Town Selectman Meeting 9/5/13

Good morning, many folks around town have read my letters to the editors of both the patch and the Dedham Times over the years. Although, sadly I admit I've never attended meetings. I've shared my opinions and learned something right or wrong from the feedback because I got people to think about there community and what they want it to be. 

Well I will be attending the Selectman meeting this Thursday and subsequently will attend the next town meeting in November. Two hot topics that will be discussed are term limits for elected officials and a charter change that would change reporting of department heads from committees to the town administrator/manager. 

I completely agree with term limits. It will give more people an opportunity to run for office down the road. Some officials stay in office too long and can become stagnant. I'm not eluding to any current officials, but have seen it in the past. It's good to have new people and new ideas. Sometimes we find ways to do things better, sometimes we don't, but it is something that is needed.

As far as the charter change, I agree on paper that this would not eliminate committees in the immediate future, it does take the power away from committees to evaluate a department head and may also give them less say over how the budget for each department is used. The ability to create and change policy for each department is still there, but let me give some food for thought here and play the devils advocate for a minute:

We changed the charter so that the town administrator did not have to be a Dedham Resident. If this can be done, how do we know that down the road committees can't be eliminated? We don't. Eventually though someone will come down the pike and say, "Gee why can't department heads or the Town administrator/manager create policy for all of our departments? Why don't we change the charter again and get rid of these folks? Just like someone said Bill doesn't want to move his family from his hometown, let's change the charter so he doesn't have too and we'll give him perks on the tax payers dime. Please don't take this as a shot at Bill Keagan, he does do a great job and he earned his position, but he isn't a Dedham resident so he does not share our perspective on taxes and what they are used for.

I work at the Lemuel Shattuck Hospital and am employed by the Executive Office of Health and Human Services. I am the payroll supervisor that oversees both DMH and DPH employees at that facility. My work is constantly changing. Progress is a part of life and when things change you change with them or get left behind. I get that better than most people. 

I feel this change is wrong and will eventually lead to us having less of a democratic practice in this town. The last I checked the Town Administrator worked for us not the other way around. I will be there in support of all of our great committees. I simply feel this gives a hired official too much power and I simply don't agree with this.