Photo: Mitch Geier and wife Betsy
with dogs Chey (left) and Jack (right)
(we have 4 dogs 3 cats 4 birds )

Mitch Geier

Update on the BOE sunshine law violation litigation

I have put two settlement offers on the table for the BOE to end this law suit. The first one was at the very beginning before the first court date. I offered both through my attorney and in person to Mr. Herbert Marinari on my front lawn that if the BOE was willing to record their closed sessions (audio tape) and pay just the legal filing fees of $230.00 and I would drop the suit. They turned down this offer.

I felt that by recording the closed session proceedings it would have a chilling effect on them discussing things that should not be discussed in closed session as they have done in the past. As the case continued in court the only change in the second offer of settlement was the amount of money since I have incurred a lot of legal fees I offered to settle the case for $3200 and recording of the closed sessions.

Much to my surprise not only were both settlement offers refused but the illogic of your elected officials have now cost us the taxpayers over $22,000.00 and climbing. I am posting the first of the Board Attorney’s bill (click) here for you to see since I cannot buy into his billing. It is up to you to stand up to your BOE about how ridiculous this is.

Now that discovery in the case is over I fully expect the BOE will lose this case and just make the board attorney richer.  

Thanks to all that voted down the BOE budget

Why I sued the Plumsted BOE 

Since someone sent me a copy of a thread on Facebook and did not even have the common courtesy to allow me to respond for a fair an open discourse. Therefore, I will do so here. They actually are keeping the discussion hidden from me.

Some of these people are
Monica Leal Sempervive
Michele Galanti Hladick
Kyle Emery

They apparently do not have the guts to have an open and honest discussion about the issues.

When a public or government body breaks the law it violates the public trust. There is very little oversight if any for most of these bodies. In each and every law suit I have filed against a public body it is and was to enforce a law they violated. Not ever was it for monetary gain. In all cases these enforcement suits cost me lots of time and monies.

In this case the Plumsted Board of Education BOE in my opinion has broken not one but two laws. Note: In all statements below it is my opinion till the court rules.

Firstly, they violated the open public meetings act. Closed session is specifically to protect privacy of employees and for attorney client privilege. The BOE can go into closed session to discuss contract negations as well. One of the purposes of this law is to have an open and transparent government. By law you should be able to see how your government works and how each elected official stands on an issue.

At the end of the BOE meeting on March 25^th the BOE members discussed going into closed session to discuss the budget. During this discussion I stated that it would be illegal for the board to discuss the budget and the public comments in closed session and if they did I would hold them accountable.  On the 26^th the BOE went into closed session at the beginning of the meeting and announced when they came out that they discussed the budget and came to the decisions presented to the public during that closed session.  The budget process and how each BOE member stands on any issue related to the budget is not confidential and not the subject of closed sessions.  You as a voter might want to know which BOE members were in favor of eliminating courtesy bussing or half day kindergarten.  However, the board discussed this behind closed doors and came out almost unified to the public. That makes it difficult at best to know what the board discussed and where each member stood on the issues. That is exactly why it is illegal. Campaign speeches and voting records do not often match.

The second law they broke is less important but none the less included in the litigation. On the 26^th the BOE had a “Budget Hearing”. This appeared to be a farce. My lawyer stated it is required for the BOE to hear the public comments at the budget hearing before voting on or adopting the budget. Simply put the BOE voted on the adoption of the budget before opening up the hearing to the public and for some people that had a chilling effect. Why should I present my views after budget was voted on? The BOE made up their minds and no matter what I say it will not change so why say anything.

As a final note the BOE was offered the option of correcting the issues before suit was filed and they refused. Then the judge offered them the opportunity to correct the deficiency and they chose to continue this expensive litigation even though there is an audio recording of the meetings that clearly shows they violated the law.

If anyone has a question as to why I am holding them accountable please feel free to send me an email to mg@mitchgeier.com

Keep the Plumsted Board of Education (BoE) Accountable:

Why you should vote down the BOE budget

The Plumsted Board of Education (BoE) is recommending a school budget at the maximum tax increase legally allowed. They are trying to raise $1MM above and beyond the amount lost in state aid. While citizens are suffering from the impact of the Great Recession, our BoE is unwilling to do show any innovation or out-of-the-box thinking on this year’s school budget to give homeowner’s some relief from the unrelenting annual homeowner’s taxes. This community needs to keep the BoE accountable by voting “no” on the proposed budget.

The election for the new school budget is being held on Tuesday, April 20^th  I encourage you to vote “no” on the proposed budget by considering:

1)      The BoE is recommending the maximum tax increase allowed by law—when the rest of the community is suffering from the worst recession in history!
Our new Governor recently cut state aid. The Governor, however, clearly stated that he did not want school taxes to go up as a result. Rather, his objective was to get more efficiency from the schools.

2)      The BoE is asking for over $1 Million more than is being lost in state aid.

The state cut $1,136,237 from our districts’ previous aid levels. Our district, however, is claiming a budget gap of $2,208,966— double the amount lost in state aid. Why then, does the BoE have an incremental gap of over $1 Million? We have no good answer to this question. The BoE is claiming that it is due to “higher enrollment,” however from all accounts next year’s enrollment should actually be less than the current year.

3)    The BoE spends significantly more on extracurricular activities than other districts, yet is unwilling to cut this area to benefit education.  

The Plumsted school district spends 40% more than the State average on extracurricular activities. If the BoE simply brought this non-educational spending in line with the State average our district would save $294,000! ($159 per student by #1,850 students) (see informational chart below)

4)    The Teachers’ Union is unwilling to offer any good faith effort to close the gap.

I have every confidence that individual teachers do not always agree with every stance taken by their union. However, their Teacher’s Union is unwilling to discuss their role in the budget gap.

·         In a show of good faith, the school administrators have given back the district $5,000 each to help close the budget gap. This will save the district $50,000. Additionally, a number of neighboring school districts’ Teachers’ Unions have provided some relief to assist in budget gaps. Our Teachers’ Union is not among them.

·         If the Teacher’s Union was to simply maintain salary levels for the year (hold on planned increases), the district would save $480,000. The Teacher’s Union, however, has refused to provide any good faith effort on their part. When the recommendation was made that the Teacher’s Union not take a salary cut, but rather that they keep their salaries flat for the year, they flatly refused.

Simply Put:  The teachers' union flat out refuse to sacrifice in an economy where MANY OTHER PEOPLE (both other public employees and millions of people in the private sector) have either taken pay cuts or lost their jobs.  This is reason enough by itself to vote down the budget.

 In Summary:

Extras are just that and should be funded that way. You do not go out to dinner when you cannot afford the rent and the BOE needs to learn that. The BoE is putting forth this maximum budget without showing any innovation or initiative in attempting to cut areas that do not impact core education. Make your BOE accountable. Vote “no” on the school budget on April, 20th

The above chart is per pupil spending.

In all facets of core education our district spends less per student by at least 12% than the state average and we should celebrate those efficiencies and savings. However, the only place we spend more than the average is in Extra-curricular activities and by a whopping 40% above average.

If we multiply the $159 per student of overspending by the 1,850 students in the district we can save $294,000 by just spending the average.

As a final note: Our district lost $1,136,237 in state aid if all of the suggestions were followed the district would save $1,008,000 this would make up for the almost the entire loss of state aid. It would not raise taxes the maximum either.  All educational programs would stay intact so would the nurse and bussing.

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Last modified: September 11, 2011