"Don’t be a Smartass, Bernie!"

My meeting with the selectboard in Deerfield went well. All three members expressed enthusiasm for our nascent farmer’s market plan. But it took forever to get to my turn, and that gave me a chance to watch the town’s finance committee in somulent action. God, how long these committees take to do what they do….it’s long, long moments of murmuring, quiet ayes and seconds, and only occasionally minor flare-ups that upset the delicate balance.

There was an older member of the committee who wanted to clarify how much a project was going to cost. The patient Town Administrator, Bernie, tried to politely answer, saying jokingly that he could have made the cost $9999, but instead settled on $10,000. That’s when he got the zinger in the headline above.

In other news, it turns out the chief of police bought bulletproof vests for his staff and they turned out to be defective. He used his drug forfeiture account for the expense. So he joined with other towns and they all sued and got back $9,000. But now the money was in the general fund, so the board voted to give Chief Woz his money back to buy more vests. Hopefully this time they will work.