Since the "fiscal emergency" was and is a backdrop to the imminent storm drain tax measure, an update on the town's declaration of fiscal emergency (June 2017) seems appropriate so residents are fully informed about what the town has planned and accomplished.
There have been no updates on the fiscal emergency nor any recovery plans articulated since last August.
One councilmember has twice requested a public discussion, referencing the lack of any plan of action (or action itself). The discussion has been twice deferred and still hasn't found its way to the official agenda.
One of our members had the following questions after a recent town council meeting during which the fiscal emergency wasn't discussed:
Why does the town have no plan for recovery?
Why has the town not hired or engaged anyone to do it?
Why have there been no updates at all?
Why has the town not reduced any expenses since declaring it?
Why did the town not undertake a re-organization when so many vacancies existed in December, and instead moves so quickly to fill $1MM in positions?
Why has the town not explored any shared services or outsourcing opportunities?
Why will it not agendize a public discussion, but mentions potentially doing so only after the storm drain tax ballot process concludes?
Here's a portion of one resident's NextDoor post back in August that we found of interest:
The ill-timed and abrupt Declaration of Fiscal Emergency buried in the June 28th Staff Budget Report, for which there was no actual urgency to "declare" is simply a HIGHLY CYNICAL and COERCIVE DEVICE by the Town Manager and Town Council to accelerate the implementation of the selling process described in the [storm drain tax feasibility] SCI Consulting document.