Friday, October 4, 2013

Heads Up: Council Meeting Monday, October 7.

We don’t feel obligated to alert you to such things as a matter of course, but the upcoming council meeting agenda includes two items that should grab your interest far more than the usual administrivia.

The first item is this:

ACTION

106. The Town Council will discuss holding a workshop, with NNEPRA making a presentation, and allowing the Brunswick West group to also make a presentation, and will take any appropriate action. (Councilor Perreault)

This item may seem benign, but it is anything but.  What the council says, and decides, will make it clear whether the fix is in on construction of the MLF in Brunswick West, or instead, that the council has an open mind In the matter.  Councilor Perreault represents the Brunswick West neighborhood, and the discussion will provide a telling glimpse into council integrity.

Place your bets now.  And plan on being there or watching it live, if possible, because we have no reason to believe that ex post facto video on demand will be available.

The second item of interest is this:

ACTION

109. The Town Council will discuss the design and timeline for the new town hall, and will take any appropriate action. (Councilor Knight, Councilor Watson, Councilor Favreau)

Color us hyper-reactionary, but the use of the words ‘design’ and ‘new’ in the context of the McClellan Building, accepted in a deal with Bowdoin College, make us feel like we need to work on our flexibility.

To understand why, you should go back and review this post of a few months ago: http://othersideofbrunswick.blogspot.com/2013/08/ok-lt-dover-time-to-come-back-from-your.html

The very visible condition of the building, before the forces of the coming winter can make things worse, should be a cause of concern for all who will  have to finance the ‘design’ and other surprises of the “new” town headquarters.

In a related matter, just how long do you think you can grab and hold your toes?

Put another way, if it was up to you, and you were a BDC director, would you have chosen to spend a quarter of a million dollars on McClellan renovation, or on free vehicles for a local taxi company?

Alright; that was a silly and irrelevant question.  Such a choice would never occur in a sensible town like Cape Brunswick.

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