HOLIDAY SEASON IN AMHERST

Town Hall is closed today (December 19, 2008) in anticipation of the considerable snow and wind predicted. The decision to close was strongly influenced by the experience from last year when the Town, School, University and Amherst College all shut down mid day during a snow storm, releasing all their employees at the same time causing massive gridlock on Route 9. The Town could not get its ambulances back from the hospital and the plows could not move in Hadley. This year, the Town, University, Amherst College, Town of Hadley and the School District all communicated and coordinated their responses to the anticipated snow storm thereby avoiding the problems of generating significant traffic in the teeth of the storm.

The Town of Amherst and the Town of Hadley have come to an agreement in principle for the provision of ambulance service by Amherst for the people of Hadley. The discussion was at times difficult but important. Total revenue in fiscal year 2010 should be approximately $400,000.00 for just over 700 ambulance calls to Hadley. That revenue along with the stability that a three year agreement provides, allows Amherst to adequately plan and prepare for the
future needs of the Amherst Fire Department. I appreciate the Town of Hadley for all the hard work it invested in making this partnership work.

I attended the Holiday Party hosted by Chancellor Holub of the University of Massachusetts Amherst. It was a great event. The University is facing extremely difficult budgetary issues. It would be naive for the town to think that those budgetary challenges will not affect Amherst. It is important that Amherst support the University as it takes action to meet the budgetary challenges.

I met with Tony Marx, President of Amherst College on Thursday, December 18th. President Marx and Amherst College are also facing considerable challenges that would have been unthinkable six months ago. But the world has changed and even those institutions with the greatest resources have been rendered cautious by the recent economic crisis. Given that, I am very impressed with President Marx's commitment to fully pursue the Lord Jeffery Inn renovation next year.

Best wishes to all of you for a wonderful holiday.