Posted: Friday, August 30, 2013 10:52 am | Updated: 6:54 pm, Fri Aug 30, 2013.
Posted:
Posted on August 30, 2013
The Morrisville school board voted 6-3 against opening up bids to replace its current solicitor during last week’s board meeting.
Board members Damon Miller, David Stonerburner, Wanda Kartal, Daniel Dingle, John DeWilde, and Ted Parked voted against a motion to replace David J. Truelove from Hill Wallack LLP of Princeton as the district’s solicitor. Members Jack Buckman, Ronald Stout and Steve Worob voted for the motion.Hill Wallack was approved by the board as the district’s solicitor in December 2012 to replace Thomas J. Profy III of Begley, Carlin and Mandio. The firm was hired to serve as the district’s legal assistance through December.
The motion was added by Worob late in the meeting Wednesday after the board approved the June and July payments of over $22,000 to Hill Wallack. Worob has questioned the amount the district pays in legal fees at recent meetings.
The board discussed the issue for nearly 40 minutes before voting.
“I have been on and off this board since 1992 and I have never seen bills like we have seen this year,” Worob said before the vote. “Hill Wallack could be on a projected course this year to exceed our legal bills from 2008, 2009 and 2010 at the course we are going right now. It is ridiculous.”
Paul DeAngelo, the district’s business manager, said the district is about $40,000 over its 2012-2013 budget for legal fees.
However, the district is currently dealing with civil rights litigation that was brought on earlier in the year by a former student, Superintendent William Ferrara said.
“We are now being faced with, what I would say, is a frivolous complaint that was filed against the district that is now in the Office for Civil Rights in the Department of Education,” Truelove said. “It’s one of the most frustrating cases I have dealt with in my 30 years of practice.”
“The issues in this case are unbelievable,” said Ferrara, adding that officials have spent countless hours working on the case since February.
Officials refused to comment further on the lawsuit.
The district has also been forced to deal with issues that were left over from the previous board, Miller said.
Bucks County Head Start is suing the district for $308,849 for improvements completed at a building it had used and partial reimbursement of rent paid before the district cut short its lease in 2010.
Head Start, a nonprofit group that provides comprehensive social services and early childhood education to needy families and children, had a 20-year lease contract with the district for the use of the former Manor Park School building on Penn Avenue.
Officials said they would prefer to pay legal fees as opposed to large payouts that could cost the district hundreds of thousands of dollars.
“It’s not a cheap proposition. In order to protect the district from tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of dollars in claims that work has to be done. It’s unfortunate.” Truelove said.
Truelove added: “Some of these matters are not one-time issues but they are going to be infrequent issues. Hopefully once we get through this tidal wave aspect of this (civil rights) case we will return to a more standing position.”
Also, decades-long deed and zoning issues with the M.R. Reiter school property have required “deep” analysis and review to determine a course of action, Truelove said. The property on Hillcrest Avenue has only been used for storage since a furnace explosion in December 2009, Miller said after the meeting.
To combat costs, Worob suggested the board limit Hill Wallack’s monthly fees to $5,000.
“We need some controls. We just can’t afford Hill Wallack,” he said.
Yet, DeWilde warned against changing firms so late in the year or capping the current firm’s monthly legal fees.
“Transitioning in the middle of the year...that is pretty scary considering what is on our plate right now,” he said. “We don’t want to handicap ourselves; we don’t want to get sued. We have to protect ourselves.”
Board members Damon Miller, David Stonerburner, Wanda Kartal, Daniel Dingle, John DeWilde, and Ted Parked voted against a motion to replace David J. Truelove from Hill Wallack LLP of Princeton as the district’s solicitor. Members Jack Buckman, Ronald Stout and Steve Worob voted for the motion.Hill Wallack was approved by the board as the district’s solicitor in December 2012 to replace Thomas J. Profy III of Begley, Carlin and Mandio. The firm was hired to serve as the district’s legal assistance through December.
The motion was added by Worob late in the meeting Wednesday after the board approved the June and July payments of over $22,000 to Hill Wallack. Worob has questioned the amount the district pays in legal fees at recent meetings.
The board discussed the issue for nearly 40 minutes before voting.
“I have been on and off this board since 1992 and I have never seen bills like we have seen this year,” Worob said before the vote. “Hill Wallack could be on a projected course this year to exceed our legal bills from 2008, 2009 and 2010 at the course we are going right now. It is ridiculous.”
Paul DeAngelo, the district’s business manager, said the district is about $40,000 over its 2012-2013 budget for legal fees.
However, the district is currently dealing with civil rights litigation that was brought on earlier in the year by a former student, Superintendent William Ferrara said.
“We are now being faced with, what I would say, is a frivolous complaint that was filed against the district that is now in the Office for Civil Rights in the Department of Education,” Truelove said. “It’s one of the most frustrating cases I have dealt with in my 30 years of practice.”
“The issues in this case are unbelievable,” said Ferrara, adding that officials have spent countless hours working on the case since February.
Officials refused to comment further on the lawsuit.
The district has also been forced to deal with issues that were left over from the previous board, Miller said.
Bucks County Head Start is suing the district for $308,849 for improvements completed at a building it had used and partial reimbursement of rent paid before the district cut short its lease in 2010.
Head Start, a nonprofit group that provides comprehensive social services and early childhood education to needy families and children, had a 20-year lease contract with the district for the use of the former Manor Park School building on Penn Avenue.
Officials said they would prefer to pay legal fees as opposed to large payouts that could cost the district hundreds of thousands of dollars.
“It’s not a cheap proposition. In order to protect the district from tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of dollars in claims that work has to be done. It’s unfortunate.” Truelove said.
Truelove added: “Some of these matters are not one-time issues but they are going to be infrequent issues. Hopefully once we get through this tidal wave aspect of this (civil rights) case we will return to a more standing position.”
Also, decades-long deed and zoning issues with the M.R. Reiter school property have required “deep” analysis and review to determine a course of action, Truelove said. The property on Hillcrest Avenue has only been used for storage since a furnace explosion in December 2009, Miller said after the meeting.
To combat costs, Worob suggested the board limit Hill Wallack’s monthly fees to $5,000.
“We need some controls. We just can’t afford Hill Wallack,” he said.
Yet, DeWilde warned against changing firms so late in the year or capping the current firm’s monthly legal fees.
“Transitioning in the middle of the year...that is pretty scary considering what is on our plate right now,” he said. “We don’t want to handicap ourselves; we don’t want to get sued. We have to protect ourselves.”
23 comments:
There's a lesson in all of this:
Make a loud, infantile stink about something, even if you're full of crap, and you'll make the headline.
Modern day, bush league McCarthyites is what they are.
Worob is a ass
Stout is an dumb ass
Buckman is a loud mouth ass
DeWild is Sometime a ass
Morrisville it's time to kick some ASS come out and vote in November and rid our district of SOC/SOT once and for all!!!!!
I can't put DeWilde in the same league as those goons.
1 comment:
Gabe Athouse posted at 12:22 pm on Fri, Aug 30, 2013.
Posts: 379
Truelove is an old time political hack. Frankly, he's an old arrogant asshole. If it wasn't for the his old associations with the Democratic Party, he'd be chasing ambulances.
Sorry to say when you vote with Goons it makes you just as bad
the prior solicitor's were old political hacks as well just for a different party
http://mvbulldogbanter.blogspot.com/2012/12/potluck-67.html
I almost forgot about this one from December 2012. I believe this is yet another example of "SOC" board members reneging on a contractual obligation they voted to put in place, triggering a lawsuit they were going to lose (at taxpayer expense). I'm telling you, if you don't follow this and write this stuff down, it fades from memory, and that's exactly what they count on.
In this case, they stopped paying a contractual obligation (an Early Retirement Incentive Program, or ERIP, contract for an Act 93 administrator).
According to Solicitor Truelove, the Judge forewarned the District (and former Solicitor Profy) that the costs would be much higher than the settlement cost if he District proceeded with the lawsuit. Hence, Profy, the stiffed reitred Act 93 employee, their lawyer, and the Judge worked out a settlement, which this Board had to vote on at the 12/12/2012 meeting.
And Steve Worob has the nerve to call it Pennsylvania, A State of Shenanigans, because a Judge is about to hand the District’s a$$ back to it for reneging on a contractual obligation? How about his buddies’ shenanigans in yet again treating contracts like nothing, leading to boneheaded lawsuits that leave taxpayers on the hook?
Note: Solicitor Truelove and I have exchanged exactly ZERO words with each other. Former Solicitor Profy and I exchanged exactly ZERO words with each other.
I don't feel any special sense of obligation to defend Mr. Truelove for Mr. Truelove's sake. He can defend himself, as he did at the 8/28 meeting.
I've simply been around Worob, Buckman, Stout, Mihok, et al. long enough to know how they operate, and I have a fairly well-tuned B.S. detector.
3/26/2008 Board Meeting Minutes:
3.4. Approval, Authorize Review of Superintendent’s Contract
The Board approved a motion to authorize the law firm of Curtin and Heefner to review the Superintendent’s 2008-2013 employment contract. Cost not to exceed $3,000.
Moved by Mrs. Reithmeyer; seconded by Mrs. Worob. Motion amended and accepted. Passed by roll call vote of 6 ayes; 2 nays. Members voting nay were Mrs. Reithmeyer and Mr. Kemp.
Mrs. Reithmeyer stated this did not come out of committee and she sees no reason for this action. This is a done contract. Mrs. Reithmeyer and Heater asked Mr. Hellmann what Curtin & Heefner’s hourly rate is. Mr. Hellmann had no response. Mrs. Mihok amended the motion by putting a ceiling of spending at $3,000.
Mr. Kemp commented that this is an insult. He explained that since Dr. Yonson worked with the former board members, they knew her work and the success the district is moving toward and we wanted to keep the progress moving forward. Every other Superintendent in the county has a 5-year contract. Mr. Farrell wants to see the ramifications of other board’s overturning a contract once they took seat; he is just looking for information.
I believe David Truelove was working for Curtain & Heefner at this time. I also believe he was the solicitor who reviewed Yonson's contract.
Once again it's okay if SOC wants to use someone or do something but it's not okay if others use or do the same thing.
You stole my thunder, but that's perfectly all right. That's exactly where I was going with this.
For the record, at the 6/25/2008 Board meeting, presumably armed with Curtin & Heefner's legal "review", they voted to chop Yonson's contract from 5 years to 3.
Moved by Mr. Hellmann; seconded by Mr. Buckman; passed by a roll call vote of 6 ayes; 2 nays. Members voting nay were Mrs. Reithmeyer and Mr. Kemp.
Yes votes were:
Hellmann
Mihok
Radosti
Buckman
Farrell
Worob (Brenda)
They are hypocrties for sure, but I believe what they do is a form of corruption
Definition of CORRUPTION (Merriam-Webster Dictionary).
1
a: impairment of integrity, virtue, or moral principle.
By that definition, absolutely.
At the meeting, Worob, Stout, & Buckman had already voted YES to pay all $1.4 million or so in bills, including Hill Wallack's whopping $22k in bills covering June and July.
Only afterwards did watchdog Steverino snap out of his laser-like lack of focus and ask for votes to rescind this vote and pay all the bills except for Hill Wallack's bills.
Board President Damon Miller was accommodating, civil, and gracious enough to allow this.
Question:
What do you think the odds of success would have been under the Hellmann regime if someone who wasn't one of their friends asked to undo and redo the votes because they screwed up and weren't paying attention?
I think the answer is somewhere between zero and go pound sand.
The video of the 8/28 meeting is now available. Starting around 45:39, Damon Miller clearly says "and why don't we round out the rest of the Section 5 for Finance all at one time", then clearly reads all the remaining finance agenda items, including the payment of bills. Steve's in his own little world, occasionally flipping papers.
Steve he had one thing to do at this meeting, rage about Hill Wallack and vote to not pay their bills, and it took Damon Miller's courtesy for him not to blow it. Stout and Buckman were no help.
Let's hope Morrisville Voters Can Stout and then Worob Over Ineptitude Issues.
Yes We CAN!
Btw, Ted Parked? Where?
Reiter explosion was Dec. 2008.
Let's Hire Perry Mason.
what the heck does this post mean?
***************
Yes We CAN!
Btw, Ted Parked? Where?
Reiter explosion was Dec. 2008.
*************
Who can we get on the case?
We need Perry Mason
Someone to put you in place
Calling Perry Mason,again,again
Wake me when it's over, tell me it's all right
Just keep on talking baby, I've been doing this all night
How much did you give me, tell me it'll be all right
And I'll see you my friend over and over again..
Who can we get on this case?
We need Perry Mason
Someone to put you in place
Calling Perry Mason, again, again, again, again
Late 80's Ozzy Osbourne. I had to look it up.
"what the heck does this post mean?
***************
Yes We CAN!
Btw, Ted Parked? Where?
Reiter explosion was Dec. 2008.
*************"
I saw this when looking up Ozzy Osbourne lyrics. I don't want to steal the thunder of whoever posted it, and correct me if I'm wrong, but I actually think I know what it means.
The "Yes We CAN" is a take-off on Obama's Yes We Can slogan, only in this case the CAN means "fire", "sack", "get rid of" instead of "to be able to". "Can" was used in the BCCT headline.
The "Btw, Ted Parked? Where?" refers to the fact that the BCCT article misspelled Ted Parker's last name as "Parked". It's asking where Ted parked, using his misspelled last name as a past tense verb.
"Reiter explosion was Dec. 2008" refers to the fact that the BCCT article incorrectly says that the Reiter explosion occurred in Dec. 2009, when it actually happened in Dec. 2008.
I thought the original post was amusing. After reading this explanation above, I think the moral of the story is that things aren't very funny when you deconstruct them.
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