BREAKING NEWS STORY: Princess Anne Under FIRE

Former Town Manager Jay Parker is to the far left.

We told you last week that we'd be delivering a breaking news story and here it is.

While I have known for quite some time there was more than meets the eye when it came to Police Chief Pecoraro and Town Manager Jay Parker suddenly disappearing from Princess Anne's Employment, months of digging have finally turned up enough information for me to expose the truth.

It is true that Chief Pecoraro did resign under a medical condition, I believe this is one of those cases where he was fortunate enough to have such documents filed before other charges against him could be brought forth. Removing him under any condition was the right thing to do.

Town Manager Jay Parker has been playing a sort of cat and mouse game with Commissioners for years. The only way you were ever going to reach this guy was by cell phone. Jay, (a like able guy) was playing the Town of Princess Anne like a fine tuned fiddle. Never in the Office, always an excuse as to why he wasn't around and always about 30 minutes away from being able to meet with anyone.

The reason, he was out doing work elsewhere for other organizations, one in which he is now employed. Word has it he had been told flat out NOT to work for anyone else but it's clear he was doing it anyway.

There came a time in which the Town of Princess Anne filed for a Grant for a project called, "Hampden Avenue Sidewalk Safe Route To School Project." This was a Federal Grant in which $90,000.00 was committed by the State to construct certain sidewalks, (similar to the recent Salisbury sidewalk project).

Jay Parker, as Town Manager was to oversee the project, get sealed bids by different contractors and submit them to the Town Commissioners. Some how, Chief Pecararro caught wind of the project and confronted Jay Parker and told him he could save the Town a lot of money by doing the project himself. It has been reported that he brought in an ex prisoner, created an alleged LLC and used this former prisoner as they key person to do the project.

There were NO SEALED BIDS presented to anyone and Parker and Pecoraro simply started the project before the funds were ever released by the State. It has also been reported that at least one Officer, (Pecoraro) was being paid overtime as part of the construction crew and money was being spent well above Jay Parkers authority and he never once went to the Commissioners for permission to do so.

After numerous conversations with different sources I had been told that the Princess Anne Commissioners had noticed some checks coming in to be signed and processed well above the normal paycheck to a certain Officer, (Pecoraro) and it was challenged. This is when they allegedly came to learn what was going on.

It gets better. A former Town Commissioner named Steve Goldston was also on the payroll for this project, yet the rest of the Commission was clueless to what was going on. Steve is no longer a Commissioner.

The main complication was that the Grant itself had several requirements that by law had to be followed and while some checks had been processed before they were red flagged, the Town had to contact the State Police and create an immediate investigation or anyone and everyone involved could be up on charges.

An investigation was started and what's the one way to get out of any involvement with the Feds, don't take the grant money for that project. Since no funds had actually been drawn from this Grant, the Town would then have to front the $70,000.00 to $90,000.00 worth of construction and this put the Town of Princess Anne in the RED for somewhere around $70,000.00 and Parker was terminated immediately.

Fortunately for Pecoraro, he had already stepped down on medical leave but let me assure you of one thing Folks. IF they had dug into these funds and or didn't repay the Feds and all of this stayed under cover, these two gentlemen and perhaps several others would be in Jail right now.

Not only did Jay Parker know he was breaking the law, I'm told he had been warned numerous times in advance to manage these Department Heads better or he'd be terminated. Princess Anne still has the Grant from the State and will be using it elsewhere on another project, one in which you can firmly trust will be professionally and honestly handled but I'm telling you, these individuals are damn lucky things turned out the way they did.

IMHO, I personally believe the taxpayers have been absolutely screwed. The taxpayers of Princess Anne have now put out $70,000.00 to $90,000.00 for sidewalks that actually had to be reworked and rebuilt because of the crappy construction in the first place.

This is exactly how and where taxpayers can and do get screwed by crooked people and 95% of the time, (before Salisbury News came along) get swept under the rug. Someone knew just how to hide such a thing and keep everyone from going to jail and simply get a slap on the wrist.

Yes, this was investigated by the State Police and the Feds but guess what, just pay the money back or always use a Town Account first to pay for things before anyone gets caught and file for the payment when the work is complete or almost complete. If someone gets caught, just switch it to another project and make the taxpayers pay for it instead, just as Princess Anne Taxpayers are being forced to do.

Town Manager Jay Parker had been working with the Shore Heritage Foundation while employed with the Town of Princess Anne as well as the Mcready Hospital. Jay is now employed full time with the Shore Heritage Foundation who immediately hired him after he was dismissed from employment with Princess Anne.

Keep in mind Folks, Pecoraro was under Town Manager Jay Parker but I'm told the Police Chief had a way of controlling individuals and convincing them he had everything under control. This is one reason, (sadly) why every Municipality should have their own internal auditor and it frankly makes me even more curious today why Wicomico County recently terminated their Internal Auditor.

Man, what I wouldn't do to investigate the Books for the City of Salisbury over the past, oh, lets say, 12 years or so! Mind you, this story is about Princess Anne and I have brought it forward so as each and every one of you can see that your local government can be very crooked and get away with it. They can sit on the fence until the very last moment and when the coast is clear, file those documents for the Grant money and move onto the next. It's no wonder why certain developers win most of the bids and so forth.

More to come because this ain't over................