The Middle School Heating Investigation is closed but the Administration has been caught creating sensationalism for political gain

Back in December 2010 when the story broke that teachers had to put air conditioners on because the Middle School building was overheated Chairman of the Board of Education, Nick Palladino did a walk through to try to find out what was going on. Of course the media was there and we wouldn’t expect anything less from this Administration. After the story broke on the local electronic news source all the fingers were pointing right at the Director of Building and Grounds, Joe Travaglino. Leading the charge from the blog on the electronic news source was the Democratic Town Chairman, Mr. Gene Ruocco.

I know how this Administration operates along with the Mr. Ruocco and I thought they might be angling for a political triumph.  My antenna was alert and ready to get the real story. After reading Mr. Palladino’s quotes, “It was obvious it was broken into, I could see the pry marks on the side of the box. “ And further quotes, “Somebody busted it open with a screwdriver and activated all of the override buttons so the boilers would just continue to run. Then Deputy Director of Administration,  Mr. Paul  Hongo  was quoted saying, “There is no excuse for not knowing the control box had been vandalized.” So what did these two people know about what was going on in the Middle School? I found it very suspicious if these two top people in the Capone Administration thought there was a crime why did they not call the East Haven Police?

I took it upon myself to make that call and the report is in and you might be surprised to hear what the detective in the case discovered.

The first person that the Detective DeCrosta spoke to was custodian Mr. Ralph Soll, who reported that he did not know who would have tampered with the heating equipment and he further reported that the George Ellis Company was maintaining the system and doing upgrades to the system. He also pointed out that there were many contractors in and out of the building during the installation of the solar panels.

Detective DeCrosta then spoke to Frank Fanelli, of the George Ellis Company and Mr. Fanelli said that back in October 2010 the George Ells Company installed the control box that was in question. Mr. Fanelli stated that a key to the box would have been left either in the control box or placed on top of the box. Mr. Fanelli said that he was contacted by school officials to conduct a walk through of the school and at the walk through Mr. Fanelli discovered that the energy control box had been pried open and that the switches were placed into override mode.

Remember this article from Mr. Hongo? http://easthaven.patch.com/articles/lets-stop-throwing-out-the-window-consolidate-townschool-building-maintenance

Is there any excuse for Mr. Hongo NOT TO KNOW that the contractor performing the solar panel installations may have been the culprit in the overheating at the Middle School? But what do we expect from Mr. Hongo other than sensationalism and drama? That’s what the Capone Administration does so well. Don’t forget the Mayor herself is a drama major and theatrics are her specialty.

Once again what this Administration has attempted to portray has been exposed for the farce that it is. It seems to be that even though the EHPD has not found the person who set the controls it fixed its sights on the contractor that might have been responsible. I find it very suspicious that Mr. Palladino, Mr. Hongo and Mr. Mauro never mentioned the possibility that the George Ellis Company could have been responsible. I wonder how big of a political contributor they are to the Capone Administration?

Stay tuned....