I will resist the temptation to say "I told you so", but if you hadn't seen a million reasons to throw out Quakertown council before, you need look no further. And don't blame me. Although for years I have been revealing the borough's incredible arrogance and waste in purchasing with your tax dollars, even I had no idea how bad the situation really is.
The preliminary draft of the Keystone Municipal Services' report is now public. It studied Qtown's buying from January, 2003, through June, 2006, and found improper and illegal purchases from at least 24 vendors (and still counting), many involving dozens of repeats. Hundreds of bills. Over one million dollars!!! In just 3 1/2 years!!!
The down-and-oh-so-dirty summary: "These purchases were made by all departments...violations were intentional and unintentional...a combination of misinterpretation of state laws, failure to review purchases for compliance with regulations, a desire to avoid paperwork." Farm & Home Oil Company received $348,000. Benchmark Analytics at least $345,000. R&R Lawn Services $89,000. Four additional companies at least $30,000 each. No bids. Your money.
It is easy to lay much of the blame on former manager Dave Woglom, who certainly knew this was coming when he took $33,000 more of your money and resigned in early January. But we'll never really know, because council also ordered Keystone to drop their investigation of him, and conveniently agreed not to sue him, or even say anything negative. Can you say cover-up? So the buck (or a million) stops with them.
Anyone can overlook a bill here and there. But hundreds in three-plus years??? A million dollars worth of illegal purchases with taxpayer money??? That is negligence bordering on criminal. And yet there are still those who whine that Woglom was "hounded out of office".
The report also listed 13 different recommendations for putting an end to these shenanigans, ranging from better training to eliminating questionable practices that have become common in borough hall. Almost all involve council's actions or inactions. Quakertown has no purchasing reviews, no standards for equipment, no change order policy, no inventory controls, and, most importantly, no council controls on purchases.
And where was Qtown's crackerjack solicitor, Chuck Fonzone, who is supposed to keep the borough in compliance with state laws, and its own regulations? The guy who also allowed council to take illegal secret votes, and make borough purchases from their own businesses. Asleep at the meetings, again? A year ago, Councilman Dave Wilsey stated "You would have to say that we have not been properly guarded by our solicitor. If we find our solicitor is not doing his job, we need a new solicitor - and that goes right on down the line, anyone at the borough letting us down, we need to replace".
The line forms where the buck stops. How can our town be so backward in 2007, our 152nd year? Easy. Council has been just plain lazy. They don't understand borough business. They delegate everything to others, totally without oversight, and basically show up twice a month to make a few jokes and hand out a few permits. And now the predictable results are documented. Don't believe me? Read the report. If you can find any good in it, vote those folks back into office. It's your money.
Wilsey, who missed five of the 11 recent meetings, is as guilty as anyone. Yet he reacted to the report by telling the Intelligencer "When you trust people to do good work, and they make that many mistakes, it's disappointing". He meant Woglom, Fonzone, and the department heads, but it goes double for council. "Disappointing" is sugarcoating the mess. Think Disgraceful and Disastrous.
Fonzone should be canned before the next meeting. He has been caught making mistake after mistake after mistake. And this one is horrendously costly. Council members aren't expected to know all of the laws - the solicitor is, and it is absolutely essential that our town start getting proper legal advice from someone who is actually awake. And if the bad 'ol boys are arrogant enough to overlook these million reasons and run for re-election this year, you can say what they apparently can not: No!
Shooting The Messenger Wounds Only QCSD Credibility
Ready! Aim! Fire! It's time to play the favorite game of the unhappy: Shoot The Messenger.
The educational nightmare in the Quakertown schools will be ending at long last, thanks to the district task force's recommendation to return to traditional math. Everyone owes a debt of gratitude to the task force members, whose research, and diligent work, are the reasons why integrated math is being replaced. This is a monumental win for all residents, and vindication for board members Paul Stepanoff and Manuel Alfonso, who were vilified by their fellow members for opposing IM.
The task force report came just two days after this column revealed that the district had four surveys, including ones from October, 2005, and June, 2006, showing the dismal math performance of our graduates. Page after page of student and parent horror stories, including that many QCSD graduates were functioning at an elementary school level. The problems have been known for well over a year. 2007 grads could have been helped. Instead, the survey results were actually hidden from the community!
And there is another report which couldn't be hidden, because it was released by the state: More than one-third of QCSD 11th-graders failed the state math proficiency test (PSSA). But the same people responsible for integrated math, low test scores, high teacher salaries, and 50% tax increases, are looking to shift the blame. And they have settled on - me! The guy who blew the whistle on them.
Assistant Principal Anita Serge claimed that I had "personally attacked those working so hard to bring an unbiased recommendation to this board". Assistant Principal Karen Shanton expressed "concerns about asking the volunteers to continue, as the district examines the middle school and elementary school programs". Assistant Superintendent Dr. Jim Newcomer described my column as full of misinformation and lies.
Let's be clear. The task force members (most of whom are paid QCSD staff, not volunteers) are not in any way at fault here. They did their job remarkably well, and issued a report that will allow our graduates to finally have a fighting chance in college math. And the faculty, particularly the math teachers, are also blameless. They had IM thrust upon them by administrators like Serge, Shanton, and Newcomer. They tried to tell the administration that it was failing, but were ignored.
For anyone who has doubts about these revelations, I urge you to get copies of all four surveys - when the district finally makes them public. Demand the entire surveys, and the letter from head of guidance Mary Bogle which proclaims the college data to be irrelevant. Then decide for yourself where the truth lies.
In the end, as with the problems in Quakertown borough, the buck stops at the top, with the board. If they had not ignored the many concerns expressed by the graduates, teachers, students, and parents for so long, public resentment would not have reached the level that it has. As Stepanoff pointed out, "We have absolutely handicapped 2000+ of our graduates, and as educators, my question is who is responsible for that?"
Not me. I'm just the messenger.