The OPA and Salisbury University group BEACON have terminated a contract between the two for services that involved the development of a new comprehensive plan.
In 2015, the OPA board voted 5-1 to hire the Business, Economic, and Community Outreach Network for that purpose, at a cost of $33,000.
BEACON Director Dr. Memo Diriker at the time said a grant would cover half that cost. The balance was to be split into two payments of $8,250.
Diriker was apparently paid $8,250 before the termination, which happened during a closed meeting two weeks ago, and was approved by a unanimous vote of the directors.
The relationship between SU and BEACON seemed to sour following a meeting in March of this year, when, possibly because of scheduling confusion, Diriker did not show up. Members of the Pines Comprehensive Planning Committee who then tried to run the meeting – essentially providing an update on their work on the survey – seemed ill prepared to do so.
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BEACON's worth has been questionable for years.
ReplyDeleteQuestionable????
ReplyDeleteTry worthless for years.
Memo Diriker has used his degrees to suck off the public teat all his life while performing absolutely NO improvement in local economic development.
Good riddance. Maybe he can now find a real job?
OOPS! He's got no qualifications!
BEACON.
ReplyDeleteThe acronym was cleverly chosen to impart a notion of competent and trustworthy direction in potentially and actual perilous straits.
Sadly, the light was never particularly bright or guiding, despite the many oohs and aahs heard over the years from the economically uninitiated and politically savvy who gave it faux worship, whether to hide their ignorance or carry forth their agendas; and now it looks to be that the bulb may need replacing, perhaps with something having a significantly higher brightness and better focus.