After almost four months of nothing, the investigation of Quakertown Borough Manager Dave Woglom is now officially underway. Council hired Keystone Municipal Services to "determine if there was a violation of state law, and provide policy guidance and training to Borough staff".
But the whole thing is under a cloud from the beginning. Council has promised "no witch hunt and no whitewash", but they have already let Woglom, and themselves, off the hook for much of the prior wrongdoing.
They will only allow Keystone to look at possible improper conduct starting in 2003. That ignores plenty: the $27,000 borough car Woglom bought for himself in 2001 without bids; most of the illegal purchases he made from council members' businesses (surprised?); the secret settlements of lawsuits that allege employees were fired illegally. Council has already found a way to steer things away from their own culpability.
Keystone's representative, Robert Sabatini, got a first-hand look at Woglom's shenanigans at the July 24 meeting. Woglom had omitted from the website agenda any mention of council choosing the firm to do the evaluation. There has not been a single word about this critical (and embarrassing to him) subject on any public agenda in the four months that it has been before council. But when Councilman Jim Roberts stated that he was "disappointed" in Woglom for the obviously-deliberate omission, Dave replied "The agenda we post on the website is always subject to change," and that council had not decided if they would discuss the matter.
That, folks, is called a lie, because it was Woglom who personally placed the ad in the newspaper announcing the purpose of the meeting. And Roberts reminded him. Mr. Sabatini - welcome to Woglom's World.
Two serious new issues involve Woglom's best friend on council, Dan "Special Favors" Williams. Months ago, Williams voted (unsuccessfully) to keep the investigation secret. Little wonder. He was caught accepting a free delivery of stone from Woglom, at taxpayer expense. And Woglom illegally purchased over $5000 worth of drinks for the borough from Williams' employer, Rosenberger's Dairy.
Woglom has been barred from all council discussions about the investigation. But three council members confirmed that they are greatly concerned that Specials Favors has been leaking the details to him. One referred to the investigation as being by "6/7ths of council". Two said that they just don't know what to do about the problem.
But the most egregious situation involves Woglom's special treatment of Williams' daughter, Deb (who herself is blameless here). Despite being a full-time teacher, she was hired by Woglom in the highway department, one of about fifty borough summer employees. Aside from the pool administrator, she is the only one who is not a student. And at least four other Qtown employees report that they were told by Woglom that borough policy forbids their kids from being hired for summer work.
That is another lie. Borough solicitor Charles Fonzone confirmed that the town has no such written policy. Woglom just makes it up. Another special favor for Special Favors Williams.
Then, Woglom and Fonzone tried to hide another problem. In April, 2006, Woglom ordered his lieutenant, Joe Murgia, to get telephone bids for the spring fertilization of the borough's fields. The lowest response, $3000, came from R&R Lawn Care, the company that had done the town's work for many years. But Woglom didn't take the lowest bid. He chose a higher one - 22% higher - $3658, from Moyer Home Services.
Then, three months later, bids were solicited for the summer fertilization. R&R was again the lowest. This time Woglom accepted it. So why would he have spent $658 more than was necessary in the spring? His response to me was "The requested work was to utilize liquid fertilizer at the request of several of the youth sports organizations who use the fields. The R&R quote was for granular fertilizer. The summer fertilization request was for either liquid or granular fertilizer."
Yet another lie. Woglom's own memo to Murgia for the spring work said, "Secure proposals to do a liquid fertilizer, but if the companies do only granular, get a quote to do this work". And one long-time employee, who is very familiar with the fields, revealed "We talked to all the youth sports, and they had no problem with granular, except at the stadium. We take care of the grass, and never heard a complaint from any sports programs about the granular."
"Years ago we were using liquid, and we did research and found out that granular is better, and that is why we were using R&R for years. Dave even had Joe call up a bunch of school districts to find out what they are using, and most of them were using granular. Why did Dave then switch back to granular in summer if all the sports programs wanted liquid?"
The borough even improperly withheld documents regarding this matter. They sent me the spring information, but refused to supply most of the summer papers, including the competitive bids. The explanation from Fonzone was, "I did not include the same because they were not acted upon and therefore (are) not 'public records'". But Fonzone was wrong - again.
Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court ruled in 1997 that a contract proposal was not a public record, but that if it eventually became a contract, as is the case here, then the proposal, and all competing proposals, would be public records. It certainly helps to be an attorney when dealing with Quakertown. But the borough manager, and solicitor, should both have been aware of a nine-year old decision. Fonzone's final answer: "Upon reflection I will fax them to you as you requested".
Keystone expects to issue their report in October. Dave - don't quit your day job. Errr, on second thought...