When it comes to integrity and gumption I suppose that we really shouldn’t expect much from the Sterling Zoning Board of Appeals (Z.B.A.) because all its members are appointed by the Select Board whose two co-conspirators, Cranson and Kilcoyne, are up the A$$ of Sterling’s BIGGEST SNAKE, Simpson, who filed an illegal Earth Removal Permit Application to mine 18,000 cubic yards of sand/sand & gravel from the property at 68 Heywood Road, zoned “Rural Residential & Farming.”

Cranson and Kilcoyne thought that they were being REALLY CUTE when they proposed 2021 Sterling Annual Town Meeting Warrant Article 48– https://www.sterling-ma.gov/sites/g/files/vyhlif1266/f/uploads/2021_atm_final_warrant_june_7_2021_003_0.pdf — on behalf of their local developer cronies. It passed. They inserted in that Article, by way of explanation– inaccurate, as a matter of fact– this: “Article 6, Administration and Procedures, Section 6.2, [Zoning] Board of Appeals, by deleting subsection 6.2.2.2.a.4. in its entirety, thereby deleting the current requirement to obtain a use variance from the Board of Appeals for earth removal in the RR and NR zoning districts, shown in strikethrough: …” (emphasis added). Cranson and Kilcoyne THOUGHT that they were thereby favoring Simpson and other crony developers in Town.

HOWEVER, since Cranson and Kilcoyne aren’t very bright their ploy backfired. In truth and in fact, by eliminating the Sterling Protective (Zoning) By-Law “subsection 6.2.2.2.a.4.” “use variance” provision– invoked speciously as a loophole by Sterling’s crony developers over the years — Cranson and Kilcoyne OUTRIGHT PROHIBITED “Quarrying or Mining” in ALL areas of Sterling zoned “Rural Residential & Farming,” there being NO remaining “Quarrying or Mining” expressed “use variance” provision in the now-amended Sterling Protective (Zoning) By-Laws applicable to areas zoned “Rural Residential & Farming.” The legal result is that the Select Board/Earth Removal Board has NO JURISDICTION over Simpson’s BOGUS 68 Heywood Road Earth Removal Permit Application.

As a matter of law, Simpson’s intended 68 Heywood Road mining operation remains a ZONING MATTER and Simpson knows damned well that he cannot prove “hardship” or other elements required for the issuance of a valid zoning “variance” under Mass.Gen.Laws Ch. 40A, Sec. 10.
SEE: https://malegislature.gov/laws/generallaws/parti/titlevii/chapter40a/section10

Massachusetts courts have held, always, that one cannot create his own “hardship” in order to obtain a zoning “variance” and that any “hardship” must be inherent in the property. What Simpson anticipated getting from his 68 Heywood Road property is some impermissible gravy. Being denied impermissible gravy is not a “hardship” under Massachusetts Zoning Law.

BEFORE NOW, had the Sterling Zoning Board of Appeals any integrity or interest in upholding Sterling’s Protective (Zoning) By-Laws and the Rule of Law, its members would have rebuked, publicly, the Select Board’s/Earth Removal Board’s entertaining of Simpson’s illegal 68 Heywood Road Earth Removal Permit Application. HOWEVER, from the Sterling Z.B.A. what we’ve heard so far is…CRICKETS. Let us see whether, collectively, Sterling Z.B.A. members GROW A PAIR in time for the 15 December 2021 Select Board/Earth Removal Board hearing.

J.G.

We know that the Select Board/Earth Removal Board hearing on the illegal Earth Removal Permit Application, violating Sterling’s Protective (Zoning) By-Laws as amended by Warrant Article 48 passed at the 2021 Sterling Annual Town Meeting, submitted by Simpson, STERLING’S BIGGEST SNAKE, up whose A$$ Cranson and Kilcoyne are firmly lodged, seeking succor and security while degrading the Town of Sterling, is scheduled for 15 December 2021, BUT what about this “Approve Earth Removal Application” listed on the Select Board’s 8 December 2021 Amended Agenda– https://www.sterling-ma.gov/sites/g/files/vyhlif1266/f/agendas/2021_12_8_amended_agenda.pdf ??? Is this a stealth operation to approve someone’s Earth Removal Permit, or is the Select Board/Earth Removal Board merely accepting the filing of an Earth Removal Permit Application??? We don’t know, and that means that you have to watch these clowns VERY closely.

NOTE: There are MANY ‘approval’ items on that 8 December 2021 Amended Agenda, including “Borrowing” and the hiring of “VHB” to complete Sterling’s new BOONDOGGLE ‘Master Plan.’ Is THIS the “VHB” —https://www.vhb.com/watertown/ —they want to hire? If so, why now? If so, why is hiring “VHB” at this extremely delayed and late stage ‘necessary’ to complete this Select Board-orchestrated BOONDOGGLE? How much will “VHB” cost Sterling’s long-suffering taxpayers for this ‘Master Plan’ BOONDOGGLE perpetrated and overseen by the Select Board itself???

Again, you have to watch these clowns closely.

J.G.

Simpson is Sterling’s BIGGEST SNAKE and Select Board/Earth Removal Board members Cranson and Kilcoyne are entirely UP HIS A$$. If you don’t believe me then check out this photo–

You can observe this phenomenon for yourselves by watching the 15 December 2021 Select Board/Earth Removal Board hearing on Simpson’s flagrantly illegal application to remove 18,000 cubic yards of sand/sand & gravel from the 68 Heywood Road property that is zoned “Rural Residential & Farming.” Article 48 passed at the 2021 Sterling Annual Town Meeting. It made “Quarrying or Mining” a “Principal Use” under Sterling’s Protective (Zoning) By-Laws and prohibited “Quarrying or Mining” in all areas of Sterling zoned “Rural Residential & Farming.” Go to Article 48 here– https://www.sterling-ma.gov/sites/g/files/vyhlif1266/f/uploads/2021_atm_final_warrant_june_7_2021_003_0.pdf –and read it for yourselves. Article 48’s passage means that the Select Board/Earth Removal Board lacks jurisdiction over Simpson’s illegal Earth Removal application and that Simpson’s Earth Removal application should never have been accepted for filing by the Select Board/Earth Removal Board in the first place. Simpson, Cranson, and Kilcoyne know it, too. Note that the hearing Notice posted on the Town of Sterling website refers only to Article 63 of the Town’s General By-Laws, NOT to the Sterling Protective (Zoning) By-Laws as amended by the passage of Article 48. Cute.

So mark that 15 December 2021 hearing on your calendars. During the hearing you may have difficulty seeing Simpson, Simpson’s mouthpiece (lawyer), Cranson, and Kilcoyne because they will all be blowing smoke, but you’ll still be able to hear them.

J.G.

It’s official– the arrogant, grandstanding, Sterling taxpayer-abusing Select Board, after hijacking the ‘Master Plan’ process from the Planning Board where it belongs by law, wants to hire yet another ‘Town Planner’/Select Board’Gofer’ at Sterling taxpayer expense– https://www.sterling-ma.gov/sites/g/files/vyhlif1266/f/agendas/2021_11_22_amended_agenda.pdf This follows the recent, merciful departure of the Select Board’s failed three (3)-year ‘Town Planner’/’Gofer,’ Domenica Tatasciore. She was hired by the Select Board in October 2018 following the 2018 Sterling Annual Town Meeting during which voters authorized the hiring of a ‘Town Planner’ for the sole purpose of producing a new Sterling ‘Master Plan.’ Were Ms. Tatasciore a competent ‘Town Planner’ one would expect that, by now, only the finishing touches would be needed to complete Sterling’s new ‘Master Plan’ since the ‘Master Plan’ process should take only nine (9) months to two (2) years. Two other Massachusetts towns–one right here in Worcester County–completed their Master Plans recently, one town taking only twelve (12) months to do so and the other only fifteen (15) months. We may infer, therefore, that Ms. Tatasciore was an incompetent ‘Town Planner’ hired by an similarly incompetent Select Board.

The Select Board, of course, violated the scope of the 2018 Town Meeting authorization by using Ms. Tatasciore as their all-purpose ‘Gofer,’ too. The Select Board, therefore, has demonstrated lawlessness on two counts in the ‘Master Plan’ process.

Sidebar: The 22 November 2021 Select Board agenda–link above–also says that the Select Board will discuss searching for a new ‘Town Administrator.’ I guess we all missed the Select Board’s press release announcing Kellie Hebert’s definitive canning after merely ten (10) months on the job. Yeah, that’s more evidence of this Select Board’s incompetence in hiring, and incompetence in general.

SUGGESTION: Before we clean out this noxious Select Board over the next three election cycles, the Select Board should try hiring people who live in Sterling and care about our Town, rather than outside payroll patriots/grifters.

CLEANING HOUSE: As noted, we need to clean out this noxious Select Board one by one over the next three election cycles. So, honorable and competent candidates, please come forward!

J.G.

In case you didn’t know it, by law, in Massachusetts towns, Planning Boards, NOT Select Boards, are responsible for preparing Master Plans– https://www.sterling-ma.gov/planning-board In Sterling, however, the unaccountable grandstanding stiffs constituting the Select Board hijacked the Master Plan process more than three (3) years ago and hired the straphangers known as Barrett Planning Group LLC to guide the process– https://www.sterling-ma.gov/sites/g/files/vyhlif1266/f/agendas/master_plan_mtg_6.21.18.pdf Yeah, so how has that worked out for us???

Back then the Sterling Planning Board should have told the Select Board to go suck swamp water. Had the Planning Board stood on its legal prerogatives we’d have a completed new Master Plan by now. The entire process is supposed to take nine (9) months to two (2) years, NOT three (3)+ years and counting. SEE http://www.mapc.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/CPTC_Ralph-Willmer_How-to-Create-a-Master-Plan_2015.pdf And, yeah, had the Planning Board retained rightful control and hired Ralph Willmer, Domenica Tatasciore and the straphangers at Barrett Planning Group LLC would never have fed from the Sterling-taxpayer-funded public trough supervised by the unaccountable grandstanding stiffs constituting the Select Board.

Of course, following the 2018 Sterling Annual Town Meeting, during which an article passed authorizing the open-ended hiring of a ‘Town Planner’ for the sole purpose of producing a new Master Plan, the unaccountable grandstanding stiffs constituting the Select Board really stuck it to Sterling taxpayers by hiring failed ‘Town Planner’/Select Board ‘Gofer’ Domenica Tatasciore (she left recently in an act of mercy for Sterling taxpayers) who, over her three (3) years of grifting, cost Sterling taxpayers $225,000 in pay alone–her other employment benefits costing us much more, of course–without presenting us a completed Master Plan.

Now check out the Sterling Planning Board’s 18 November 2021 Agenda that includes “Discuss financial support of Master Plan (Revolving Account)” — https://www.sterling-ma.gov/sites/g/files/vyhlif1266/f/agendas/pb_agenda_stamped_-_november_18_2021.pdf SO, what’s going on here??? Are the unaccountable grandstanding stiffs constituting the Select Board, after hijacking the process, trying to tap the Planning Board’s revolving account to pay for their exorbitant Master Plan boondoggle??? If so the Planning Board, now, at least, should tell the Select Board to go suck swamp water.

J.G.

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.