WHAT: Sterling Annual Town Meeting
WHEN: 4 May 2026, 6:30 p.m. . DUE TO THE EXPECTED BIG TURNOUT PLEASE GET THERE EARLY TO FIND PARKING AND CHECK IN
WHERE: Chocksett Middle School, 40 Boutelle Road, Sterling
WHY: Protect Your Wallets and Keep the Property Tax Rate Lower for the Next 30 Years by Voting Down the Exorbitant, Outrageous $25.5 Million Sterling D.P.W. Garage Mahal Boondoggle, Warrant Article 18 (The sum referred to includes the $500,000 approved at the May 2025 Annual Town Meeting for Study and Design of this Gigantic Scam). SEE Warrant Article 18 here:
https://www.sterling-ma.gov/DocumentCenter/View/8304/2026-ATM-Final
WARNING: If Article 18 is defeated (the D.P.W. Board Hacks and their fellow idiots on the D.P.W. Facilities Committee, Select Board, Finance Committee, and Capital Budget Committee need to prevail by a 2/3 vote) its buffoon-boosters have one (1) hour thereafter to make a Motion for a re-vote. SO STICK AROUND until the Annual Town Meeting is adjourned.
FOLKS, this time around the Sterling D.P.W. Board, D.P.W. Facilities Committee, Select Board, Finance Committee, and Capital Budget Committee have ALL insulted your intelligence by throwing you a bone in the form of a WAAAAAY OVERPRICED D.P.W. Garage Mahal Boondoggle 8600 square feet smaller, priced at $25.5 million for 28,400 square feet (2/3 of an acre), or $898 per square foot, IN PLACE OF the 37,000 square foot, $33 million, $892 per square foot Garage Mahal Boondoggle that the Townspeople, at the 13 November 2025 Special Town Meeting, SHELLACKED by a vote of 373 to 183.
The aforesaid stupid, bent, incompetent, callous, irresponsible Sterling Town Government officials have outright refused and neglected to undertake ‘comparison shopping’ to save Sterling property taxpayers money when cheaper alternatives were and are readily available and searchable on the internet. Instead, they hired municipal property tax money parasites Weston & Sampson Engineers, as designers, and Vertex as the project manager, BOTH exorbitant and with a track records of hosing Massachusetts municipal taxpayers on various public projects. BOTH JUST HAPPEN to have employees/CRONIES living right here in Sterling. YEAH, by contract we are now, in essence, paying THEIR Sterling property taxes. More on that below.
A. TWO READILY APPARENT CHEAPER ALTERNATIVE MASSACHUSETTS D.PW. FACILITY EXAMPLES—
1. The Town of Marion, Plymouth County, Massachusetts
In February 2026, just two months ago, the Town of Marion opened its brand new 14,400 square foot, $5.2 million, $361 per square foot D.P.W. facility. It came in at $300,000 under budget. NOTE that the Town of Marion saved ITS taxpayers BIG TIME by NOT hiring WESTON & SAMPSON ENGINEERS or VERTEX. Instead, it hired Saltonstall Architects, and Shaun Cormier as project manager.
SEE:
https://news.jgpr.net/2026/02/17/town-of-marion-unveils-new-dpw-operations-building-with-ribbon-cutting-and-tours/ (Scroll down to see all photos)
NOTE: The Sterling D.P.W. does not need an oversized 28,400 square foot (2/3 acre) D.P.W. facility BUT if it did it could have put one up for $10 million by hiring Salstonstall Architects and an individual project manager such as Shaun Cormier INSTEAD of municipal property tax parasites Weston & Sampson Engineers and Vertex.
2. The nearby Town of Berlin, Worcester County, Massachusetts
In 2018 the nearby Town of Berlin opened its new 13,474 square foot Highway Department facility costing $4.1 million, or $304 per square foot. If you add in the 3840 square foot Loft/Storage Area the per square foot cost is even LESS.
And GEE, what a surprise, the Town of Berlin saved ITS property taxpayers HUGE $$$ by NOT HIRING the municipal property tax parasites Weston & Sampson Engineers or Vertex.
THAT building is PRE-FABRICATED STEEL, ENERGY EFFICIENT, and was built by Pezzuco Construction of Rhode Island.
SEE:
https://www.telegram.com/picture-gallery/news/local/the-item/2018/10/19/item-slideshow-berlin-opens-new/66264209007/ (Check out all the photos)
NOTE: At the May 2025 Sterling Annual Town Meeting two (2) D.P.W. Facilities Committee callous, fiscally irresponsible, out of control A$$HOLES were designated to answer questions. When I asked them if they had gone along Pratts Junction Road, Chocksett Road, and over to James Monroe Wire & Cable to check steel building prices that would favor Sterling’s taxpayers they answered “NO.” The voters approved $500,000 in seed money for the D.P.W. Garage Mahal Boondoggle design anyway. They probably regret that vote now.
See 2025 Warrant Article 25, page 18—
https://www.sterling-ma.gov/DocumentCenter/View/5803/2025-May-5-Annual-Town-Meeting-Warrant?bidId=
B. THE PROPOSITION 2 ½ TAX OVERIDE/DEBT EXCLUSION AND THE COST OF THE PROPOSED $25.5 MILLION D.P.W. GARAGE MAHAL BOONDOGGLE TO THE AVERAGE STERLING TAXPAYER OVER THE 30 YEAR LIFE OF THE NEEDED BORROWING BOND
The A$$HOLES pushing the Sterling D.P.W. Garage Mahal Boondoggle need a Proposition 2 ½ Tax Override/Debt Exclusion and a 30 year borrowing bond for this gigantic scam. In the April 2026 Sterling Meetinghouse News Jonathan Marini, the callous, fiscally irresponsible, out of control D.P.W. Garage Mahal Boondoggle shill and chair of the D.P.W. Facility Committee, wrote that this BOONDOGGLE is projected to increase the Sterling tax rate by 5.56%, or about $426 per year for the average single-family home. WHAT THAT A$$HOLE DID NOT TELL YOU IS THAT COST WILL BE FOR 30 YEARS, THE LIFE OF THE 30 YEAR BORROWING BOND NEEDED FOR THIS SCAM. SO THOSE AVERAGE HOME OWNERS CAN EXPECT TO PAY AT LEAST $426 x 30, OR $12,780 during the life of that bond. Those figures will be even higher if the borrowing interest rates increase. YEAH, THESE A$$HOLES definitely DO NOT want you to know the whole truth.
C. THE INEXPENSIVE ‘POLE BARN’ D.P.W. VEHICLE STORAGE SOLUTION
In case you didn’t know it, the Sterling D.P.W.’s trucks and other vehicles have been parked outdoors in the weather FOREVER, meaning EVER SINCE STERLING HAS HAD A D.P.W.. BUT, BUT, BUT NOW, ALL OF A SUDDEN, THOSE TRUCKS AND OTHER VEHICLES HAVE BECOME VERY, VERY, SENSITIVE AND MUST (WINK, WINK) BE PARKED INDOORS IN HEATED SPACE, OR ELSE VERY TERRIBLE THINGS MAY HAPPEN TO THEM! AT LEAST THAT’S WHAT THE PAMPERED PUKES RUNNING THE D.P.W. AND THEIR ALLIES WOULD HAVE YOU BELIEVE. YEAH, they want the D.P.W.’s trucks and other vehicles to live BETTER THAN YOURS, AT YOUR EXPENSE AS TAXPAYERS. NOW DO YOU SEE HOW THE GOVERNMENT-OPERATIVE/EMPLOYEE ENTITLEMENT MENTALITY WORKS?!
The truth is that Sterling D.P.W. can park its trucks and other vehicles in VERY, VERY NICE unheated ‘pole barns,’ thereby saving Sterling property taxpayers A LOT of money. SO LET’S FORCE THEM TO DO IT.
Check out these examples of VERY, VERY NICE pole barns:
https://www.lesterbuildings.com/farm-buildings/pole-barns/
D. THE WESTON & SAMPSON ENGINEERS AND VERTEX PARASITES/CRONIES/ENEMIES WITHIN
I bet that y’all are SHOCKED, SHOCKED to learn that there are Weston & Sampson and Vertex employees living right here in Sterling who REALLY, REALLY want to parasitize ALL of YOU Sterling property taxpayers VIA the Sterling D.P.W. Garage Mahal Boondoggle. That way THEY can pay THEIR Sterling property taxes WITH YOUR TAX DOLLARS.
WELL, IT’S TRUE. Let’s take Vertex Senior Project Manager Stephen Theran for starters– https://vertexeng.com/team-member/steve-theran/
Under the Vertex project management contract entered into for the D.P.W. Garage Mahal Boondoggle, his time is billed out to US at $190 per hour. SWEEEET!
And Stephen Theran JUST HAPPENS to reside on a 7.63 acre compound located at 19 Hardscrabble Road, Sterling.
CHECK OUT 19 Hardscrabble Road here: https://www.axisgis.com/SterlingMA/#
It is reported that ANOTHER Vertex employee resides in Sterling too but I don’t have his/her name.
AND then there is the Weston & Sampson employee who resides in Sterling and who has been seen with D.P.W. Director Ryan Mouradian at various Sterling Board and Committee meetings concerning the D.P.W. Garage Mahal Boondoggle. I don’t know his name either.
BUT I do know that there JUST HAPPENS TO BE a Weston & Sampson satellite office/ “Service Location” at 16 Legate Hill Road, Sterling. WHO KNEW???
SEE: https://www.westonandsampson.com/contact-us#locations (Scroll down to “Service Locations”)
Have you gotten the impression that Sterling Town Government officials are getting ‘serviced’??? Me too.
CONCLUSION
Vote not to screw yourselves. Vote down the Sterling D.P.W. Garage Mahal Boondoggle, Warrant Article 18, at the 4 May 2026 Sterling Annual Town Meeting.
J.G.
STERLING, MASSACHUSETTS, OVERWATCH 