Thank you!

Graduation ceremonies for the Sandwich Police Department Youth Academy Class of 2013 were held at Town Hall last night.  This continues to be a terrific program for many reasons  -- public relations, career information, character-building, etc.

Thank you to Chief  Wack, Lt. Nurse, Sgt Bound, Sgt Lawrence, Officer O'Brien and all of the other folks who continue to offer this program.  Thank you also to the John & Ethel Thorne Foundation for funding it.

As the father of two graduates over the past several years, I can readily attest to the enthusiasm these kids have shown towards the program.  I hope all involved know how much their efforts are appreciated!

Damn !

This week's Disingenuous Moron Awards go to Nancy Crossman and Marie Kangas for refusing to vote to extend Dr. Canfield's contract -- despite giving him an excellent  evaluation. They claim they wanted to leave the decision for the "new" Committee to decide.

Sure, that makes sense ... work with somebody for two years, give him an excellent job review .... and then let somebody else decide whether or not to give him a new contract.

Are they really that F'n stupid?

Of course they are.

In reality, this latest charade is only a very lame attempt to support their arguments from three years ago when they complained about the outgoing Committee doing its job by evaluating the Superintendent's job performance and renewing her contract.  -- regardless of the fact that good business practice would be for compensation to be based on performance and despite the fact that The Mass. Association of School Committees has made it clear that the outgoing Committee is obligated to handle the evaluation and related contract renewal.

But, its not the MASC that's bogged down in a very expensive lawsuit.

Enough!  Please cast a single ballot today for Sean Rausch.  It's time to return one of these idiots to their village!

Your Vote Still Counts Today! (From Paul Kilty)

Tuesday evening at the Special Town Meeting, the article concerning the proposed public safety building failed to pass because it did not get the required 2/3 majority vote. I did not realize, however, that the vote on today's ballot regarding the public safety building at today's polls still counts. If the vote to support the project wins by a simple majority, then the Board of Selectmen have 45 days to call a Special Town Meeting to reconsider the article and at that meeting a 2/3 vote would be required for approval. Although I am very much in favor of this project, the purpose of this message is not to ask for support but rather to inform you that your vote at the polls today counts and the project is still up for consideration. Whether you are in favor or opposed to the project, please get out and let your vote be counted.

Kind regards,

Paul Kilty

Random Thoughts ...

Number One with a Bullet ... Bullet Voting 101

In a situation with three people running for two seats, casting only a single ballot for the best candidate increases the possibility of blocking at least one of the other two candidates.   I believe we can all think of a really good use for that practice in this week's election!

Has anybody else noticed that:

Outgoing Selectmen get glass bowls, while outgoing School Committee  members  get subpoenas?

The people who talk most at Town Meeting usually understand the least.

The proper answer to the question, "Do the Police and Fire Chiefs have private baths?" is not, "The Building has the minimum number of required bathroom facilities."

And ...

The School Committee is scheduled to vote on the Superintendent's contract tonight -- the night before the elections.  That's not a bad thing .....  It makes sense that the folks who worked with him do his evaluation and contract before one of them (hopefully) goes away.  But I do vaguely recall an uproar last time that happened.  Anybody want to read the transcript of my 8 hour deposition?

Hello, Hypocrisy Hotline ?

Yup.  Nothing says "Celebrate Earth Day" more than
 littering  the town with plastic advertising signs 

Historical Tradition?

There are a few inviolate rules in life.

• Water will always follow the path of least resistance. 
• Machines will die the week AFTER the warranty expires.
• You can't spend what you don't have. 
• You can fool some of the people all of the time an all of the people some of the time.
• Covering your eyes will not make something go away -- nor will it make you invisible.

Unfortunately, almost all of them came into play in the demise of the Sandwich Community School.

The decision to suspend Community School operations - except for the self-supporting Early Childhood and Daycare programs -- is hardly a surprise.  It's unfortunate and could have been avoided if the situation had been realistically  dealt with when the issue arose several years ago.

This discussion has been going on since June of 2006.  I'm not going to re-hash the gory details -- this blog is loaded with them and many original source documents are available by clicking here,

The Community School had many excellent programs and was certainly an asset to Sandwich and the whole region.  But it was an asset that should have been funded by its users -- or by a separate Town Meeting Budget appropriation.  It should never have been subsidized with tax dollars siphoned out of the School Budget.  Those tax dollars were intended to fund the K-12 education costs of Sandwich students -- not subsidize the entertainment expenses of folks from across the region.

Even worse than the diversion of those funds was the absolute refusal to recognize that it was being done.

In follow-up to the discussion about the District "lending" money to the Community School to cover bills -- the School Committee has always been liable for all Community School bills.  All outstanding liabilities will get paid (apparently well in excess of $100,000 this year) --- and it will be coming out of the K-12 budget.

Do you think that's the historical tradition Kangas wants so badly to preserve?  

Cape Cod Times: Sandwich to Shut Community School

Broadsider: Sandwich Community School program comes to halt on May 1

The School Department announced this morning that their consultants
still have no idea where the water leaking from the Community Pool went.

In a related story...   a home on nearby Fieldstone Drive was swallowed
by a large sinkhole this afternoon.

Maybe .... (By Bob Guerin)

Well, here we are folks. Its budget time and per usual, the school board, selectmen and finance committee are meeting in panicked filled, last minute, special meetings as once again somehow, somebody has put us all smack dab in the middle of a financial pickle. Every town department needs money, buildings are literally falling down and there is very little dough left in the cookie jar. 

Maybe somebody should have not rushed and spent money on I-pads before responsible someone’s could have had an informed discussion of spending priorities? Maybe. 

Maybe somebody should have not rushed and spent money on Community School pool bills and maintenance before responsible someone’s could have had an informed discussion of spending priorities? Maybe. 

Maybe somebody should have not rushed and spent money on Community School health insurance payments before responsible someone’s could have had an informed discussion of spending priorities? Maybe. 

The three (3) spending decisions mentioned above represent about $500,000 of un-budgeted, un-planned for, non-prioritized spending. It’s likely that a lot more than that has been spent during the year that also was not budgeted and not prioritized against other competing needs. 

Our town’s financial troubles are the result of a lack of leadership, a lack of effective financial controls, poor day-to-day management and the total failure of our Boards and Committees to affect real, meaningful financial oversight and discipline. Some things never change. 

The tri-boards should have discussed how hundreds of thousands of dollars were spent on un-budgeted projects and needs without a thought to how other competing, and compelling, and prioritized projects would be paid for. But, they didn’t. 

Once again, nobody’s held responsible or accountable. Evidently, these things just happen; it’s nobody’s fault; just bad luck. 

What’s wrong with our Town’s finance and budget oversight and management system will never be fixed because no one is willing to suggest that something is actually broken; with the one exception being our Town and its taxpayers. For sure we’re broke! 

Who Needs a Degree in Hydrodynamics !!

The Broadsider had an interesting article on the latest Community Pool fiasco this week -- particularly when compared to the Emptyprize's puff piece on a Heritage Museum exhibit!

The story pointed out that the Superintendent thought the “stop of the leak is promising..." Later in the story, however, it was also mentioned that there was no longer any water in the shallow end of the pool. My degree isn't in Hydrodynamics, or even engineering,-- but I am pretty sure that once the water is gone, the leak will usually go away!

I didn't see the School Committee Meeting -- but I hope somebody else  had trouble keeping a straight face after being told the leak stopped --- as soon as the water was gone.

Expert What? (By Bob Guerin)

In the Broadsider this week Selectmen Frank Pannorfi is quoted as saying about the National Grid pipeline project: “There was agreement between our experts and National Grid’s experts. I’m not big on telling our experts, the people we pay big bucks to … we have these people, we trust these people [how] to do their jobs; we trust them for their knowledge and skills.”

Here’s the problem with Frank’s thinking: our experts aren't too expert. 

Whether we’re talking pipelines, school repairs, public safety building management, finance or hurricane disaster planning and preparedness, many taxpayers are of the opinion that our town’s day-to-day and long-term management and planning is pretty poor.

On this blog you can read a lot about what’s wrong with Sandwich government. Buried among all the horror stories and complaints (and exaggerations) is one undeniable truth: no one in our towns’ administration is ever held accountable and responsible for anything that goes wrong. 

I am not completely sure why this is so; but, I do believe that a very large part of the problem stems from folks like Frank placing far too much trust in our so-called local experts.