Dorsey appointed to borough council

WEST CHESTER » A longtime member of the Charles A. Melton Arts and Education Center board has been appointed to serve on Borough Council, filling the seat vacated by the abrupt resignation of a council member apparently upset with the decision to close a portion of Gay Street in the downtown business district.

Council members, in a virtual session Wednesday, voted 5-1 to appoint Lisa Dorsey, who serves as president of the Melton Center Board of Directors, to represent Ward 7 on council. Dorsey filled her seat remotely and immediately began participating in council business, said council President Michel Galey.

Her appointment was supported by Galey and council members Nick Allen, Donald Braceland, Bernie Flynn, and Michael Stefano. The other candidate nominated of the eight considered, Rabbi Elyse Seidner-Joseph, was supported by Councilman Bill Scott.

Dorsey could not immediately be reached for comment.

Galey said that Dorsey drew his support and that of other members partly because of her work in revitalizing the Melton Center, the former West Chester Community Center that served the Black community in the borough for decades and which has recently made a comeback in its activities.

But he said that Dorsey’s work with the council itself played a major role in winning the the nod.

“Being president of the Melton Center is impressive and important in its own right,” Galey said in an interview Thursday. “But she has appeared in front of council or a number of occasions, and that is something that I focused on since we have seen Lisa in action. She is familiar with the way council works.”

Galey said that Dorsey’s experience with overseeing the finances at the Melton Center was also “an important bonus” as the council tries to come to grips with the borough’s future budgets and an estimated $4 million deficit caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. “All the candidates were impressive, but that put her over the top in my mind.” he said.

The Ward 7 seat became vacant last month when Councilwoman Denise Polk, who had served in the seat since 2016, resigned. In her letter to Borough Manager Mike Perrone and Mayor Dianne Herrin, Polk, a professor at West Chester University, gave no specific reason for her departure.

But she wrote at length about her opposition to the council’s plans to shut down Gay Street for four blocks to allow restaurants and merchants to set up tables and merchandise displays in the street, allowing for greater business downtown during the coronavirus pandemic. Restaurants and bars had suffered during the closure restrictions place on Chester County during the early stages of the pandemic.