This post is merely a capsule preview. At the 2-21 meeting, Jason "challenged" the trustees to review the bids and come back with recommendations for this meeting.
It came as no surprise to those of us who have been at most of the meetings: John Festa, still clinging to a 2002 report commissioned by the Crestwood Board of Education as part of their argument that new buildings were urgently needed, "proved" that the school is almost too expensive, although he uttered some fine sounding remarks at the end of his review. He dismissed one bid out of hand after apparently only looking at the first sentence and said little about the other two bids compared to the length of time he spent on problems and a list of costly work to be done. He had other estimates, but only one per item. I will get that information.
For your information, the trustees had a study done by Dave Sommers Architects and Engineers in 2004 that is clear, concise, was obviously based on our building, and does not paint it as a white elephant, even though it poses challenges. John Festa has never mentioned that study.
Vic, as might be expected, repeated that everyone in a capacity of responsibility--the Portage County Building Department and Diamond Environmental, chiefly--had said we could use the building, and Vic thought we should do that.
Jason paid lip service to "accountability" and said some fine sounding things about serving the people and then took refuge behind the idea that John Festa put out at the League of Women Voters candidates' night: that it should go to the voters.
So--for the trusting, hopeful people who thought that we would have the building to use and enjoy, think about the results of the last two elections. The township is $200,000 less well off than it was in 2009, and if you think that the people at the front table are the ones making the decisions, you haven't been paying attention.
The school is threatened. If you want it to be ours--since we have paid for it twice over--pay attention to who has always supported having it; who has opposed it from the beginning of his term; and who is trying to please everyone and has shifted ground repeatedly. It's all there in the minutes and in the blog--the behavior and the votes, not my additional remarks, although those may be useful for someone without the last seven or eight years of observing meetings.
The only good thing I can find in this is that the elephant in the corner can no longer be ignored. I now feel free to lay out exactly what the possible outcomes are--and what it will cost in ways beyond the dollars.
I have been taking Speedwriting notes ever since beginning to attend trustees meetings in 2005. There are threads that can be traced back through those notes, even though doing it will be laborious. If doing that gives people a solid understanding, the time will be well spent. If not, collectively, we get the government we deserve. And we get it either by believing lies or through apathy--one vote won't matter. Well, every vote matters.
About This Blog
The purpose of this blog is to give an accurate account of what is said during Public Comment at Mantua Township Trustees meetings.
Trustees' decisions are in the official minutes, available on request from the Mantua Township Fiscal Officer, Jodi Thompson, at 330-274-8443. The Township charges 10 cents per page. FAX, 330-274-8447. E-mail, fiscalofficer@mantuatownshipohio.gov. The minutes are also posted on the website after they have been approved. That means that there is usually a two-week lag between a given meeting and the minutes being available to read on the website.
Since meetings are the first and third Thursdays of the month, there is a three-week wait during months with five Thursdays.
Other items of interest or the writer's opinions will be included from time to time, clearly identified.
This is not a forum or chat room, but a source of information, so it is closed to outside input.
During the time I have been doing the blog, the posts have expanded to become very detailed accounts of the meetings. Doing that is time consuming, to say the least, and I am going to try to return to the public comment focus, with background and perspective (and the occasional pointed editorial comment). Such additions are usually enclosed in brackets. However, since some extended accounts of the meetings reveal significant things--and character--better than I could by commenting, there will probably still be a fair amount of semi-transcript. (Sigh.)
My thanks to the readers who have found the blog, and to the ones who from time to time tell me that they value it. You have encouraged me when the tedious work of keyboarding has made me wonder why I am doing this. Then you have reminded me, and I am grateful.
Trustees' decisions are in the official minutes, available on request from the Mantua Township Fiscal Officer, Jodi Thompson, at 330-274-8443. The Township charges 10 cents per page. FAX, 330-274-8447. E-mail, fiscalofficer@mantuatownshipohio.gov. The minutes are also posted on the website after they have been approved. That means that there is usually a two-week lag between a given meeting and the minutes being available to read on the website.
Since meetings are the first and third Thursdays of the month, there is a three-week wait during months with five Thursdays.
Other items of interest or the writer's opinions will be included from time to time, clearly identified.
This is not a forum or chat room, but a source of information, so it is closed to outside input.
During the time I have been doing the blog, the posts have expanded to become very detailed accounts of the meetings. Doing that is time consuming, to say the least, and I am going to try to return to the public comment focus, with background and perspective (and the occasional pointed editorial comment). Such additions are usually enclosed in brackets. However, since some extended accounts of the meetings reveal significant things--and character--better than I could by commenting, there will probably still be a fair amount of semi-transcript. (Sigh.)
My thanks to the readers who have found the blog, and to the ones who from time to time tell me that they value it. You have encouraged me when the tedious work of keyboarding has made me wonder why I am doing this. Then you have reminded me, and I am grateful.
Principles
Two ideas guide and support me:
The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing.
______Attributed to Edmund Burke
GOOD PREVAILS.
Those ideas are also the reason I have been doing the blog since late February 2011.
I have discovered that a transcript is almost impossible to do and that verbatim accounts are usually not absolutely necessary. When in doubt, I check against a recording.
The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing.
______Attributed to Edmund Burke
GOOD PREVAILS.
Those ideas are also the reason I have been doing the blog since late February 2011.
I have discovered that a transcript is almost impossible to do and that verbatim accounts are usually not absolutely necessary. When in doubt, I check against a recording.
