The consultant game is rich territory – especially when the firms are dealing with school districts spending taxpayer money. Who’s really qualified to make the judgment on construction projects, budgets, timelines and change orders? Administrators? School board members? Staff? The answer 99.67% of the time is the proverbial “None of the Above.” That’s how MHUSD gets into the conundrum it’s in now. Interim Superintendent Steve Bertando wants the technology implementation plan to start now for $20 million plus – $2 million in engineering fees. Meanwhile, a couple of trustees believe that Cumming Corporation, the project management firm hired by the district in May for $1.5 million to oversee the first $55 million in capital improvement projects funded by the $198 million Measure G bond, should handle engineering, etc. What school districts need to do? 1. Form an advisory facility committee composed of members from the business and construction world; 2. Hire a staff administrative-level project construction management person to oversee all facilities projects. They would negotiate contracts and have, as clients, the taxpayers and the school district. If districts would make those changes, a lot of money would be saved and a lot of battles avoided. And, really, when you’re talking about spending $198 million and getting the best bang for the buck, doesn’t it make perfect sense?
“Morgan Hill. Come visit, you’ll want to stay.” There’s my slogan idea after reading John McKay’s column below. It will never fly, though. Why? Because it’s not politically correct for Morgan Hill. What if too many people want to “stay”, then what? Well, don’t forget we have our growth control ordinance and the truth is most residents did just that – they came, they saw, they experienced, they loved it and they found a way to stay. Once you ride a bike here, visit our parks, wander downtown and pick a restaurant, take a drive in the country, bring your daughter to a soccer match or visit the friendly folks at Guglielmo Winery, you’re a potential new neighbor. So the slogan rings true and encompasses all the wonderful experiences people have here.
Wonderful experience at a new area winery over the weekend. Driving around doing errands, I had a pop-up thought about the new spot our wonderful wine columnist, Bev Stenehjem, just wrote about. So off Miss Jenny and I went to find and seek Ross Vineyards and Winery. We twisted on Oak Glen Avenue, headed toward Calero Reservoir, climbed a hilly driveway, spotted a quaint old barn with people gathered round, parked the 1972 TR6, met the owners, Jerry and Judy Ross, and started on the tasting. Grandson Jimmy, who works the land and the tasting room, gave us a tour of the old photos that ring the barn and, when I couldn’t stand it any longer, I asked, “Where are the vines?” He pointed up to the top of a steep hill and said something about what he wouldn’t give for a flat 10 acres at harvest time … We hung out next to a beautiful oak, took in the views, learned that Jerry and Judy just celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary and that Jerry grew up in Gilroy and lived near a young lass named Jeannie Baxter whose father Art “Coach” Baxter was initially thee coach at Gilroy High for all men’s sports. She’s Gilroy Mayor Don Gage’s bride, of course, and if that weren’t enough, Jerry informed us that he sat near former Morgan Hill Mayor Dennis Kennedy at a recent wine dinner at Rosy’s at the Beach, whereas, Dennis, now on the SC Valley Water District Board, proclaimed loudly and firmly and in all ways coherent that he would fight, fight, fight against water rate increases for South County farmers because he’s a stalwart champion for the preservation of agriculture in our valley. OK, maybe I exaggerated that last little bit a tad, but I did so in a hopeful way. Too much lip service to “saving agriculture” and not enough action.
A little bit of volunteerism can go a long way towards making life more hopeful and there’s hardly a better way to make an impact than to help teach a young person to read. So, the Gamma Alpha Volunteer Reading Program has a 1-hour orientation for volunteers at El Toro Youth Center, 17620 Crest Ave. at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, Aug. 27. Info at 408-779-6002. Read on, please, because you can.
Because Christina in the office, who knows about my lifelong orange-and-black loyalty, asked me what was worse about this season “the Giants being so bad or the Dodgers doing so well?” For me, it’s the Giants’ collapse – as long as the Dodgers aren’t World Series champs.
Champions for Community Solutions, the South County’s leading social services agency, were the 14 employees from Morgan Hill’s Guild Mortgage who participated in the company’s First Annual Guild Impact Week dedicating 100 hours of volunteer work. They prepped and painted the Community Solutions office, put together informational packets and created 120 Thanksgiving cards to be included with food baskets. Hats off to Branch Manager Jayson Stebbins and his team. That’s building community.
Reach Editor Mark Derry at ed****@mo*************.com
