HEY ALL OF YOU SILLY STERLING PROPERTY TAXPAYERS. I BET YOU THOUGHT THAT STERLING TOWN OFFICIALS, INCLUDING THE SELECT BOARD, THE D.P.W. BOARD, THE TOWN ADMINISTRATOR, AND THE D.P.W. SUPERINTENDENT SELECTED THE VERTEX COMPANIES, LLC TO BE THE STERLING D.P.W. GARAGE MAHAL PROJECT MANAGER AFTER A THOROUGH, COMPREHENSIVE, OBJECTIVE STATE-WIDE SEARCH FOR THE MOST COMPETENT PROJECT MANAGER AT THE BEST PRICE, RIGHT???
WELL, YOU’D BE WRONG!!!
MEET STEPHEN P. THERAN, VERTEX SENIOR PROJECT MANAGER, WHO JUST HAPPENS TO RESIDE AT 19 HARDSCRABBLE ROAD, STERLING, A 7.63 ACRE COMPOUND ASSESSED AT $1,266,200.
According to a ‘white pages’ search Theran formerly resided in Athol, but now lives here.
YA, BABY, THIS ISMORE PROOF THAT STERLING TOWN GOVERNMENT CRONYISM IS ALIVE AND THRIVING!
Were you wondering for how much Stephen P. Theran’s time is billed out by Vertex to the Town of Sterling (meaning we the taxpayers)???
Well, according to the Sterling D.P.W.-Vertex contract I got in response to my Mass.Gen.Laws Ch. 66, Section 10 Public Records Request, his time as a Senior Project Manager was billed out at $184 per hour in 2025 and will be billed out at $193 per hour in 2026. Gee, and wouldn’t you just know it, he’s named as “Sr. Project Manager” on the contract’s “ATTACHMENT A– PAYMENT SCHEDULE” !!!
MMMM, DON’T YOU LOVE THE SMELL OF STERLING TOWN GOVERNMENT CRONYISM AND CONFLICTS OF INTEREST IN THE MORNING?
HECK, THE REST OF US STERLING TAXPAYERS ARE HELPINNG TO PAY THIS CONNECTED PARASITE’S PROPERTY TAXES.
I’M SHOCKED, SHOCKED I TELL YOU!—
Since intelligent Sterling taxpayers shellacked the proposed $33 Million, 37,000 square foot Sterling D.P.W. Garage Mahal Truck Palace, 373 to 183, at the 13 November 2025 Special Town Meeting, the Town’s contract with Vertex was amended because planning for the proposed, re-packaged 28,000 square foot D.P.W Garage Mahal Truck Palace will now be extended into 2026. For 2025 we paid Vertex $76,157.36. For 2026 we are on the hook to Vertex for an additional $54,091.25, for a total of $130,248.61.
AND FOOTNOTE 1 of the contract says that’s for the “Schematic Design” phase only.
Now you know why Vertex parasites were handing out Sterling D.P.W. Garage Mahal Truck Palace propaganda flyers at the 13 November 2025 Special Town Meeting.
Yes people, we Sterling taxpayers have been, and will be further, well and truly F#CKED by the Sterling Select Board, the D.P.W. Board, the Town Administrator (who signed the Vertex contract and its amendment), and the D.P.W. Superintendent.
Sterling folks have been wondering why Weston & Sampson Engineering keeps getting Sterling Town Government contracts to the apparent exclusion of other engineering firms. It’s a curious phenomenon, is it not??? Doesn’t look like a fair, level playing field, does it???
Well, turns out that Weston & Sampson advertises various services such as the following, found on its webpages:
“Weston & Sampson provides reliable operation and maintenance, repair, health and safety, and training services, including 24/7 emergency response.
Our team of licensed engineers, certified operators, electricians, plumbers, and technicians delivers full-service operation and maintenance (O&M) for both public and private clients. We support conventional and alternative wastewater and water treatment systems, pump stations, and collection/distribution/storm drain systems. Our services include preventive maintenance (site visits, inspections, reports, and scheduling), full-service contract O&M, and scheduled/emergency corrective maintenance. We also offer cross-connection control programs, backflow testing and repairs, and 24/7 emergency service.”
And Weston & Sampson just happens to have a service location listed at 16 Legate Hill Road, Sterling, just across from DMH Electric, as listed on its webpages.
Quelle surprise! What a coincidence! I’m sure that it’s pure happenstance that the Town of Sterling keeps awarding engineering contracts to an engineering firm having a business location in Sterling!
So the tag-along doormats constituting the Sterling Finance Committee and Capital Budget Committee had another joint meeting on 15 January 2026 during which the Sterling D.P.W. Garage Mahal/Truck Palace Boondoggle was discussed in its apparent repackaged form. You can watch/listen to the discussion beginning at 1:08:20– https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BxMbKu0NHew&list=PL2jc5fA2LZPpKEbAAJqpkKjVZxl3DvK_w&index=2
You see, the Sterling D.P.W. Board Pricks believe that Sterling taxpayers/voters will bite for a 28,000 square foot Garage Mahal/Truck Palace, modeled on the Town of Norwood (population 31,611 as compared with Sterling’s 8000)– https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norwood,_Massachusetts — Garage Mahal/Truck Palace instead of the $33 Million/37,000 square foot version that was shellacked by Sterling voters at the 13 November 2025 Special Town Meeting, 373 to 183.
For Finance Committee member Mark Gauthier’s edification, 37,000 minus 9000 equals 28,000, not 27,000.
CHECK OUT THE PHOTOS OF NORWOOD’S GLEAMING D.P.W. GARAGE MAHAL/TRUCK PALACE:
GEE, WHAT A COINCIDENCE! The Town of Norwood’s gleaming D.P.W. Garage Mahal/Truck Palace was designed by none other than Weston & Sampson, the same commission-hungry parasitical engineering firm working on the Sterling D.P.W. Garage Mahal/Truck Palace plans.
GEE, how come Weston & Sampson didn’t cite the nearby Town of Berlin D.P.W. $4.1 Million, 13,000-14,000 square foot facility completed in 2018 as a model???
ANSWER: Because the Town of Berlin didn’t retain the Weston & Sampson commission-hungry parasites and, as a result, got a wonderful new D.P.W facility for a fair price.
The comparison makes it clear that Sterling’s out-of-control D.P.W. pricks, and Weston & Sampson, want to build a Garage Mahal/Truck Palace as a monument to themselves at Sterling property taxpayer expense.
DESPITE BEING SHELLACKED AT THE 13 NOVEMBER 2025 SPECIAL TOWN MEETING, STERLING’S OUT-OF-CONTROL D.P.W. PRICKS STILL WANT TO PARK ALL THEIR TRUCKS IN A HEATED GARAGE INSTEAD OF UNDER A CARPORT-EQUIVALENT ‘POLE BARN’
Despite the clear message Sterling voters sent the arrogant, out-of-control Sterling D.P.W. pricks on 13 November 2025, those pricks still insist on parking their trucks in a heated garage despite the fact that constructing a ‘pole barn’ to shelter those trucks would save Sterling property taxpayers untold $Millions.
The Sterling D.P.W.’s trucks, front-end loaders, etc., are designed and manufactured to be parked outdoors.
WESTON & SAMPSON, THE COMMISSION-HUNGRY PARASITES, ARE NOW IN A CONFLICT OF INTEREST IN PURPORTEDLY PRICING NEEDED IMPROVEMENTS/UPGRADES TO THE EXISTING STERLING D.P.W. FACILITY
As revealed during the 15 January 2026 Joint Finance Committee-CBC meeting, Weston & Sampson, those commission-hungry parasites, will purportedly price needed improvements/upgrades to Sterling’s existing D.P.W. facility for Sterling voters’ consideration. WHAT A JOKE. Weston & Sampson is now in a blatant conflict of interest on that score. It will deliberately INFLATE the list and costs of needed upgrades because it REALLY wants to be paid a commission on A BRAND NEW FACILITY OF ITS DESIGN.
AS ALSO REVEALED DURING THAT 15 JANUARY 2026 MEETING, DUE TO THE TOWN OF STERLING’S DISASTROUS FISCAL CONDITION AND POTENTIAL PROPOSITION 2 ½ PROPERTY TAX OVERRIDE THE D.P.W. IS NOW BACKING AWAY FROM A MAY 2026 STERLING ANNUAL TOWN MEETING VOTE ON ITS REPACKAGED GARAGE MAHAL/TRUCK PALACE AND WILL PROBABLY REQUEST ANOTHER SPECIAL TOWN MEETING. READ BETWEEN THE LINES.
It looks like the Sterling D.P.W. pricks want to wage a continued war on Sterling taxpayers/voters. I hereby assure them that the war is reciprocal.
Anyone with half a brain and paying attention saw this WRSD-caused financial disaster coming for years. While WRSD total student enrollment plummeted by more than 1000–14.5%– from Fiscal Year 2010 to now, the feckless patronage-cycling hacks constituting the WRSD Administration and District Committee kept hiring unneeded personnel, bloating the ranks of mau-mauing unionized parasites clamoring for guaranteed raises as they exploded the WRSD budget from $81.3 million in FY 2015 to $129,515,225 this Fiscal Year, a WHOPPING 59.3% increase in just eleven (11) fiscal years. The jump from last Fiscal Year’s budget of $121.9 million was HUGE, even after it was revealed that WRSD students were performing 3 grade levels behind in reading and mathematics. For years brilliant WRSD Superintendents and Committee members handicapped students by rejecting tried-and-true phonics as a learning method. Yeah, they’re friggin’ brilliant alright.
Here in Sterling a succession of SELECT BOARD WRSD-PANDERING TWITS played along. They figured that if they bucked the local tax-fattened WRSD employee-hyenas and the mommies and daddies of students they’d have a hard time getting elected/re-elected. So screw ALL the property taxpayers, full-speed ahead! YEAH, I’m looking at YOU, Kirsten Newman, insufferable go-along virtue-signaling invertebrate twit, and YOU, Maureen “Our Lady of Perpetual Bullshit” Cranson. By the way, Kirsten Newman is up for re-election in May 2026. I’m going to have a bunch of yard signs made up saying “FOR SELECT BOARD: ANYONE BUT KIRSTEN NEWMAN.” Will an intelligent, principled, stalwart, fiscally prudent challenger PLEASE step up???
In the last 13 years ONLY TWO Sterling Finance Committee Chairs had the cojones to challenge WRSD budget requests ‘above [Sterling’s] state-required net minimum contribution’ at Sterling Annual Town Meetings— Larry Pape in 2012 and the late George Handy a couple years ago, may God rest him. SO WHAT DID STERLING’S WRSD ASS-KISSING SELECT BOARD PU$$IES DO IN RESPONSE??? They refused to re-appoint them to the Finance Committee when their terms expired soon after. LESSON LEARNED BY STERLING FINANCE COMMITTEE APPLICANTS AND MEMBERS—you can’t display any cojones or sound independent judgment upsetting ANY of the owners of the asses the Invertebrate Sterling Select Board Poseurs are kissing or you won’t get appointed/re-appointed to the Sterling Finance Committee. The result: there are absolutely NO COJONES being displayed by the Finance Committee. They didn’t even buck the absolutely OUTRAGEOUS and ABSURD Sterling D.P.W. $33 Million/37,000 square foot Garage Mahal Boondoggle, and they aren’t bucking the Garage Mahal Boondoggle Sequel, because the D.P.W. Superintendent, the D.P.W. Board, and the Select Board are all engaged in MUTUALLY BENEFICIAL CRONY-CLASS ASS-KISSING at Sterling property taxpayers’ expense.
During the 15 January 2026 Joint Sterling Finance Committee-Capital Budget Committee Meeting it was revealed that Holden, Paxton, and Rutland have been backed against the wall and will have general, operating budget Proposition 2 ½ Override votes at their respective May-June 2026 Annual Town Meetings. We know how they got there—THEIR Select Boards and Finance Committees pandered to the incompetent, degenerate, profligate patronage-cycling hacks constituting the WRSD Committee and Administration. They kicked the taxpayer-supplied money can down the road until the Proposition 2 ½ debt limit road ran out. If THEIR respective Select Boards have ANY balls– and that is a legitimate question– they will make approval of the Holden, Paxton, and Rutland WRSD budget requests above their Towns’ state-required net minimum contributions–NOT THEIR TOWN OPERATING BUDGETS– contingent upon passage of Proposition 2 1/2 overrides in town-wide votes.
Sterling will be the next victim, thanks primarily to our feckless, incompetent, invertebrate, vacuous Select Board, and secondarily to our Finance Committee who, in the face of WRSD overreach, have firmly maintained their thumbs up their asses since said Select Board kicked the late George Handy to the curb. CONGRATULATIONS TO YOU ALL!!!
My next piece, in a few days, will be about the STILL-OUTRAGEOUS Sterling D.P.W. Garage Mahal Boondoggle Sequel.
John Buffington, age 67, was hired by the Town of Princeton Recreation Department as an after-school program instructor in “woodworking, kite-making, and primitive skills.” Officials were tipped off that he possessed child pornography. He possessed sexually explicit photographs of at least one child he knew. He committed suicide during a police raid in execution of a search warrant. SAYONARA, SCUMBAG!
The WRSD is a dysfunctional money pit run by dishonest ‘Woke’ incompetents. Despite the WRSD Committee renewing ‘School Choice’ for this 2025-2026 fiscal year—encouraging students from neighboring school districts to enroll in the WRSD rather than their home districts—in a blatantly transparent attempt to boost WRSD enrollment numbers and thereby try for more state funding, the WRSD failed abysmally. Its total student enrollment numbers dropped 130 since last fiscal year, from 6557 to 6427.
The WRSD’s peak total enrollment of 7493 was reached in Fiscal Year 2010. It has been falling ever since—by more than 1000—or 14.5%.
WHILE WRSD TOTAL STUDENT ENROLLMENT DROPPED 14.5% SINCE FY 2010, THE WRSD BUDGET HAS INCREASED FROM $81.3 MILLION IN FY 2015 TO $129,515,225 THIS FISCAL YEAR 2026, A WHOPPING 59.3% IN JUST ELEVEN (11) FISCAL YEARS.
THAT’S AN ABSOLUTE OUTRAGE AND AN OUTRIGHT INSULT TO EVERY SINGLE DISTRICT TAXPAYER.
THE COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS DEPARTMENT OF ELEMENTARY AND SECONDARY EDUCATION IS WELL AWARE OF THE WRSD’S STUDENT ENROLLMENT SLIDE AND, THEREFORE, HAS LIMITED STATE FUNDING TO THE WRSD ACCORDINGLY.
BUT THE MORONS CONSTITUTING THE STERLING FINANCE COMMITTEE CITE THE STATE FREEZE AS A REASON TO BOOST LOCAL WRSD FUNDING, AT TAXPAYER EXPENSE, PRECIPITOUSLY, WHILE WRSD TOTAL STUDENT ENROLLMENT FALLS OFF THE TABLE. THEY ARE ABSOLUTE SPINELESS DOPES.
You can read what the Sterling Finance Committee said about that here:
This year the WRSD is pushing every single District town into Proposition 2 ½ override territory. LET’S WATCH AND SEE HOW STERLING’S FINANCE COMMITTEE AND SELECT BOARD MORONS HANDLE THAT DISASTER, A FISCAL DISASTER YEARS IN THE MAKING DUE TO THEIR GUTLESS INCOMPETENCE.
Thanks to the June 2025 LANDMARK U.S. Supreme Court “Opt Out” decision in Mahmoud vs. Taylor— https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/24pdf/24-297_4f14.pdf — a Lexington Dad has obtained a Massachusetts Federal Court preliminary injunction against the Lexington Public Schools, thereby protecting his kindergartener son from LGBTQ propaganda materials foisted upon him by Lexington Public Schools LGBTQ Brainwashing Groomer Perverts.
WELL FOLKS, appearing in the 1 January 2026 The Landmark–https://www.thelandmark.com/ — is the Sterling First Church Lefty Governance Board’s 2026 Communist Manifesto, also posted on the Sterling First Church Facebook page. It is reproduced below. That Governance Board, spewing out unsubstantiated generalities, suffers from an obvious case of Trump Derangement Syndrome (TDS).
A Position Statement of the First Church in Sterling (2025)
At this time of political, economic, and social upheaval in our country, we are witnessing the dehumanization, vilification, and scapegoating of our immigrant, disabled, poor, and LGBTQIA+ neighbors. Violence, and threats of violence, are being used to harass and intimidate the most vulnerable among us. Innocent people are being blamed for societal ills and for manufactured crises. Bigotry and racism are being disguised as security and justice. The wealth of the few is being prioritized over the good of the many.
As a congregation gathered in the Spirit of Jesus and committed to creating heaven on earth, who strive to live out the Gospel command to love God and neighbor (Matthew 22:37–39), First Church in Sterling cannot stay silent. We must stand up and cry out our moral opposition to every form of injustice in which human dignity is denied, truth is twisted to serve power, or communities are targeted by hatred, violence, fear, and lies. Such acts are an affront not only to our democratic ideals but, more heartbreakingly, to our Christian values. Values like truth, radical love, and justice are not optional. They are essential to our mission of creating heaven on earth.
First Church has been a pillar of the Sterling community since World War II and has long offered support and safety to the vulnerable while bringing hope in the darkest times. We know that the Scriptures are filled with calls to defend the orphan, the widow, and the stranger (Deut. 10:18–19; Isaiah 1:17); that all people are created in the image of God and endowed with inherent dignity (Genesis 1:27); that mercy, compassion, and justice are at the heart of God’s desire for the world (Micah 6:8); and that love casts out fear (1 John 4:18). We are committed to living into these values and opposing today’s climate of division and fear. However, we know that the antidote to division is not the elimination of difference or dissent. The answer to division is connection, consensus, care, and a commitment to inclusion and equity for everyone God loves – in all our amazing, beautiful diversity.
It is in this spirit, and with Love, that we resolve:
To continue speaking out, collectively and individually;
To commit our resources, energy, and presence to partnerships and programs that prioritize the care and dignity of immigrants, LGBTQIA+ people, people with disabilities, people of color, and all who are marginalized;
To strengthen our ongoing work of education by hosting and attending trainings, classes, talks, and public gatherings;
To collaborate with other congregations, faith communities, civic leaders, neighbors, and especially those most affected by injustice, so that we may join our strength to theirs;
To remain open to new and creative ways of expanding our engagement in pursuit of justice and peace;
To foster courageous conversations in our community that can lead to better understanding – meeting in the middle rather than retreating to ideological extremes;
To avoid partisanship, instead pursuing truth and opposing hatred, injustice, oppression, and violence in our communities, systems, and institutions regardless of the source;
To heed Christ’s call to love our neighbors, guarding against our human impulse to hate that which we fear or which angers us, remembering that every person is our neighbor and a beloved child of God.
To avoid imposing our Christian beliefs, but to embody our Christian values in solidarity with people of all faiths or no faith, who share in the work of building a more just and loving world.
May our witness be bold, timely, and faithful, and may all who hear our call – neighbors, partners, and friends – choose to join us in this holy work.
The Governance Board of the First Church in Sterling
Sarah Goodwin, Chair; Shawn O’Reilly, Pat Keay, Gereda Burger, Doug Davis and Rev. Robin Bartlett
Let’s decipher and address these bald, unsubstantiated assertions.
A. ILLEGAL ENTRY INTO THE UNITED STATES IS A FEDERAL CRIME. ALL ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS ARE SUBJECT TO DEPORTATION/PROSECUTION
The First Church crowd are fond of spouting, and lawn signs pronouncing, tautologies and platitudes such as ‘No Human Is Illegal’ that are deliberately off-point, but the fact is that there are 20-30 million illegal immigrants/criminal aliens in the United States squeezing legitimate U.S. citizens when it comes to housing opportunities, health care availability, and educational opportunities, and many of the illegal aliens are outright criminal thugs preying on U.S. citizens.
Under the Trump Administration they are now being rounded up and deported or prosecuted, RIGHTLY. So cry me a river, First Church Governance Board. I say get rid of them all.
B. THE DISABLED AND POOR ARE BEING DEHUMANIZED, VILIFIED, AND SCAPEGOATED??? BULLSHIT!
The First Church Governance Board did not cite a single example of the disabled or poor being dehumanized, vilified, or scapegoated. They, therefore, have ZERO credibility. Perhaps, however, they are alluding to the 31 December 2025 termination of [N]Obamacare subsidies. WELL, in October 2025 even Leftwing The Washington Post editorial board, about 15 years late, admitted that “Obamacare Was Never Affordable.” The Washington Post is paywalled, but you can read about it here:
The real aim of [N]Obamacare was to expand the dependent class–those dependent on taxpayer-funded benefits–or, in other words, the DemocRAT Party voter plantation. Well, that gravy train is winding down, and none too soon.
C. ‘LGBTQIA NEIGHBORS’ ARE BEING DEHUMANIZED, VILIFIED, AND SCAPEGOATED??? QUITE THE CONRARY— LGBTQIA WACKJOBS HAVE BEEN MURDERING REAL CHRISTIANS
The First Church Governance Board did not cite a single example of ‘LGBTQIA neighbors’ being dehumanized, vilified, or scapegoated, UNLESS they are referring to the murderous LGBTQIA wackjobs who have been condemned by all moral, ethical, rational beings. I didn’t see or hear a peep out of the outright hypocritical First Church Governance Board when REAL CHRISTIANS were murdered by LGBTQIA wackjobs. Perhaps the following will refresh their memories:
D. ‘PEOPLE OF COLOR’ ARE BEING MARGINALIZED??? WELL, MAYBE THE SOMALI FRAUDSTERS.
The First Church Governance Board did not cite a single example of ‘people of color’ being marginalized, but perhaps they are referring the Somalis being revealed as endemic, pervasive fraudsters:
So Sterling First Church Governance Board, spare us your selective, hypocritical, sniveling, faux empathy and faux moral outrage. For all practical purposes you’ve demonstrated that Sterling First Church is not really a church—it is merely another DemocRAT Party organ.
On 18 December 2025 the absolutely clueless, delusional Sterling Finance Committee met and discussed the 15 December 2025 Sterling D.P.W. Facilities Committee’s so-called ‘Charette’ ( https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/charette )—the 2 hour and 15 minute discussion during which commission-hungry Weston & Sampson Engineering parasites presented various plans for a somewhat less expensive Sterling D.P.W. ‘Garage Mahal’ after their absolutely outrageous $33 Million, 37,000 square foot ‘Garage Mahal’ proposal was shellacked by Sterling Special Town Meeting voters on 13 November 2025, 373 to 183. You can watch and listen to that Finance Committee clownfest here between 1:09:41 and about 1:21:00—
Representatives of Vertex, the commission-hungry parasites selected to be project managers for the Sterling D.P.W. ‘Garage Mahal,’ were also present at the “Charette.”
Mark Gauthier, Finance Committee cipher-liaison to the Sterling D.P.W./D.P.W. Facilities Committee, was also present.
That ‘Charette’ was not filmed or recorded and no ‘minutes’ of it were made or kept so there is nothing of it for Sterling taxpayers to review. Yeah, another Sterling Town Government exercise in hiding the ball.
It is interesting to note that a Vertex parasite, Steve Therrien (sp?), present at the ‘Charette,’ appears to have been the only rational and realistic being present. After witnessing the 13 November 2025 Special Town Meeting ‘Garage Mahal’ shellacking he opined that the new Sterling D.P.W. facility must be MUCH SMALLER. He’s ABSOLUTELY correct.
Other than Therrien, apparently everyone else present at the ‘Charette’ was delusional, thinking that Sterling voters/taxpayers may vote for a $25 Million ‘Garage Mahal Lite.’ THEY’RE ABSOLUTELY WRONG.
The Finance Committee’s Gauthier reported that the Weston & Sampson commission-hungry parasites were focused on reducing ‘office space’ costs because the office spaces had the highest per-square-foot costs. WELL, THAT’S A START, ASSHOLES, BUT THE STERLING D.P.W. DOESN’T NEED 20,000 SQUARE FEET –JUST UNDER HALF AN ACRE– OF ‘TUBE RADIANT HEATED’ GARAGE SPACE TO KEEP ITS PAMPERED VEHICLES OUT OF THE WEATHER. THOSE VEHICLES ARE MADE TO BE PARKED OUTDOORS, JUST LIKE ALL THE OIL COMPANY DELIVERY TRUCKS AND CONSTRUCTION COMPANY TRUCKS THROUGHOUT THIS ENTIRE REGION.
Gauthier also let slip that at the ‘Charette’ he mentioned that an unnamed Finance Committee member thought that Sterling taxpayers/voters would swallow a $16 Million ‘Garage Mahal Lite’. I’D LIKE TO KNOW THE IDENTITY OF THAT MISGUIDED FINANCE COMMITTEE ASSHOLEATTEMPTING TO SUBVERT THE INTERESTS OF STERLING’S TAXPAYERS.
NO, STERLING TAXPAYERS WILL NOT VOTE FOR A $16 MILLION ‘GARAGE MAHAL LITE’ EITHER BECAUSE WE KNOW THAT THE TOWN OF BERLIN GOT A NEW 13,000 TO 14,000 SQUARE FOOT D.P.W. FACILITY FOR $4.1 MILLION IN 2018. APPARENTLY THE TOWN OF BERLIN ACCOMPLISHED THAT FEAT WITHOUT WESTON & SAMPSON OR VERTEX COMMISSION-HUNGRY PARASITES BEING IN THE PICTURE.QUELLE SURPRISE!
When you watch the 18 December 2025 Sterling Finance Committee meeting you can see that Gauthier is a go-along blob exhibiting all the signs of what’s called “Regulatory Capture.” “Regulatory Capture” happens when a government regulatory body is captured by an entity that it is supposed to regulate.
The following is from the Sterling Finance Committee’s webpage:
Sterling Finance Committee Guiding Principles
Minimize year over year tax levy changes.
Treat all departments, committees and individuals consistently and respectfully.
As a guideline, maintain the Capital Fund at a level equal to the total annual capital asset depreciation or greater.
As a guideline, items considered for the Capital Fund should have a useful life of greater than 5 years and a cost of $25K or more.
As a guideline, items considered for bonding should have a useful life greater than 10 years and a cost of $100K or more.
Maintain a 3-year planning horizon.
Focus on the fiscal aspects of all Town issues and remain neutral to the “politics” of issues.
Maintain a strong fiscal discipline and continue to emphasize the importance of healthy reserves.
Make decisions that will serve to maintain and increase the taxpayers’ and voters’ trust and respect, paving the way for confidence in future Finance Committee decisions.
(Vision and Mission Statement Adopted December 1, 2022)
When it comes to the proposed new D.P.W. Facility it is clear that Gauthier, and the entire Finance Committee for that matter, has/have disregarded Finance Committee ‘Guiding Principles’ numbered 7 through 9, especially 9. He and they obviously don’t give a rat’s ass about the taxpayer outrage exhibited at the 13 November 2025 Special Town Meeting.
Since the EXORBITANT UTTER ASSHOLES constituting Sterling Town Government don’t have the mental acuity to spell out what the Sterling D.P.W. NEEDS in a new facility, I will:
a. Two (2) repair bays with truck lifts;
b. A truck wash bay;
c. Waiting room for visitors/taxpayers;
d. Kitchenette for D.P.W. employees;
e. Break room for D.P.W. employees;
f. Conference room;
g. Office space;
h. Bathrooms;
i. Oil-fired furnace with ducts to heat all spaces.
NOTE TO THE STERLING D.P.W.: YOU CAN PARK YOUR F#CKING VEHICLES OUTDOORS UNDER OPEN-SIDED ROOFED CARPORTS/TRUCKPORTS JUST LIKE THE ASHBURNHAM AND WEST BOYLSTON POLICE DEPARTMENTS DO.
We Sterling voters/taxpayers will be happy with a new D.P.W. building like the one the Town of Berlin got for $4.1 Million in 2018.
And yes, we’ll take Pezzuco Construction–https://pezzcon.com/ –in place of those commission-hungry parasites Weston & Sampson and Vertex every day of the week.
It should be noted that during the 18 December 2025 Sterling Finance Committee Meeting, Chair Joe King said that the D.P.W. Facility proposal was one “pebble on the beach” competing with other “pebbles on the beach” for funding. WELL, NOT EXACTLY, JOE: THE D.P.W. Facility is a HUGE F#CKING BOULDER ON THE BEACH TO STERLING PROPERTY TAXPAYERS, SO GET THAT POINT THROUGH YOUR SKULL.
There will be another D.P.W. Facilities Committee meeting on 12 January 2026.
If The Wizard of Oz were re-written today then Sterling’s Finance Committee and Capital Budget Committee members would be the new characters singing “If I Only Had A Spine.”
It is readily apparent that the Sterling Town Government payroll is seriously bloated, with consequent skyrocketing health insurance costs, and that layoffs, hiring freezes, and salary freezes should be implemented to avoid reaching Sterling’s across-the-board Proposition 2 ½ ‘Debt Ceiling.’ But the Finance Committee and the Capital Budget Committee don’t have the cojones to call for such measures. INSTEAD, their solution is to avoid what is now a NECESSARY, GENERAL 2026 Annual Town Meeting Proposition 2 ½ Override Vote–that would be defeated, thereby forcing much-needed Town Government layoffs, hiring freezes, and salary freezes–and instead SCREW Sterling property taxpayers, INCREMENTALLY, by recommending “Mini Debt Exclusions” for capital purchases/projects. “DEBT EXCLUSIONS” ARE PROPOSITION 2 ½ OVERRIDES FOR PARTICULAR PROJECTS. THEY PILE UP.
As it stands now, these Finance Committee and Capital Budget Committee utter wimps are endorsing “Mini Debt Exclusions” for a new D.P.W. dump truck and two (2) new Police Department cruisers for the 2026 Annual Town Meeting, BECAUSE THE TOWN’S CAPITAL INVESTMENT FUND IS TAPPED OUT. WAY TO GO FINANCE COMMITTEE AND CAPITAL BUDGET COMMITTEE!!! THAT’S REALLY SOUND FISCAL PLANNING!!!YOU ALL KICKED THE CAN DOWN THE ROAD UNTIL THE ROAD RAN OUT.
You can watch and listen to these invertebrate clowns when Sterling-Lancaster Community TV posts their 18 December 2025 Joint Meeting on its website.
SO, why do these coopted Finance Committee and Capital Budget Committee exorbitant spending enablers believe that “Mini Debt Exclusions” are the way to go???
BECAUSE, in their gullible stupidity, Sterling 2025 Annual Town Meeting Voters APPROVED the $800,000 BOGUS D.P.W. Swett Hill Road Drainage Project debt exclusion, and the D.P.W. BOGUS ‘Garage Mahal’ ‘planning’ $500,000 debt exclusion. BY THE WAY, THE D.P.W. CLOWNS TOTALLY SCREWED THE POOCH AND STERLING TAXPAYERS WITH THEIR BOGUS SWETT HILL ROAD DRAINAGE PROJECT. THEY GOT NO BIDS BEFORE GETTING THE $800,000 AND THE PROJECT IS STILL HUNG UP IN CONSERVATION COMMISSION REVIEW. The D.P.W. CLOWNS ALSO TOTALLY SCREWED THE POOCH AND STERLING TAXPAYERS WITH THEIR $500,000 BOGUS ‘GARAGE MAHAL’ ‘PLANNING’ DEBT EXCLUSION SINCE STERLING VOTERS, 373 TO 183, SHOT DOWN THE PROPOSED $33 MILLION ‘GARAGE MAHAL’ AT THE 13 NOVEMBER 2025 SPECIAL TOWN MEETING. Ya, Ya, Sterling D.P.W. competence and fiscal responsibility on parade!
SEE 2025 Annual Town Meeting Warrant Articles 25 and 26—
My next Blog post will be about Mark Gauthier, the bloviating blob Finance Committee taxpayer-sellout-invertebrate-liaison to the D.P.W./D.P.W. Facilities Committee who is a prime exemplar of ‘Stockholm Syndrome.’
STERLING, MASSACHUSETTS, OVERWATCH 