Selectmen's Meeting 11-02-05

Well if you missed it, it was better than doing housework. Beyond that a re-run of a school committee meeting would have beaten it out in the ratings. I was folding laundry so it wasn't a total waste of time.

Other that the routine (they never say anything substantial on camera) banter it was a normal performance for our town fathers and the town mother. They can fill hours with wandering talk and mumbling from the administrative assistant. Why don't they get her a microphone?

Ken O'Brien was somewhat subdued. Maybe he is still dizzy from the rarefied air of Washington DC. Don't worry Ken; I am sure they all thought you were important. We do. In Ken's defense, he is the perfect promoter for a hurricane fundraiser or box tops for education. The problem stems from the priority thing. We elected him, unopposed, to do the town's business not Ken's business. Let's hope he doesn't get carried away.

Ken's not a bad guy, he just doesn't understand that this is Mendon Massachusetts, not Mendon New York. We are New Englanders not New Yorkers.

The Grande Dame of the board, Sharon Cutler, put in her standard performance attempting to micro-manage the air molecules within the boundaries of Mendon. She huffed and puffed and in the end nothing fell down. When her ill informed sanctimonious micro tweaking failed with her fellow board members she did her signature piece. She folded her arms, sat back in her chair and gave the other two members that look: 'Don't make me call the flying monkeys'. She’s’ a real hoot unless of course you work for the town.

The junior member of the board Lawney Tinio endured another evening of being treated like the red headed stepsister. Lawney has the Rodney Dangerfield thing going. In reality he is probably the brightest of the bunch but in the land of self-inflicted importance the town hall is a tough house. The other two should give him more face time. At least it would reduce the occurrences of them looking like fools.

It's hard to navigate any ship of state but when you crew on the good ship Mendon it seems that everyone has a steering wheel and no one has a clue. It's difficult to understand how these people make 12 million dollars worth of decisions each year. It's a wonder!