City Hall: Mayor getting high praise from those across the table

By SCOTT BROOKS
New Hampshire Union Leader Staff
Sunday, Mar. 7, 2010

Alderman Russ Ouellette could hardly believe the words coming out of his mouth.

"I'm shocked to say it, obviously," the Ward 11 Democrat told us in a recent interview. "But I'm happy to say it."

What Ouellette just said was that he's "ecstatic" about the job being done by the city's new Republican mayor, Ted Gatsas.

"I think Ted as mayor has been better than even my best expectations," Ouellette said.

His colleagues on the board, Democrats who last November backed Gatsas' opponent, Mark Roy, are only slightly less effusive. Alderman Pat Long says he's seen only pluses from the new mayor so far. No minuses.

Alderman Jim Roy says the mayor's handling of the budget has been "a breath of fresh air." Yet another Democrat, Alderman At-Large Dan O'Neil, has offered a similar assessment of the relationship between Gatsas and the board, calling it "refreshing."

"The mayor deserves credit for that. He deserves a lot of credit," O'Neil said.

This is what's known in politics as the honeymoon phase -- a fitting phrase, in this case, considering we're talking about a mayor who actually looks like a man on his honeymoon. (Have you seen his tan lately?)

Maybe the best evidence that Gatsas is enjoying a tremendous amount of aldermanic good will right now is the fact that his proposals are sailing through the board. Two months into his administration, Gatsas has yet to suffer a defeat in the chambers. Meanwhile, in the past few weeks, he's won unanimous approval on two major initiatives.

The first was a $3.2 million loan allowing the school district to buy new textbooks. The second was a renegotiation of the city's contract with SMG, the company that manages the Verizon Wireless Arena.

Then, just last week, the school board Finance Committee voted 14-to-nothing for the mayor's $148.9-million school budget proposal. One Democratic committeeman, Chris Herbert, actually gushed, "It was a pleasure," then noted he had never said that about a budget before.

Granted, it hasn't been a total lovefest. One critic, former state Democratic Party Chairman Kathy Sullivan, took a few jabs at Gatsas in the pages of this newspaper last week.

Sullivan gave the mayor credit for his "style and work ethic." But she didn't like the notion that Gatsas plans to slash funding for the city's publicly funded TV stations, nor was she happy about the fact that the school district will have to pay interest on the textbook loan.

Mike Brunelle, the newly elected chairman of the city Democratic Party, wouldn't say whether the aldermen's praise for Gatsas is justified. "It's too early to tell," he said.

"Ted Gatsas has a long record, both as an alderman and state senator, quite frankly, that I do not believe is always in the best interest of the people of Manchester," Brunelle said. "That being said, if it's his intention to work for the best interest of the people of Manchester, then that's welcome."

If, indeed, this is the era of good feelings on the Board of Mayor and Aldermen -- and there are several board members who say it is -- the reason appears to have more to do with process than policy.

It's a tradition among Manchester aldermen to complain about being out of the loop. Gatsas himself, during his aldermanic days, was known to kick up a fuss whenever some bit of information went public before he knew about it.

It's rarer to hear that sort of grousing now.

"He lets me know what's going on before I read it in the paper," Long said. "That's certainly appreciated."

(This is almost always a good way to endear yourself to aldermen, though it does nothing to endear yourself to the neighborhood City Hall reporter.)

To Jim Roy, the biggest change ushered in by the Gatsas administration is the budget process. "It's no longer adversarial," Roy said. "It's no longer, here's the mayor's budget, which everyone knew couldn't work."

The budget, of course, is still being written. Gatsas is hoping the aldermen will approve it March 31.

For now, at least, Ouellette says he "couldn't be happier" with the way things are going up on the 3rd floor of City Hall.

"I just hope it continues," he said. "If it does, we're going to be very successful in this city."

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SNEAK PEEK: Brad Cook, chairman of the city Task Force on Efficiencies and Consolidations, was still writing up a first draft of the panel's report when we caught up with him late last week, but he gave us a sneak peek of what he expects it will say.

Here are just a few of the recommendations that, according to Cook, are likely to make the cut:

--Out-of-towners should have to pay to use city facilities like the William B. Cashin Senior Activity Center and the public pools.

--The Department of Parks, Recreation and Cemeteries should be folded into the Highway Department.

--The city and school district should merge some administrative functions.

--The city should rethink its Employee Assistance Program, which provides substance-abuse counseling, either by merging it with another department or by contracting out for those kinds of services.

Cook has been working on the report with task force members Sean Owen and Bill Skouteris. The task force meets again tomorrow at 5:30 p.m. in City Hall.

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ON THE MEND: Former Alderman Real Pinard says he's recovering nicely after a "minor" stroke last weekend.

It happened when he was sitting down to dinner with his wife Saturday night. He was trying to talk, he said, but the words weren't coming out.

"Next thing, they take me to the emergency room," he said.

The doctor said the episode might have had something to do with the huge storm the night before. Pinard's home lost power, and as his cellar started to flood, he said, he had to struggle to turn on the generator.

"God was with me," Pinard said. "If I'd have gone out on the deck that night when the wind was really strong, I don't think I'd be here to talk about it. That's how bad it was."

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STRAIGHT TO THE TOP: The Manchester Transit Authority didn't have to look far for a new executive director.

Two weeks ago, the MTA commissioners handed the job to Mike Whitten, a 28-year-old former bus driver who has climbed the ranks at MTA faster than anyone, including Whitten himself, might have expected.

Less than a year ago, Whitten was the agency's operations planning manager. When the agency's executive director, Carey Roessel, resigned under pressure, Whitten moved up to the No. 2 spot.

He wasn't there long. In January, the top job was vacated yet again, this time by Roessel's successor, Evan Rosset.

John Trisciani, who chairs the MTA's board of commissioners, said Whitten did such an impressive job steering the ship in Rosset's absence that the commission voted unanimously to keep him in charge.

"It's been quite a bit of turmoil down here," Whitten said. "We're hoping for some consistency."

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Read Scott Brooks' coverage of Manchester City Hall during the week in the New Hampshire Union Leader. Email him at sbrooks@unionleader.com.