remember when I used to blog? If it weren't for my frequent presence on Channel 17, you might think I'd disappeared entirely.
Like the News Nuggets of yore, but not as newsy.
Definitely older, anyway. But a year on the Select Board ought to provide some wisdom, along with the glamour and riches. Let's see what that looks like.
Catching up on this and that.
Last week was a doozy - eight meetings. No wonder I'm having trouble getting other stuff done.
Tonight's Select Board meeting (March 2nd) has been canceled, due to
the snow. [UPDATE - 10:24 a.m.: the meeting is rescheduled for Wednesday, 3/4 at 6:30 p.m. in the First Floor Meeting Room.]
You'd think having a week without a Select Board meeting would mean I'd have lots of extra time, but it sure didn't feel that way. Been a busy couple of weeks. What have I been up to?
February already. How time does fly! So where are we?
[UPDATE, 1/28: Don't miss the new "Timely Information" post (where I do the packet lists) with the Gov's FY09 cuts and FY10 reductions]
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I nearly achieved full harmonic convergence in my community service life today.
Just back from a couple of days in
Three weeks "off," and I feel like a kid dreading the start of school after vacation. Well, that's how I felt until I opened my packet and got my whopping SB pay check, which really makes it all worthwhile.
A lot of meetings and events this past week, with issues running from miserable to merry and back to miserable.
At the beginning of my campaign last winter, I had a bunch of people over to my house to talk about plans. I had prepared a packet of information for everyone, with an agenda for the meeting, a timeline for the campaign, a fact sheet with key details and contact info, various sign-up sheets and more. Someone joked "Are you running for Select Board Chair?"
OK, falling down on the blog here. Much to catch up on, so here goes.
ACTV stuff, Town Meeting merchandise and yes, pictures from the Trivia Bee.
Little bits of information about Select Board stuff
Saturday morning we met with Department Heads to hear presentations on each portion of the municipal budget. I hadn’t known quite what to expect from this. It turned out to be incredibly valuable and informative. Perhaps even more so were the documents each Department Head prepared ahead of time, answering questions supplied by the Select Board, and accompanied by budget info.
Falling behind on my posts again. Where does the time go?
(This post has become "CPA Central." Lots of interesting consideration of Question 4 in the comments.)
The police cruiser. The flashing lights. The cell block. What can I say? Sometimes things get kind of wild. Just another Friday night for yours truly.
Just a couple of quick points, so you don’t think I’ve vanished:
Just like the title says... updates, reminders and random musings:
Spent Saturday afternoon at DPW awaiting the water test results, which came in way later than expected. Fortunately, the results were good – no contaminants, no need to boil (read the Town’s press release here) – and I could wait all day for good results.
If there’s a special place in your heart for that scene from “The Jerk” when Steve Martin’s character is all excited by the arrival of the new phone book, then this might be of interest to you.
So the thing is, the meeting summaries are ruining my life. This is only a slight exaggeration. They are also impeding my ability to be a fully-participating Select Board member. I spend so much time dealing with the last meeting that I am not able to concentrate on plans for future meetings, which matter so much more.
I found last night’s meeting incredibly frustrating. Disagreeing with my colleagues and being unable to persuade them is frustrating enough, but regretting my own missed opportunities is even worse. Among the distractions that kept me awake all night:
Very interesting discussion about how my colleagues and I differ in our expectations of Select Board committee liaisons. I must say, their view just doesn’t make any sense to me. Here’s why:
It is fascinating to me, in my weird dual role as Select Board member and scribe, to read my quotes in the newspaper.
After much drama and consternation about its future, the 2008 Fourth of July Parade is over. The weather was great, there were lots of people and I enjoyed being part of it.
June 30th marks the end of the last quarter of FY08 and the end of my first quarter on the Select Board. How am I doing and what have I learned?
So other than the meetings, this web site and Monday mornings at Black Sheep, what else do I do as a Select Board member?
Random bits of information about my experience on the Select Board…
This was just one of those great Saturdays. It could only have been better with sunshine.
I should have been finishing up my Meeting Summary or perhaps monitoring the discussion about the parade drama on inAmherst.com, but instead I was downtown Saturday morning enjoying Arbor Day and Earth Day events.
Ahh, drama! We knew the meetings couldn’t be all about taxi licenses and warrant article recommendations forever.
Did my first “keepers of the public way” thing today.
First impressions as a Select Board rookie…
Because you can never have too many blogs and web sites, right?
