In my dictionary, next to the definition of “dick around”–
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/dick%20around –are exemplar photographs of Sterling’s incompetent, failed so-called ‘Town Planner,’ the cipher, poseur, and favored Select Board ‘Gofer’ Domenica Tatasciore; the dawdling, doddering, unfocused, aimless, unwieldy, lackadaisical so-called ‘Master Plan Committee;’ and the three navel-gazing, self-important, bumps-on-a-log who oversee all of the aforesaid, Sterling’s Select Board. None of the foregoing would recognize the importance of brevity, succinctness, relevance, focus, goal-orientation, timeliness, deadlines, cost-effectiveness, fiscal restraint, or mission accomplishment if all those concepts reared up simultaneously and bit ’em all on their respective asses.

THE STERLING ‘MASTER PLAN COMMITTEE’ AND “BARRETT PLANNING GROUP LLC”–DICKING AROUND SINCE JUNE 2018 AT STERLING TAXPAYER EXPENSE

Sterling taxpayers have been paying the bills for the straphangers called “Barrett Planning Group LLC” since June 2018, as shown by the first so-called ‘Master Plan Committee’ ‘Agenda’ displayed on the Town’s website– https://www.sterling-ma.gov/sites/g/files/vyhlif1266/f/agendas/master_plan_mtg_6.21.18.pdf
In other words, “Barrett Planning Group LLC,” hired by the Sterling Select Board, have been dicking around at our expense for 38 months with NOTHING of value produced for the Town’s property-owning taxpayers. MEANWHILE, the Town of Sturbridge, right here in Worcester County, completed its new Master Plan in a mere fifteen months. The Town of Fairhaven’s Master Plan was completed in a year! That’s called competence, efficiency, and cost-effectiveness, folks, traits discouraged by the outright dopes constituting Sterling’s Select Board. DO THE STRAPHANGERS AT “BARRETT PLANNING GROUP LLC” HAVE ANY INCENTIVE TO SPEED UP MASTER PLAN PRODUCTION??? ANSWER: OF COURSE NOT, THE MORE THIS PROCESS DRAGS ON THE LONGER THEY CAN MOOCH OFF STERLING
TAXPAYERS.

MAY 2019, NO SURPRISE: BLOVIATING BULLSH*T FROM ‘OUR LADY OF PERPETUAL BULLSH*T,’ ILLEGITIMATE HOLDOVER SELECT BOARD CHAIR MAUREEN CRANSON

The Sterling Planning Board is responsible for producing new Town Master Plans but the self-important, preening poseurs intending to create a massive, verbose, unreadable new ‘Master Plan’ tome as a printed monument to themselves don’t care about that. In May 2019, illegitimate holdover Select Board Chair Maureen Cranson, in one of her usual factually-unsupported bloviating BULLSH*T pronouncements, said this about the Master Plan process: “It was evident the citizens are energized. As selectmen, I [sic] would like to move this forward… While it is in the purview of the Planning Board, I don’t want to lose energy. We owe it to the people who have worked a year or a year and a half to move forward.” https://www.telegram.com/news/20190603/selectmen-move-forward-master-plan-process That was her self-promoting bogus rationale for appointing NINE sub-committee chairs to the ‘Master Plan Committee,’ thereby making it totally unwieldy. “Energy” and “mov[ing] forward”??? WHAT A CROCK OF UNADULTERATED EXORBITANTLY EXPENSIVE SH*T! The Planning Board would have completed a workable new Master Plan by now. Thirty-eight (38) months down the road and these alternative assorted geniuses have produced SQUAT.

THE MANNEQUINS ON THE SO-CALLED ‘MASTER PLAN COMMITTEE’ ARE STILL PUTTING OUT “SURVEYS” AND DISCUSSING COMMITTEE ASSIGNMENTS

Any and all relevant questions to be included in ‘Master Plan’ citizen surveys should have been framed at the outset, three years ago. BUT, the so-called ‘Master Plan Committee’ is now framing a THIRD citizen survey and still discussing “Committee Assignments”– https://www.sterling-ma.gov/sites/g/files/vyhlif1266/f/agendas/2021_08_26_mpc_agenda.pdf Are you friggin’ kidding us??? Are you telling us that “Barrett Planning Group LLC,” hired by the Select Board, has done none of this previously and has no model “surveys” already in their hopper??? The Select Board is SQUARELY responsible for this ongoing, costly circus.

DOMENICA TATASCIORE, FAKE TOWN PLANNER AND THE SELECT BOARD’S $210,000 -AND-COUNTING ‘GOFER’

In October 2018 the Select Board hired Domenica Tatasciore as purported ‘Town Planner’ following the May 2018 Annual Town Meeting vote authorizing the hiring of a Town Planner for the sole, expressed purpose of producing a new Town Master Plan. Her starting salary was $74,000+, her current salary is $79,000+. In thirty-four (34) months she has not produced a new Master Plan. As an abject failure she has been paid more than $210,000 in Sterling taxpayer money, this in addition to the Sterling taxpayer money still being wasted on the four-flushing gravy-train feeders at “Barrett Planning Group LLC.” Meanwhile, the Select Board has used Tatasciore as their ‘Gofer’ for multiple, relatively insignificant tasks–WITHOUT TOWN MEETING AUTHORITY (Ultra Vires)–and even found a manufactured- administrative-bloat-bogus-excuse to pay her even MORE, AGAIN WITHOUT TOWN MEETING APPROVAL. SEE this, scroll down– https://www.telegram.com/story/news/local/the-item/2021/02/19/composting-proposal-sterling-could-reduce-waste-bring-revenue/6792068002/ All of this is, of course, is an absolute outrage but, as you now know, the Select Board, collectively, possesses no standards, no ethics, and, therefore, no shame. WHAT IS A SHAME IS THAT NEITHER KILCOYNE, THE BENT BUFFOON, NOR CRANSON, ‘OUR LADY OF PERPETUAL BULLSH*T,’ HAD OPPONENTS TO THEIR RECENT RE-ELECTIONS. HERE’S TO HOPING FOR SOME REAL, VIABLE ELECTORAL CONTESTS IN TOWN ELECTION CYCLES TO COME.

J.G.

Those upstanding, forthright, ethically courageous, totally transparent folks constituting Sterling’s Board of Health have scheduled yet another “Executive Session”– https://www.sterling-ma.gov/sites/g/files/vyhlif1266/f/agendas/08-12-2021_posted_agenda_form_sterling_board_of_health_w_executive_session.pdf –this time on 12 August, concerning, apparently, the BOH’s ‘full-time’ Agent [wink, wink] who NOW runs TWO businesses, Favreau Septic Services ( https://www.favreausepticservices.com/ ) and F & G Construction Co., Inc. ( https://www.bbb.org/us/ma/sterling/profile/commercial-contractors/f-g-construction-company-inc-0261-222789 ).

Hmmmm, I wonder if said Agent has finally stopped submitting to the Town time sheets indicating that he put in many, many 11-hour days, consistently [wink, wink], as BOH Agent. Would the Town Treasurer and the Town Administrator, his official time sheet reviewing officials, care to comment about that???

Hmmmm, how many more BOH “Executive Sessions” will feature, apparently, said BOH Agent, before the BOH replaces him???

J.G.

The Sterling Select Board is desperate to hose YOU, Sterling property owners, by raising permitting fees for construction and home improvement projects in order to retain and pay, indefinitely, their favored ‘Gofer,’ failed Town Planner/Sterling-taxpayer-funded-public-mammary-gland-feeder, Domenica Tatasciore, as the new, completely unnecessary, card-playing, internet-surfing “Director of Land Use & Permitting.” This in our Town of only 7800 souls.

SO what did the Bent Buffoon a/k/a Sterling Select Board member John Kilcoyne, during the 4 August 2021 Select Board Meeting, at minute 32, streamed here– https://townhallstreams.com/stream.php?location_id=80&id=39287 — have to say about that??? WELL, he said that he would talk to local builders AND to the very Town of Sterling payroll patriots who would be mooching off such increased permitting fees, none other than Domenica Tatasciore herself and Patty Page, Administrator for the ZBA and Planning Board, to find out what THEY think about hosing you. To promote administrative bloat and line their pockets Tatasciore and Page would hose you in a nanosecond. As for local builders, who, of course, will pass on any increased permitting fees to YOU, the property owners who hire them, they are the very cronies whose asses Kilcoyne kisses in return for political support. So how’s all that for obtaining objective, detached input in order to make a public policy decision??? Folks, you just can’t make this sh*t up.

WHEN YOU, AS STERLING PROPERTY OWNERS, DON’T GET A CALL ABOUT BEING HOSED BY INCREASED PERMITTING FEES, YOU’LL KNOW THAT IT WAS KILCOYNE ON THE OTHER END OF THE LINE.

J.G

As we know, David “Nowhere Man” Favreau, the Sterling Board of Health’s ‘full-time’ agent [wink, wink], has operated Favreau Septic Services, 111 Chace Hill Road, Sterling, for many years– https://www.favreausepticservices.com/

Turns out he is now running F & G Construction Company, Inc., too, using the same address. Just search the Secretary of the Commonwealth’s Corporations Database by plugging in that company name– https://www.sec.state.ma.us/cor/coridx.htm

As you can see, failed septic systems aren’t the only foul-smelling occurrences in Sterling.

Speaking of foul smells, when it comes to this matter the Sterling Select Board has been ‘Missing-In-Action.’ That’s because, as we know, “The Fish Rots From The Head Down.”

J.G.

The Sterling Select Board, with self-promoting ‘Our Lady of Perpetual Bullsh*t’ Maureen Cranson violating historical norms and tradition, aided and abetted by Bent Buffoon John Kilcoyne, hanging onto the Chair through Fiscal Year 2022 rather than turning it over, graciously, to Arden Sonnenberg, has published its 21 July 2021 ‘Working Session’ Agenda– https://www.sterling-ma.gov/sites/g/files/vyhlif1266/f/agendas/2021_7_28_work_session_agenda.pdf

These hacks aren’t reviewing all Permitting Fees in order to lower them for the benefit of Town residents, that’s for sure. Instead, it is obvious that they plan to raise them so that they can stash and fund their favored ‘Gofer,’ Sterling-Taxpayer-Funded-Public-Mammary-Gland-Feeder/Fake ‘Town Planner’ Domenica Tatasciore–who has not produced a new Town Master Plan despite flaunting her deceptive title for 33 months–as brand new “Land Use & Permitting Division” director. We are now funding this useless appendage to the tune of $79,000+ per year, plus benefits. Yeah, in our Town of 7800 souls we really, really need a new “Land Use & Permitting Division” about as much as we all need another bodily orifice, right Select Board?

If the Select Board hacks get their way their favorite parasite will be paid more than $79,000/year plus benefits, rest assured.

For our Fake-Fiefdom-Building Select Board hacks, nothing succeeds like failure. Stay tuned, and be prepared to separate out, and vote down, this coming Town Budget category at next year’s Annual Town Meeting.

UPDATE: The posted “Working Session” Agenda date is 21 July, but the “Town Calendar” has it on 28 July– https://www.sterling-ma.gov/calendar You can tell by the Agenda language that the “Working Session” results are pre-determined. Cranson and Kilcoyne are such predictably ludicrous frauds! Hmmm, how do they pre-determine meeting results without violating the “Open Meeting Law”???!!!

J.G.

Sources report that the Office of the Massachusetts Inspector General, a few weeks ago, sent to the Sterling Board of Health a “945 CMR Letter”– https://www.mass.gov/doc/945-cmr-1-rules-of-procedure/download — concerning BOH Agent David “Nowhere Man” Favreau’s completely non-itemized time sheets. SEE prior post, this Blog. So far the Sterling BOH has not responded, thereby blowing off the OIG. Here’s to hoping that the OIG proceeds to play hardball with the Sterling BOH. That would be entertaining!

THE “FISH ROTS FROM THE HEAD DOWN”

As the old saying goes, “the fish rots from the head down.” So, with ‘Our Lady of Perpetual Bullsh*t,’ Maureen Cranson, and the Bent Buffoon, John Kilcoyne, occupying Select Board seats and heading up the mini-Banana Republic– what now passes for Sterling Town ‘Government’ –that they organized and orchestrate, expect a lot more unaccountability until they are both taken out as trash.

J.G.

The Sterling Zoning Board of Appeals (Z.B.A.) has scheduled a public hearing on the 104 Lakeshore Drive Extension Owner/Occupant’s Application for a “Special Permit” “to allow for the extension, alteration, or change to a pre-existing non-conforming structure for the purposes of building a Single Family House” on that lot. That lot and surrounding parcels can be viewed using the online Sterling GIS mapping platform– https://www.axisgis.com/SterlingMA/

This brings back memories of the 55 Lakeshore Drive “Special Permit” 2007-2008 Carnival of Illegalities. Back then the owners/occupants of 55 Lakeshore Drive applied to Sterling Z.B.A. for a “Special Permit” to modify their existing non-conforming cottage on that property. Their hired mouthpiece, an out-of-town engineer, told the Z.B.A. at a public hearing that an addition, only, would be made to that existing structure. He lied. After the Z.B.A. issued the “Special Permit” the owners/occupants went to then-Sterling Building Inspector/Code Enforcement Officer Mark Brodeur and applied for a permit to demolish their cottage. Brodeur, instead of issuing a “Cease and Desist” Order to the owners/occupants for their planned “Special Permit” violation and fraud on the Z.B.A., granted, illegally, the demolition permit and further violated Massachusetts regulations by failing to give required Notice of the demolition permit to the adjoining lot owners, as provided by 780 CMR 112.2– https://www.mass.gov/files/documents/2016/09/us/780001_69991_77183.pdf Thereafter the existing cottage was burned to the ground as part of a Sterling Fire Department training exercise. In June 2008 Brodeur issued an illegal building permit to the owners/occupants who then built a new 1800 square foot, two-story home on the lot. Despite these serial illegalities the Sterling Z.B.A. never revoked its January 2008 “Special Permit.”

THE STERLING Z.B.A. AS A DOORMAT FOR DEVELOPERS– TWO MORE RECENT EXAMPLES

A. CIDER HILL ESTATES OFF REDSTONE HILL ROAD

Several years ago local developer Simpson applied to the Sterling Z.B.A. for a “Special Permit” to construct “Cider Hill Estates,” a “multi-family development,” off Redstone Hill Road, despite the fact that three (3) separate abutters owned driveways within 150 feet of Simpson’s planned entryway into that development. Sterling’s Protective (Zoning) By-Law, Article 4.2.3(c)(3), provides in pertinent part that “Any road or driveway serving 12 or more dwelling units…shall be separated from all other driveways…by at least 150 feet” (emphasis added). Notwithstanding all that, the Sterling Z.B.A., in bogus fashion, granted Simpson a “Special Permit.” Simpson went on to abuse nearby homeowners by mechanically shattering ledge-rock on that property over a course of weeks, violating the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Noise Regulation– https://casetext.com/regulation/code-of-massachusetts-regulations/department-310-cmr-department-of-environmental-protection/title-310-cmr-700-air-pollution-control/section-710-u-noise Sterling’s then-Code Enforcement Officer, payroll patriot Sarah Culgin, failed to enforce it.

B. FOLEY’S OAK HILL DUPLEXES ALONGSIDE CLINTON ROAD

Not long after “Cider Hill Estates” went in local developer Brian Foley applied to the Sterling Z.B.A. for an “Earth Removal” “Variance” to remove thousands of tons of solid granite from Oak Hill, near Clinton Road, for the purposes of carving out platforms for two duplexes and their septic systems. Such “Earth Removal” is not a permitted use in that area zoned “Rural Residential”. Foley knew damned well that he bought a solid granite hillside. It is a well-known principle of Massachusetts zoning law that “one cannot create his own ‘hardship'” in an effort to claim a “Variance.” See generally Sheppard vs. Zoning Board of Appeal of Boston et al., 81 Mass.App.Ct. 394 (2012) http://masscases.com/cases/app/81/81massappct394.html Despite the obvious operative facts, the Sterling Z.B.A. granted Foley a “Variance” anyway. Thereafter Foley spent months shattering, mechanically, that hillside granite, likewise violating the Massachusetts Noise Regulation, neighboring homes being located immediately adjacent and across Clinton Road. Again Sterling’s then-Code Enforcement Officer, payroll patriot Sarah Culgin, failed to enforce that regulation. Those on the Sterling Z.B.A. who voted for that abomination should be required to display on their foreheads three little stick-on yellow stars: one for utter gutlessness in approving that “Variance”; another for startling callousness in promoting Foley’s months-long noise abuses despite the close proximity of neighboring homes; and the third for outright stupidity in supporting the placement of two duplex septic systems directly over quarried-out granite bedrock.

SOME ADVICE FOR ABUTTERS/NEIGHBORS TO PROPOSED STERLING CONSTRUCTION/DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS

The Sterling Planning Board–now with two developers on it–and the Sterling Z.B.A. are not your friends. Monitor applications, hearings, processes, and developments closely. Be prepared to band together and pool your financial resources in order to hire competent zoning-law lawyers to protect your interests by bringing court challenges. Most challenged “Variances” are overturned by courts, and many “Special Permits” are overturned too.

J.G.