A couple of weeks before she left, our former City Planner, Julie LaBranche, said to me that she thought it would be a good idea if Mayor John Moak hired a consultant to do part of her job and part of the job of Planning Director, using the funds from the two unfilled positions.

Seemed like a great idea to me, since it’s going to be awhile until those positions are filled.

Of course my first thought was, “wouldn’t it be fun if the City hired Nick Cracknell and Julie LaBranche as the consultants.” That obviously was never going to happen.

My second thought was Nancy Colbert, who was Newburyport’s Planning Director before Nick Cracknell. It was during Nancy Colbert’s tenure that the Newburyport Master Plan took shape. Nancy also knows all the players and all the issues. The only possible drawback would be that when I knew her, her expertise appeared to be in project management rather than zoning. But hey, she’d be great.

My other thought was Rick Taintor, the president of Taintor and Associates. Rick was the consultant on the Strategic Land Use plan and is the consultant for the Little River Transit Village project. And Mr. Taintor’s firm was the consultant for the Newburyport Master Plan. In my book, who better?

And low and behold that is who Mayor John Moak picked to help us through this transition period. As far as I’m concerned, well, “yeh.”

From what I can make out, our consultants will be working 12 hours a week. According to the Newburyport Daily News, August 31, 2006, Nancy Colbert will be the “primary onsite representative, while Rick Taintor and associate Juliet Walker will provide additional technical support and meeting attendance.” I wish the hours were more like 30 hours a week, but this solution appears to be a good “port in the storm.” And it will be fun to see Nancy Colbert in the Newburyport Planning Office again, even if it’s just for a short time.

Mary Eaton
Newburyport