In one of the shortest meetings in recent memory (just one hour) the Portsmouth Town Council tonight unanimously approved a bid from Patriot to manage the transfer station. Councilors Huck Little and Pete McIntyre were absent, and there were a few murmurs of surprise in the audience of 30 as the item sailed through with no discussion.

The Council heard some good news from Town Finance Director Dave Faucher. Because of increased tax collections and expenditures held below budget, Faucher told the Council that they ended last year with about $891K that would be going to the fund balance. "This will help us significantly getting back to where it's supposed to be," said Faucher. "It will move it to the neighborhood of $2.1M." The final dollar value will be confirmed by official audit later this year.

While this number was still below the ideal target for the fund balance of about $4M, it was a significant improvement over the $130K the Council had been aiming for, the minimum that had been promised to our bond rating agencies. "This is good news we've been waiting for," said Council President Dennis Canario.

Good financial news also came from the Sustainable Energy Subcommittee, which had recommended a bid to purchase the Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) from the wind turbine to be installed at PHS this Fall. Dave Faucher advocated locking in a $40 per REC bid for 10 years, which was better than the $32/REC that had been estimated. "This will mean $132K per year coming into the Town," said Faucher.

After the bid was approved, Gary Gump, chair of the subcommittee, noted that the RECs were purchased by People's Power and Light, and suggested that Portsmouth residents support the program. "When you sign up," said Gump, "Some of your electricity will be coming right from that turbine."

The Council also approved an extension of the property tax deferral program, which allows qualified elderly homeowners to not pay taxes while living in their homes, with the balance to be taken out of their estate. The program was set to expire in October, and was extended indefinitely by the Council. At President Canario's urging, the program will be the subject of a future workshop to look for enhancements. "I would Like to look at neighboring cities and towns, see where we fall within the continuum, and see how we can further assist our elderly and disabled," said Canario. "It's gotten to be more of an issue now. Who would have thought we'd be spending a thousand dollars to fill our oil tank?"

The cost of filling up prompted another action item this evening. Responding to reports of sudden price hikes at gas stations around town following Hurricane Ike, Canario called on Town Administrator Bob Driscoll to contact the RI Attorney General's office. "Within hours, several stations raised prices 22 cents," said Canario. "I'm concerned about gas gouging in town." Canario asked for Driscoll to find out what actions Portsmouth could take. "Find out what we have to do to see that this doesn't happen in the town of Portsmouth," said Canario. "We need to protect our consumers."

Short meeting plus good news equals brief post. No trouble, no story. I could have mentioned Tailgunner Gleason's bizarro moment, when she asked Ernie Caron to come back with a report from the Solid Waste Committee and had to be reminded that he had resigned. (Obviously, she doesn't read my blog, although her husband apparently does.) "I don't remember accepting his resignation," she said, and then urged him to apply again. "There might be openings on the committee." Indeed. Nothing gets past her.