Selectmen Outraged by FinCom Veto of Youth Summer Job Program Funding-June 26, 1974

The Board of Selectmen reacted last night with deep anger and sharp disappointment following a Monday night decision by the Finance Commission to flatly reject an emergency $16,000 fund transfer to bankroll the town’s upcoming youth summer job program. Town Manager John P. Mogan reported that the selectmen’s urgent bid for municipal funding was completely defeated on a deadlocked 2-2 tie vote within the FinCom room. A secondary, downscaled compromise attempt to secure a lower $10,000 allocation also failed on an identical tie vote on the watchdog board’s ledger. Selectmen noted with frustration that identical youth employment initiatives had been successfully funded via FinCom reserve transfers during each of the past two consecutive summer seasons.

John P. Mogan stated he has been absolutely deluged with hundreds of applications from eager local youthful jobseekers. The targeted summer program was structurally designed to hire 30 to 35 local teenagers for an eight-week duration to perform civic work across the town. John P. Mogan explained that the emergency request was not part of the selectmen’s standard winter budget because an accurate determination on whether a seasonal youth employment crisis exists cannot be effectively made until the summer season officially starts. “I wonder if the FinCom members are aware of what’s going on around them in the town of Norwood,” remarked an incensed Selectman William F. Butters. “I never expected this sort of thing to happen,” William F. Butters added, citing a rapidly increasing rate of unemployment among local young people. “We also wanted to encourage industry to employ people for the summer by setting an example,” concurred Selectman John F. Lydon.

William F. Butters also called sharp attention to a glaring case of fiscal irony, noting “the amount of money the FinCom spent on printing those budget books and the number of them sitting down there in the FinCom room” while essential youth programs are gutted. Selectmen Chairman Joseph W. Wall joined the criticism of the finance board, stating, “The FinCom has a lot of internal problems. I’m not defending them. Like yourself, I am very shocked they turned it down”. The summer public works program funding was reportedly favored by FinCom Chairman E. Peter Bamber and member Joseph Adakonis, but was completely blocked by the conservative dissenting votes of members Allan D. Howard and William C. Phipps.

Archival Note: This article has been dynamically reconstructed from the original public record print archives of the Patriot Ledger