The Bond and Other Shenanigans
By now most of you have probably read Dave Richardson’s letter, which I think is a very accurate view of the financial outlook here in Woodstock and statewide, not to mention nationally. Also, I just happened to hear about George McCoy’s recent shilling for the bond over at Aljazeera- which appears to be less than half of the whole story- no surprise. The DEP is not mandating a new $3M castle.
First, let’s take a look at what went on last week with regard to the BOE leadership struggle…while it might seem unrelated, it was anything but. The arm twisting began on our incoming BOE members pretty quickly and didn’t go very far. This led Lindsay Paul to finally understand that she did not have the support to hold the chair, so a change in course. Soon after the first round, it emerged that Kevin Ford would be brought forth as the alternative to Lindsay Paul with Kirsten Rigney as Vice, this configuration was floated without much success. Now it gets really interesting- it appears that Mrs. Paul cooked up a little scheme with our friendly neighborhood bond salesman and promoter for her support for the bond, along with a promise to deliver the PTO/Mommy vote in exchange for a vote to keep the power on the BOE with her and the Breen democrats. Scott Sincerbeaux became the obvious target as the swing vote. When the scheme was leaked, some of the RTC leadership got an earful as the Cass fiasco already had them on their heels a bit from the rank and file. I give Scott credit on two counts in this; he stayed quiet and ultimately made the correct decision for the children of Woodstock.
If you have any doubt as to the reality of this scenario, just take a look at the sequence of events in that Kevin Ford came out hard for the bond on Aljazeera the morning of the BOE vote. In addition, on the video did you see Lindsay’s head snap around when it didn’t go her way? I guess someone forgot to tell her that the deal didn’t fly. If looks could kill, Scott would have mortal wounds. So parents, it shouldn’t be lost on you that she had no problem selling out the kids to keep the power.
As Dave Richardson pointed out in his letter, it is pretty clear that even with the delay in the principle, etc., ultimately the money to support this has to come from somewhere and that is- Town and/or Education funds or a major tax increase as the Grand List is expected to continue to shrink. At the last BOF meeting, Mrs. Rich made the statement that the new Town Garage was “the last piece” for her – it was pretty clear to me that she considers it her legacy. I also heard through the grapevine that her son started working there just recently- how convenient. Questions remain as well; what is the status of the Bennett’s potential lawsuit against the Town? Was there a comparative study for switching to a brine system as the State has? I have more that I won’t go into right now.
In the current environment another multi-million dollar castle is just not responsible. Fix the Salt Shed?, absolutely, as it should have been done years ago and certainly won’t cost $3M, in fact, the STEAP grant would have covered all or most of the Salt Shed and remediation.
All of the other goodies are just going to have to wait as just yesterday it was reported that Connecticut unemployment jumped to 8.8% and it is expected to continue to climb. As an example, Rhode Island is currently 12.9% and “real” unemployment numbers are much higher. There is also a lot of talk about this becoming a “double-dip” recession with another downturn on our doorstep.
Woodstock is not immune and hard choices will need to be made which makes the decision on this bond initiative an easy one. For now it has to be “No”.
First, let’s take a look at what went on last week with regard to the BOE leadership struggle…while it might seem unrelated, it was anything but. The arm twisting began on our incoming BOE members pretty quickly and didn’t go very far. This led Lindsay Paul to finally understand that she did not have the support to hold the chair, so a change in course. Soon after the first round, it emerged that Kevin Ford would be brought forth as the alternative to Lindsay Paul with Kirsten Rigney as Vice, this configuration was floated without much success. Now it gets really interesting- it appears that Mrs. Paul cooked up a little scheme with our friendly neighborhood bond salesman and promoter for her support for the bond, along with a promise to deliver the PTO/Mommy vote in exchange for a vote to keep the power on the BOE with her and the Breen democrats. Scott Sincerbeaux became the obvious target as the swing vote. When the scheme was leaked, some of the RTC leadership got an earful as the Cass fiasco already had them on their heels a bit from the rank and file. I give Scott credit on two counts in this; he stayed quiet and ultimately made the correct decision for the children of Woodstock.
If you have any doubt as to the reality of this scenario, just take a look at the sequence of events in that Kevin Ford came out hard for the bond on Aljazeera the morning of the BOE vote. In addition, on the video did you see Lindsay’s head snap around when it didn’t go her way? I guess someone forgot to tell her that the deal didn’t fly. If looks could kill, Scott would have mortal wounds. So parents, it shouldn’t be lost on you that she had no problem selling out the kids to keep the power.
As Dave Richardson pointed out in his letter, it is pretty clear that even with the delay in the principle, etc., ultimately the money to support this has to come from somewhere and that is- Town and/or Education funds or a major tax increase as the Grand List is expected to continue to shrink. At the last BOF meeting, Mrs. Rich made the statement that the new Town Garage was “the last piece” for her – it was pretty clear to me that she considers it her legacy. I also heard through the grapevine that her son started working there just recently- how convenient. Questions remain as well; what is the status of the Bennett’s potential lawsuit against the Town? Was there a comparative study for switching to a brine system as the State has? I have more that I won’t go into right now.
In the current environment another multi-million dollar castle is just not responsible. Fix the Salt Shed?, absolutely, as it should have been done years ago and certainly won’t cost $3M, in fact, the STEAP grant would have covered all or most of the Salt Shed and remediation.
All of the other goodies are just going to have to wait as just yesterday it was reported that Connecticut unemployment jumped to 8.8% and it is expected to continue to climb. As an example, Rhode Island is currently 12.9% and “real” unemployment numbers are much higher. There is also a lot of talk about this becoming a “double-dip” recession with another downturn on our doorstep.
Woodstock is not immune and hard choices will need to be made which makes the decision on this bond initiative an easy one. For now it has to be “No”.
Posted by Admin at 11/21/2009 8:40 PM 
Categories: Views, Education, Local Politics
Tags: Craig R. Powers
Categories: Views, Education, Local Politics
Tags: Craig R. Powers
Sometimes I get confused. Now, is the bond salesman the one that is married to a Young, or is it the one that is not married to a Young but sits between the two that are married to a Young?
I am referring to the man that sits between.
The suggestion that it is the state DEP that is requiring the $3 Million expenditure for the highway garage project is beyond ludicrous. As you point out, the fix for the “Salt Shed” problem is only a small fraction of the proposed expense, but is a key part to trying to sell it to the town’s taxpayers. After the beating that was taken over the last proposed bond issue, there was no way the selectmen were going to give up the seeming leverage of the DEP to try again, so the “Salt” problem simply got pushed off until they were ready to go for the whole deal.
What was almost pulled off with this BOE deal is just beyond the pale. For a selectman, and others, to basically try to sell out the new leadership of the BOE, and the town, to try to buy support for this highway project is despicable. Fortunately it all came to light in time for others to intervene and get things back on track. Hopefully the taxpayers will also “intervene” on December 8th.
Dave