Now that the off-year election has ended it’s time to ask a question of West Easton residents.
Do we need 7 chairs on the council?
I think not.
Few council meetings have had every councilperson in attendance. Our borough consists of 1250 people according to the last census count. Of these, about 750 are registered voters. Northampton County, with approximately 300,000 residents has 9 council seats.
Due to our residents own disinterest in getting actively involved, for the most part, the 7 member council is made up of individuals who think alike and vote alike. Trying to find 7 people in a town of 1250 who actually want to work on the council has apparently become a task. There is no overabundance of interest in attending a meeting, let alone serving on the council. A sad state of affairs when you think about it.
As has been evident in the last elections, it is an effort to get good people to run for elected office in West Easton. That is not to say that those who hold office aren’t “good” people, but there must be more of them in this borough. I don’t care if they are Republicans, Democrats, or Independents. Run for office, tell me what you want for the future of West Easton, and if I agree with you I’ll vote for you. There isn’t even competition in the primaries among the two political parties.
If you have ever attended a council meeting, you would notice that many on the council, and sometimes all who actually show up at a council meeting, seem to be unprepared to discuss any issue or ordinance that comes before them.
While I do not intend this to be insulting to our council, it must be pointed out that to an observer like myself, when an ordinance is brought up and I see every council member trying to hurriedly read for the first time what is before them, I have no doubt that they haven’t familiarized themselves with the issue until that very moment, despite the fact that this information is available to them in packets – well before the scheduled council meeting.
If not for Council President Kelly Gross walking them through the issue at hand, they would be lost. This is unacceptable and those who aren’t preparing themselves for the meeting should be embarrassed.
As some may know, I was going to run for a council seat in this past election, but withdrew only days after submitting my name to the primaries. I had my reasons then and am still hesitant to get involved. My opinions on some things probably wouldn’t be welcome and I would respectfully voice those opinions, just as I voiced my opinion regarding access to meeting minutes not being made available as soon as possible to the public (which I’m happy to say has been corrected and I will write about in the next couple of days). I may actually make a run again in the future, but am thankful I have two years before I must decide and that I’m currently involved in another matter that is taking up much of my free time.
The position of Councilperson shouldn’t be taken as a task of only needing to appear once per month and having to be led through the agenda items.
And I know it is becoming increasingly difficult to find qualified people to fill those 7 chairs. People seem to want the title, but not the work that is required. The pay for sitting in a chair will be $1200/yr. Not a vast sum of money, but tax dollars are paying for it and it is expected that at least some preparation will be done before the council meeting actually convenes.
By all appearances it seems that the Council President Kelly Gross is carrying most of the weight in making sure town business is conducted and is taking undeserved persecution from one individual in this town for doing so. If not for Kelly Gross, I wonder who on the council could do it, as well as she has.
I’m expecting to see at least two additional vacant seats before the next election. Both through resignations and one because of health reasons. I don’t say I know anything. Just looking at the council, I see a couple of empty seats appearing in the next 24 months. My two predictions doesn’t include the one vacant seat now existing because of the most recent resignation. And I’m more than curious to see who was wrangled into filling that one.
It’s time to reduce the council to five seats. With any luck, eventually we’ll see five who are serving for a purpose, other than to fill a chair.
Disclaimer: On January 4, 2016, the owner of WestEastonPA.com began serving on the West Easton Council following an election. Postings and all content found on this website are the opinions of Matthew A. Dees and may not necessarily represent the opinion of the governing body for The Borough of West Easton.
