Hello, Ward 6 - is this thing on?
A Week on the Job and preparing for the first "real" City Council Meeting
City Council Meeting Thursday January 15th 6:30 pm
Our first real business meeting of the term will be this Thursday in the annex behind City Hall or on Zoom (meeting link passcode 783792).
The agenda has a few interesting items - first up actually is a public hearing on a utility pole in Ward 6, which I’ll address later.
Next is public comment - your time to address the council with any concern. Comments here are limited to two minutes, and it’s best to have written something timed to that length, however for a more complex topic you can email us the full of it at citycouncil@northamptonma.gov and then speak the highlights live in person or on zoom. It’s also helpful to explain how a request is something within the local power of the City Council - many popular desires are instead topics under the jurisdiction of the state or federal government rather than the city.
The main focus of the evening though will be financial orders in first reading. Two of these are particularly noteworthy:
26.003 An Order to Appropriate $2.1 Million Free Cash to Various Reserve Accounts
This would divide up just over $2M of FY25 leftovers as about $500K into each of the four stabilization funds - a decision which may turn out to be sensible once we have a sense what the coming year will cost, but feels irresponsibly premature when we’ve yet to see even a preview of the budget or the capital spending requests
26.005 An Order to Appropriate $251,025 Free Cash to NPS Special Education Stabilization Fund
This sounds great and has been a signature claim of the mayor. However, what this is really doing is putting medicaid reimbursement for the cost of providing recurring services in the schools not directly back into the school operating budget, but into an account that’s supposed to be used for unexpected expenses, rather than expected ones. Because the amount that can be spent from that account in any year is limited by law, misusing it as a revolving account for already budgeted expenses is not only not helping things, it actually means we wouldn’t be able to fund the very sort of unexpected service need the fund was allegedly established to cover.
Discussions at initial Office Hours
While I wasn’t able to get the word out as widely or as far in advance as I wanted, I held some initial office hours at the Lilly Library on Tuesday evening January 13th, with the specific intent of letting people weigh in with concerns in advance of our first council business meeting.
We had about the perfect turnout for the room as 8-10 people sat around the central table to talk about many of the sorts of concerns that are of critical importance, but often fall under the shadow of our more headline-grabbing local debates. We ended up talking a lot about traffic on our more narrow rural roads, snow clearance, stop signs, and the the less than even-handed treatment of a various neighborhoods - many of those topics that will merit their own coverage in the future.
We also talked and looked at the project folders for a few pending and not necessarily popular development proposals:
39 Houses off Glendale Road in the extreme southwest corner of the city - look for future coverage of this major project which backs up to an expanding conservation area and would add substantial traffic to one of our most challenged roadways and a neighborhood impacted by the legacies of the landfill. These are so close to the city line that they would actually tie into Easthampton’s sewer system.
Speaking of Easthampton, 14 Condos off Loudville Road right up to the edge of Ward 6 and the same conserved interior as above. The next hearing on that should be in early February, maybe the 6th?
14 Meadow / 76 Maple beside Bird’s Store - Florence Center is not Ward 6 but still relevant for many of us. Sadly haven’t had a chance to look through this one in detail yet.
A duplex at 296 Ryan Road and Gilrain Terrace - more of a technical permit which was awarded at the Thursday 1/8 Planning Board meeting (video). Concerns about backed up storm drains and related icing on Alamo Court also came up at that meeting and will be a subject for future attention.
Representation by… Biking around Looking at Stuff and Talking to People
We’ve had some cold weather and some snow, but one can only spend so much time indoors. Took the mountain bike out on New Years day to tour Ladyslipper, Woodland and Sylvan neighborhoods off Westhampton Road and the southern Mineral Hills Conservation Area. Then followed up this past Friday, Saturday and Sunday on the gravel bike looking at additional concerns off Park Hill Road and its unpaved extension to Glendale as well as a loop up Sylvester into Ward 7. Sure, it’s easier to get somewhere in the car, but I notice more on the bike, it’s more conducive to starting conversations, and it’s easier to stop to talk or look at things located on roads where parking the car would be dubious.
Park Hill Road Pole Petition
Biked up on Sunday and talked to the homeowner - it turns out that a new rooftop solar array requires a utility pole to support a new transformer. No obvious issues with the location of the pole jumped out, though the homeowner is being charged a small fortune for it.
Turns out what folks on Park Hill Road really want to talk about is the Stormwater Fee… like pretty much everyone else. So will circle back to the the complexities of that in the future.
Energy and Sustainability Commission
I received an unexpected appointment to the Energy and Sustainability Commission, and found the first meeting quite interesting (video). Unfortunately I had to duck out early to head up to the already scheduled office hours at the library, but was able to call in to follow the rest, including some major updates on the school energy projects launched in December.
SVAHS Applications Due February 15th
We talk a lot about the challenges of Northampton’s regular school system, but less than we probably should about the unique situation of Smith Vocational. Shortly after the election I reached out to Julie Spencer Robinson of the SVAHS Trustees and she suggested we meet at the student-run restaurant to talk, which ultimately developed into a fascinating tour of the campus with Superintendent Linkenhoker. As someone who always wished I had more shop classes beside the academics there was quite a bit enticing going on. As many know lots of SVAHS alumni settled in Ward 6. So I’ll take this opportunity to remind not only that SVAHS Applications are due by February 15th but that it’s critical to attend a preview event or day as well.
Coming Soon
Look for updates in the near future on:
Outcome of Thursday’s Council Meeting
The Glendale Road development project
Efforts in the School Committee to secure a mid-year appropriation