NORTHAMPTON AREA SCHOOL BOARD -NOV.22 Incompetant at no charge!

Well, it was another interesting night with the school board meeting last night.  They are not backing down on their idiotic and uneducated decision to let Metrotek put a giant solar power plant on Lehigh and Moore elementary schools and thereby making Metrotek and Eric Abeshaus millionaires. Instead of doing the responsible and correct thing, admitting they made a blunder of monumental proportion, they decided to pull out all the stops, put the petal to the metal and tell the public what a wonderful thing they were doing for the district and the kids. As one guy said, they were "putting lipstick on a pig". Well, you can't sugarcoat this $14 million, 6.5 acres giant pig.
     Let's go through some of the highlights. They tried every which way but crying to say everyone knew about the project. The school board asked why we wer upset now, they told us they were doing it? "We didn't hide it." "We can't send letters home to taxpayers on every little thing we do." "You sent us to represent you, do we have to check with you on everything?" "We had the kids in mind with this one." (huh??!) "We can't answer the question about how it will affect property values, it may increase them." -(that gem was from Dave Gogel). Board member Cory Fenstermaker told us he drives by a giant solar panel power field every day and has learned to ignore it! He doesn't even notice it anymore??! (tell that to the kids with a small play area that will always be covered in shadow from the 13.5 foot tall monstrosity) Board President Dave Gogel even said when asked who will want to send their kids to this school with this giant metal monster behind it "I think a lot of people will be drawn to it." (????) Bob Koch had the audacity to say "parents would complain about the constuction, if we put them on the roof" (!!the whole reason we have this problem is you DIDN'T put them on the roof).
      There was truth stretching all over the place that night. The school is supposedly doing this to reduce their carbon footprint. If you believe in that kind of thing, why would you leave lights on in rooms in the schools all night. (a neighbor who lives behind the school told them 9 rooms, are lighted throughout the night) They said they needed an automatic light switches to take care of the problem and will have that slated for a future project. (?? how 'bout usin' a finger to shut them off??)  Bob Yanders, the school's facilities director and the lack of common sense behind this project, who at the township meeting pointed to his wedding ring and Reiner Jaeckle of Metrotek, saying "We're family!", stated there were recycling bins in all the class rooms in the school. An out and out fabrication, no one I know has ever seen one on school property. He said the schools have 2 dumpsters, one for trash, the other for recyclables, also never seen by anyone I know. (go by Lehigh Elementary and check it out, maybe they rushed one there last night!) An astute  taxpayer noted that at certain events that take place at the high school, there are entire trash cans full to overflowing with water and soda bottles. The most idiotic argument the school board used was that the kid's play area was "useless land" that just gets constantly mowed. I have a yard around my house that my kids play in, I can tell you for a fact that it's not useless. I can also tell you for a fact that the very area they are about to give away for 20 years- the school students constantly play on, in fact the 4th-6th grades use it as their recess playground.
      I would have to say the most offensive and abusive school board member was Jane "Morticia Frankenstein" Erdo. After leaving her coffin at dusk, had plenty of time to get to the meeting to show her contempt for the taxpayers of the district. Constantly she railed against the people she represents, rudely belittled them and constantly threatened to shut down public comment, which she eventually did. She stated we went over all this back when it was proposed, a boldfaced lie-as there was nothing in the newspapers about the size of the project or opposition to it. If people had known, there would have been opposition, that's how you know no one knew. She does this, as she is apt to tell you, because she will only be up for re-election in 2013.  Well,  that undead looking member will have the same surprise many politicians did this last election-you can't give the taxpayer the middle finger and expect they will forget it. We have a looong memory.
    The ever present Rex D'agostino, a radical environmentalist and member of the Green Party, who doesn't live in the district, was there again, to promote how great solar energy is, for solar's sake. The size/scope of the project, affects on property value, the children's play area being taken away, making millionaires out of 2 guys on our tax dollars while using our land- mean nothing to him. Solar for solar's sake alone. One can only imagine, if there was a plan to government mandate every student wear 20 lb. solar panels on the front and back of them whenever they went outside-he would be the first to promote it.
     To sum it up, the Northampton School board can't admit they made a mistake. Bethlehem area school board put up solar panels on their schools to the tune of 1.6 megawatts. They received grants and bought the systems themselves (no get rich quick second party) and THEY PUT THEM ON THE ROOFS). They stand to get $250,000 a year for their projects. Northampton's is 2.2 Megawatts and they get a paltry $100,000 a year- simply because they decided go with the first guy to offer them a proposal. Hmmm, wonder where the rest of the money goes from the NASD plan?? (to Metrotek). The ever offensive Jane Erdo stated on this topic "Sometimes you don't need a second opinion!" Really? I buy a camera and I shop around all over the place, this is a $14 million dollar project with over $20 million in SREC and energy profits. Ok, you guys work for free, but how much is incompetence costing the taxpayers?
      I guess the next step is the Lehigh Township zoning board. Metrotek has 2 options- either it's a second use of the land, which is not allowed or it's a accessory use, like a playground. Well, a 2.2 megawatt power plant is not a playground. The Northampton School Board stated last night that if zoning permits can not be obtained, their contract with Metrotek is null and void. Let's see if this is true.

NORTHAMPTON AREA SCHOOL BOARD -INCOMPETANT OR CORRUPT? Part DUH!

-Night of the Living School Board

Last night the Northampton Area School board faced the parents, residents and taxpayers for the first time over their well hidden 20 year, 6.5 acre land give-away to Metrotek and Eric Abeshaus. Well, we finally found out, though Reiner Jaeckle of Metrotek called Abeshaus and upstanding citizen, the School Board had no idea of the Federal lawsuit and never bothered to look into anyone's background involved in this project. Actually, they couldn't answer many questions about how the project was vetted and at the very least, are highly incompetent.

     When asked why other projects were not looked at?- "Dunno". When asked why the project was not put up to bid, so as to get the taxpayer a better deal than the crummy one they got?- "Dunno".  When asked why they needed such a large project taking up so much land?-"Dunno". When asked why the hid the very large size and scope of the project for so long and signed on without public knowledge or debate?-"Dunno". When asked why they didn't have their own engineer look over the plans that Metrotek had created for their schools?-"Dunno". Why is the address for Energy Alliance and Metrotek in the same building with the same phone number?-"Dunno".

     Here is what we did find out- one guy contacted the board when he found out they were looking into a possible solar project-his call was not returned.  They used Metrotek and let no one look at the plans, not even their own enginner, because they have a relationship with Metrotek. They had little concern for the kids at the school or their outdoor environment. The school board's main concern was- saving the $100k a year on energy bills, which boils down to .0012 of 1% of their budget. Honestly, many of the board members, including Geraldine Skrapits, starred blankly at the crowd, giving no input or emotion the entire hour and a half of public comment, which got very heated at times. It seemed they had not looked into the project very well and rubber stamped it because of Facilities Manager Bob Yanders joyous approval of it and his friend Reiner of Metrotek. That seemed enough for the board members. Last night, they looked like they got caught with their pants down.

     What will they do now? Will they do the right thing and as one person demanded  "dissolve this contract and start over with public input?" or will they try to ram it down our throats at the township level, making the lawyers on both sides rich? One thing that came out of the whole meeting, no one would have been there if the panels had been put on the roof for the school's own energy consumption. Most people were against the school giving the land for 20 years to a power company to sell the electric back to the grid and score millions in SRECs (sustainable renewable energy credits), along with the grants and money from selling the energy.

     One thing is certain, 5 of the 9 school board members are up for re-election in 2011 and this project will probably determine the outcome of that election. One school board member, Jane Erdo, was especially beligerant to the public, using language not appropriate to the children who were present and stated that her seat is up in 2013 and the public can take it up with her then. The response was resounding applause from the crowd who didn't appreciate her animosity. On a more disturbing note, Reiner Jaeckle's (owner of Metrotek) wife was seated among the crowd and profanities and vulgarities could be heard issuing from her whenever a parent or citizen was questioning the appropriateness of the solar project. Perhaps this whole project is more about $$green$$ than "green".