The Item editor, Jan Gottesman, published a lengthy article about the 1 November 2021 Select Board meeting– https://www.telegram.com/story/news/local/the-item/2021/11/02/lawyers-wrestle-over-legality-official-refutes-charges-no-investigation/6243460001/?fbclid=IwAR3jSV59jE-2o_tc4v_D_87lLAynJe3YKWULDVUc__rstARY6KOw-u5Yhrc

The article has little logical flow and is disjointed, with quotes and finger-pointing by lawyers and various Municipal Building denizens. In that way it illustrates, in its own way, perfectly, what a TOTAL SH*TSHOW is Sterling’s so-called ‘Town Government’ under the present Select Board.

The previously reported ‘services’ procurement acts by out-on-paid-leave Town Administrator Kellie Hebert were, presumably, handled in Executive Session. Remember, it was Kellie Hebert and the Tax Collector/Treasurer who used a computer to delete the “Approval History” boxes on Board of Health Agent David “Nowhere Man” Favreau’s COMPLETELY NON-ITEMIZED time sheets, that I requested in accordance with Mass. Gen. Laws Ch. 66, Sec.10, because THEY were the approvers! Unbeknownst to them, I had a few copies from another source. Do I have any regard for ANY of THEM? ABSOLUTELY NOT.

In Executive Session, at least, our ‘Lady of Perpetual Bullsh*t,’ Maureen Cranson, was prevented from showboating, grandstanding, and, yes, bullsh*tting the public (as was her primary prop, the Bent Buffoon). She can always do that elsewhere, and, doubtless, she will. That’s her modus operandi.

Whatever the relative, competing merits, DON’T FORGET that it was THIS Select Board that hired Kellie Hebert about ten (10) months ago.

Folks can request the Executive Session meeting minutes later under the “Open Meeting Law.” Folks can stream the public portions of that Select Board meeting here– https://townhallstreams.com/stream.php?location_id=80&id=40906

J.G.

The updated Sterling Select Board Agenda for 1 November 2021 has several interesting items, among them “Procurement” and “Payroll”– https://www.sterling-ma.gov/sites/g/files/vyhlif1266/f/agendas/2021_11_1_updated_agenda.pdf

So, did Town Administrator Kellie Hebert commit procurement and payroll violations when she hired her way-out-town buddy as Municipal Building roof leak “consultant,” ignoring local contractors in the process, and by hiring a telephone answering service for the Recreation Department at $40/hour???– https://www.mass.gov/files/documents/2017/10/19/30bmanual.pdf

And who is the Town official or employee about whom a complaint has been made and the subject of the Executive Session???

J.G.

The Select Board/Earth Removal Board’s previously scheduled 27 October 2021 hearing on Simpson’s illegal application to remove 18,000 cubic yards of sand/sand & gravel from the 68 Heywood Road property–such an operation being prohibited by the passage of Warrant Article 48 at the 2021 Sterling Annual Town Meeting–has been postponed again — https://www.sterling-ma.gov/sites/g/files/vyhlif1266/f/agendas/2021_10_27_amended_agenda.pdf — because the Office of Massachusetts Attorney General Maura “HOLD IT” Healey ( https://www.bostonbroadside.com/liberal-legislators/lesbian-democrat-mass-attorney-general-maura-healey-tells-women-who-need-to-use-the-bathroom-to-hold-it/ ) has not yet certified the 2021 Sterling Annual Town Meeting results.

Since two (2) of the three (3) Select Board/Earth Removal Board members are so far up Simpson’s a$$ that they exist in airless darkness–YEAH, WE KNOW WHO YOU ARE– this postponement may actually be somewhat good for the 68 Heywood Road property abutters–they can hang onto their money before those two Select Board/Earth Removal Board members render their dishonest decision, thereby triggering an abutter lawsuit challenge.

J.G.

Domenica Tatasciore, the absolute cipher hired by the Select Board thirty-six (36) months ago as so-called ‘Town Planner,’ following passage of the Warrant Article during the May 2018 Annual Town Meeting authorizing the hiring of a Town Planner FOR THE SOLE PURPOSE OF PRODUCING A NEW TOWN MASTER PLAN, resigned last week, a merciful development for ALL Sterling taxpayers.
SEE https://www.telegram.com/story/news/local/the-item/2021/10/18/sterling-planner-resigns-less-than-2-weeks-after-administrator-put-leave/8477288002/

Ms. Tatasciore was paid more than $225,000 in Sterling taxpayer money over the past thirty-six (36) months but DID NOT produce a finished Master Plan. The Select Board, WITHOUT Town Meeting authority, used her as their all-purpose ‘Gofer.’ She was too busy ‘Gofering’ for the Select Board to complete the Master Plan, apparently. The Select Board, of course, compounded the delay and waste by appointing NINE (9) circle-sitting, navel-gazing ‘Master Plan Committee’ sub-committee chairs who, recently, undertook a THIRD community SURVEY because they are aimless. SEE https://www.sterling-ma.gov/home/news/master-plan-community-survey-3

By the way, Ms. Tatasciore, a true Public-Mammary-Gland-Feeder/Grifter if there ever was one, in conjunction with former Town Administrator/Grifter Ross Perry, supported imposing the so-called ‘Community Preservation Act’ SURTAX on all Sterling property taxpayers. The CPA is extremely unpopular in Worcester County although it is quite popular with the Herd Sheeple populating municipalities throughout more easterly Massachusetts counties. Ms. Tatasciore, a Holden resident, would not, of course, have had to pay the CPA Surtax if Sterling adopted it. Her plan was to feed off the proceeds. Following adverse reactions by Sterling residents the CPA Surtax proposal for Sterling went nowhere.

I hope–well, not really–that the Municipal Building front door did not hit Ms. Tatasciore in the a$$ on her way out.

J.G.

Here is the report, updated, appearing in the 12 October 2021 Item, Clinton, Massachusetts:

https://www.telegram.com/story/news/local/the-item/2021/10/08/sterling-town-administrator-paid-leave-after-discord-town-hall/6054826001/

Kellie Hebert, Sterling Town Administrator for ten (10) months, hired a “consultant,” apparently, at Sterling taxpayer expense, about the Municipal (Butterick) Building roof leak(s), ignoring qualified local contractors in the process. It is not known whether Ms. Hebert followed Massachusetts municipal procurement law in making that hire. SEE
https://www.mass.gov/files/documents/2017/10/19/30bmanual.pdf

LAST WEEK’S MUNICIPAL BUILDING WALK-OUT/CLOSE-DOWN

Ms. Hebert’s reported action does not appear to be an adequate explanation as to why Ms. Hebert was escorted out of the Municipal Building by a police officer last week, or as to why other Municipal Building employees–paid by Sterling taxpayers–walked off the job, prompting closure of the Municipal Building for the rest of that day. Apparently those employee walk-offs will get that time off paid at our expense.

UPDATE, 14 OCTOBER 2021

Sources report that Ms. Hebert, on her own, ALSO retained, at $40 per hour, an answering service to answer the telephone for the Recreation Department. How many folks do you know getting $40/hour to pick up a friggin’ telephone and take a few notes??? The Municipal Building is open 40 hours each week. Assuming that that answering service had corresponding hours, that deal, unless canceled, will cost Sterling taxpayers $1600 each week! There are 20+ year Town employees who don’t make $40/hour. Moreover, sources report that several telephones throughout the Municipal Building ring with each incoming call, so other Town employees were capable of simply picking up their respective telephones and taking notes for the Rec. Dept. Evidently, when it comes to spending Sterling taxpayer money, Ms. Hebert is out of control. I don’t know whether she followed Massachusetts procurement law for her answering service deal, either.

The Select Board is obligated to tell Sterling taxpayers the full truth about this latest Town of Sterling Sh*tshow, but don’t hold your breath.

J.G.

“Keeping Sterling Action Committee” is pushing the Sterling D.P.W. hard to locate a food waste composting facility that would take up to 30 tons a day of “regional” food waste–not merely Sterling table scraps– 1000 feet behind the Sterling Police Department and close to Bartlet’s Pond and Wekepeke Brook, South Branch. In the September 2021 Sterling Meetinghouse News, “Keeping Sterling Action Committee” had its open letter, “Food Scraps Composting Initiative,” printed. SEE page 2 of that issue at http://sterlingmeetinghousenews.com/virtual-paper/#

Turns out, BOTH Blaine Bershad, D.P.W. Board member, and Arden Sonnenberg, Select Board member and liaison to the D.P.W. Board, are members of “Keeping Sterling Action Committee.” As a matter of law and ethics they are BOTH, therefore, in a blatant conflict of interest and, as municipal board members, should make full, public disclosure of that fact and recuse themselves from any and all municipal proceedings involving this so-called “Food Scraps Composting Initiative.” SEE GENERALLY: https://www.mass.gov/service-details/summary-of-the-conflict-of-interest-law-for-municipal-employees

J.G.

The following was posted by Rich Defuria on Facebook:

“I have not spoken on this local issue in a while.
But this issue should be on every resident’s radar, because it impacts our quality of life in Sterling: a Regional Food Waste Composting project proposed to be built behind the Sterling Police Station.
I encourage you all to read the ACTUAL report produced by the Sterling DPW — that is, a written proposal (versus the often conflicting [and every-changing] verbal accounts).
The report has a filename of “Sterling DPW Compost Facility Final Report June 23, 2021.pdf”
The title of the report is : “Town of Sterling Department of Public Works Food Waste Composting Facility Final Report June 23, 2021”
So these illustrate two things: (i) this is the DPW’s report and (ii) it says “final” report.
The first line of the first paragraph of the report says : “The Sterling DPW is proposing to develop and operate a food waste composting facility in accordance with a MDEP General Permit (310 CMR 16.04). That permit will allow for up to 105 tons per week, with a maximum of 30 tons per day, of food material.”
It’s right there, in black and white: “develop and operate” For reference, 30 tons is equal to 3 dump trunks filled to the brim (with rotting food [and potentially plastics and other contaminants]).
The second paragraph of the report says : “The proposed Sterling compost facility is intended to serve residential, commercial, institutional, and industrial food waste generators in the region.”
So it does not purport to merely compost the food scraps from our dinner tables (which clearly can be done in our own back yards individually [much more cheaply, too]); rather, it targets big, industrial food waste from the “region.”
Worried yet? You should be.
We have formed a group of citizens, united to oppose this project; we maintain that a commercial composting facility is not a compatible so close to residential neighborhoods, a first responder station, numerous local businesses, the Wekepeke Aquifer, Bartlett Pond, etc.
Email me at SterlingAgainstWasteProject@gmail.com if you want to join our group. And email me for the report if you wish to read it for yourself.
Thank you for reading, and I apologize for the length of this post.”

SO, FOLKS, JOIN “STERLING AGAINST WASTE PROJECT” AND STOP THIS REGIONAL, COMMERCIAL FOOD COMPOSTING OPERATION BEFORE IT STINKS UP NORTH STERLING AND POLLUTES BARTLET’S POND AND WEKEPEKE BROOK.

J.G.