School board denies fee waiver request.
PHOENIXVILLE >> The Phoenixville Area School Board rejected a group’s feewaiver request to use the high school auditorium following a controversial town hall meeting Feb. 25.
In the 4-4-1 decision Thursday night, the board denied the request made by organizers from the Concerned Citizens Action Group, which includes the wife of school board Vice President Ken Butera.
Board President Kevin Pattinson, along with board members Daniel Cushing, Betsy Ruch and Mike Ellis cast the ‘no’ votes. Butera abstained fromthe vote. The district will now charge the group both the $600 fee to rent the space and the $480 custodial services fee.
Butera previously said that his wife, Alissa, is not the leader of the group and is involved in a number of different groups. She previously said she did not tell her husband she was the group member who applied to use the high school. Other group memberswere trying to find a space to host the event and she used her experience as a former home and school representative to apply for the school.
On Thursday, Cushing and Ruch agreed that the group had the opportunity to avoid the fee by canceling the event once Costello said he would not attend.
“I think the request that came in had as part of it that the purpose of the meeting was to engage directly with the congressman,” Cushing said. “I think the congressman indicated he would not be able to attend. And that happened before the meeting itself happened. Therefore, they could have had the opportunity to cancel without the fees.”
Ellis didn’t think it was appropriate to waive fees for any political event because it could send a bad message, he said.
U.S. Congressman Ryan Costello, R-6th Dist., who was invited to the town hall meeting but could not attend because of a scheduling conflict, called the event “a political stunt.”
The board tabled the decision last month after conflicting information arose regarding just how apolitical the event would actually be. At last Thursday’s workshop meeting, the board’s finance committee recommended the custodial fee be charged but the auditorium rental fee be waived— a move Costello’s office warned would be using taxpayer money for a political purpose.
The district, along with boardmembers Eric Daugherty and Joshua Gould, said it is standard practice to waive the rental fee for nonprofit groups to use the fa- cility and taxpayers would not have paid the bill if the waiver were approved.
“This is consistent with how we’ve handled things in the past,” Gould said before the vote. “It’s very appropriate for our facilities to be used for things in the community. People expressing their views to their elected representatives is one of the ways we’ve seen to be appropriate in the past. What we’re doing with waiving the rental fee but not the custodial fee is consistent with how we’ve treated a lot of community groups. This is not a new precedent-setting thing that we’re doing.”
Tammy Harkness, of the Concerned Citizens Community Action Group, issued a statement in response to the vote saying the group was disappointed by the board’s decision.
“It is very disappointing that the (Phoenixville Area School Board) voted against the recommendation of their own finance committee to waive the rental fee for the auditorium,” she said. “(We) had already agreed to reimburse the janitorial and variable expenses.”
Harkness described the group as a newly-formed nonpartisan, nonprofit organization committed to civic engagement that has not endorsed or objected to any candidate’s interest in office. The town hall at the high school was a nonpartisan event intended to give a large audience of constituents the chance to ask Costello questions.
The group invited Costello as soon as it appeared likely it would be able to secure the high school, she said.
“He never responded to that request,” she said. “We were never informed formally that he would not be attending. As recently as Friday, Feb. 24, he met with one of our members at his West Chester office and led
her to believe his participation was still a possibility. She left that meeting believing it was possible for himor one of his representatives to attend.”
It was concerning Costello “chose to use the press to put the Phoenixville Area School District board members under a dark cloud of suspicion,” Harkness said.
“It is disappointing he chose not to respond to (the group’s) request directly,” she said. “It is indeed sad that the usage by the community of this ex- cellent public facility became so unnecessarily partisan and controversial.”
Costello’s office was unable to be reached for comment by press time Friday. Vince Galko, senior adviser to Costello, did issue a statement Monday saying Costello is committed to working in a bipartisan manner to tackle the nation’s problems. He remains accessible to his constituents, having never turned down a request to meet.
“Congressman Costello fully supports everyone’s right to assemble and protest,” Galko said. “There is overwhelming evidence that this was a partisan political event, whichwas held at the expense of Phoenixville area taxpayers and that certain people chose to promote their own political agenda using the school district’s facilities.”
“I think the congressman indicated he would not be able to attend. And that happened before the meeting itself happened. Therefore, they could have had the opportunity to cancel without the fees.” — Daniel Cushing, Phoenixville Area School Board