Love him or hate him, new School Board President Kerry Myers has come out of the gate on the right horse on this one. The Easton Area School District has announced that it will be seeking a new solicitor to replace Alan McFall, and a new engineer to replace D'Huy Engineering as reported by Sara Satullo of the Express-Times. Myers has stated that "we need to be frugal in these times" and get "the most bang for
our buck" by advertising for the district's professional positions each year.
Hopefully the search will be thorough and some good candidates will come forward to do a better job than Alan McFall, who managed to sue the Express-Times our taxpayer dollars after claiming the paper misquoted him. When asked why taxpayers were paying legal fees for him in a personal case, outgoing School Board President Pat Fisher responded that "we would do that for any of our people." Nice. Per my previous post, it has never been explained to the public why taxpayers are paying for McFall's personal suit in this case, or how much of our money has been spent, but we should have those details soon, as the district has been ordered by the state to reveal the amount.
I have posted many times about issues with D'Huy engineering--most recently about how we paid them $4,000 to watch another contractor fill a pothole, without board approval of the service or the invoice. But I believe that Tony Rhodin covers D'Huy most eloquently in his opinion article for the Express-Times.
Say what you like, but Kerry Myers is off to a good start so far. He is also taking the meetings at a fast, decisive clip, which makes the meetings shorter--one of the few things at these school board meetings that can be appreciated by everyone in the room.
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8 comments:
The person who authors this blog shows her ignorance with regards to matters of construction. When it comes to sinkholes, hiring an engineer who is experienced with remediating sinkholes is the only competent way to insure that the contractor is doing the job right.
Remediating sinkholes are an inexact science, so it is important for the district to insure, as best as possible, that the sinkhole is being filled in properly and yes, this might cost $4,000.
$4,000 for a sinkhole is definetly possible and even $10,000 depending on the cavity and the amount of flowable fill needed. But my recollection of the sinkhole bill for the athletic fields was well over $8 million. Now that's outrageous even if the entire site sank.
Don't count on the new President not voting for the same ole same ole. After all he is only opening up the process. And that's a good start but let's see how they follow through.
BMI--since you seem to be an expert--why does it take 37 hours to make sure a sink hole is filled properly? The bill was $4,000 for 37 hours.
I am ignorant when it comes to construction--you are right about that--I am not a construction worker. But I did work at an engineering firm and have a hard time understanding how checking on a sink hole takes 37 hours. Please enlighten me.
Noel:
Good point. A "right to Know" request could be filed to request this information. While I do not approve of everything EASD does, I have worked with D'Huy, and they are a sold firm.
Buddy--Thanks for posting. It's possible that D'Huy is a good firm, and if so, all the more reason to get the administration on track and processing things properly so that their reputation isn't tainted by the district's failure to get proper approval from the school board before work is done and invoices are issued for payment. It looks suspect when the administration doesn't play by the rules, to the financial benefit of D'Huy Engineering.
and p.s. Right to Know requests have been submitted by residents who are waiting for the results...
I don't believe Kerry Myers deserves credit for seeking bids for a new solicitor, since if I'm not mistaken he was one of the three or four board members who voted AGAINST tabling the motion to rehire McFall when it came up at the reorg meeting. I think it's other board members who are driving that one, and probably others driving the motion to seek a new engineer too, since it seems Myers has usually been more pro-D'Huy than other board members in the past.
Anon, I hear you on that, but it's also important to always leave the door open for public officials to have a change of heart once they have taken in public comment and the input of other board members. Persuasion, and being open to persuasion are critical to good governance, otherwise the debate is always to polarized for anyone to change their mind, grow and make better decisions. I think the fact that he wants to be on record as supporting these searches is a good sign.
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