When this board's last budget, which provided for an 8.6 percent increase, the highest for a long time and perhaps ever, was passed, it was apparently read as a mandate to do "big things."
Soon thereafter, it decided to challenge the Village Trustees on the use of St. Paul's. After several public hearings it became abundantly clear that the costs and other problems involved in rehabilitating such an ancient structure were prohibitive and would be better left to private industry. The board withdrew reluctantly.
Undaunted, the board transferred the proposed dollars for that project to a $50 million bond issue, with the avowed support of at least the Estate Property Owners Association and, of course, the "rubber stamping" Parents and Teachers Association (PTA), despite the fact that many of their constituents violently opposed it. At the last minute the president of the Western Property Owners Association gave its support in his official capacity.
Hearing after hearing, mailing after mailing and news release after news release ensued ad nauseum on the theory that the more the public knew about it, the more likely it was to vote "yes." The exact opposite was the case. The "wish lists" that were published turned off even many parents.
When it became clear that two contracts which had been awarded without public bidding were less than business-like and perhaps even in violation of the procurement laws, a firestorm of protests arose from citizens who were experts in the areas encompassed by the contracts. Rather than agree and set out to correct all of the errors that had been made, this board became defensive on the basis that they had worked hard and that the vote should proceed whether all the faux pas had been corrected or not. Finally, the board took the offensive and told the experts and the public that for the most part the changes that they wanted had been incorporated into the amendments and that the vote should proceed.
The decision to proceed with this bond issue was based on several false premises:
-
That $2 million of state aid should be sacrificed in the interest of speed;
-
Inflation was just around the corner;
-
If we waited until July 1998, all construction contractors would be so busy that prices would escalate;
-
A flawed demographic study; and
-
There was a crisis.
Efforts to resuscitate this dead bond issue are already surfacing. Thousands of dollars were wasted on this effort because our board lacked the common sense to read the "tea leaves" and to do the job in a workman-like manner. When our POA's select candidates who "march to the tune of the drummer" fiascos like this will continue to occur. If the Community Agreement is to survive more competence and diversity of opinion is needed both in our village and school boards.
Joseph A. Calamari
PS. At the last regular meeting of the school board, when Tom Lamberti requested the documents upon which one of the contractors had been paid, he was advised that those documents were in the possession of that contractor and were not presently available. In the 21 years that I was involved in government procurement such a practice was prohibited because the backing papers for paid invoices had to remain permanently in the hands of our comptroller. I wonder what the purpose of returning the documents was?
