In a Mexican Standoff, one participant blinks, and a duel follows. In a Quakertown Standoff, the participants wink, and a deal follows.
There is a very good reason why borough council is allowing Dave Woglom to get away with so much while he gets away from Qtown. And, as a result, after scrooching the citizens for more than twenty years, the departing manager has hit them with one more indignity: his incredible resignation demands.
Only here can a guy who has been caught with both hands in the cookie jar up to his shoulders dictate his terms for leaving. Only here would borough council give more power to a lame duck who has bent both law and ethics into pretzels. Only here do we reward improper conduct, arrogance, and coverups with praise and a pile of money.
Woglom is the third top town official to hit the road, following police chief Jim McFadden and council president Ray Fulmer. The difference is that Woglom is leaving with a huge settlement - from your tax money. Even though he was finished around here, he knew he would get it. Council had no choice. Their butts were in the same sling as his.
Woglom arrived here 22 years ago, after having illegally manipulated the police pension fund in Hatboro. He continued the same shenanigans in Qtown, but here no one was watching, and no one seemed to care anyway. As long as he arranged special favors for council members, hid borough business from the public, and kept the town's funds in the bank where the newspaper publisher sat on the board of directors, there was no one to reveal the no-bid contracts, expensive consultants with terrible advice, secret settlements of lawsuits, and questionable financial decisions.
Finally, with taxes (disguised as electric and water rates) soaring, town employees unionizing, and independent investigators about to present a tell-all report on Woglom's conduct, he and council needed to find a way for him to bow out gracefully. A way that didn't open the past to questions from the residents, or the media. Legal wrangling, with its embarrassing revelations, had to be avoided at all costs. And it will indeed cost...
Woglom is allowed to continue to work here with full pay (more than $117,000 a year including benefits) for up to six months - but can leave any time he chooses. And when he does go, he gets three more months severance pay. He can opt out of the horrible health insurance plan he forced on the rest of the borough employees. In fact, he will receive about $6000 just for doing so! He tried this once already, but council made him stick with the same plan as everyone else. Now he has made it a condition for leaving.
Our elected leaders claim they had nothing to do with the resignation, and that they felt Woglom was doing a good job. So why would council give in to his demands? That is usually necessary only when the person making the demands has some bargaining power.
Because he has plenty. In fact, both sides have so much on the other that neither can afford to muddy the waters. A negotiated settlement - using your money - was an absolute necessity, to keep secrets as secrets. A firing, and subsequent lawsuit, would open everything from the past two decades to examination in legal discovery, under oath. And under oath is the last place any of them want to be.
So council has guaranteed Woglom's employment until April 30, 2007. And kept him as the town's representative in the labor negotiations. What incredible stupidity! Instead of controlling the man who has caused so many problems, they have strengthened his position! Even if new improper conduct is revealed, even if he intentionally stonewalls the union discussions, even if the investigation into his actions confirms the media reports, this town will have no meaningful recourse.
One councilman naively explained, "He won't have any freedom. The borough code says that an outgoing borough manager gets three months severance. Money will be saved because the union will be settled sooner, and the next manager won't be as highly compensated."
He won't have any freedom? The borough code gives him almost absolute freedom. If council quotes the code for severance, they certainly have to follow it for job description. The union will be settled sooner? There is no rational basis for this statement. If Woglom is still the borough's rep at the table, there is no possible motivation for him to reach a settlement. He has been at war with the workers, and has no incentive to give in to anything they ask. As long as council members are afraid to personally supervise the process, Woglom and the borough's mega-priced labor attorneys will continue to overspend taxpayer money in fighting a lengthy, expensive battle.
The next manager won't be as highly compensated? I expect not, since council had rewarded Woglom's dedication (to them) by paying him more than the mayors of much larger cities. But if council actually had the guts to fire Woglom, he would have received no severance, a new manager would have started sooner at a lower salary (saving even more), and there would be a real shot at getting a labor contract. But then there is that small detail about legal discovery...
Woglom scrooched Quakertown while he worked here, scrooched the town again with his demands (which council submissively gave in to, with only Dennis Hallman dissenting), and will scrooch the town for the next six months, if only by collecting his huge salary unnecessarily. And the elected folks who are supposed to be protecting you from shenanigans like this are busy making sure that their own butts are covered until Woglom rides out of town with your money in his pocket.