AMHERST — One year into the Town Council becoming Amherst’s legislative body, goals to confront climate change have been adopted, projects to provide more affordable housing are in progress and the foundation for a series of municipal building projects is set.
Even with these successes highlighted in her state of the town address earlier this month, Council President Lynn Griesemer didn’t shy away from observing that a significant challenge confronts the council as 2020 nears: making the councilors’ jobs more manageable.
For both those who supported and opposed adopting the charter crafted by the Charter Commission, there is agreement that the amount of time the 13 councilors are spending on town affairs needs to be addressed. The first-ever Town Council was sworn in on Dec. 2, 2019.
Mandi Jo Hanneke, the only commissioner who ran for and won a seat on the Town Council, said she expected significant work, understanding that the job would be to keep the town running, adopting budgets and making decisions on spending while also setting up the processes for operating the council fairly, effectively and efficiently.
“My personal experience as a councilor has generally been what I imagined it might be when I was on the Charter Commission,” Hanneke said.
“As Lynn mentioned, many councilors, including myself, want to work toward making the time commitment more manageable,” Hanneke added. “This is an especially important goal for me, due to my work on the Charter Commission.”
The commissioners, Hanneke said, hoped that any resident would be willing and able to serve, including those with full-time jobs or young children at home.
“I still believe that as the council moves beyond setting up its operating structures, we will be able to achieve that goal,” Hanneke said.
Former commission member Meg Gage, who opposed the charter and replacing representative Town Meeting, said she feels the council hasn’t done much over the past 12 months, in part because of how time-consuming its work has been.
“As should have been expected, setting things up has dominated all the council does,” Gage said. “We need people to run for reelection for continuity, and it’s a real concern that people may not want to run.”
A Town Meeting member who opposed the charter, Maurianne Adams said the results have not met what she described as “overly optimistic predictions,” though she said it’s not for lack of working hard.
“It has turned out to be far more daunting than the proposers had suggested to create a new council while also trying to divvy up executive-legislative roles, and all of this while running the government, meeting needs and deadlines, and making difficult decisions,” Adams said.
Former commissioner Nick Grabbe said he worries about regular meetings dragging on for four to five hours, though he still supports the charter and new form of government because of the accountability it brings.
“We want councilors to seek reelection so voters can decide if they want to keep them or not,” Grabbe said.
Michael Greenebaum, another former Town Meeting member opposed to the charter, said the length of meetings is denying residents the chance to fully participate. “That’s an inadvertent way of separating the council from the public, which is disturbing to me,” Greenebaum said.
Andy Churchill, who chaired the Charter Commission, said the analogy of building the airplane while flying it is appropriate.
“They are trying to establish procedures at the same time as they are trying to run the town, that’s going to be more work,” Churchill said.
Town Manager Paul Bockelman praises the councilors for their commitment.
“It’s more work because it’s a new entity finding its pathway. It’s a lot of time for the council to determine the process for making decisions,” Bockelman said.
He also praised town staff and the more rigorous analysis and improved presentations demanded.
“It’s forced all of us to up our game to meet expectations of the council,” Bockelman said.
Aside from the workload, supporters are pleased with just how will the council has functioned.
Katherine Appy, a leader of the Amherst Forward political action committee that endorsed candidates, said the past year has seen an incredible effort to get structures in place and to govern.
“Across the board, they have shown themselves to be responsive to community needs while keeping the big picture in sight for what’s best for the town,” Appy said.
The next challenges are clear for the council, Appy said, which is to develop and enact a strategic capital plan.
Hanneke, too, said she believes that residents have been well served by the charter, with easy access to councilors and a government that is flexible enough to act, pointing to the recent decision on spending for a playground at Kendrick Park. Under Town Meeting, providing such a match for a state grant would have been almost impossible due to timing issues.
Churchill said the government model is akin to a CEO and board of directors, and from that view, the council has done exactly what was anticipated
“I feel like they’ve done a pretty good job representing the perspectives of the town and working together,” Churchill said.
Gage agreed with that. “I’m very impressed with the cohesion that seems to exist and the general respect everyone has for everyone else,” Gage said.
Greenebaum said the diversity of the council has been demonstrated in the few unanimous votes it has taken.
Grabbe said the new government means residents know and elect their councilors.
“It is wonderful that the decision-makers in Amherst, all of them now have accountability to voters,” Grabbe said. “For me, it’s all about democracy. Town Meeting wasn’t democratic and didn’t legitimately have accountability to voters.”
“People feel they know who to call to be responsive,” Churchill said.
Griesemer said this is the compliment she hears the most, that residents can easily get in touch with their district representatives to make their views known.
Gage, though, said she has seen a council focused on neighborhoods rather than the full town, pointing to the decision to install a temporary bridge on Station Road after District 5 residents put pressure on the council.
“I’m worried that people are participating around neighborhood issues rather than what’s best for the whole town,” Gage said.
Many of the fears opponents expressed, such as that the council would cause rampant development to take place in town due to developers buying elections, has not come to pass, Grabbe said.
Still, Greenebaum said he worries about the northern end of downtown where long-established businesses like The Pub and Cousins Market may be closing to make way for a new project.
“I’m in great distress with what’s happening in town and would like the council to indicate how it feels about that,” Greenebaum, said.
One area that Hanneke said has been less successful and will need work to match the ideals in the charter is the annual public forums on the schools, master plan, and town budget.
“While they haven’t been as well attended as the commission had hoped, they have served their purpose for those individuals that came out,” Hanneke said. “The council has a lot more work ahead of it to make these events into the robust discussions the commission envisioned.”
Scott Merzbach can be reached at smerzbach@gazettenet.com.
