Jim, It's True What They Say about First Impressions
Yesterday, when I read over the agenda for last night’s Select Board meeting, I saw it was your first night at the Big Kids’ Table, Jim.
I must confess that I didn’t pay any attention to the TA hiring process because (in the exceedingly rare case you’ve not been told), I’ve been busy writing to Matthew and Chuck—two of your five brand-new bosses.
Well, I’ve mostly addressed myself to Matthew, but at this point, it’s bigger than him and his wife. It’s worse than I thought. And I’m going to be candid with you, Jim. From my vantage point, cannabis in town has not gone well.
Well, it has gone well for a precious few. I’ve spelled that out, I think, fairly comprehensively over the last thirty-three days. Though if you’re curious, you could go back to the start, where the very first sentence of that very first post, I think, has aged quite well.
Recently, my commentary pivoted to Chuck, and today’s post was going to be addressed to him. But I’m writing to you, instead, Jim, for two reasons.
First, I want to give Chuck a couple more days to think about the choice he’s facing.
At this moment, it seems Chuck’s decided to stick with his “deal friends,” which makes me sad for him, because along with the radical idea of ending poverty, I have the radical hope that Chuck will see the liberation found in confession and trust that we will forgive him.
(I wonder where we might be as a community today if Bonnie had thought that maybe everything would turn out alright for her back in the summer of 2019.)
Second, I want to tell you my first impression of you, Jim, which I got, like almost everyone does nowadays, from Google.
I typed in “James Duggan” and “town manager” was the 4th suggestion Google offered.
Feeling lucky, I clicked on that one.
And I immediately got a bad first impression of you, Jim, specifically from the headlines of three Lowell Sun articles that reported on you in your role of town administrator elsewhere.
I put the links to the three Lowell Sun articles into an email to myself and b’cc’ed a small group of people in Littleton who I thought might be interested in what I found and sent it off with the subject line: FYI: This is 01460's new TA.
That’s it. No commentary, just sharing the three articles that popped up on a simple Google search.
And get this:
In reply to my email, I’m told, in so many words, that Sal Lupoli shared his approval of Littleton’s choice to hire you, Jim.
This seems to imply that Sal Lupoli—the multi-million-dollar developer who’s bringing something like a thousand apartments to town between the old IBM site and the former Make-Your-Own-Assault-Weapon Mill—has something to say about the Select Board’s choice of TA.
Hmm.
From another person, I’m told that on the day you signed your 3-year contract with Littleton, you also made time to meet with Sal Lupoli.
The very same day!
Last Thursday.
Well, last night, at the end of your third day on the job as our newest TA, I show up to the Select Board meeting at 7:20 for the 7:35 Public Input/Members’ Updates that didn’t start until 7:50. (While I later saw that Gary did introduce you at the 6:20 mark, and lofty pleasantries were exchanged, I myself didn’t come into the room until the 44:00 mark.)
So, as I sit in the audience, my heart’s pounding. You see, there’s a lot of tension in the room, probably on account of what your five new bosses have been reading over the last 33 days, so I try to calm myself by reading over what I’m going to say—about the history of Littleton’s Board of Selectmen when it used to take care of Littleton’s poor.
And then, a Christmas miracle.
During Member Updates, Mark mentions Toys for Tots—at 44:27.
Then at 47:15, Matthew mentions Toys for Tots.
And at 49:12, Karen mentions Toys for Tots.
And to sweep the board, at 49:26, Gary mentions Toys for Tots and, adds his comment of appreciation for Littleton’s Park and Rec department that puts on a similar program.
This mention of Gary’s triggers a wave of mutual recognition of the Holiday Helpers program from Karen, Mark, Chuck, and Matthew, who awkwardly (to my ears) adds “49 children this year”—almost pridefully, like Littleton had produced 49 child scholars, and not merely bore witness to 49 children living in poverty in town.
And then Gary says this: “Just an amazing, amazing program that Park & Rec puts on, and it’s truly, truly helpful for the community, for those in need.”
Every last one of our elected Select Board members, aka, your new suite of bosses, wanted to go on record, during his/her Member Update, as supporting both Toys for Tots and Holiday Helpers.
Now, you have to understand, Jim, that this gives me a flash of hope: Littleton’s Select Board does care about the poor, and they see me sitting there and maybe everything is going to come together.
I was getting ready to jump up and piggyback on all this Goodwill toward men, when you, at the 54:48 mark, spoke up with your very first update.
And what to my wondering ears do I hear?
You, recounting to the Select Board the “robust meeting” you had with “Mr. Lupoli, last Thursday, at his office” where Lupoli told you all about the “history of his company” and “the successes” and the “the various projects” and “the inside-baseball hurdles he overcame” and how “extremely proud” Lupoli is of what he’s doing in—“to”, perhaps? Some might prefer “doing to”—Littleton, and how this development in Littleton is shaping up to be “the jewel” of his many, many projects that his successful company has done.
And that was it.
That was your very first update.
I have to say how disgusted I was listening to you praise a multi-millionaire’s successful “overcoming” of “inside-baseball hurdles.” Your five bosses were just talking about poor kids. Literally poor children, and you come in praising Sal Lupoli.
For me, it left a taint of fetishized wealth in the air that I would have to stand in during Public Input.
And so, from the podium and at the 55:55 mark tell you, “You’ll see me a lot. I’m a pain in the ass.”
I told you this so you knew, right off the bat, what kind of first impression you should have of me.
Pain. In. The. Ass.
Jkb