hard deadlines

In a civil, orderly two-hour workshop tonight, Administrator Bob Driscoll continued presenting the proposed FY08 budget to the Portsmouth Town Council and an audience of about 18 citizens. Driscoll sat at a long table facing the Council, and as items were discussed, the department head responsible for the relevant item would take their place in the hot seat beside him.

I feel the need to paint a word picture because none of the massive technical expertise of the PCC and their crew of video folks managed to show up. Hmm. I wonder if it could have had something to do with this being the first Tuesday of the month, their meeting night? No, couldn't be. They wouldn't blow off their promise to bring transparency to the dark backward and abysm of Town Hall just so they could indulge in a Troll-spew fueled, consensual hallucination about their next Tent Meeting, could they? Eh?

The Fire Department budget was up first, and despite massive overtime numbers, the Council voiced their reluctance to entertain additional hires. Because overtime is spotty, they would have to hire 4 firefighters, at a cost of $240K in order to eliminate about half of the overtime (about 200K, so essentially, spending 240 to save 100.) In one of the lighter moments, Tailgunner Gleason had to have the difference between fiscal and calendar years pointed out to her.

With David Dolce, the tax assessor, Driscoll explained the opportunities that come with setting tax policy. Take the farmland exemption, which forgoes about $560K in potential tax revenue. While that might seem like easy money to grab, Driscoll reminded the Council, "You're investing in preserving farmland, which you would otherwise be buying for open space, or paying for the services if there are new houses." The Council tasked Dolce with thinking about a workshop to look at the Town's tax exemption structure.

DPW painted a fairly grim scenario. With 90 miles of road in Portsmouth, and a lifespan of 30 years, about 4.5 miles of road needs repaving each year, but budget constraints have kept the Town to a fraction of that over the last few years. You will not be surprised to learn that timely repaving by putting a topcoat of asphalt on a mildly worn road costs only 89K/mile. Wait until the road is so far gone it needs full resurfacing, and that balloons to $258K/mile. The lesson of the Sakonnet River Bridge should not be lost on anyone here, and the Council actively discussed the notion of floating a bond.

In what was the most emotional moment of the evening, the lifeguards at Sandy Point took their seats next to Driscoll to argue for the 50K allocation that keeps the beach protected over the summer. Councilor Len Katzman read into the record the story of Sandy Point lifeguards saving a kayaker just two summers ago, and urged the Council to find the money. "This goes to the fabric of what Portsmouth is. I would hope that we are a town that wants lifeguards at our beach."

Tailgunner saw this as an opportunity for some free piling on. "I'm surprised you took 50K out of this particular budget. I would like to mandate public safety as the first priority of this town."

I intend to personally ask Councilor Gleason about this commitment a week from Monday when the School budget comes up and we have to talk about cutting a nurse from the elementary schools.

The Council did end up tentatively approving the 50K, but Jim Seveney asked Driscoll to do some analysis about options for getting Sandy Point to a self-sustaining point.

Only two bright spots this evening: Melville Campground and the Glen Manor House. Richard Wimpress noted that since 1992, the Manor house "has contributed more than 800K to the town." Although it shows up as a cost item in the budget, he wanted to be very clear that on the revenue side, it more than pays for itself, returning 75% of receipts to the Town general fund (the rest is used for maintenance and updates.) That is one of the jewels of Portsmouth, and a star performer financially.

Meeting was continued to May 16th, when the School budget discussion takes center stage; the next meeting, the "civic support" items, will be on May 21st.

More than 50 residents traded suggestions, e-mail addresses, and an occasional tirade against the planned Target development at a meeting of the local group, Preserve Portsmouth, this evening at the Green Valley Country club.

One of the guest speakers was Gail Greenwood, a leader of the anti-sprawl group Middletown First, and she brought along a killer visual aid, a photo taken by David Hansen of the Newport Daily News, showing signage along a stretch of West Main Road we're probably all too familiar with.

"The last thing Aquidneck Island needs," said Greenwood, "Is another Middletown."

Committees were formed to deal with fundraising, research, and communications, and tentative plans were laid out for a "Yard Sale on Steroids," to build awareness in late June. Also — expect bumper stickers soon. Yay.

There will be a PO box, but in the meantime, check out the Preserve Portsmouth site for information on where to send donations.

This will be a busy meeting week at Town Hall, with three nights of Budget Workshops (7 pm, Monday through Wednesday). Tonight's meeting kicks off at 6 to wrap up the Wastewater discussion from last week.

You can see the schedule and download a PDF of the proposed budget. (Goes right to the budget page, no blinking Java applet or frames. Did I mention how much those suck? I wish someone on the Town Council would take their Web site as seriously as Tailgunner Gleason takes the sound system. I'm publicly volunteering to serve on a committee to fix the damned thing.)

Also tonight, and why I won't be at the budget-a-go-go this evening, Preserve Portsmouth members (and anyone interested) will be meeting at the Green Valley Country Club on Union Street 7:00pm, Monday.

Please, if you can, be somewhere. This week matters.

Michael Sullivan, Director of the RI Dept. of Environmental Management, delivered a blunt assessment on the North end of Portsmouth to the Town Council and about 25 residents in an occasionally heated 2-hour wastewater workshop tonight.

"You need to sewer three specific areas," said Sullivan. "You need to remove the waste from the region and process it. You are at a ripe time for a bold advance toward solutions."

At issue are the usual suspects — Island Park, Portsmouth Park, and Common Fence Point — and the Council tiptoed right up to making a decision to apply for state grant money and low-interest loans to fund an engagement with the wastewater engineering firm, Woodard & Curran, which did the most recent study. The goal would be a full "facility plan," a detailed description of the proposed solution, with accurate cost estimates, which could inform the preparation of a bond referendum for the November ballot. Sullivan made it clear that time was of the essence.

"Addressing your problems will not become cheaper with time," he said, adding that one thing at risk the 90K in DEM grant money — half of what the facility plan would cost, the rest to be picked up with 3-year, 1% interest loans. "The 90K is not on the table forever," he said, "And we're only willing to invest money in a full facilities plan, and along the [current] trajectory."

There was still doubt on the Council about whether the "trajectory" inevitably ends up at sewers. Council Vice President Jim Seveney again raised the issue of actual versus potential threat. "This report says the water [offshore] is clean," he said. "We're measuring 60 outflows right now, and the samples are over at URI."

This is a critical point. Apparently, the DEM themselves have failed to find high E. Coli counts in the offshore water measurements. I asked Angelo Liberti, DEM Chief of Surface Water Protection, and he said that while the offshore measurements failed to show anything, there were samples at the outflow pipes above the limits. And these are not measurements of street runoff, these are dry weather readings as well. "Those pipes are not watertight," he said, indicating that ground water, contaminated by failing septic systems or cesspools was leaking into them.

DEM Director Sullivan echoed this concern. It was a question of "loading," or how much the relatively thin permeable soil layer typical in Northern Portsmouth could hold. Essentially, the top layer of soil is a sponge, holding and gradually dispersing the waste material discharged into it, and the only real way to mitigate the problem is to sewer and stop the loading. "I see no way around it," he told me. "I wish I did. I'm a small town government guy."

Yeah, maybe the offshore readings are negative. As Carl Sagan used to say, "Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence." I may not be a soil scientist, but my ingoing hypothesis is that if you are putting 742 households worth of waste water into a thin layer over a relatively slow-permeable substratum, eventually plumes of contaminated water will find their way to the Bay. And the patience of the DEM seemed to be wearing thin.

"Don't force us to a greater level of enforcement," said Sullivan. "You have three consultants who have all reached the same conclusion. My offer still stands."

Action on applying for the DEM grant and engaging Woodard & Curran was continued until Monday night at 6pm, pending consultation by Town Solicitor Kevin Gavin. Jack Callahan and Jeff Hatcher lobbied the Council to consider an alternate treatment scheme and argued that the RFP for the Woodard & Curran work didn't include a follow-on piece, and this should be put out to bid, a process that could take another six weeks and kill the chance to have a bond before the voters in November.

Councilor Seveney was acutely aware of the ticking clock presented by the DEM folks in the room. "You're the guys with the hammer," he joked.

Sullivan calmly replied, "The hammer is there for you to pick up to drive the solution."

I'm not thrilled with the potential for a $2,000/year sewer bill, but I find that more palatable than spending $30K, a significant fraction of the value of my 900-square-foot cottage, on a septic system that the DEM might decide (seems to have already decided?) doesn't solve the problem. What do YOU think?