An earlier meeting with Gov. Charlie Baker and Haverhill Mayor James J. Fiorentini.
Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito.
Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito is visiting Haverhill City Hall this afternoon to sign a “Community Compact” between city officials and the Baker administration.
Haverhill will become the latest local community to partner with the Commonwealth on ways to better conduct municipal business. In January, 2015, Gov. Charles D. Baker signed an executive order creating a Community Compact Cabinet, “in order to elevate the administration’s partnerships with cities and towns in all communities of the Commonwealth,” according to an online statement. The cabinet works “toward mutual accountability, work to reduce red tape, promote best practices, and develop specific ‘community compacts’ with local governments.” Compacts, signed over the past year by at least 72 other communities including, Newburyport, Amesbury and Lawrence, “create clear, mutual standards, expectations, and accountability for both the state and municipalities as to create better government for our citizens.”
“Compacts are an opportunity for cities and towns to choose their own best practices that they’d like to implement and in return the Commonwealth provides resources and incentives to help them do so,” Mark Steffen, spokesperson, told WHAV.
The signing ceremony takes place at 4:30 p.m., today, at Haverhill City Hall, 4 Summer St.
Baker’s executive order also “empowers Polito to be a champion for municipal issues across state government,” and “restructures the Department of Revenue to include a new senior commissioner for the Division of Local Services, reporting directly to the commissioner.”
Polito is chairperson of the cabinet with state administrators, including Senior Deputy Commissioner of Local Services Sean Cronin; Secretary of Housing and Economic Development Jay Ash: Secretary of Education Jim Peyser; Secretary of Transportation Stephanie Pollack; and Secretary of Energy and Environmental Affairs Matthew Beaton.
Cabinet members may also include “any other person whom the lieutenant governor may designate from time to time.”
Polito putting on a dog and pony show promoting a program with such a catchy name is so impressive, if it wasn’t laughable. Her touting ‘accountability’ of all things in the City of Haverhill is the funniest thing I’ve read in a while. Did she forget what city she was in today? She has to know the city is being run by an incompetent hack who has literally run the city into insolvency, doesn’t she? How exactly is she going to hold mayor Taxman accountable…take away his side order of extra bacon at Mark’s Diner?