Comprehensive Development Plan Public Safety Study School Committee and Town Council Communication Trash Collection Recycling Center Cell Towers Tree Pruning Inspectional Services Town Personnel Snow Removal Charter Commission  Over the next two years, the economic development plan will be folded into a Comprehensive plan for the town. What kind of community do we want Watertown to be? Watertown has Planning and Zoning regulations, Street, Sidewalk and other Infrastructure Programs, an Open Space Plan, and a host of regulations and policies that influence the livability and profitability of the town. A Comprehensive Plan looks at all these elements and ties them so they all work together to achieve a unified vision for the town. Susan has promoted the development of an Economic Development Plan recently approved by the Council after many public meetings and discussion. The Economic Development Plan identified the kind of businesses that Watertown is well positioned to attract to 5 large undeveloped areas and some suggested ways to attract the development we want. The potential for a Walmart became the focus of public comment during the Economic Development discussion, but there is much more to the study. While the plan does not have any teeth to prohibit big box development, it makes the case that attracting Life Sciences, Information and Media, Design and Advanced Manufacturing “industry clusters” could yield more benefit to the community. Click here for the complete study >>  The police and fire departments have taken a hit from budget cuts over the past several years and raised concerns about public safety. The Council is aware that neighboring communities appear to spend less per capita on public safety than we do in Watertown. As a result of pressure from Susan, among others, the Town Council asked the Manager to hire an independent consultant to evaluate whether our public safety departments have adequate resources and/or if there are cost-saving measures that could enable us to do more with less expense. She looks forward to seeing the results of this study incorporated into the FY 2013 budget.
 The elected School Committee is solely responsible for developing a school budget; Town Council can only approve or deny the total allocation Yet, since the money comes out of the total town budget, if more goes for education, there is less left for police, fire, potholes and all of the other services the town provides. This year, the school committee negotiated a contract with the Teacher’s union that included annual salary increases in addition to automatic step raises, while all other town employees have not had raises in the last two budgets. Councilors made the School Committee aware of the discrepancy and the disastrous effect the salary increases would have on other town services. As a result, the negotiated contract was defeated. Susan feels dismayed by the dynamic of teachers against the other unions, pitting education against all of the services on “the town side” and hopes that the Council will work for improved communication and coordination in future budget cycles. Everyone on the Council wants Watertown to have excellent schools but we also recognize that parents want a community with, for example, a low crime rate and reliable emergency response services.  As Chair of the Public Works Subcommittee, Susan has focused the Subcommittee on cost effective ways to increase recycling. Businesses now have a choice between town trash collection and private services. During this term, the Public Works Department, with Council input, evaluated the fee structure for business trash collection to make it cost effective for the town, and required any business that uses town trash collection services to recycle. Currently, we are negotiating a new contract for residential trash removal. You may have passed through a neighboring community and noticed the large “toters” that are collected by mechanized trucks. Starting sometime in 2012, Watertown will be using toters. Each household will be given one toter for trash and one for recyclables of all types. The recycled goods will be taken to a facility and mechanically sorted. This new system will require public education and the council is working on the details of how it will work. For example: will you be able to buy trash bags for extra trash? What about large items such as furniture? The experience of other communities is that moving to Single Stream recycling greatly increases the amount of recycled goods and we are confident this change will benefit the community.  The recycle center needs to move from its current location in Filippello Park where it is occupying recreational space, as designated by the federal grant that created the park. Town officials have been unsuccessful in finding a new permanent location. Mount Auburn Cemetery owns adjacent property and has offered space there to the town, rent-free, for a period of ten years. Our recycling needs in ten years may change markedly. The Council has followed up on the Public Works Subcomittee recommendation that the Public Works Superintendent evaluate the suitability of this location for our current needs. If his report is positive, the Council has voted to support this interim plan while asking the Manager to identify a permanent location.  Some municipalities are realizing significant income from allowing cellular antennas on town buildings. Some residents support this but others worry about possible health effects and/or negative impact on property values. Federal law forbids using health as a reason to deny a permit if a cellular company identifies a gap in coverage. Therefore, we could potentially face a choice between having a tower on a public building or having one on a private building where the town does not gain any income and has less control of the look and placement of the antennas. To address this, we will commission a study of our current cell coverage and identify weak areas in order to determine if there is a location where we might like to encourage cell antennas on town-owned property. 
Destructive tree pruning practices by power companies have sparked public outrage in Watertown and elsewhere. The utility companies point to the risk of fire and/or outages if tree limbs fall on power lines. Watertown is trying to carve out a reasonable middle ground by setting standards for when and how trees will be pruned. The responsibility for enforcement of some town ordinances is unclear. Should the police be monitoring compliance with businesses shoveling sidewalks? How about a car parked on the sidewalk or trash that is left on the street days before the collection date? If your neighbor paves over the front yard without a permit, who do you call? Other cities and towns have inspectional services departments with responsibility for enforcing non-criminal matters, freeing up the police to handle more serious crime and increasing compliance. Susan hopes to work on this issue in her next term in office.  Every Department head in the town is supervised by the Town Manager, who also must address crises, perform long-term planning and create and monitor the budget. Day-to-day supervision of town affairs sometimes suffers when there are unexpected events that demand immediate attention. The Council has been exploring whether a different organizational structure, with a revised chain of command, might serve the town well and Susan is excited to try to re-imagine the flow chart of town authority.  SNOW REMOVALMothers with strollers, commuters, bicyclists and wheelchair users deserve safe pedestrian routes all year round. Yet, efforts to require homeowners to shovel sidewalks have not been successful. Newton recently passed such an ordinance but it was so controversial that it was passed without a penalty for failure to comply. Issues of fairness for corner lots and dead-end streets, the intricacies of condominium law, exemptions for elderly and handicapped residents, how to handle absentee landlords and vacationers, are some of the questions that bedevil this issue. Susan passionately wants our sidewalks to be safe but has come to see that public education is going to be the key to making this happen. She looks forward to continuing to work with the Commission on Disabilities and community activists to find ways to achieve the goal of making Watertown a safe and welcoming place to walk.  CHARTER COMMISSIONThe Commission met twice a month throughout 2010 and into 2011 reviewing every aspect of our government. In its report, the commission recommended only minor changes to our government; for example, adding information about the town website, changing the language to be more consistently gender-neutral and deleting obsolete positions such as “Fence-Viewer.” The recommended changes will go before the voters in November’s town election. |
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OFFICE HOURS March office hours to be announced. COMMITTEE ASSIGNMENTS Personnel: Chair Economic Development: Secretary State, Federal, and Regional Government: Vice Chair Council Meeting Schedule |
Council Issues |