On September 21st, 2011, Parents Coalition reported the exchange between BOE President Chris Barclay and James Song, Director of the Department of Facilities Management (MCPS), regarding who owns the contested land north of the existing Farquhar Middle School that took place at the September 13th BOE meeting; is it Pulte, the developer? or is it M-NCPPC Parks Department? In that exchange Song clearly answered, “Park and Planning Commission.” When asked again, he responded, “I have confirmed it is – land is officially owned by Maryland National Capital Park and Planning Commission.” That response from the head of the Department of Facilities Management contradicts what we knew about the property. Based in part on Song’s response, the BOE voted in favor of the ‘swap.’
Three days after providing false information to the BOE, Song’s boss, Superintendent Josh Starr, issued an apology to the BOE, in the form of a memo to the BOE which we have obtained. The memo does not refer specifically to Song, but it is obvious he is the ‘staff member.’ In addition, Parents Coalition has learned that Song and MCPS staff had been in discussions with the Parks Department about this property for weeks before the September 13th BOE meeting, and that in fact the ownership of the property had been discussed just the previous week.
The entire memo is here:
Starr Memo Regarding Farquhar Swap Property Sept 16, 2011
Just minutes ago the BOE voted to spend $1.7MM jousting with this windmill...
ReplyDeleteI hope that they adhere to the following - "The design process will not begin until M-NCPPC makes a decision on this matter.".
Although Dr. Song certainly made it sound like they were going to need to do design work/engineering before any Park and Planning decision was made.
I just watched this on the web.
ReplyDeleteI was glad to see that it was taken off the Consent Agenda and brought up for discussion.
Mr. Kauffman asked the question as to why this decision couldn't be postponed and based upon Dr. Starr's letter, there is no way that the funds should have been approved without a fully vetted decision by MNCPPC.
At some level, aren't these folks obligated to look out for the taxpayers? $1.7million is a substantial amount of money.
There is no 'Dr. Song' from what I can tell. There is a 'Mr. Song. Those of us who worked hard for our post-graduate degrees and all those spiffy letters after our names would request that this 'Dr. Song' reference cease.
ReplyDeleteThanks.
So what did we learn last night at the MCPS/Parks joint meeting...
ReplyDeleteIn contradiction to Starr's letter above, planning, by MCPS, continues to move forward despite M-NCPPC having yet to make a decision on this matter. (Nor do they have title or a defined timeline to receive it as Mr. Riley, Deputy Director of Parks, confirmed last night.)
Also, the $1.7 million in funding that was allocated by BOE to the planning process was deemed nothing more than a "small amount of money" by Mr. Song.
I guess it doesn't matter when it is tax payers' money that you are spending, but it certainly didn't seem that MCPS staff had a handle on the process or costs.
From the inclusion of retaining walls, to lack of SWM design, to lack of accurate information on soil composition, to the hopes of a balanced site, to the inclusion of a direct entrance on Bathcellors Forest Road, (A major site distance issue!), to whether or not demolition was in the feasibility budget(It is not!), it certainly seemed that even if Parks had made their decision that MCPS doesn't have a real handle on what they have.
Maybe if the residents of Batchellors Forest had been properly engaged earlier, they would have learned of some of the real issues before leading everyone down this rabbit hole.
anonymous@Jan 4th, On the contrary, MCPS has a perfectly clear understanding of what they have. What they have is your money, lots of it, no audits, no oversight, unfettered spending, and a BOE and County Council that you elected that doesn't care how much money MCPS spends.
ReplyDeleteContrary to this statement, MCPS will begin designing the school at a series of workshops beginning on Monday.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/uploadedFiles/schools/farquharms/news/modernization%205-15-12.pdf
This is despite a quote in the Gazette from Park and Planning stating that the formal request for a swap hasn't even been made.
http://www.gazette.net/article/20120516/NEWS/705169489/1095/farquhar-middle-school-design-land-swap-move-forward&template=gazette
A year has passed and still no one is watching the ball. But, as the band plays on, tax dollars fly out the window without any accountability.
A year later and the BOE still hasn't requested to move the school and MNCPPC still hasn't taken title..
ReplyDeleteBut, contracts for $2MM have been executed in that time frame for design and per-construction services.
That BOE is doing a great job of watching your money!