You could almost hear the wheels turning.
Quakertown Borough Council, and Manager David Woglom, were caught awarding illegal no-bid contracts to Lynn Kraft. For projects that were over-designed, over-built, and over-priced. With no public record of the plans, the contracts, or the payments.
So, when this column obtained the borough's own documents, from their own files, and exposed the wrongdoing, council needed a strategy. Pronto. Act as if it was nothing . Try to avoid the legal consequences by saying, "We just made a mistake".
Nonsense. An outright lie. Their own records show they knowingly broke the law. On many occasions. Woglom called it "miscommunication". Council President Ray Fulmer tried "unintentional". No one offered "We apologize for wasting taxpayer dollars". Again.
Miscommunication and unintentional??? Woglom has been borough manager for over 20 years. He deals with contracts and bills every day. State bidding laws are second nature to him. Fulmer has been on council 10 years. Dennis Hallman 19 years. Jim Roberts, 23. Elfriede Werner, 25. Are we to believe that all of those folks just plain missed all of those irregularities in all of those bills? Want to buy a bridge?
The best line came from the newest councilman, Dave Wilsey: " There's nothing more to this; I think we've seen the whole thing." Sounds like Richard Nixon putting Watergate behind him. Council claims they didn't know anything about this until I investigated a few weeks ago, though it was all in their files. Now they assure us that we've "seen the whole thing". How?
Well, they have certainly been very busy with those files lately. Borough employees tell me that in February, following my first request for documents, Woglom's office staff shredded "more paper than they could ever recall". One day alone produced four trash bags full.
The problem begins with Quakertown's form of government. More specifically, Quakertown's abuse of its form of government.
The borough has a "strong manager" system, which concentrates power in the hands of one man - Dave Woglom. Under normal circumstances, this would relieve council of the detail work, and allow them to merely consider the issues.
But, over the years, this has become bastardized in Qtown, as council ceded more and more decision-making to Woglom. They are basically his rubber stamp. And, if they truly didn't know about the illegal contracts, it is because they don't pay attention to what their manager is doing. It is an atmosphere that encourages abuse, just as it did with ex-police chief Jim McFadden.
Still, Fulmer is full of praise: " We have great faith in Dave." No surprise. Woglom keeps them happy, arranging lunches and trips to conferences (on your dime), and providing special perks, like the crushed stone for Councilman Dan Williams.
Government in the borough is almost in secret. Contracts are made, and bills paid, with no public mention. Records are virtually inaccessible. Council goes into private "executive sessions" without revealing the exact purpose, a violation of Pennsylvania's Sunshine Law. A law designed to prevent our leaders from hiding their workings from us.
"Mistakes" are not the exception, they are the rule in Quakertown. Things are about as bad as they can be right now. Electric rates up 20%. Water up 104%. Downtown is so needy that the state just kicked in over $400,000 for long-needed "revitalization of community life and economic prosperity": crosswalks, sidewalks and streetlights.
The borough had to repay Bucks County Water and Sewer $800,000 for years of illegal overcharges. Millions were spent to clean up the polluted Krupp site because council didn't do the proper investigation before buying it. There is no new age-restricted housing, since council has bungled negotiations with Richland.
McFadden isolated the borough from the rest of Bucks County while council sat by meekly for 20 years. Councilman Williams has not even attempted to explain how he was the only person in QT to receive a stone delivery for his alley. Free borough truck. Free labor. And a tax-free price 280% lower than area retailers.
Town employees are unionizing to protect themselves from Woglom's heavy-handed policies, costing you tens of thousands of dollars in legal fees.
Then there's the deteriorating conditions of the town's water and sewer systems, treatment plant, and electric lines, which will necessitate yet-unannounced additional rate increases. Raw sewage flows into the Tohickon Creek. Why? Because council foolishly deferred most maintenance for decades, allowing the costs that should have been shared throughout the years to all fall on you.
Woglom now claims that he has now instituted an updated procurement procedure for department heads. What a laugh! It wasn't the department heads who handed all of those no-bids to Kraft. Or paid the bills without question. With typical borough secrecy, he has not bothered to explain how this will clean things up. That new "economic prosperity" money needs particular watching, to be sure who prospers.
The first step is to do what the state does. When a contractor, like Lynn Kraft, violates bidding laws, he is banned from receiving future government work. If the borough is serious about reform, Kraft would be prevented from making future expensive "mistakes" with taxpayer money.
At the very least, the secrecy must end. All borough contracts and bills should be revealed in public, and recorded in council's minutes. And those minutes should on the town's website, and readily available in the borough hall, without the need to personally ask Woglom.
Finally, if our leaders can use a lame excuse to avoid punishment, the same should be true for everyone. If you get a local parking ticket, or forget to pay your EIT or electric bill, just plead the Fulmer Excuse: "It was unintentional".