#1 2010-02-08 18:30:15

7:00 PM – Room #320 Multi-Service Center, 48 Marion Road, Wareham Massachusetts

1. CALL TO ORDER BY CHAIRMAN
2. ROLL CALL
3. ANNOUNCEMENT
4. CITIZENS PARTICIPATION
5. CONSENT AGENDA
a. Authorization to sign bills and documents, etc.
b. Appointment/Interview of associate member to Board of Health.
c. Appointment to the Wareham Housing Authority.
d. Approval of the board’s February 2, 2010 regular meeting minutes.
e. Approval of the board’s November 3, 2009, December 8, 2009, December 15,
2009 & January 12, 2010 executive session meeting minutes.
6. LICENSES & PERMITS
None.
7. TOWN ADMINISTRATOR’S REPORT
8. TOWN BUSINESS
a. Vote on temporary increase population.
b. Any town business.
9. SEWER BUSINESS
a. Any sewer business.
10. LIAISON REPORTS
11. ADJOURNMENT
12. SIGNING OF DOCUMENTS APPROVED BY THE BOARD

TAKEBACKWAREHAM
VOTE4CHANGE
April 6, 2010
P-SPAN

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#2 2010-02-08 19:26:11

Please ignore my previous post. I hit submit by mistake. Sorry.

Last edited by gogatemen (2010-02-08 19:31:41)

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#3 2010-02-08 20:54:32

What the heck does vote on temporary increase population mean?

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#4 2010-02-10 08:18:10

Last night the TA said the town department heads would be meeting with the finance committee to explain and answer questions about their budgets. One of these meetings is March 4 does anyone know if these meetings are open to the public?

Did he also say the public was no longer invited to the Wed. morning dept heads meeting?

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#5 2010-02-10 08:34:02

Somebody might want to check to see if last night's BOS meeting was legal;  I don't believe they sent out the required E-mail notice.  That would be ironic, wouldn't it, and it might mean that the BOS did not comply with the requirements of the DA.

Did anyone find out what the "vote on temporary increase population" was about?  I wasn't able to attend the meeting.

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#6 2010-02-10 09:14:45

I have to assume the temporary increase in population is based on State and federal monies allotted to Towns with a certain population base. The more population, the more money. If they "bump" the temporary population to over 22,000 residents they are eligible for more money.
Unfortunately, without knowing, I am willing to bet that after the census ,Wareham will have less than 20,000 full time residents.
We'll see.

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#7 2010-02-10 11:03:15

danoconnell wrote:

I have to assume the temporary increase in population is based on State and federal monies allotted to Towns with a certain population base. The more population, the more money. If they "bump" the temporary population to over 22,000 residents they are eligible for more money.
Unfortunately, without knowing, I am willing to bet that after the census ,Wareham will have less than 20,000 full time residents.
We'll see.

I sat here in kind of a daze for quite some time on this one.  So the suggestion is that simply by declaring we have a certain population, the state or federal government will give us more money?  How about declaring we are bigger than Boston.... that would help our bottom line.  I must say I'm a little skeptical about this.

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#8 2010-02-10 11:07:51

I think we need to be careful relying on the approach of a Town Administrator who played a part in the financial mess in Lawrence.

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#9 2010-02-10 12:26:49

I have a question. I think it was last week when the BOS was approving minutes for the regular meeting and executive session Donahue wanted something added to one of the minutes (I’m not sure if it was from Dec or Jan). She wanted to add that the regular meeting started at 6:30 and then closed at 6:35 to go into executive session.

If the regular meeting was posted for 6:30 shouldn’t the general public have been allowed to enter the room before they went into executive? Even if the meeting was only 5 minutes shouldn’t that 5 minutes have been televised? Is there a way we can find out if these 6:30 meetings were posted and where they were posted? Are they posted on the web site or just at town hall? When you look at the minutes on the town web site although they give the date of the meeting they don’t say what time the meeting started or what time the meeting was scheduled to start.

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#10 2010-02-10 12:27:15

Mr. Onset...you hit the nail on the head.
By declaring a small increase in population, by "guesswork", wouldn't be considered fraud. Saying the population of Wareham temporarily is 55,000 would be.
They love to look at the "loopholes".
If they spent as much energy on the needs of Wareham as they do on finding loopholes you would all be better off.

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#11 2010-02-10 13:18:43

We just filled out census reports.  Usually aid is determined by the figures from the census.  But, as with anything else, some people don't answer them and there is no way to reach the homeless and the motel rooms that book by the week.

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#12 2010-02-10 14:39:08

marny wrote:

I have a question. I think it was last week when the BOS was approving minutes for the regular meeting and executive session Donahue wanted something added to one of the minutes (I’m not sure if it was from Dec or Jan). She wanted to add that the regular meeting started at 6:30 and then closed at 6:35 to go into executive session.

If the regular meeting was posted for 6:30 shouldn’t the general public have been allowed to enter the room before they went into executive? Even if the meeting was only 5 minutes shouldn’t that 5 minutes have been televised? Is there a way we can find out if these 6:30 meetings were posted and where they were posted? Are they posted on the web site or just at town hall? When you look at the minutes on the town web site although they give the date of the meeting they don’t say what time the meeting started or what time the meeting was scheduled to start.

That is being addressed with the DA as we speak. They can change the times all they want, people who were there know what happened. :)

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#13 2010-02-10 15:27:20

bornofwareham wrote:

We just filled out census reports.  Usually aid is determined by the figures from the census.  But, as with anything else, some people don't answer them and there is no way to reach the homeless and the motel rooms that book by the week.

I agree that almost all of the census data that we have is imperfect, as you suggest.  However, some data by some methodology is needed, and it isn't fair for one town to add to the standard figure by guessing or making up numbers when other towns don't.  The U.S. census, states, and cities sometimes make adjustments for homeless people and such, but the process to do so is applied uniformly.  It isn't just a case of voting for what you think you can get away with.

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#14 2010-02-10 16:27:58

Consider this as well: the more population you are "showing", the better it is for Congressional Districts, State House seats, State Senate, etc.
Gerrymandering anyone?

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#15 2010-02-10 16:37:49

The vote was for the temporary increase in population estimate for July 20, 2010 for the ABC (Alcohol Beverage Control Commission)..and the estimate was 44,000.
Keep an eye out for the meeting...hopefully by later tonight.

BoS 2/9/2010

TAKEBACKWAREHAM
VOTE4CHANGE
April 6, 2010
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Last edited by P-SPAN (2010-02-11 16:15:46)

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#16 2010-02-10 17:27:20

44,000!!! You must be kidding me....
I swear these are some very incompetent people. It is almost unbelievable!
Do they think the ABC will be dumb enough to accept that figure?

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#17 2010-02-10 17:33:21

The more I think about it, it may be that for ABC purposes, they are giving figures out for temporary citizens numbers based on summer occupancy and home owners and renters.
In that case, the figure is probably acceptable. Not knowing what kind of influx you are now getting in the summer, but based on what you all have been saying, that figure is probably high also.
Acceptable...but high.

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#18 2010-02-10 18:44:42

danoconnell wrote:

The more I think about it, it may be that for ABC purposes, they are giving figures out for temporary citizens numbers based on summer occupancy and home owners and renters.
In that case, the figure is probably acceptable. Not knowing what kind of influx you are now getting in the summer, but based on what you all have been saying, that figure is probably high also.
Acceptable...but high.

I'd love to see how this calculation is made and see how it compares with the process used by other towns.  So much for the phrase, "you can't make this stuff up!"

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#19 2010-02-10 19:10:39

Thanks for answering my question Larry.

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