Council grappling with board vacancies
Only two out of four applicants appeared at work session
POTTSTOWN » Although four people have applied to be appointed to the Fourth Ward seat vacated last month by Dennis Arms, only two of them accepted council’s invitation to appear at Wednesday’s work session and introduce themselves.
Trenita Lindsay of Oak Street and Philip Smock of North Hanover Street both attended Wednesday’s meeting and outlined why they would make a good Fourth Ward Council person.
Lindsay, a manager with Iron Mountain who moved to Pottstown from Phoenixville two
years ago, said she has “learned so much” coming to borough meetings “and I wanted to do something for my community.”
She moved here because “I see growth, I see change,” Lindsay said. “It’s a nice town. I like it, and I wanted to be part of that change and help Pottstown grow.”
Smock works for the Vanguard Group, which he described as “a financial behemoth,” due in part to the business having “one of the lowest expense ratios” in the financial industry. As such, he said his job is to “look at the numbers every day” and find ways to cut expenses to ensure investor money goes farther.
“I would like to provide that service, if possible, to you as well,” said Smock.
After exploring the possibility of become a Pottstown police officer — an option Smock said his wife found to be too dangerous — serving on council would be another way to serve the community, he said.
“I always wanted to serve as best as possible and this is another way I could serve the community,” Smock said.
Councilman Joe Kirkland offered the only question to the candidates; a question that got to the heart of the matter — How would they deal with voting for something they know is good for the borough, but is unpopular?
Both offered a similar answer, but used different language.
Smock said he would try to educate the public about why its a good thing.
Lindsay said she would try to “sell it” to the public. Using the Safe Route to School initiative as an example, she said loves the program and would counter objections by residents by noting “don’t you want your kids to be safe on the way to school?
The vote on which of the four candidates will be chosen — the other two are Angela Kearney and Ken Supinski Jr. — will occur at Monday’s council meeting.
Land Bank Dispute
Borough council is not the only local government board to have a vacancy. In fact, there are quite a few — including on the planning commission, the blighted property review committee, the Pottstown Downtown Improvement District Authority and the board of the newly formed Pottstown Land Bank.
This last vacancy was the source of some controversy Wednesday when Councilman Joe Kirkland and former councilwoman Sheryl Miller questioned why the name of Twila Fisher, The Hill School’s manager of community and economic development and the director of the school’s Hobart’s Run initiative, had reappeared on the agenda as a possible
“I cannot believe I have to continually educate this council about conflict of interest.” - Sheryl Miller, former Pottstown council member
appointment to the Land Bank Board.
At the April 9 council meeting, Fisher was unanimously rejected as a board member by council, who unanimously approved the other four members — Deb Penrod, Cheryl Chiarello, Andrew Monastra and Council Vice President Carol Kulp.
According to the minutes, Councilman Ryan Procsal suggested Fisher reapply once given the opportunity to “present her status.”
Procsal said Wednesday that he had since spoken with Fisher and was satisfied her appointment would not be a conflict.
“I cannot believe I have to continually educate this council about conflict of interest,” Miller said during the public comment period.
She said when she served on council, other organizations — such as Habitat for Humanity, Mosaic Community Land Trust and local Realtor Matt Green — had joined with Fisher in giving input into the formation of the land bank.
Miller said all those organizations, which are involved in the acquisition of property for rehabilitation and re-sale, recognized the potential for the perception of conflict of interest due to the potential for economic gain while serving on the land bank board — but only Fisher applied.
“You see no other person from those organizations applying to be an applicant to serve on the Land Bank board. They understand, it’s a conflict of interest,” Miller said.
She also pointed out to Procsal that resident Madison Morton has also applied to serve on that board, yet Procsal did not “reach out” to him to discuss his qualifications.
Kirkland wanted to know why a candidate that had been rejected would be reconsidered, and Council President Dan Weand replied that he had simply asked for all those who had applied to be listed again for a vote at Monday’s meeting.
Planning Commission
Council got another lecture about potential conflict of interest from Borough Solicitor Charles D. Garner Jr. Wednesday night regarding the potential appointment of Monastra to the planning commission.
Monastra is a lawyer at the same firm that employs Garner — Wolf Baldwin & Assoc.
He told council that while he sees no legal conflict of interest problem with Monastra serving on the planning commission, that because he advises the planning commission and is paid by the hour, there might be a “perception of conflict.”
For example, someone might believe that Monastra was trying to generate more revenue for the firm by voting to have Garner do more work for the planning commission,” Garner said.
The other applicant for the open planning commission seat is Thomas Hylton, who most recently served on the Pottstown School Board and served for 12 years as a member of the planning commission.
PDIDA
Hylton has also applied for one of two vacancies on the Pottstown Downtown Improvement District Authority board.
But executive director Sheila Dugan asked council Wednesday night to table a vote on his application until she and the other board members have had a chance to interview him.
They already have with the second applicant, Pamela Gormish, who the board has recommended for appointment, “and I want to give the board the same opportunity to interview Mr. Hylton,” she said.
There have been no applications for the vacancy on the blighted property review committee.