No Approval For Sup'ts Contract; Southbridge Teacher Arrested On Child Porn Charges

BREAKING NEWS: Last night the School Committee met with an Executive Session on the agenda, followed by a return to open session to vote on the Superintendent's contract. Following the Executive Session the meeting reconvened and voted to adjourn. As a result, as of tomorrow, July 1, there are no contracts in effect for either the Superintendent or the Assistant Superintendent.




MORE BREAKING NEWS (12:07 PM): A Worcester man who works in the Southbridge school system will face federal child pornography charges after his arrest by FBI agents Tuesday.

Scott Peeler was arrested at his home at 28 Trinity Ave. in Worcester on Tuesday, the FBI confirmed.

Peeler faces charges of attempted production of child pornography; attempted receipt of child pornography; attempted coercion and enticement of a minor; and attempted possession of child pornography, according to the U.S. Attorney's office.

Peeler will be arraigned in Worcester Federal Court on Tuesday.

Southbridge Public Schools confirmed that Peeler works for the schools. Peeler also works part-time in a non-patient care position at Adcare, a drug and alcohol rehab facility, the company confirmed.

The district's website lists him as a middle school faculty member.

Witnesses said they saw investigators carrying computer drives, bags, totes and videotapes out of the home.

School Committee Fails To Approve Superintendent’s Contract

Ken O’Brien

Last night the existing School Committee met, presumably for the last time, prior to next Tuesday’s town election.

Following a predictably tearful farewell from the current Chair following a period of turmoil and failure unseen in recent memory, the Committee went into Executive Session.

According to the agenda for the meeting the Committee was to reconvene to vote on four items.

Council Kills Casella Contract Amendment

Ken O’Brien

By a vote of 7 to 2 the Southbridge Town Council voted down a proposed amendment to the contract with Casella.

I have listened with interest to the debate regarding this amendment.

After listening to tonight’s discussion I have come to the conclusion that the Council has made a serious mistake. 

Contact Your Town Councilors About Casella's Amendment

Those wishing to contact Town Councilors on the Casella matter can reach them at the following phone numbers and/or email addresses.

                                                                   Phone                                     email                 .

Shaun M. Moriarty                           774-230-6870  smoriarty@southbridgemass.org

Amelia L. Peloquin                           413-695-5289  apeloquin@southbridgemass.org

Denise Clemence                               508-764-7642  dbclemence@hotmail.com

Esteban Carrasco, Jr.                       774-230-8542  carrascotowncouncil@gmail.com

Conrad L. Vandal                             508-764-4831  cvandal@charter.net

Monique S. Manna                           774-230-0156  mmanna@southbridgemass.org

George P. Steeves                              508-764-8042  councilorgus@gmail.com

Albert D. Vecchia, Jr.                       508-764-1484  vecchiaa@aol.com

Miguel Estrada                                  508-909-6943  estradacouncilor@gmail.com

Auclair Speaks Out On Casella Amendment

Kristen Auclair

I am writing to the members of the Town Council as I will not be in attendance at Monday night’s meeting. 

I am writing about the final agenda item, item 34, the motion to accept the first amendment to the Casella contract.  In subcommittee there were a lot of agreed upon terms to include in the contract, and I’m confident that a lot will be added without any outside input.  However, I implore you all to take the following into consideration when voting on this item.

1.      The money allotted to the proposed pre-treatment facility:  How is this money being utilized?  What kind of facility will $2.5 million build?  Where are the designs that constitute this money and how do we know that more money will not actually be needed to complete this venture?  To my knowledge, no preliminary engineering plans have been presented to represent this estimate.  There needs to be some kind of justification for this specific amount. 

Councilor Steeves Speaks Out On Casella Amendment

Today’s Southbridge News carries an article by Town Councilor Gus Steeves expressing his views on the proposed amendment to the Casella contract.

A ‘First Amendment’ we should not invoke

by Gus Steeves

“The devil’s in the details” is a common cliché, but in some documents, it’s really an understatement.

Multiple demons jump out of the newly proposed “First Amendment” to the landfill site assignment, which is currently being considered by the Council. General Government talked about it Wednesday and I expect it to be on Monday’s full council agenda, but both were after this column’s deadline. 

Subcommittee To Review Amendment To Casella Agreement

Ken O’Brien

Tonight at 6:30 the General Government subcommittee will meet in the Rice Conference Room in the Town Hall. On the agenda is the following item:

Discuss First Amendment to the Extension Agreement for the Operation of the Barefoot Road Sanitary Landfill, and Refuse and Recyclables Collection and entertain a motion to submit to the Council for ratification.

What does this amendment contain? 

Hanson Selectman’s Facebook Postings Raise Questions About Town Manager Choice

Ken O’Brien

Our newly selected Town Manager, Ronald San Angelo, was hired as Town Administrator for Hanson, MA, in 2013. His three year contract is set to expire in 2016 if he is given notice that it will not be renewed by June 30 of this year. If he is not given notice that contract is automatically extended until June 30, 2017.

Mr. San Angelo has been actively seeking other Town Manager or Administrator positions in recent months. He has been in his current position for just under two years. He has at least one year remaining on his current contract. I sought to understand the reason for his seemingly aggressive job search.

Bruce R. Young is one of five selectmen in Hanson MA, and Chatrman of that body. On his FaceBook page Mr. Young posted a few comments over the last month that may shed some light on this conundrum. They are reproduced below unedited by me. The word "edited" in the text appears in the original.  (Those who wish can see the originals HERE.)

Pulawski Was Right About Casella Contract

Ken O’Brien

At Monday’s Town Council meeting Councilor Clemence added an item to the agenda relating to the landfill reimbursement receipt study,  the so-called MFN clause of the town’s contract with Casella. That clause calls for a review of the contract every seven years from the effective date of the contract so that Southbridge will receive the highest compensation from its arrangement with Casella.

As he had previously, citizen John Pulawski protested the action. He argued that with the closing of numerous landfills around the state in the coming year the town was acting prematurely.

He also argued that the side letter signed between former interim Town Manager John Healey and Casella had set the effective date of the contract a year later than was being assumed by the Town Council.

Town To Trinity – “You’re On Your Own”

Ken O’Brien

Back in June the Worcester Telegram reported that the Southbridge School District had been paying the wages of two workers in the cafeteria at Trinity Catholic Academy, a local parochial school, for decades [Worcester Telegram “Southbridge to scrap Catholic school lunch spending deal”, June 20, 2014].

Speaking after what would be his last School Committee Meeting, then Superintendent Basan Nembirkow stated, “"We went to them and said we can't be providing services for you anymore, and we need to stop this, and then we will help you because we're not going to just cut the kids off," Mr. Nembirkow said. "We'll have to do it on a service contract basis. That's what we're working on right now."

Reed Was The Wrong Target

Ken O’Brien

It is fair to say that last Monday’s Council of the Whole town council meeting was not their finest hour. As I’ve expressed elsewhere, I feel that they were bogged down in trivialities while failing to ask the most important question.

To a significant extent the shortcomings were not entirely their fault. While I feel that the final evaluation of Mr. Reed should have been televised (as has been the case with candidates for a permanent town manager) the details of his contract should have been ironed out in private. 

The Unasked Question

Ken O’Brien

A key point was ignored in the midst of all the posturing about hiring an Acting Town Manager at Monday night’s meeting of the Southbridge Town Council.

The question that not one councilor saw fit to ask was, “If we can get by for up to six months with a Town Manager serving 20 hours per week at $1,000 per week, why do we need a full timer at more than twice that amount?”