As 2024 closes, I can report that the evidence of wrongdoing has expanded. However long it takes, the truth of how Bedford was defrauded will be established. Because the damage that was done goes far beyond a building project. What took place, in the public interest, must be seen for what it is. If the public trust was violated, only partisans will resist good faith efforts to learn the lessons of what went wrong before more damage is done.
Since June, I sent information to the Inspector General’s Office, with more to follow. The evidence of not only the former Town Manager’s abuse of power but also the total breakdown and failure of all the oversight that could and should have prevented the tremendous waste of money and time is pervasive. Core offenses are listed in the 6/5/24 cover letter below and much more has been developed since that was written. More details will surely follow.
The Office of the Inspector General was contacted the afternoon after this was sent. How the citizens of Bedford choose to go forward with the new Fire Station is a separate and distinct matter from whether or not an independent investigation into possible fraud and abuse of power is called for.
The letter to Bedford’s State representatives documents how the Town’s site selection process violated the Open Meeting Law and is under an ethical cloud. Citizens will go to Town Meeting on Tuesday to vote on the $32 million project having no knowledge of how far the selection process deviated from accepted norms and practices. That is the reason for requesting that the town’s State legislators refer the matter to the Office of Inspector General.
Following up on what was emailed on the 5th, this updated version of the “Analysis” was Fedexed to the senator and representative on June 6th. The report may be updated from time to time as information is reviewed. Revisions will be reflected in the date next to the document name.
Open Letter to Town Officials — 4/24/24
Supporters of the current project often warn against allowing “the perfect to be the enemy of the good.” But wouldn’t settling for the current troubled project amount to allowing the mediocre to be the enemy of the good? After more than a generation in the making, is this really what 30 million dollars looks like?
This website was started two years ago to provide residents with vital information that was noticeably missing in the months before the 2022 Annual Town Meeting. Advocates of the process that led to the vote to buy the Bacon property for the urgently needed new fire station often point out that it passed by a super-majority. But that doesn’t change the fact that if three voters had chosen differently, 139 The Great Road (139 TGR) and all the controversy surrounding it would never have moved ahead. It is, therefore, fair to say that a full examination of how accurately and fully voters were informed — before and after that vote — is crucial. For that reason, this fact-based examination of the project’s history will continue.
The Good Fight
This inquiry has aggravated the division caused by the way the matter was handled, and that has always been with regret. But drawimg attention to the irregularities of the process is neither frivolous nor malicious. Now that the Town has permission to demolish the antique house and fieldstone wall and raze the trees, Save Our Block will respectfully continue to offer a thoughtful perspective on the origins, process, and future of the far-from-settled project.
Unappealing
There were clear grounds for an appeal of the February 21st Historic District Commission vote to grant conditional approval to demolish the Bacon “Carriage House” at 139 The Great Road. But it was not the best way to challenge the current project. The 4/24/24 Open Letter to the Town of Bedford explains why.