Consultant to the Committee on Consultants Who Hire Other Consultants

So far, the best reason I have heard to build a new Library is that Town Hall needs a bigger building in which to store their collection of Consultants' reports. (I hope they save a special place for the Consultant who thought it was a good idea to spend $3.5 million to renovate Town Hall and reduce the amount of space usable by Town employees!) The latest farce is the employment of a consultant to determine how residents feel about building additional recreational facilities.

It's no secret that the Town needs more space -- the constant beating the fields take is second only to the constant beating the School Department takes for their poor condition.  The reality is, if the schools are spending money on fields (or pools), they aren't spending money on academics.  It's that simple.

If an outside group wants to use a school field they need to pay for their share of the maintenance.  It's an old argument that that taxpayers shouldn't be expected to fund private group use of public facilities out of the school budget  -- especially if these non-profits manage to find ways to pay some of their "volunteers".  If a group decides some of its people deserve to be paid -- than they should damn well be paying for the use of taxpayer-funded facilities.

For more details -- see the Mass Attorney General's Office online database of non-profit organization tax filings at:  www.charities.ago.state.ma.us, 

Just for old-time's sake, I looked up one particular group that has always benefited greatly from the use of school-funded facilities -- and -- sure enough, the nastiest,  most foul-tempered little troll who constantly fought against any usage fess was ... wait for it ... the highest paid "volunteer" listed on any of the tax returns. When asked about her group's ability to pay, the Troll had sneered. "I'm not showing you our tax returns!"  She was too stupid to realize they were already available online.

But that's an old argument -- and we have already seen that few really give enough of a damn to speak-out on the issue.  This "new study" will show two distinct groups:  (1) People who want more facilities and (2) Everybody else who won't show-up.   

At the risk of sounding cynical, I suspect there may be a "solution" all ready to go -- just waiting for a consulting "study" to justify it!  And, I suspect the consultant is not going to be the only one making a grab for my tax dollars in this deal!

So let's not pretend.

Grab Your Flux Capacitor ..... We're Going Back to the Future !! (By Bob Guerin)

Good news!

Town Hall has decided to begin a conversation with resident taxpayers about recreation space, fields and Sandwich Hollows. Most folks in town consider this a dialog that’s long overdue.

At least 10 and perhaps 15 years ago, the Sandwich Hollows Golf Advisory Board, of which I was a member, brought a detailed plan to the Board of Selectmen and Town Manager that showed exactly how 25 to 30 acres of Hollows’ land could be cleared, leveled and used for recreational fields. Our plan included detailed parcel maps and identified resources willing to clear and level the land at no charge. We had imagined that Little League, Sandwich Youth Soccer, Sandwich Lacrosse and Pop Warner would use and maintain the lands at little to no cost to the town, just as they do other fields today.

Amazingly, this is almost exactly the same Hollows’ land use idea that Town Hall has just announced that it is now willing to explore with the help of a paid consultant.

When I recently asked a Selectman why it’s taken almost 15 years for the Board of Selectmen and our Town Manager to act on what was once a no cost proposal I was told: “we had other priorities.”   

Knowing that the Sandwich Hollows’ land use project was once a no cost / low cost project, I am eagerly awaiting the cost estimates for this new recreation proposal. I’ll bet it’s not going to be cheap.  

I hope the new recreation project is at least as good as the free 30 acres of recreational fields that the Sandwich Hollows Golf Committee proposed building almost 15 years ago.

Could it be a coincidence that there were reports of an odd-looking

 DeLorean  tooling around Sandwich Hollows recently?

 It was obviously one of the Consultants trying to go back in time

 to find a way to charge for the same answer that was obtained

free in a dozen years ago!!

 

Time to take The Wing on "The Ride"

Like many animal owners, over the past twenty-something years,  there have been numerous occasions when Dad and the aged & ailing dog/cat/rabbit/guinea pig go out for That Ride --- the ride from which only Dad returns.

Well,  I think its time to take The Wing on The Ride....

Somebody recently asked my thoughts on the plans to reconfigure the three K-8's.  

 

I just don't have a horse in this race.  Next year, I will have three kids at three different high schools, and (hopefully) a fourth teaching school someplace.  No more K-8's.

 

I've never claimed to be a professional educator, or an expert in child development (just ask my kids!)  But, from a management perspective, it makes sense to me to consolidate like operations whenever possible --- to allow the greatest sharing of resources and talent and to ensure maximum consistency of results.

 

But ...  I've been told that kids can't be treated like widgets. 

 

If there is a sound educational argument to be made to structure in one fashion or another, I could be swayed.  BUT, if the argument is based on ill-informed hysterical shrieking or rambling dissertations by folks with no professional background or experience in the subject (other than the ability to mix sperm and egg), I tend to change the channel and watch American Idol!

 

From a Big Picture perspective, the Wing has to go.  While I suspect the engineering / consulting reports are exaggerated, there's no disputing it's a grossly inefficient facility that is costly to maintain.

 

I always argued that we may need those school seats at some point, but given the increased number of seats at Pope John Paul II and Sturgis, the growth in School Choice options, and the generally changing age demographic in this area, that's probably unlikely.  Any substantial student growth I the future would likely impact an expanded Upper Cape Tech, or more cost-effective modular additions to the Forestdale or Oakridge.

 

That being said, I am still leery of adding yet another piece of useless real estate to the Town's portfolio.  In a professional environment, I would be promoting an effort to consolidate Town services in a single location and then liquidating the remaining properties to outside buyers -- buyers with money, not the friendly folks looking to help themselves to public property for their own benefit -- or those that confuse "historic" with "old".

 

What has (not) happened to the Dewey Avenue building is a disgrace.

 

As I have little confidence that the Town could ever actually coordinate or finance a renovation/consolidation effort, I would strongly support subdividing the parcel, turning the fields over to the Recreation Department and selling the building to a private developer for renovation into apartments, and/or an assisted living facility.   Sale proceeds could be used to fund some of the deferred maintenance efforts around town.

 

Or, we could hire another consultant.

 

The best argument I've heard for a new Library building is that we need more space to store our Consultants' Reports !!