Countdown to April 29 to PERMANENTLY close M. R. Reiter. Ask the board to see the 6 point plan.

Thursday, October 23, 2008

Updates From the Business Meeting

Any news or updates?
Posted by Save The School at 9:21 AM

4 comments:

Jon said...

Here are a few "takeaways" I took away for last night's meeting (I'm sure I missed a few too):

1. HURRAY - NO STATE REIMBURSEMENT FOR BOILER & OTHER RENOVATION WORK!

The board voted last night to forge ahead with about $300,000 in engineering fees alone, which will lead to more than $3 million in estimated implementation costs for boiler/HVAC & other renovation work at our schools. The board, under the direction of President William Hellmann, CPA, has deliberately chosen NOT to follow the PA Dept. of Ed.'s PLANCON process for bidding and awarding this work. If total costs are, say $3.5 million, and reimbursement is in the 10%-12% range as it would have been for the new school, that's easily $350,000 to $420,000 in NON-MORRISVILLE TAXPAYER MONEY the board is turning their noses up to. Morrisville taxpayers will have to pick up the full tab for this work.

Actually, that's not quite true. I think this work is actually being funded with the remaining $4 million or so from the original $30million in new school bond money. So actually the Hellmannite board is just blithely blowing leftover bond money. Let us not forget that the Hellmannite board gave back (defeased) all but $4 million of that bond money, AT AN ADDITIONAL COST TO MORRISVILLE TAXPAYERS OF ABOUT $2.5 MILLION!

The new school is dead, I get it. But forget about that, and the name and face of the messenger - HOW IS THIS RESPONSIBLE STEWARDSHIP OF MORRISVILLE TAXPAYER MONEY???

Thank you to Robin Reithmeyer for pointing this out yet again in a futile effort to get Hellmannite board members to listen to her.

2. TRAFFIC SAFETY - LOTS O'TALK, LITTLE ACTION YET

I appreciate Dr. Yonson's efforts to explain and bring order to the discussion, which has come up in light of a recent incident in which a student was struck by a vehicle at Grandview & Palmer Aves.

People, even Al Radosti, have many ideas about the cause and posssible solutions of the traffic/safety problems around the schools, especially the elementary schools, ranging from blaming the victims of traffic accidents to throwing up their hands about the general lawlessness and incorrigibility of drivers and pedestrians alike, to what seem like constructive ideas about signage or traffic flow patterns. You can't make a device that will totally control all human behavior (Lord knows, somebody on the board or boro council would have obtained and used it by now), but it seems like people can put their collective heads together to improve things over what we have now.

Here's some incentive - it seems to be the most incentivizing word in the Morrisville lexicon:

LAWSUIT, LAWSUIT, LAWSUIT... waiting to happen.

Also, Robin Reithmeyer said the next joint Board-Boro Council meeting is Nov. 6th, so y'all might want to make your feelings and ideas known there, as soon as the Board & Council figure out who all the joint meeting reps are.

3. WATCHING THE MORRISVILLE MONEY TREE, SONY PLAYSTATIONS, AND LET'S TALK SOME MORE ABOUT THE PAST

Concerned citizen Ron Stout thinks the Hellmannite board is doing a great job, and is being a great watchdog over the Morrisville Money Tree. He attributes the extremely low turnout of like-minded individuals at board meetings to this superb financial vigilance. He believes they are all sitting at home now, content in the knowledge that William Hellmann, CPA and his loyal lieutenants are ably looking out for them.

As I explained in Item #1 above, if Mr. Stout is correct, these folks might want to think again.

Mr. Stout also wants to know what happened to those 80,000 in Sony Playstations the board bought years ago under former Superintendent Dr. John Gould. Nobody seems to know.

But while we're dredging up the past, perhaps Ron or Marlys Mihok can explain where the $1 million plus is from when the board in the 1990's illegally fired/locked out Morrisville teachers/aides from their jobs, only to have them sue, win, and get back pay plus damages? I wasn't around at the time, but I'd really like to know a lot more about that. Because $1 million dollars could buy about 13 times the $80,000 spent on those ill-fated Sony Playstations. I'm not saying the Playstations were a good idea, in highsight it seems like a bad decision and unwise expense, but so does blowing 13 times the Playstation money playing legal hardball without a full deck (of law books to back up your actions). It's a matter of relativity here.

4. SHOCKING NEWS - ELECTRICAL BIDS INCOMPLETE

The board tabled a vote on the bids for electrical work at the Middle-High School, because they were "incomplete", according to Mr. Hellmann. Note that any expenses on electrical work will only add to the expenses (and non-state reimbursement amounts) I mentioned in Item #1 above.

5. LIGHTBULB STUDY COMING....ANY DAY NOW

I learned in High School that light travels at 186,000 miles per second. And speaking of relativity, the speed of light is the "c" in E = mc2.

Morrisville's lighbulb study isn't moving quite that fast. Already 8 months in the making, there's a ray of hope now that some findings will be ready by next month's board meeting. But that's only for 1 building (the Middle-High School). We have 2 elementary school buildings that also use electricity and lighbulbs - they haven't been studied yet.

6. AND THE NEW ELEMENTARY PRINCIPAL IS....

Lori Ruffing, at a prorated salary of $65,000, plus ~$7,700 in expenses. Good luck, and Godspeed.

7. AND THE NEW BUSINESS MANAGER IS ....

I don't know, but the board came back from exec. session and said a Special Meeting was scheduled for next Wednesday, Oct. 29 to vote on it. I forget the time, but don't worry, I'm sure it'll be announced.... Good luck and Godspeed in advance, to the lucky appointee.

October 23, 2008 at 11:04 AM
Jon said...

From the January 23, 2008 board minutes:

Sharon Hughes
...This board has been in office 6 weeks perhaps we should give them some time. They promised
to stop the school – they did that; to look into all possibilities to try to cure the district’s financial
problems and other problems in general – that’s what they are doing. Bill Hellmann said he will put important questions out to referendum....

Me:
Does spending $3 or 4 million in building renovations done in a way that precludes any PA Dept. of Ed. reimbursement count as an "important question"?

Mr. Hellmann
The tuitioning out is only one program we are looking at. No one ever said we were going to do it. If we do anything like that it will go to a referendum. I don’t do anything unless the town tells me to do it. The town majority rules here.

Me:
Does spending $3 or 4 million in building renovations done in a way that precludes any PA Dept. of Ed. reimbursement qualify as "anything like that"?

October 23, 2008 at 8:18 PM
Jon said...

From the June 25, 2008 board minutes, part of a discussion about ripping up Dr. Yonson's 5-year contract and handing her a 3-year crap sandwich. I'm sure everyone down at the union hall would've loved it if management came in and ripped up their signed contract and handed 'em back a tasty morsel like that. It has nothing to do with holding a referendum over the board's poorly conceived and wasteful plans to spend $3-4 million on renovations without any chance of PDE reimbuursement. I'm just posting it because it's another instance of what appears to be a Marlys Mihok lie. You don't have to look very hard. A million rules, always for the other guy.....



Mr. Kemp asked if this letter exists; if Dr. Yonson ever received it. Mrs. Mihok stated she signed it and gave it to Dr. Yonson in the room. Dr. Yonson stated “no you did not.” You read me a letter and stated you would fax it to me the next day; I never received it. If it had to be certified and signed for I did not receive it. The letter was read to me; I never viewed it.

October 23, 2008 at 8:46 PM
Jon said...

I love reading old board minutes. Below is from August 22, 2007, shortly before the new regime took the reigns:


Bill Hellman, 246 W. Bridge St.
(Me, as an aside: he lives at his business?)
... If Mr. Hellman is elected he will not vote for non-electoral debt or increase in taxes. Additionally, he will not vote to sell the elementary school properties, or to use the PDE reimbursement to expand non-electoral borrowing capacity.

Me: He won't vote to increase taxes? What's he gonna do next year? This year taxes went down, but that was mostly an illusion from giving back most of the $30 million in new school bond money (Psssst.....it cost $2.5 million to do it, too. We'll be paying for that for many years, did Bill Hellmann tell you that before he and his allies voted for it? No?). But next year? I ask because Mr. Hellman, at the May 28, 2008 board meeting, reigns fully in his hands, said...

Mr. Hellmann
...This year we will have a tax reduction from the defeasance. Next year we are looking at a 45 mill increase....

Me: Hasn't he kinda put himself in a box when it's vote time on next year's budget? He said he wouldn't vote for tax increases and we're facing a big tax increase next year. Oh, and shouldn't he have said that he won't use OR TAKE the PDE reimbursement AT ALL? Why would a classically trained CPA wave off reimbursement money that doesn't come from Morrisville taxpayers?

October 23, 2008 at 9:22 PM

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