"The buck stops here". - United States President Harry Truman, October, 1945.
"Get me out of here". - Quakertown Borough Council President Ray Fulmer, April, 2005.
Fulmer's exasperated statement came as he left the April 28 meeting between members of borough council, and the town's employees who are preparing for a vote on unionization. Fulmer was clearly not prepared for what he heard.
According to the employees, Fulmer and council had no idea what was happening in their own backyard. They didn't understand the depth of anger at Borough Manager Dave Woglom. They didn't know that Woglom had changed the workers' pension plan without notice, and forbidden employees from speaking directly with council members. They didn't understand that all five borough departments have long-standing complaints about being ignored and belittled.
Council apparently didn't believe that the employees were serious about the union. They wrote a memo to the workers saying "It is not necessary for you to bring in (and pay) a third party that is a stranger to you in order to be treated fairly by the Borough". It seems council had been misinformed by Woglom. Again.
But they know now. The vote is set for June 14, and unionization is almost a sure thing. Angry employees will finally have someone to stand up to Woglom, and council. No more ignoring the slew of complaints. Our elected leaders are scared.
So council has asked for a "second chance". Workers say that after years of Woglom being a buffer to keep problems away, council now "regrets" that he did not allow the employees to speak directly with them. In fact, Fulmer tried to convince the workers that if they unionized, the union would prevent them from speaking to council. As if they ever could before! The employees just laughed at him. He has lost their loyalty, and their respect.
One borough worker said, "Most of us would likely not want a union. But we all feel we cannot take a chance with our futures in giving council, or Dave, a second chance. Its council's fault for letting Dave get away with this, and not being in touch with the employees."
There can be no doubt that Fulmer loves his hometown. But there can also be no doubt that he should resign as council president, and from council itself. He can wax lyrical about 1945, but is completely out of touch with the community needs in 2005. On his watch, Quakertown has become a cesspool of illegal contracts, poor financial decisions, deteriorating infrastructure, and skyrocketing taxes.
Fulmer is not dishonest. He's a nice man, with lots of friends. Unfortunately, he knows more about poetry than what is going on around him. Just come to a borough council meeting and see how many questions he - the president - can't answer. Everything is deferred to Woglom. Fulmer can not address the problems, because he does not know about them. So he insists that they don't exist.
Take Woglom's illegal no-bid contracts. E ight of them discovered so far, ranging from $4000 to $34,780, totalling a staggering $144,330. And there are undoubtedly more. As council president, Fulmer must have known. Even if he was totally oblivious to Woglom's shenanigans all these years, every one of those contracts needed a Resolution of Council, enacted at a regular council meeting, and signed by Fulmer as president. There were none.
When it came time to pay the bills, he must have known that something was wrong. As a 10-year council veteran, he understood perfectly well that every bill over $4000 was supposedly based on a council resolution, signed by him. And he knew he hadn't signed anything . Yet he said nothing, did nothing.
The unionization, which will cost Quakertown citizens tens of thousands of dollars a year, and the illegal contracts, are just the latest debacles during Fulmer's presidency. Council bought the Krupp tract without doing the proper investigation, and ended up spending millions to clean it up. And they are still unable to reach an agreement with Richland on the necessary zoning to develop it because, like the borough employees, Woglom forbid anyone from Richland to speak directly to council members. Everything goes through him.
Councilman Dan Williams received a preferential stone delivery, arranged by Woglom at taxpayer expense, and no one has been held accountable. Former police chief James McFadden isolated the town from the rest of Bucks County, and Fulmer prohibited criticism at council meetings. QT had to repay Bucks County Water and Sewer $800,000 for years of illegal overcharges.
Electric rates are up 20%. Water up 104%. And there are big hikes yet to come, because the town's water and sewer systems, treatment plant, and electric lines are all in a state of disaster. Raw sewage flows into the Tohickon Creek.
For a council president to be that out of touch, or that negligent, is unforgivable. He was elected to watch out for the taxpayers' best interests, and watch over the borough manager. He has done neither. It is now time for him to retire gracefully, and pass the mantle to someone who can properly represent Quakertown residents.
Will Fulmer step aside? Probably not. He told borough employees that he does not read that "garbage" (my column) anymore, and that council would not fire Woglom because it would look like they were reacting to my revelations of his misconduct. Fulmer refused my request, and a request from The Free Press, to present his side of the story.
Ignore the problems and hope they go away? They just get worse. The real shame is that the people who are being hurt are the people of the town Ray Fulmer loves.