I do not like to air issues in the media but prefer to address them face to face. Since this all started in the media, I will follow suit.

I urge all citizens to watch the Town Council meeting of April 20, 2005. I believe that Council chair, Jeff Messer, has demonstrated that, no matter what the issue or the response to questions, if he cannot prove himself “right” then he will malign anyone available to make himself look good.

As a member of the high school building committee, I have a copy of the questions raised and the responses provided, including responses from the town’s code enforcement officer, Mr. Shepard. Mr. Shepard does his job and the construction team responds – standard practice. Mr. Shepard was not rebuffed by the team as Mr. Messer has stated.

The building committee had a two-hour meeting/tour on Thursday, April 14, 2005. Mr. Messer was not there even though the meeting had been scheduled for a couple of months. We waited for him for almost 15 minutes! Mr. O’Reilly was there to get the information for the council. Issues were raised, questions asked, pictures displayed and all were handled, very professionally, by the construction team.

My personal experience with Mr. Messer is that he will not place himself in a position where he can be challenged. He makes statements in the media and has the last word at council meetings.

He has maligned the School Board, the school administration, Mr. Justice, other councilors, Pizzagalli, Harriman Associates. And now, he has maligned the Commissioner of Education, Sue Gendron and the State Department of Education stating that we can’t rely on the assessment of our project because Ms. Gendron is Norm Justice’s sister! If the commissioner has that much influence over her departments, how come Scarborough is not the number one town for school funding projects? Has Jeff Messer crossed the line?

Do you see how preposterous this sounds? He would not support his own motion for an independent engineer because the school administration would “stonewall” such an investigation. Could it be that the construction team has already used independent professionals (standard practice) and paid over $20,000? Could it be that the board asked that the council assure them that any additional cost/delays caused by the inspection be borne by the town? Could it be that the construction team was already following best practice and Mr. Messer went to the media too soon and doesn’t know how to back off?

I have received two unsolicited calls from contractors who live in town and have students at the high school, and who heard my remarks at the council meeting. Both said that my reference to the vastness of the project and the fact that the average person has no idea how these projects operate, was correct. You identify problems, discuss with the team, plan an action and if there is disagreement, bring in a third party – best practice.

I am proud of this project and proud to live in Scarborough, a town that supports this project. No one wants a poorly constructed, unsafe building! Why would we? For the council to call into question the integrity of so many fine people and great companies is beyond my comprehension. There will be NO cost overrides because of the type of contract we have with Pizzagalli (and with the continuance of “industry standard practices”).

Mr. Messer, I challenge you to a debate on the issues you raise about the construction of our high school. You bring your experts and I’ll bring mine. We will ask and answer questions, in public and on local TV. Any citizen who has a question may submit it/them to a committee beforehand to avoid duplication. The only restriction I have is that every member of a panel who reviews the questions be from Scarborough and not from out of state or even out of town.

Jacquelyn A. Perry

Scarborough

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