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Happy Friday y'all.</div>
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This is a much less technical question than most here, but it's what our little Town is struggling with at this moment.</div>
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I write this 24 hours away from a Special Town Meeting where two zoning articles will be voted on. The situation has devolved into widespread misinformation and personal attacks on public officials over this. <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">I
have my slideshow, jumbo foam-core map, and beloved anxiety meds prepared, but more conceptually, how do you stay motivated when things like this happen and keep yourself from totally burning out?</span></div>
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I'm a relatively young planner and I understand that the nature of public work means not everything I work on will move forward, but our team here is exhausted. Several of us have been teetering on the edge of burn out for months. Luckily our Select Board (and
some kind-hearted, informed residents) have been supportive of us taking a step back to evaluate our capacity for new projects. I've created a master project list which plans out 3-5 years. We're deciding which grants to apply for a year ahead to prepare ourselves.
But it seems like every time we plan to take a breather something new happens: a flood washes out a bridge and three roads, construction can't be finished due to supply chain issues, a new wave of COVID hits, or we only have one plow driver available during
a snow storm. I was only a Planner for 6 months before the pandemic hit so I feel like I've jumped into this career on hard mode. My light at the end of the tunnel is a public art project set to be installed in July and I'm hesitant to even look forward to
that because I feel like something will go wrong.</div>
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I imagine that all of us are dealing with these struggles in some fashion, so what tools do you and your team use to cope with these hurdles short term and prevent burn out long term?</div>
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<div><span style="font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:11pt">Mariah Kurtz (she/her)</span></div>
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<span style="font-size:11pt"></span><span style="font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:11pt">Assistant Town</span><span style="font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:11pt"><i>
</i></span><span style="font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:11pt">Planner</span></p>
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<span style="font-size:11pt"></span><b><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif; font-size:11pt"> </span></b></p>
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<b><span style="font-size:14.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Town <i>of</i> Erving</span></b><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif"></span></p>
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12 East Main Street</p>
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Erving, Massachusetts 01344</p>
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Phone: (413) 422-2800 ext. 1108 | Online: <a href="http://www.erving-ma.gov/"><span style="color: blue;">www.Erving-Ma.gov</span></a> | Facebook:
<a href="https://www.facebook.com/townoferving"><span style="color: blue;">Town of Erving</span></a></p>
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<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); display: inline !important;">When writing or responding, please remember that the Secretary of State has determined that email is a public record, is subject to the Public Records Law, M.G.L. c. 66, § 10, and
covered by Electronic Communications Privacy Act, 18 U.S.C. §§ 2510-2521. This communication may contain privileged or other confidential information. If you are not the intended recipient or believe that you have received the communication in error, you are
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When writing or responding, please remember that the Secretary of State has determined that email is a public record, is subject to the Public Records Law, M.G.L. c. 66, § 10, and covered by Electronic Communications Privacy Act, 18 U.S.C. §§ 2510-2521. This
communication may contain privileged or other confidential information. If you are not the intended recipient or believe that you have received the communication in error, you are strictly prohibited from printing, copying, distributing, disseminating, or
otherwise using this communication.
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