Careful what you wish for…

1. Robinson / C. Gitschier – Req. City Mgr. explore hiring a Clerk of Works to protect the City’s interest on the remainder of the High School project.

When I was discussing this motion with someone, I was told of the following story from back when Bob Maguire was the LRTA Administrator;

The LRTA had to construct a bridge walkway to connect the terminal with the outside rails. Mr. Maguire knew when it went out to public bidding, a certain developer would be the lowest bidder, but he also knew at the time this developer had a reputation for submitting a large amount of change orders in order to make up the profit.

At the opening of the bids, sure enough, the developer was indeed the lowest bidder and Mr. Maguire made a motion to void that bid. However, he was reminded by Attorney Edward Owens that state law require the award goes to the lowest bidder. So the story goes that Bob assembled a team of professional engineers, builders and professionals to review each and every change order submitted. That totaled about 45 and the team approved only 4-5 of them.

After the project was completed, the developer sued the LRTA for the cost of the 40 change orders. After a brief trial, a judge found in favor of the developer for ALL 40 change orders.

Bottom line is we can have someone watching for us, but due to contracts and unexpected issues, the courts are going to side with the developers.

The Administration needs to get Skanska and company to revise their projections down by $4-$5 million, bring the motion into the new Council, and get this project completed.

It is a mess, it’s an embarrassment, and frustrating as hell to those (including me) who supported the downtown location that some of the people who drove this downtown decision miserably FAILED to properly oversee, monitor and select the most competent OPM to insure that despite all the promises that what the Cawley supporters said would happen, would not happen!!

Not only did it happen, but it is a 100% worse than we could have expected. Skanska and Jim Dowd are an embarrassment. Get him the hell out of the spotlight, double INSPECT EVERYTHING BEFORE the city signs off on taking ownership of any part of that building and DON’T let them start on another part until EVERY Punch List Item is completed and Inspected!

Rourke, Nuon, Gitschier….The latest buzz on the quest for Mayor is that Councilor Gitschier is phoning around offering himself as a substitute mayoral candidate and asking to be fellow Councilors’ second or third round vote (if it gets to that).

I could see a 5-4-2 or a 5-3-3 vote in round one. The interesting part will be the second round.

Would Sokhary Chau, who allegedly is contemplating a State Rep. run, switch to Gitschier in exchange for his support in a state rep race.?

Would Vesna and Sidney Liang support Gitschier or Rourke if it becomes clear he again can’t get to six? Councilors-elect Belinda Juran and Sean McDonough have not made any public commitment and don’t have to. A little intrigue adds to the excitement of inauguration day.

Godspeed and Thank You.. George O’Hare passed away this week. Mr. O’Hare was involved in supporting youth from serving as a Director and Coach of the Sacred Heart Church CYO Intermediates; Assistant Scout Master, Troop 36 BSA; Co-founder and Coach of the Lowell Junior Football League; and Director and Coach of the Lowell Pop Warner Football League, and serving on the Lowell School Committee in the 1970’s and again in the 1980’s, before serving for 26 years on the Greater Lowell Tech School Committee. Thank You for your service and dedication to the young people of Lowell. Condolences to his two daughters, grandchildren, extended family and friends.

FINALLY, A VOICE FOR FISCAL and overall SUPPORT: I had the opportunity to join School Committee-elect Danielle McFadden at a luncheon this week and we talked about NET School Spending, the Maintenance of Effort agreement between the School Department and City of Lowell, and the challenges of the school budget. I’m glad to finally have a School Committee member who will be a vocal supporter of properly funding the schools and one who would actually show up at a City Council meeting with, and to support, the Superintendent when he advocates for funding.

Lowell boasts improved MCAS Scores, three Lowell schools named Schools of Recognition by DESE and a Lowell High Teacher named Teacher of the Year, yet this Superintendent gets an “average” evaluation and only a SC member elect shows up for the teacher of the year ceremony? Embarrassing!!

Miscellaneous Notes..In case you missed it, per Ted Panos on InsideLowell – “The case against Eileen DelRossi, the Lowell School Committee member involved in a late summer car accident and subsequently charged with Operating Under the Influence, has been dismissed due to “insufficient evidence.” ….This Tuesday will be the final regular City Council meeting for Corey Belanger, Wayne Jenness and Paul Ratha Yem. Thank you all for your service and please stay involved. Wednesday brings the end to Jackie Doherty’s time on the Lowell School Committee after almost 20 years. We agreed and disagreed on many things but I 100% believe that Jackie always voted in what she truly believed was the best interest of the students. THANK YOU for your friendship, support and great back and forth we had on many issues.

I knew it took several rounds of votes on occasions to elect a Mayor, but looking through some great Lowell history that I have courtesy of the late great Bob “Shooter” Maguire, I came across this bit of history from the Lowell Sun regarding the appointment of a City Manager:

NEXT WEEK: Christmas Gifts for some appointed and elected officials and then I’m taking Christmas weekend off!