Thursday, April 26, 2012

Perhaps a financial audit is due here too

Is this the next step in our citizens vs school district saga too?

School district seals spending records 

By KATHY CLEVELAND and DEAN SHALHOUP The Telegraph of Nashua

WILTON — Rather than allow residents to review the results of a publicly funded analysis of spending on the school district credit card, the Wilton-Lyndeborough Cooperative School Board has decided to seal an attorney’s report for up to 50 years. The school board accepted Superintendent Trevor Ebel’s resignation during a nonpublic session Tuesday night. Ebel resigned amid the review of credit card expenses for such things as meals, movies, alcohol and limousines.
School board Chairman Geoff Brock called upon the 35 people in the audience to “trust the people you’ve elected. I think we have some very good, dedicated people.”
The financial analysis by attorney Dean Eggert was requested after an audit of school district expenditures turned up questionable expenses charged to the school district credit card, which was in Ebel’s possession and had his name on it.
A Telegraph review of credit card receipts charged to the district’s Citizens Bank credit card found charges for $200-per-night suites and meal tabs of up to almost $900. During one trip to San Francisco, Ebel signed two receipts for limousines on the card, one for $170 and one for $145.
Kristina Fowler, administrative assistant for School Administrative Unit 63, said Wednesday morning she couldn’t provide a copy of Eggert’s report because it was sealed by the board.
Asked how long it would be sealed, she said she thought it would be “for 50 years.”
The report was discussed in nonpublic session before the board meeting, and Brock announced that the investigation was complete.
The board not only sealed the report, it also sealed the minutes of the nonpublic session because the information could affect the reputation of a district employee, Brock told the audience.
At least some of the money spent on the trips to professional conferences was paid through federal grants.
“In general,” Brock said at the meeting, “the board supports use of federal funds for professional development. We are concerned about some of the things they bought.”
He didn’t elaborate.
Receipts showed that seven educators from the Wilton-Lyndeborough school district spent around $3,000 to stay at a Pittsburgh all-suite hotel, which involved commuting 70 miles round-trip to California, Pa., for a two-day conference, when they could have stayed much closer for much less money.
Among some of the other charges were:
$5,000 in room charges at Boston’s Park Plaza Hotel.
$3,600 for hotel rooms in San Francisco.
$724.35 for a meal at the McCormick & Kuletos seafood restaurant, including two orders of Chilean sea bass for $69.90 total and $123.75 for alcohol, when seven educators traveled to San Francisco.
$48 for a lunch for one person at the Cheesecake Factory restaurant in San Francisco that included two Ultimate Margaritas at $12 each. The lunch lasted 45 minutes.
$894.14 for a meal for 14 at Fleming’s Steakhouse in Boston, including nine servings of filet mignon; two of those orders were porcini-dusted for a total of $73.90. Other dinners on the meal ticket included a bone-in ribeye steak for $43.50, a lamb chop for $35.95 and a pepper steak for $39.50.
Despite the restaurant serving 14 people, only 11 teachers were enrolled at the educational conference.
Ebel, who has been superintendent since June 2009, wasn’t at the meeting. Before getting the job, he was principal at Wilton-Lyndeborough Cooperative Middle/Senior High School.
Current WLC Principal Brian Bagley will continue as acting superintendent until June 30, the end of the district’s fiscal year.
Ebel has agreed to stay on as a “consultant” to the school district for 30 days because his resignation didn’t meet his contractual obligation to give a certain amount of notice. He will be paid a per diem rate based upon his most recent salary — $98,000 a year — and will do only district work assigned to him. He will work from home.
Brock said a search would begin immediately for an interim superintendent.

 

Monday, April 23, 2012

Red-tailed Hawks Nest Cam

Live feed compliments of the Cornell  Lab of Ornithology


Status update: Two chicks are pipping their way out of their eggs. We expect them to hatch on April 22/23

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Special Weather Statement for Cheshire, NH

Issued by The National Weather Service Boston, MA

Wed, Apr 18, 2012, 4:40 AM EDT

... ELEVATED FIRE WEATHER POTENTIAL FROM LATE THIS MORNING INTO THIS EVENING FOR MOST OF MASSACHUSETTS... MOST OF RHODE ISLAND... NORTHERN CONNECTICUT AND SOUTHERN NEW HAMPSHIRE...
HIGH PRESSURE WILL SLOWLY MOVE INTO THE REGION TODAY... BRINGING MORE VERY DRY CONDITIONS. RELATIVE HUMIDITIES ARE EXPECTED TO FALL TO BETWEEN 15 AND 20 PERCENT ACROSS MOST OF THE REGION AWAY FROM THE COAST. WINDS WILL BE LOWER THAN THE LAST FEW DAYS... MAINLY FROM THE NORTH AND NORTHEAST AT AROUND 10 MPH.
STATE FIRE OFFICIALS HAVE INDICATED THAT FUELS ARE VERY DRY. EVEN WITH THE LIGHT WINDS... THERE WILL BE AN ELEVATED RISK FOR FIRE SPREAD IF ANY BRUSH FIRES START TODAY.

Be extra careful with those cigarettes, don't throw them out your vehicle's windows and make sure they are extinguished and disposed of properly and for heavens sake, don't do any outside burning of trash or leaves in your yard !

Water Main Broken

There is a water main broken on Main Street.  According to the Water Department it will take 8 hours to fix.

Tuesday, April 17, 2012

So What's Really Going On Here? Is This Just Another Costly Witch Hunt ??

After reading the BOS minutes of 4/4/12 one can only be confused as to why all of the hoopla over the HDC spending $3600. getting advice from the Town's attorney in regards as to what they, as a group could do legally, in upholding their regulations and responsibilities in the matter of 71 Main Street. Julia Ferrari has been unfairly singled out and personally attacked by our Town Administrator and Selectmen, Gardner and Fraser for overstepping her bound, in regards to calls she made to Barton Mayer after receiving erroneous information from Joan Morell as to how the HDC could proceed legally and what their course of action should be to avoid a lawsuit and cost the town thousands of dollars in legal fees defending their actions. These three are so upset over the fact that Julia, acting as a responsible and passionate member of the HDC, would go against allowing Margaret Sharra to knowingly break the rules and regulations governing properties in the Historical District and are using the excuse that Barton Mayer charged the town $3600 for advice he gave her to pass along to other members of the committee regarding these matters to publicly crucify her and attack her credibility as a person.

Why has the BOS gone out of their way to single out Julia and act like this is such a big deal, when the one person responsible for this whole mess, who has cost the town many thousands more calling Barton Mayer for personal advice and instigating another witch hunt in the Kim Gordon matter doesn't even get mentioned; nor reprimanded for her role in all of this mess, which has cost nearly triple the number in tax payer dollars; all for her own personal gain?

Information brought forward by a member of our community clearly shows that Margaret Sharra is solely responsible for incurring close to $10,000 dollars in charges from Barton Mayer to the town for legal advice he has given her personally regarding her property at 71 main Street and expenses regarding costs defending the Planning Board's actions, which she instigated because of personal feelings against Kim Gordon, who as was proven had done nothing legally wrong in pointing out that the Planning Board; specifically Sharra, had erred in it's decision in the Mitchell Asphalt hearings.

We have attached a Finance Dept.document, clearly showing that Sharra was solely responsible for $4,764. in fees charged by Barton Mayer, from May through Sept. of 2011 regarding her property at 71 Main Street and another $5,571,00 defending her actions against PB member Gordon from May through July of 2011, which result in Kim Gordon being exonerated by the courts of all the trumped up charges against her.

Though the BOS went out of their way raking Gordon over the coals in public minutes, they finally did admit she did nothing legally wrong, yet allowed us all a glimpse into their personal feeling about her. One has to wonder now again in regards to Julia, has she too been a victim of personal feelings? Is this how this town is truly run? Why haven't they, despite receiving requests to remove Sharra for malfeasance a number of times, totally disregarded the facts that she and she alone is costing this town thousands of tax payer dollars on a regular basis and that she has no regard for rules and regulations that she had a hand in writing?

Why do they constantly support her actions and attempt to crucify good honest caring people who carry out their duties in a legal and professional manner. Just what is it that Sharra has on all of these phonies to make them act in this matter? Perhaps there is more going on here than meets the eyes. Perhaps an internal investigation is in order like the one Sherman has started against the Police Dept and Chief Phillips?


Monday, April 16, 2012

Spending Is Not Efficient .. Sounds all too familiar

This letter was published in the Keene Sentinel this week and could have been written by a Winchester resident as it sounds exactly like the situation we have here in our town;

At our school annual Meeting on March 17, I pointed out the diminishing number of students versus the increasing costs of our school district.

I pointed out that at the average cost per pupil as printed in the annual report, we could send our children to private schools and save a lot of money. The average cost per pupil is reported as $15,373.15. The superintendent replied that private schools can cost up to $25,000. He thought the school district was being economical.

After calling private schools in our area I found out that there are no $25,000 private schools in our area. Dublin Christian Academy and St. Michael’s in Brattleboro both offer quality education at less than $7,000 per pupil.

Dublin Christian Academy carries students through high school, while St. Michael’s is considering adding a high school for the coming year. Both schools also offer extracurricular activities and tutoring, as well as meals. I’m not advocating for either one, just pointing out that it appears our students can get a similar or better education for a lot less than our superintendent is billing us for.

I also mentioned that we could defray some of our costs by inviting Winchester or Chesterfield to send their high school students to our district.

We have a steady pattern of declining enrollments, per the annual report. This year, we have an average of 13 pupils in our high school classrooms, yet we are paying our teachers the same as if they had 25 pupils in a room, plus they are getting regular raises.

We are not using taxpayer dollars efficiently by trying to go it alone.

Another person at the annual meeting spoke about the proposed new police department. The town appears to own plenty of land that is not being used. Why not sell some of it to help pay for this new police building? While most people don’t begrudge the police a new building, the dollar figure mentioned was a shock for a community like ours.

Why continue to think that the citizens will welcome being taxed more when the town could sell some extra land to come up with the money?

Both school and town should consider giving the taxpayers a break by taking action on their own to curtail taxation, rather than passing the buck on to us.

One other thing: The school meeting had a maximum of 150 voters for one issue only. The maximum number of voters for the town meeting was 143 for one issue only.

Where were the other approximately 200 people who said they wanted to keep the traditional meeting, and didn’t want others to be able to vote with SB2?

DEBBIE RICHMOND

Hinsdale

Thursday, April 12, 2012

BOS Meeting Minutes 4/4/2012

Talk about a "witch hunt", the actions of several board members would put the Salem Witch Trials to shame.
If anyone is to blame for town money being wasted in regards to 71Main Street, let's put the blame squarely where it belongs .. Margaret Sharra and Joan Morel; not on the HDC or Julia Ferrari.












Tuesday, April 3, 2012

BOS Minutes 3-28-12 ( SSDD )

Gotta love how personal feelings enter into decisions made by these clowns. Wake up Roberta, your gal Margaret caused this whole mess with 71 Main Street; not Julia .. get your facts straight.





Sunday, April 1, 2012

Hiding behind a group

Hiding behind a group


I have been writing letters to The Keene Sentinel for years.

I always sign my letters, so I never considered why you require names from the people who send you letters.
I now understand.

The elections are over, so I have had time to think and ponder this question.

Two days before the election in Winchester, everyone received in the mail what looked like a real group calling themselves “C.A.R.E.”

It sounded like a good and respectable group, not individuals. They were selling taxpayers on spending more money for the school.

It had no other name on it. I now question who would do that and not put their name on it.

It is apparent that they didn’t want anyone to know who put it together.

I’m glad the people of Winchester put it together on their own.

It was put together by individuals at the school who are paid with taxpayer money.

Maybe C.A.R.E. should be Cowards Against Responsible Education.

They are now talking about $500,000 surplus. We won’t see it.

BRIAN MOSER
168 Clark Road
Winchester