President Wright

Jack over at Green Mountain Daily was wondering why the Burlington Dems elected Republican Kurt Wright as City Council President.

Well, let's ask them. Democrat Ed Adrian of ward 1 had this to say:

Adrian explained why he is voting for Wright in a message he posted on the Buell Street Neighborhood Forum. He said Wright, a state representative as well as councilor, has more experience than Ashe, would offer a balance to the Progressive administration of Mayor Bob Kiss, would be fair, would be unable, as one of just three Republicans on the council, to "stack" council committees, and, Adrian pointed out, Democrats, even with five of them on the council, don't have a candidate for president this year.

Jack makes the common mistake of assuming that the Democrats and Progressives are part of the same team. That might be true often on state issues and even more so on national issues, but the truth is, the Democrats, Republicans, and Progressives all have distinctly different visions for this city.

If the Democrats had elected a Progressive to lead the City Council, that would have given a notable advantage to the Progressive agenda.

City politics in Burlington is a strange beast. It gives new meaning to the phrase "politics makes strange bedfellows." There are no clear lines and most issues are decided by unexpected coalitions.

Electing Wright will not give any kind of advantage to the Republicans, who occupy only 3 out of 14 city council seats. It was a smart move, giving the Democrats more influence than electing Ashe would have.

What strikes me about this is the inability of state Democrats to get the city Dems to vote for Ashe. The Free Press report claims that they tried to do so. Obviously they failed.

That is not unlike the legislative experience of the Democratic leadership in Montpelier, which cannot seem to accomplish anything it set out to do, despite having a veto-proof majority in both chambers.

I have to wonder how a party with complete legislative control in the bluest state in the nation cannot seem to get anything done.

I have my own theory, but you are going to have to wait to hear it...

Intervale Land Sale

I just wanted to do a quick post about the Burlington Intervale land sale. I did not really follow this issue as closely as I could have, or should have, even, but I did want to let people know that it is on the agenda tonight for the council to discuss an amendment to the sale.

They want to add 2.8 acres, which the Intervale Center currently uses for compost, to the sale. They also want to add the City to the Act 250 petition for the compost project land use. Why? I am not sure. I am also not sure if that process with end up costing the City (i.e. us) any money. And speaking of money, the resolution also appropriates $8,000 for the City to buy 20 acres of Intervale land from BED, for the City to maintain.

You can read the PDF of the resolution here.

I would love comments from any Burlington readers who have been following this issue.

I am feeling much better and I will be posting again later on non-Burlington matters.

Burlington Board of Health to Appear on Channel 17

Members of Burlington’s Board of Health will appear on Channel 17 Town Meeting Television’s “Live at 5:25” call-in program on Thursday, March 29 from 5:25 to 5:55 p.m. The program topic is “How to Communicate with the Board of Health.”

This initial program, part of a series of programs, “To Your Health,” will introduce residents to the Burlington Board of Health members and the best way to communicate with the Board. The show will also provide viewers an opportunity to ask questions. Board members are hoping to increase community involvement on important public health issues.

Three additional taped programs in the series are scheduled for this year. Planned topics include Burlington’s pesticide ordinance, personal and family emergency preparedness, and building healthy communities.

This was from a press release. JD, don't take this as my endorsement of the Burlington Board of Health, or any of its members specifically. I'm just reporting, here. You might want to Google these guys and see if they are on the take from Exxon Mobile. :)

Preliminary Burlington City Council Results

Ward 1: Sharon Bushor (I)
Ward 1: Ed Adrian (I)
Ward 2: Jan Knodell (P)
Ward 3: Tim Ashe (P)
Ward 4: Kurt Wright (R)
Ward 5: Joan Shannon (D)
Ward 6: Andy Montroll (D)
Ward 7: Craig Gutchell (R)

It looks like there will not be a run-off in Ward 7.

The Burlington City Council now has 3 Republicans. Just three years ago, there was only 1.

The balance of power is now: 3 Republicans, 2 Independents, 4 Progressives, and 5 Democrats.

Exit Blogging

I just came from voting over at Burlington Electric Department, in Ward 5. The traffic was extremely light according to everyone there.

The Democratic candidate for City Council, Joan Shannon, was standing alone, with Snow Joan, in front of BED.



There was a Green Party table set up across the parking lot. Green candidate for City Council, Rene Kaczka-Valliere was on a lunch break, but Jay Vos was standing in for him.


Joan and I were talking on my way in about how weird that was. In the past, candidates of all political stripes stood in a line together, at least the two times I ran that was the case. We talked and kept each other company.

I think that is one of the things that makes local politics so civil. It is kind of hard to demonize your opponent after you chat away a frigid March day together.

Of course, it's not like they ignored each other completely. That's Jay talking to Joan, below.



Here is a picture of Inspector of Elections Doug Dunbebin hard at work checking in a voter.


That had to be the shortest ballot I have ever voted on. How sad. This is our one time of year that we get to focus on local issues and there was only one ballot question, besides the school budget.

At least I got to see "Snow Joan."



Be sure to stop by Exit Voices and post your own election experiences.

Exit Voices

I know I mentioned this yesterday, but it bears repeating. Don't forget to visit Exit Voices and post your Town Meeting Day comments. The Open Thread stays at the top. Be sure to check under it for additional content from political bloggers around the state.

Quick Town Meeting Post

(Updated)

Don't forget to vote tomorrow.

Haik has an excellent post on endorsements and predictions. (I do not agree with his endorsements, but I think his predictions are pretty good. I'm not sure about Ward 2, though.)

In case you missed it, here is my post on the school budget. (Short version: Vote "no." I have a good reason, really. Don't worry, they still get a 7.93% increase from other, non-local sources, including our state property taxes.) Did you see in the Free Press that the school budget has increased 42% (from $29.2 million to $41.6 million) in the past five years?

Last, don't forget about Exit Voices, the election blog project of Bill Simmon and Channel 17. Stop on in and share your after meeting/after voting thoughts.

Oh yeah, and Channel 17 has after election coverage starting at 7:30 pm tomorrow evening.

Happy Town Meeting Eve.

Update: Ack! How could I forget this? Yesterday's Free Press had a guest column by UVM's Frank Bryan about Town Meeting Day. Check it out.

Here's an excerpt:

For decades our representatives in Washington have come home to hold "town meetings" on this or that public issue, often, shameless testimonies to their own heroic efforts on our behalf. Meantime, national politicians and media label staged campaign events as "town meetings."

Both practices are fakery.

As a teacher of national politics at the University of Vermont, I now find the great majority of references to town meeting not in the democracy section of textbooks but in chapters on the media.

Indeed, it has come to this: After decades of stripping town meeting of its ability to make important decisions, politicians are now absconding with its very name.

In doing so they are demeaning America's oldest, proudest and most fundamentally democratic institution.

Freedom vs. Equality

Note: This is post is on local politics, but has application far beyond that, so you might want to read even if you are not a local.

Today the Free Press profiled the Ward 6 City Council race between incumbent Democrat Andy Montroll and his independent challenger Tom Licata.

It is noted in the article that the first time (of three) that Tom ran, it was as a Republican, in 2005. If you are up on your Charity Tensel trivia (which no doubt you are), you also know that I was chair of the Burlington GOP at that time. I sat down with Tom at the Bagel Cafe on North Ave. to find out more about him. I have to say that he was probably the single most impressive person I have met in local politics. That man knows economics. Our city would do well to have someone like that on the council.

(No offense to the other impressive people I have met in local politics. You know who you are.)

He had this to say in his personal statement in the Free Press this morning:

Nobel laureate and economist Milton Friedman captured Vermont's unacknowledged battle between freedom and fairness when he gave one of his last interviews in July. When asked about his thoughts on a China versus India comparison, he gave the following response: "China has maintained political and human collectivism while gradually freeing the economic market. This has so far been very successful but is heading for a clash, since economic freedom and political collectivism are not compatible." It's this incompatibility of tensions, defined as cognitive dissonance, between Vermont's collectivist leanings and prosperous economic wants that drives our current state-of-confusion. Meaningful progress as a city, and State, requires us to bridge this gap of incongruence.

The results of Burlington's collectivist leanings: 50% increases in property and sale taxes in 3 years; millions of dollars in under funded pension benefits; a refusal to provide tax relief through an objective productivity study of city operations; refusal to unlock tax revenue relief that a partnership of public and private developers would consummate in developing our waterfront; and prized Burlington properties and institutions co-opted to achieve political ends (City Market, our failed waterfront bus terminal, Intervale land sale, Moran Plant). This quiet campaign to leverage city assets to further an economically-challenged progressive movement has resulted in enormous opportunity costs in the form of lost tax revenues and higher taxes.

Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results is what Einstein defined as insanity; stop voting our entrenched incumbents into office.

Vermont's adopted 1778 State motto of "Freedom and Unity" and Mr. Friedman's view on this subject best summarizes our dilemma: "The society that puts equality before freedom will end up with neither. The society that puts freedom before equality will end up with a great measure of both".

Vote thoughtfully.

Finally, the School Budget Post

On Tuesday, we here in Burlington will be voting on the school budget.

If you want to listen to a really boring (unless you are into this stuff), but thorough presentation, I suggest you check out the Channel 17 podcast of it here. That will give you the specifics and you will get a little education about equalized pupils and common levels of appraisal.

If you have already been doing this crap for so many years that you can compute the common level of appraisal differentials in your sleep, you might find it a more efficient use of time to check out the school board budget information on their website.

See, I try to offer something for every level of knowledge here at She's Right.

If you want the easiest method of understanding the budget, read the next five sentences (with the dollar figures) then skip to the last paragraph.

Here's the bottom line.

The current budget is $38,113,325.

The proposed budget is $41,574,566.

That is an increase of 9.08%.

But, other sources of revenue are increasing for the school district this year to the tune of $41,135,677, so the portion we actually get to vote on is only $438,899.

About that, it used to be that the voters got to approve the entire spending. If a budget was not passed by a certain date, the school district had to make do with the previous year's budget amount.

Then someone cooked up a tasty little scheme to remove our local control. It was pitched as a "soft landing," which meant if voters did not approve the budget, the school board would fall back on last year's budget plus any increase in the per pupil money from the state. Supporters claimed that to revert to the previous year's budget would mean forgoing the increase in state money - which was an outright lie. The truth, which for some reason never had a good spokesman, was that in the case where we reject the budget, forcing the school budget to last year's number, and there is an increase in state money that year, our local portion of taxes would go down. In other words, we blew any chance to ever see a tax decrease on the local level.

Okay, so now that I am done ranting about the past, what does this have to do with this year's budget?

Well, if memory serves, when I was watching the school board meeting on RETN (channel 16), the finance committee came out with a budget that was within that "soft landing," the 7.93% increase to $41,135.677 that they will get no matter how we vote. The rest of the board proceeded to add in other things they wanted for the budget they are sending to the people.

That kind of ticks me off. I mean, there is this constant feeling by the people that the school spending is out of control and the school spenders don't give a rat's patootie. Given the serendipitous windfall that the school board found itself with this year, it seems like it would have been a great time to show the voters that it does understand our tax time woes.

Can you imagine if the school board came out and said, "Look, this year we are going to keep our budget increase within the limit of the revenue increase. We will not seek an increase in the local tax rate." Wow.

Back to reality, though. The budget is not really asking for anything way out there. They are actually filling the preventative maintenance budget like they are required to, but never do because they use the money for other stuff. They are spending $80,000 to pay the state for employees that are not covered with health insurance, per the Catamount Health Plan legislation. They are funding the after school program, which ran out of grant money. (Don't you just love how they do that? They propose a program and assure us that it will be paid for by grant. Then, when the grant runs out they tell us how much they need to keep this great program and we end up paying for it directly.)

I wish we had a line item budget vote, so they actually knew why we voted "no." That would be cool. They could itemize the increases and let us vote on each one. Or at least have a survey for "no" voters to fill out, so they could get some feedback.

Anyway, in case it is not obvious, I will be voting "no" because I think they should have stayed within that huge 7.93% increase they were gifted with. That's what we all have to do with our budgets.

Taxes Have Me Singing the Blues

This is so funny, I wish I had made it up.

I am working on a post about the Burlington School Budget, so I decided to download the MP3 of the budget presentation on Channel 17 and put it on my iPod so I can listen to it while I do some other things this morning.

I went to the website, saved the file, and imported it into iTunes. As I was getting ready to load it onto my iPod, I noticed the genre that the podcast had been assigned.

Here is a screen shot of iTunes. Click on the picture to get a close-up of the School budget presentation (the blue line).

City Council Candidates

(Updated @ 3:30)

I have updated the side bar with links for the City Council candidates who have campaign websites. (Thanks to Joan Shannon of Ward 5 for e-mailing me her new website, which prompted me to make the updates.) If anyone knows of a candidate website that is not listed, please let me know.

In case you missed it, the Free Press has begun to profile the ward races. Sunday was ward 1. Today, ward 2. It continues throughout the week. Limited coverage is online at the Free Press website, but as usual, they do not put all local content online. (I normally subscribe this time of year for that reason. For some reason this year, I never got around to it.)


Update: I take it back. They do have all of the coverage online. Either it wasn't there when I looked this morning, or I missed it. Either way, please note that there is an article about the race and an "In their own words" section. They are on different webpages, but all info can be found by going to the "Local/Vermont" tab.

And don't forget about the Channel 17 election forums. Schedule and podcast links are in this post.

I know that I have been slacking on the local election coverage. I hope to get some new stuff posted today or tomorrow.

Bus Routes, BHS, and the Gas Tax (or some other modest non-property tax source)

On the Front Porch Forum for my neighborhood, there has been a conversation about the CCTA bus schedule and the start time at BHS.

See, the current CCTA bus routes from the South End get the students to BHS either a half hour before school starts or 10 minutes late.

For CCTA to fix the problem (within their current structure) would require a major schedule overhaul. So, some parents have asked the School Board to adjust the start time of the high school by 10 minutes.

According to a post by School Commissioner Fred Lane (W5) on Feb. 16:

Superintendent Collins told the Board that the principal is responsible for determining the start time for each building (within reason). BHS Principal Amy Mellencamp was planning on meeting with parents to discuss the issue this week (although that may have been delayed by the snow storm); one of her concerns is that postponing the start time even by 10 minutes will affect BHS student participation in after-school activities, including sports.

Okay, so the High School is not likely to alter its start time. Back to square one - the bus schedule.

In a post by CCTA Commissioner Chapin Spencer dated Feb. 21:

The big picture issue that I want to raise is this: The problem of convenient bus service to BHS is a symptom of a larger problem and would be solved instantly with one "simple" change: having bus service every 15-minutes during peak commuting times. One bus every 30 minutes is not convenient for the modern American. If we truly want to reverse climate change and keep Burlington a livable city, we need to provide convenient alternatives to driving. With 15-minute bus service, South End buses would connect to a North Avenue bus departing Cherry St at 7:30am, getting students to BHS right before school at 7:45-7:50AM .

The City of Burlington pays its fair share to CCTA - over $1.2M/yr in property taxes (~70% of the funds CCTA receives from all area towns). Our problem: transit companies outside VT receive more money from their regions and states. Here in VT, the State has given us no alternative than to be chained to the local property tax (sound similar to education funding issues?!?!). Rep. Keogh has proposed alternatives at the State level but has found little traction in the Legislature.

All we need to provide 15-minute service during rush hour for BHS students (and everyone else) is a penny on the gas tax or some other modest non-property tax source.

The final verdict from the school board was (as reported to Front Porch Forum by Ward 5 Commissioner Amy Werbel on Feb. 22):

The school board curriculum committee met on Tuesday night and discussed the South End BHS bus situation. We determined that it is more feasible to work with CCTA than to change the start time at the high school. Jurij Homziak (Ward 6 commissioner) is working with City Councilor Andy Montroll to draft a joint resolution urging CCTA to create reasonable bus routes that enable students to ride rather than driving or being driven. This is an obvious benefit for everyone.

I think we are going to hear a lot more about this issue in the coming weeks, or even months, while people work to find a solution to this problem.

Certainly, there is a need for more frequent bus routes during peak times, not just for BHS students but for all people who take the bus (and those who would take it if the schedules were more convenient).

That need will be weighed against the budgetary constraints that Vermont is in right now and the already too heavy tax burden.

Burlington Election Forums on Channel 17

Hey, I'm back and I actually have three posts coming down the pipeline.

First, I want to fill you all in about the Channel 17 debates replay schedule.

There are two blocks: the ballot item presentation, followed by all council candidate forums and the school budget presentation, followed by all school board candidate forums.

The candidate forums do not go in numerical order.

Here's a link to the sched. I will post it at the end of this post.

If you do not want to watch all of the debates, you can go to the Channel 17 podcast page and find the ward that you want to listen to on your computer or MP3 player.

Okay, I'll make it easier for you. Here are the links to the audio of each debate.

Ward 1 - Sharon Bushor (I) - uncontested 2-year term

Ward 1 - Ed Adrian (D), Dick Bove (I) and Megan Munson-Warnken (P) - 1-year term

Ward 2 - Jane Knodell (P) and David Rogers (I)

Ward 3 - Tim Ashe (P) and Loyal Ploof (I)

Ward 4 - Jim Holway (D) and Kurt Wright (R)

Ward 5 - Rene Kaczka-Valliere (Green), Joan Shannon (D) and Basil Vansuch (I)

Ward 6 - Andy Montroll (D) and Tom Licata (I)

Ward 7 - Ellie Blais (I) Linda Deliduka (D) and Craig Gutchell (R)

So, go on and do your civic duty and be an informed voter. Feel free to share the links with other Burlington voters. The debates are less than 15 minutes per candidate, so in most wards, you only have an ~30 minute show to listen to.

Okay, enough preaching. (It's probably only to the choir anyway.)

Here's that sched.

Burlington City Council Election Forums
8 total air times:

Fri, Feb 23, 2007 at 8:00:00 PM
Sat, Feb 24, 2007 at 1:00:00 AM
Sat, Feb 24, 2007 at 7:00:00 AM
Sat, Feb 24, 2007 at 1:00:00 PM
Sat, Mar 3, 2007 at 8:00:00 PM
Sun, Mar 4, 2007 at 1:00:00 AM
Sun, Mar 4, 2007 at 7:00:00 AM
Sun, Mar 4, 2007 at 1:00:00 PM

Burlington School Budget & Candidate Forums
8 total air times:

Mon, Feb 26, 2007 at 8:00:00 PM
Tue, Feb 27, 2007 at 1:00:00 AM
Tue, Feb 27, 2007 at 7:00:00 AM
Tue, Feb 27, 2007 at 1:00:00 PM
Wed, Feb 28, 2007 at 8:00:00 PM
Thu, Mar 1, 2007 at 1:00:00 AM
Thu, Mar 1, 2007 at 7:00:00 AM
Thu, Mar 1, 2007 at 1:00:00 PM

On to some of those posts I promised...

Channel 17 Election Forums

Hey blog readers. Sorry that I have been missing for the last few days. I have been sick. Is it me, or do I say that a lot? I don't know why, but this winter has been a real bear as far as sickness is concerned in my home.

Anyway, I wanted to remind you that the Channel 17 election forums for Burlington are this week.

Yesterday, they had some school board races.

Tonight, Tuesday 2/13

5:25-6:10 - Burlington City Council Ward 1 (1 year term)
Ed Adrian (D), Dick Bove (I), Megan Munson-Warnken (P)

6:15-6:30 - Ward 1 Uncontested
Sharon Bushor

6:35-7:05 - Ward 2 Council
Jane Knodell (P), David Rogers (I)

7:10-7:40 - Ward 3 Council
Tim Ashe (P), Loyal Ploof (I)

Tomorrow, Wednesday 2/14

5:25-6:10 - Ward 7 Council
Ellie Blais (I), Linda Deliduka (D), Craig Gutchell (GOP)

6:15-7:00 - Ward 5 Council
Rene Kaczka-Valliere (G), Joan Shannon (D), Basil Vansuch (I)


7:05-7:35 - Ward 6 Council
Andrew Montroll (D), Tom Licata (I)


7:40-8:10 - Ward 4 Council
Jim Holway (D), Kurt Wright (GOP)

I hope to have some coverage of these debates, but I can't say when.

Don't forget to check out BurlingtonPol for local election coverage, too.

Zoning rewrite follow-up

Yesterday, the mayor held a press conference about the zoning rewrite issue that I brought up in this post.

The Free Press has coverage here and Channel 17 will post the streaming video of their coverage sometime today.

I don't have the time to blog a proper follow-up on this because everyone is sick today (including my husband, who stayed home from work). I will post my thoughts later.

Channel 17 updates

Tonight at 7:00 pm, Channel 17 will have complete coverage of today's press conference in Burlington about the zoning rewrite issues.

Channel 17 also begins their Town Meeting Day election coverage starting Thursday and Friday with Williston.

Burlington election forums air live next week. I will post a reminder later this week.

You can view the full schedule of election forums here.

One more Burlington politics post

Updated @ 10:59 am and again @ 2:35 pm.

Big story in the Free Press about a possible scandal involving the zoning re-write.

It seems that the consultant who was doing the re-write was being paid $65/hour, totaling more than $200,000 to date. Apparently, this is acceptable for a short-term contract, like her original 90-day one, but for the length of time she has been making this much money, it is way out of step with what city employees make. The mayor only makes in the $80,000-range.

The tabloid angle of this whole snafu is that said planner is alleged to be having an affair with the city employee who authorizes her contract and her paychecks, city attorney Joe McNeil.

Okay, the article doesn't use the word "affair" and I have no specific knowledge, other than that is the official rumor.

The Free Press has the dirt, but their links only work for a week, usually.

UPDATE: The mayor and representatives from City Council will hold a press conference at noon today to talk about the zoning re-write.

The City Councilors are: City Council President Ian Carleton and Councilors Jane Knodell, Ward 2, Andy Montroll, Ward 6, and Kurt Wright, who represents Ward 4.

Update 2: Channel 17 will have complete coverage of the press conference at 7 PM tonight.

Burlington Forums

Jeremy Ryan set up a discussion board for Burlington elections and stuff. It would be really great if a lot of people started using this forum for discussion.

Currently Ward 2 City Council candidate David Rogers has posted something.

Check it out.

Burlington's "9/11 investigation" ballot item

I had a chat with Doug Dunbebin (former City Councilor) a couple of weeks ago about the ballot question regarding a new 9/11 investigation.

I have been meaning to write something up on this, but it keeps getting put off, so I thought I would post the press release I received from the group behind the ballot question.

A question calling for a new 9/11 investigation is officially on Burlington’s March 2007 ballot. A group of Burlington residents has collected the required number of petition signatures and now voters will decide:

“Shall Vermont’s Congressional Delegation be advised to demand a new, thorough, and truly independent forensic investigation that fully addresses the many questions surrounding the tragic events of September 11, 2001?”

The question does not advance any particular alternative theory concerning the events of 9/11. Rather, it focuses on the need to get answers to hundreds of questions raised by members of the intelligence community and family members of 9/11 victims. These individuals with firsthand knowledge claim that many serious problems and concerns raised during the 9/11 Commission’s hearings went unsolved and unanswered.

In a January 21, 2007 Burlington Free Press article, one of the family members responsible for getting the 9/11 Commission established called its final report “pathetic.” Lorie Van Auken said “we wanted experts not just to be called, but to follow up on questions.” Van Auken explained that “the Burlington ballot item is valuable because it brings attention to these unanswered questions.”

In an open letter to the 9/11 Commission chairman, FBI whistleblower Sibel Edmonds stated the report was “seriously flawed in its failure to address serious intellingence issues” and that “these omissions cast doubt on the validity of your report and therefore on its conclusions and recommendations.”

Chairman Kean, in an August 2, 2006 Washington Post article, raised serious doubts about key witness testimony. “We to this day don’t know why NORAD [the North American Aerospace Command] told us what they told us.” said Thomas H.
Kean, the former New Jersey Republican governor who led the commission. “It was just so far from the truth.”

Since the president and many members of Congress have used the events of 9/11 to justify wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, wiretapping, the USA PATRIOT Act, torture, indefinite detentions without charges, and the recently passed Military Commissions Act that suspends the writ of habeas corpus, the group believes these serious, credible questions about 9/11 must be answered.

You can check out the group's website for more information. I hope to get a chance to post some of my own thoughts about this before Town Meeting Day. (Hey, that gives me a month, right?)

School Board Races

Here is the line up for the Burlington School Commissioners races:

Ward 1 -- Keith Pillsbury (incumbent, unopposed)
Ward 2 -- Jen Lazar (unopposed; Commissioner Erik Hoekstra is retiring)
Ward 3 -- Marissa Caldwell (incumbent) v. Denise Foote
Ward 4 -- Wally Elliot (incumbent, unopposed)
Ward 5 -- Fred Lane (incumbent, unopposed)
Ward 6 -- Jurij Homziak (incumbent, unopposed)
Ward 7 -- Bob Hooper v. Tom Treat (Commissioner Paul Hale is retiring)

(Courtesy of Fred Lane via Front Porch Forum)