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October 29, 2007
Was Dracut set on Mullin before the interviews?
PERCEPTION IS everything, but it appears the Dracut School Committee still doesn't get it.
Did committee members have their minds made up before conducting interviews with four superintendent finalists last week? That's the talk in the local coffee shops and on message boards throughout the town.
In less time than it took for W. Spencer Mullin to leave the school parking lot after his interview, the committee unanimously voted him in as the new superintendent. Mullin was the last of four finalists to be interviewed by the board on Monday night. The committee spent close to an hour with each candidate, but very little discussion followed.
The committee chatted briefly about their site visits then committee member Mary Gail Martin announced, "I'm prepared to vote."
She nominated Mullin. Mike Miles quickly joined her, as did Dennis "D.J." Deeb and Chairman Ron Mercier Jr. Committee member Nancy Mendonca wanted more time to go over her interview notes but gave in when she sensed she was outnumbered.
Everyone is asking the same question: Why the rush?
Rarely, if ever, have school committees selected a superintendent on the same day or night that interviews are conducted.
Deeb was almost indignant at the suggestion after the meeting that Mullin was the board's pick from the beginning and that the committee's questions were crafted to suit him. Deeb said Mullin is clearly the best person for the job and there was no need to drag out the process.
To onlookers, it didn't seem that the one-hour interviews with the finalists had any effect on the committee's final decision. The "losing" candidates had to travel to Dracut from Lynnfield, Medfield and Paris, Maine (a nearly three-hour ride) for something that may have been a foregone conclusion.
This is the second so-called nationwide search conducted in Dracut in two months that resulted in a wink-and-a-nod fashion. The other came at the Dracut Housing Authority, where Mary Karabatsos, who wasn't even selected a finalist by the original screening committee, got the job over more experienced candidates. She was the choice of three DHA members, who added Karabatsos' name to the screening committee's list after a lawsuit to overturn the screening process failed.
ASKED LAST summer whether he would like to become city manager again, Brian Martin had this to say about his job as Lowell High School's athletic director: "I just love what I'm doing, and I enjoy the kids tremendously. To give all that up and be a candidate just didn't make sense at the end of the day."
Of course, he would have given it up had he been successful in rounding up the necessary five votes to replace the departing John Cox.
Well, Martin has indeed given it up, to work as district director for the new 5th District Rep. Niki Tsongas.
Since Tsongas made the announcement Tuesday, kudos have poured into Martin, and rightfully so. It's the least Tsongas could do. Martin was a zealot on the campaign trail for Tsongas, whose late husband, Paul Tsongas, boosted Martin's political stature in the city and region tenfold.
Yet most pols question why Martin is making the jump.
How about money? Martin was making about $85,000 as athletic director. The Column has learned that, based on what other congressional district directors earn, Martin will get a sizable pay increase, anywhere from $110,000 to $120,000 in his new position.
That's a minimum $25,000 pay hike. For comparison, Dorothy Reichard, U.S. Rep. Barney Frank's DD, makes $136,000, and Michael Gorman, U.S. Rep. Michael Capuano's DD, makes $103,000.
Martin had been allegedly eyeing the headmaster's post at Lowell High School, should Schools Superintendent Karla Brooks Baehr be successful in ousting Headmaster William Samaras at the end of the current school year. Word is Martin would not have gotten the job.
And knowing Martin like The Column knows Martin, don't be surprised if he's laying the groundwork for a possible run for Congress himself.
THE COMMUNITY continues to circle the wagons around Samaras.
First the Lowell Plan came out for Samaras, urging Baehr to let him work one more year.
Then state Sen. Steven Panagiotakos, a former Lowell School Committee member and current chairman of the Senate Ways and Means Committee, threw laurels Samaras' way.
Adding his voice to the chorus is Paul Georges, the outspoken president of the United Teachers of Lowell.
Now Samaras has been chosen as the grand marshal of this year's City of Lights Parade on Nov. 24. "We are thrilled to have Bill Samaras as our honorary grand marshal this year, as he has been so instrumental over the years in making Lowell High School what is today," said Mayor Bill Martin, also School Committee chairman.
SAINTS MEDICAL Center, which historically has played second fiddle to crosstown rival Lowell General Hospital, had a banner week. First it promoted Kevin Coughlin, its chief fundraiser, to vice president of government and community strategies. In his place, Saints hired the popular Michael Kuenzler, the former Lowell-cop-turned-successful businessman/fundraiser. Kuenzler hopes to launch a new -- and large -- fundraising campaign for the hospital.
In another notable change-of-address, Saints snatched one of Lowell General's most-popular faces, that of Susan Lavallee, who has been at LGH for nearly two decades. She's the amiable wife of Lowell Police Superintendent Kenneth Lavallee.
At Saints, Lavallee will be the coordinator of outpatient services, responsible for the facilitation of patient care, communication and clinical leadership.
The announcements signal that Saints CEO Mike Guley is going on the offensive to give the hospital a high community profile.
EVERY LOSING campaign picks a scapegoat.
The people behind Republican Jim Ogonowski, who lost to Democrat Tsongas in an Oct. 16 special election, chose The Sun.
Ogonowski's flacks thought The Sun's coverage was biased. Pressed to produce examples, the flacks either chose not to or couldn't.
In keeping with tradition, Ogonowski's campaign spokesman, Barney Keller, said "no" to The Sun's Advertising Department when a sales rep called to see if the campaign wanted to place an ad thanking the 46 percent of the 5th District's voters who cast their ballot for the Dracut citizen-farmer.
The Tsongas campaign was approached and signed on.
Traditionally, candidates place thank-you ads in the days following an election.
LOCAL PUNDITS have been speculating as to who will be filling Tsongas' position at Middlesex Community College, where she served as dean of external affairs.
Wonder no more: the position and responsibilities are being filled from within MCC's ranks, according to President Carole Cowan.
Jay Linnehan of Lowell, the college's longtime vice president of administration and finance, will be bumped up to executive vice president and take on Tsongas' fundraising role.
Two other MCC internals, Dennis Malvers of Chelmsford and Patrick Cook of Lowell, are divvying up the rest of Tsongas' duties, such as the Celebrity Forum speaker's series and some of the college's other external affairs functions.
THE WELL-LIKED and well-known Paul Sullivan received a well-deserved posthumous honor from the New England Police Benevolent Association during its inaugural convention in Portsmouth, N.H., last week.
Sullivan, The Sun columnist who passed away on Sept. 9 following a battle with cancer, received the PBA's "Pen & Quill Award."
Union founder and executive director Jerry Flynn of Chelmsford praised Sullivan's selection. He said Sullivan was a strong advocate of public employees -- as long as they were doing their jobs and not hosing the taxpayer.
The PBA also gave "Legislator of the Year" awards to state Rep. Dave Nangle and Panagiotakos, both of Lowell, for their support of legislation helping police officers.
IS CHANGE in the wind for the leadership of the Lowell patrolmen's union?
Patrolman John Boutselis is seeking his third two-year term in a Nov. 8 election. He's being challenged by Officer Frank Nobrega.
Nobrega, who is also a lawyer, is representing Lowell police Sgt. Mickey O'Keefe who unsuccessfully sought 111F status for sick pay from the city. O'Keefe's claim was rejected last week.
O'Keefe has been out of work, allegedly injured, since early September. Whatever the ailment is or was, it didn't prevent O'Keefe from running a half-marathon -- 13.1 miles -- in Lowell earlier this month.
Had O'Keefe's 111F claim been approved, he would have received his $1,556 weekly check free of federal, state or local tax withholdings from the date of his alleged injury on duty until his return to work.
THE LOWELL police patrolmen's union is out with its endorsements for the Nov. 6 council election and it snubbed six of the eight incumbents.
Rank-and-file members voted last month to back incumbents Armand Mercier and Rita Mercier and challengers Alan Kazanjian, Jo-Ann Keegan, Michael Lenzi and Robert McMahon.
Incumbent Councilor Edward "Bud" Caulfield reportedly was quite upset to be left off the 180-member union's list.
Local 1705 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, the largest union in city government led by Keith Rudy, endorsed nearly the same slate a couple weeks ago. The only difference is Rudy's group supported Caulfield rather than Keegan.
The Merrimack Valley Central Labor Counsel -- i.e., Georges' union -- endorsed both Merciers, Caulfield, and Jim Milinazzo among the incumbents and challengers Lenzi, Kazanjian, McMahon, Curtis LeMay and Jo-Ann Keegan.
CAULFIELD HAS a campaign pledge.
"If I'm re-elected, I will immediately call for a unity breakfast and bring everyone together," he said.
"We have a responsibility to the people who put us there to work in the best interest of the city to get along and make things happen in a positive way. Are you going to have some roadblocks along the way? Of course. But the city of Lowell has always put its best foot forward and that's what the City Council has to do. I do not like the petty politics and the bickering. I despise it. That's not me. I'm a workhorse."
FLASH TO Tuesday night.
Caulfield joined Councilors Armand Mercier and Rita Mercier in questioning Lynch's proposal to sell the dilapidated, Peter Powers House at 26-28 Lawrence St. -- that 19th century "gem" the city Historic Board, in its infinite wisdom, purchased as a moneymaking venture in April 2000.
Between the city's $17,500 purchase of the property and an $85,000 state preservation grant, there has been $102,500 in taxpayer money spent on preserving the wood-frame, two-family house. Two attempts to sell the 5,600 -square-foot home in 2003 for $114,000 and then $85,000 met with no takers.
It can't be razed because of the state grant used to renovate its exterior. The interior is a wreck, and the house sits on an unattractive lot across from the Central Plaza shopping center.
Lynch administration officials want to sell the property for a minimum bid price of $40,000. The Board of Assessors values the property at nearly $270,000.
The $40,000 figure reflects a recent appraisal that considers that any buyer would be legally required to keep the dilapidated house. City assessors base their estimates on the re-sale prices of two-family homes that lacked those restrictions.
Armand Mercier questioned how the city could let the property go so cheaply. Caulfield and Rita Mercier were incredulous.
"Whoever purchases this building, I can't blame them for buying it for $40,000," Caulfield said.
Armand Mercier, who used to own a realty business, wants a copy of the appraisal before he will vote to approve the sale. The council did not receive a copy in its meeting packet provided by the manager.
Rita Mercier wants pictures.
Caulfield wants a tour.
Of course, Caulfield and the Merciers could argue it's reasonable to question such a proposal by the city manager. One wonders if they would have had such questions for former City Manager John Cox.
Regardless, the council voted unanimously to table Lynch's proposal for a week until it gets a copy of the appraisal.
This week's Column was written by City Editor Christopher Scott, City Hall Reporter Michael Lafleur and Dracut Reporter Dennis Shaughnessey.
Posted by Admin at October 29, 2007 11:48 AM
