The path not (yet) built

Here are some photos from a recent tour of the footprint of the (hopefully) soon-to-be-built Rutland Creek Path. (All photos by Michael Smith, who along with Paul Gallo and Sherman Hunter really spearhead the Creative Economy's outdoors committee and this project.)

 

 

Paul Gallo leads the group through a field off of West Street.

Transit center construction

In Saturday's paper I had an article about the one-year anniversary of the flood. In it I mention that there's work to be done in the transit center that will help rectify drainage issues, but on Friday I was unable to speak with Gerry Myers, commissioner of the Building and General Services Department, for additional details.

I got a call from Myers this morning. He confirmed that work is planned for the center this construction season, but other than sometime before snowfall, he said he was unsure of when that work would take place.

The work he described is also a little different than what DPW Commissioner Alan Shelvey said he'd last heard was the state's plan. Rather than retention tanks beneath the road, Myers said the state was planning a trench drain across the building's West Street entrance.

Happening this week

I've been sick and out of commission (no it was not swine flu) for the past week, but I'm feeling fine and will be back in the normal swing of things beginning tomorrow.

Just in time for the throes of budget season. In addition to the usual, biweekly Board of Aldermen meeting tomorrow night, here's what's coming up.

Tuesday - General Committee, 5:30 p.m. - This committee will look at many of the odds and ends portions of the budget, which I believe include community development (the Rutland Redevelopment Authority), legislative (the aldermen), executive, attorney, assessor, clerk, building and zoning and government building.

Wednesday - Public Works Committee, 5:30 p.m. - As the name suggests, this meeting will be devoted to the proposed $3.4 million budget for the Department of Public Works.

Thursday - Finance Committee, 5:30 p.m. - Here Alderman Dave Dress will lead the discussion of Treasurer Wendy Wilton's $598,000 budget. Given recent tension, typically reserved to Dress' questioning of Wilton's practices but which has recently spread to other members of the board, a conversation strained by nature could have an extra level of terseness.

Given the late meetings and the wealth of information I'll be listening to (and unable to include in the paper) look for additional details here this week.

A little wisdom from a former city attorney

One of the most interesting aspects of last week's Committee of the Whole meeting was the insight brought by former city attorney, alderman and School Board member Art Crowley. He was among a handful of citizens who attended the meeting in order to weigh in on the Board of Aldermen's exploration of if and how to change Rutland City's governmental structure.

Here are a few excerpts from my notes:

- Art and his wife Mary both spoke in favor of a city manager system of government. He said, however, that if the city does go this way it should not "nickle and dime" the new manager - they are costly but worth the investment.

"Don't put it all on the March ballot at once though," he said of not only the mayor's role, but the question of what to do with the treasurer and assessor. "This is big. Just sitting here and listening to this tonight, it's gone farther than it did when I was on the Board (of Aldermen in the 1980s)."

From there, Crowley tangentially launched into his take on the city's Police Commission, which was the aldermen's topic of conversation last Wednesday, the evening before this meeting.

According to Crowley, the commission was created in 1987, when he was a member of the Board and about half of their near-daily meetings began to concern police problems.

He said the first police commission was outstanding, and the model of the body can work. "It was the quality of the commissioner and its members, it wasn't the form of the committee (that made it work)," he said.

"If you've got problems with the police commission now, it's the members not the commission itself," Crowley said. "If (current problems) don't clear up, I'd go as far as to ask for the resignation of all its members. If you've got a problem with the police commission, straighten out its members."

One of the last things Crowley mentioned, as he spoke about the numerous qualifications a city manager or mayor should have is that he would never assume an average person, like himself, would be qualified for the position.

"So I guess I'm not a candidate for mayor in 2010," he said, jokingly.