From the BCCT.
There's an interesting discussion about the plaque awarded by the school board to Ron Stout. Once again, there's some pre-electoral shenanigans going on as some commenters on this blog have pointed out as well as the commenters to this story.
Would anyone think "there is more than a slight appearance of a conflict of interest" in presenting this award? Heavens to Betsy!
Did the board pay for the plaque? Then when was the public vote authorizing it?
Was the plaque paid for and presented by private citizens? Then why was it presented at a school board meeting under the implied endorsement and consent of the school board?
BUCKS BRIEFS
Bucks County Courier Times
School renovations set
The board approved bid proposals of $3.44 million for asbestos abatement, window replacement, heating, ventilating, air conditioning, plumbing and electrical work at Morrisville Middle/Senior High School this summer.
The work was expected to cost about $4 million, but the bids came in lower.
"We're very happy with the results of these bids," said Bill Corfield of Vitetta, the architectural firm handling the work. He surmised that costs have dropped because of the economy.
Savings on major items allowed the board to accept bids on all items needing renovation, not just the HVAC and window replacement. The work on boilers, classroom ventilators, windows and other systems will improve efficiency and save the district in future energy costs, said board President William Hellmann.
Resident Ron Stout received a plaque for ideas that saved the district money. His suggestion to have the high school's hot water piping tested for reliability instead of simply replacing it saved $719,000 on renovations, said board member Maryls Mihok, who presented the plaque to Stout at the Tuesday board meeting. The pipes were found to be sound enough to continue being used.
Stout, who's running for school board, brought up ideas that should save the district $200,000 in future Grandview renovations, Mihok said. "I don't care who saved us money. I would have given the award to anybody," Mihok said.
Comments
Broken For Sure, 03-27-09, 10:46 am | Rate: Flag -3 Flag | Flag Report
"School renovations set"
(Stout, who's running for school board, brought up ideas that should save the district $200,000 in future Grandview renovations, Mihok said. "I don't care who saved us money. I would have given the award to anybody," Mihok said.)
Campaigning has come early to Morrisville Borough - and thanks to people like Mrs. Mihok, its ugly, but not surprising.
You would give an award to anybody? Really? I doubt it, although you did give one to Ron Stout so that statement may be very true. From what I can see, Robin Reithmeyer has saved the school district millions in legal fees for pointing out wrong-doings of the present school board majority in Morrisville, so WHERE'S HER PLAQUE?! The previous school board majority was undermining the community in a big way and the current school board majority is just more of the same. Its just disgusting. When watching school board meetings on the TV its such a dog and pony show, (and now we even have awards, WOW.)
Is this the same Marlys Mihok who, just last week, went to a Morrisville Council meeting and blasted Councilman Rivella, accusing him of accepting campaign contributions, (as Mr. Rivella pointed out, it may be new to Morrisville but it certainly isn't new to politics) and accusing him of being on council just to get a Responsible Contracting Ordinance in place, (From what I've heard the RCO was actually put before council by another person long before Mr. Rivella was even elected to council.) Mrs. Mihok, where's Mr. Rivella’s plaque for trying to save the borough millions of dollars with this ordinance?! It would be nice if Mr. Stout could formulate a sentence or two on his own for a change so that he wouldn't need his very small circle of friends like Mrs. Mihok and her cronies to try to build him up by awarding him a bogus plaque at a televised school board meeting. NO GRANDSTANDING THERE AT ALL! Yeah right.
As for Mr. Rivella and the ordinance, I’ll tell you right now that I supported this guy and I continue to do so. Mr. Rivella’s got what it takes to take on people like Jane Burger, Marlys Mihok and their kind and he and his group will actually be able to make positive changes in Morrisville once they successfully get the same old guard off council in November. I CAN’T WAIT!
I’ve been watching and I can clearly see a few things about Dave Rivella. He’s a family man who's dedicated to Morrisville Borough and he's working hard to move Morrisville forward in spite of the people on council who don’t want this. If Mr. Rivella was in any other profession, he would naturally go to the people surrounding him for fundraising purposes so why would it be any different because he’s a union guy?! Wake up people, this is how its done. Are you trying to say that everyone else should be allowed to fundraise but he should not?! As Mr. Rivella rightly pointed out at the last televised council meeting, all of his campaigning finance contributions have been public record since 2007 but are just now being brought up, as we are in another campaign cycle, ( by the very people he won his seat from, by the very people who don’t want change of any kind - unless they're dismantling the school system that is.) I believe these people are jealous and running scared because they know that Mr. Rivella seemed to actually have people who thought enough of him and his fellow "good Democrats" to support them where as the likes of Mrs. Mihok, Mrs. Burger and their kind have to rely on negativity. This kind of behavior by these naysayers puts Morrisville in a bad light and is disgusting to watch.
AwHellYeah, 03-27-09, 12:56 pm | Rate: Flag 2 Flag | Flag Report
Robin Reithmeyer hasn't saved the district anything. She is your typical politician.
Broken For Sure, 03-27-09, 2:25 pm | Rate: Flag -2 Flag | Flag Report
AwHellYeah
"Robin Reithmeyer hasn't saved the district anything. She is your typical politician."
I don't agree, although I can understand why someone may think she. She does her thing of standing up to the school board majority, but I just can't give her any credit for being a politician. She voted for Fitzpatrick not once but twice. I'm sure there were people in her own party who weren't too happy about that. Is she outspoken...yes ...is she a politician, her actions say differently...a nd I just don't see it.
AwHellYeah, 03-27-09, 2:31 pm | Rate: Flag 1 Flag | Flag Report
Go to a Democratic Club meeting then.
Broken For Sure, 03-27-09, 5:07 pm | Rate: Flag 0 Flag | Flag Report
Simply being involved as a Democrat or Republican does not make you a political person per say. You are simply promoting your fundamental beliefs with others. Having a party affiliation does not make you a politician. Being involved within either the Democratic or Republican parties or any other party does not make you a politician. I believe there are many people in Bucks County alone who belong to political clubs yet are not politicians. Its a mean business and I can understand why it isn't for everyone. Mrs. Reithmeyer is clearly not politically savvy, although she is, I believe from what I can see trying to do what SHE feels is correct as a Morrisville School Director. I believe that if she was fighting with the board majority instead of***ainst them she would be there hero. But then again there is only room for one of them and this week it seems to be Mr. Stout, award in hand. (I mean no harm...just a little joke...very little though it may be)
Saturday, March 28, 2009
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13 comments:
A million rules, always for the other guy.
Aside from the farce of an "award" to Ron Stout, let's not forget his buddy Steve "$100+k Slander Per Se" Worob's public rant at the March 25th board meeting, where he yelled that the board majority should just IGNORE the SMALL-MINDED people who don't just blindly agree with them. Nice. Real nice.
Ron Stout has made similar public statements. Two peas in a pod. And what a pod it is.
As Stout-Worob-Mihok friend and support & school board camerawoman (do I smell another award?) Sharon Hughes is fond of saying "Democracy works if you let it".
Yes, but what if your "democratic" vote is to sustain a totalitarian dictatorship that can't follow rules and likes to stamp people out?
Yeah, Morrisville really needs more of this.
Here's an award I can support:
To whomever runs this blog, for providing great information on the Morrisville School District and education in general, as well as an invaluable forum to express views and document Morrisville School Board shenanigans that in the past would have been just faded memories that people like Marlys Mihok and Steve Worob would exploit without challenge.
Marlys, Ron, Steve et al. would probably love to present such an award to the blogmeister in person, so their identity would be revealed and they could wage a concentrated scorched-earth smear campaign on them.
Keep it going STS, and don't ever tell.....you already have the award in the minds and hearts of many.
Oh, and what about this from the March 25th meeting?
Hellmann: Here's a letter from the state, hand signed no less. It says times are tough, and we gotta keep a lid on spending. We've got a crisis here. We've got a crisis here.
Marlys Mihok: I'm goin' to a conference in Harrisburg.
Brenda Worob: Me too.
Uh, when you get back from this PSBA conference at the Harrisburg Hilton, can you give a dissertation on how to actually follow school board code and procedures, and then START DOING IT AND STOP ENABLING OTHERS TO NOT DO IT?
Otherwise, you haven't learned the most important lesson you need to learn, and you've wasted OUR money.
Oh, and in light of the crisis we're in, instead of the Hilton, have you considered the Motel 6 in New Cumberland, PA? It's only 5 miles outside of Harrisburg, and I'm sure it's cheaper than the Hilton.
http://www.motel6.com/reservations/motel_
detail.aspx?num=0766
And can I have an award for this money-saving suggestion?
It's the readers and the commenters who make this blog.
Also at the March 25th meeting, the board voted to NOT forgive a taxpayer of $464.50 in interest and penalty for being ONE DAY LATE in paying their property tax bill.
Rules are rules, you see, and 1 day late is 1 day late.
I did some math. Please correct me if I'm wrong and missed something.
Original Estimate: $4,000,000
Actual Bids: $3,440,000
Under Estimate: $560,000
But if we add back in the savings of $719,000, that means the bids were over the original estimates by $159,000.
So are the bids under or over estimate?
At $719,000, that sure is some darn expensive pipe. I mean, that's 20.9% of the total $3.44 million in High School renovations.
Although according to Marlys Mihok there are no coincidences, 20.9% is also the percentage of oxygen in air, oxygen the black pipe apparently hasn't been exposed to, as determined by Ron Stout & Marlys Mihok and the experiments they must have conducted to confirm this.
I wonder - will Ron get another award at the April board meeting for the $200,000 in alleged Grandview savings? Food for thought: maybe school board candidate John DeWilde told Ron to tell Marlys? Then Marlys can give the award to John DeWilde or, better yet, both John & Ron!
Kevin L, you are thinking too logically. The point is not about the unexplained discrepancy. The point is that the NSN's (a little blast from the STS past) are saving us money.
Or, maybe the point is that noone, including the CPA's among us, noticed this discrepancy. Or, maybe the point is that they are aware of the discrepancy and hoped noone else would notice. Or maybe, just maybe, the award-winning "savings" isn't what it was purported to be, and that it was instead a campaign stunt, politics at it's worst.
Board members, Kevin L raises a valid question. We know you are out there reading. Care to respond? And as long as we are talking about responding... assuing my count is correct, there were 81 questions raised during public comment at the Jan 29th hearing to close M.R. Reiter. At which meeting prior to April 29 will these be answered?
The board majority lowered our taxes this school year (2008-09) by an average of $321.
How did they do it?
The biggest chunk of the tax reduction was from defeasing all but $4 million of the $28 million or so of that icky "new school" bond money. Thing is, this ONE-SHOT DEAL COST US $2.5 MILLION that has to be paid off over the life of the bonds. We weren't told about this until it was a done deal.
To me, it's a big stretch to claim this as a great money savings.
It's like claiming, "Hey honey, look how much money we saved! You know that $280,000 we borrowed to build a new house? Well, I gave all but $40,000 of it back to the bank. It cost us $25,000 to do it, but it was worth it! What? No, I didn't tell you first. But see, I decided we're not gonna build a new house anymore - we're just gonna get some new windows and wiring and a new heater. And I gotta couple FEMA trailers I'm gonna bolt onto the side of the house for those extra boarders we have to take in 'cuz the guest house furnace blew up. The insurance from the guest house furnace is covering the trailers for a while. What's that? What am I gonna do when the insurance money runs out of those trailers? Well, I haven't thought it through all the way, but I'm gonna try like hell to get those pesky boarders outta here for good! Maybe I can pawn 'em off on a relative over in Fairless Hills. What? No, I don't care that the neighbors are saying the house is an eyesore and it's hurting their property values. Look at the money we saved! Sheesh, you just don't get it, do you!"
Peter, are you counting 81 questions just from the hearing transcript? Because I attached exhibits to my written testimony, and one of the exhibits had 42 questions in it. I hope the board hasn't "lost" these exhibits, but I wouldn't be surprised.
Relax, April 22 is the only regular board meeting before April 29. So I'm sure that's when all the questions will be answered.
Unless, of course, as Marlys Mihok has pointed out, this is another one of those "many times" that board members "...have been unable to respond to questions from audience members posed directly ... during the public comment portion of our meetings due to time constraints or simply too many topics on our agenda...".
And speaking of Steve Worob's public rant at the March 25th board meeting to just IGNORE the SMALL-MINDED people who don't agree with him/the board majority.....
Does anybody remember that this was almost exactly 1 year after his unhinged "SHAME ON YOU, SHAME ON YOU, SHAME ON YOU!" rage-fest at the March 26th, 2008 board meeting? The board meeting minutes don't reflect it, but it happened.
Steve Worob was yelling this at board member Ed Frankenfield, who was having physical troubles at the meeting, and was later taken from the meeting in an ambulance to the hospital. It was Ed's last board meeting, and he passed away on May 28, 2008.
Yeah, like I said, Morrisville really needs more of this. Year after year after year after year.....
81 plus 42 questions.
Sounds like enough for a full page ad in the BCCT. If the people (person) who funded the billboard would like to put together this ad and accept donations to fund it's run for a week, I am in line to make a donation.
Personally I think it would be a waste of money for several reasons, including:
1. MR Reiter's a goner no matter what;
2. The Board promised it would answer all the questions from the public on the MR Reiter closing, and they've NEVER broken a promise before, have they?
3. The board is quite capable of responding to questions. Why, Marlys Mihok recently wrote a full page single-spaced letter about why she's been taking pictures of school children all these years. It's all in the name of public safety. Sure it took her over 2 months to do it, and she and the rest of the board majority have ignored hundreds of other questions, but it shows they can respond if they're motivated.
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