Weighing Kezer’s efforts [The Daily News of Newburyport, Mass.]

Dec. 30--AMESBURY -- Mayor Thatcher Kezer will be making his fourth inaugural address on Tuesday, during which he'll lay out his goals for his next two years in office.

With the upcoming speech, we look back at the objectives Kezer outlined in his 2010 speech to see where they stand:

Subject: Deliver another flat budget

What he said: "I will continue to hold the bottom line flat on spending. We accomplished that with this year's budget. It is my plan to deliver another flat budget, without any increase to the bottom line."

What he did: The mayor did hold the "bottom line" flat on spending in the fiscal 2011 budget ($45.6 million in 2010 and $45.8 million in 2011). The 2011 budget was the third year of flat spending in town, following a $45.6 million budget in 2009. But the fiscal 2012 budget proved a challenge after the School Department lost $1.9 million in federal stimulus money. Town spending on the 2012 budget increased to $47.4 million, not including enterprise funds.

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Subject: Negotiate changes on health care

What he said: "I am working with our unions to negotiate changes in our health plan design that will lower costs for the taxpayers and employees."

What he did: The mayor has negotiated two changes to the town's municipal health care plan since he took office. The second change happened after the 2010 address. Last summer, all the unions agreed to changes that amounted to $250,000 to $300,000 in savings. But the savings weren't realized until Dec. 1, since the unions agreed to them later in the year.

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Subject: Continued regionalization

What he said: "We will continue the effort to regionalize services when it makes sense to regionalize. As chair of the Merrimack Valley Mayors and Managers Coalition, I will work with our neighbors in identifying opportunities to share resources regionally and lower costs locally."

What he did: Kezer was one of a small number of Essex County leaders to attend a ground-breaking last summer at the Essex County Sheriff's office for a new regional dispatch center. Plans for a regional center in the county have been in the works for years, but the Municipal Council approved the plan in the spring of 2010. The council has not approved another inter-governmental agreement since then.

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Subject: Attract commercial and industrial development

What he said: "We will not let up on our pursuit of local improvements that attract commercial and industrial development to areas such as the Golden Triangle and the Lower Millyard. I will focus on the revitalization of the Lower Millyard."

What he did: There's no development in the Golden Triangle, and the public works garage is still in the Lower Millyard, but changes to encourage growth have been made in terms of zoning.

This year, the Planning Board and the Municipal Council approved zoning changes along Route 110, spurred by the planned CVS development at the intersection of Main and Macy streets. The zoning changes give developers the option to build closer to the road to encourage more foot traffic on sidewalks. They also encourage mixed-use buildings with retail on the first floor and residences above.

In the Lower Millyard, changes to the Lower Millyard Overlay District will make development there easier and less restrictive. The council also approved $210,000 to repair the parking deck; the work was recently completed. Amesbury also won a $1.25 million grant from the state for sidewalk and other streetscape repairs to the Lower Millyard.

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Subject: Improve town website

What he said: "I will seek to make additional improvements in our use of technology and the website. We will add streaming video of public meetings, more pay-online capabilities and access to more public documents.

What he did: Residents can now pay their tax bills, including property, water, sewer and excise, online via the town's website, amesburyma.gov. The town does a good job of posting many public meetings on its online calendar of events, but meetings of the Liquor Commission and the library's Board of Trustees are not listed. Town documents are also posted online (a copy of the mayor's 2010 inaugural address was found on the website), but the documents could be better organized for residents.

Certain meetings can be viewed online, but not through the town's website. Council meetings can be viewed on the Amesbury Community Television website at amesburyctv.org. School Committee meetings can be seen on the Amesbury Public Schools Television through the School Department's website, www.amesburyma.gov/amesburypublic.cfm.

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Subject: Press state officials on change

What he said: "I will continue to press our state officials to have the courage to make changes in laws that dictate how municipalities control major cost items."

What he did: In March, Kezer spoke at the Statehouse in favor of the bill that aimed to give mayors and town and city managers more powers to reduce health insurance costs. The bill became law this year.

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(c)2011 The Daily News of Newburyport (Newburyport, Mass.)

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