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For one angry resident, the campaign to disparage Council began in earnest with the loss of a second frivolous lawsuit against West Easton and then a Court Order barring this resident from filing further lawsuits without approval from a Judge.

The claims of budget problems and wasteful spending, without proof, substance, or comprehension of information is apparent.

At best, it’s like a blind man making a wrong determination of what an elephant is, by grabbing one piece of information. At worst, and more likely, our resident knows the claims are untrue, but hopes to create controversy where none exists by cherry picking information to distribute.

Some of you may recall 2016, when the Chicken Little few cried that West Easton would be bankrupt in two years.

It’s been nearly four years since voters installed new faces on Council and two years since the last Kelly Gross minion was booted out of office. New ideas, proper management, and some Council members that actually work to achieve a better West Easton have brought results.

Our borough is financially sound, while still having made needed repairs and improvements. It’s been done through cost saving measures enacted, switching to interest bearing bank accounts, CD investments, bargain hunting, a dedicated Borough Manager, and a huge increase in grant award monies obtained, to pay for much of what was done.

While we aren’t a “rich” borough, we are in a position where we can pay advertising fees for updating or adding new ordinances, enforcing code violations, prosecuting offenders, and most importantly, letting it be known through these actions that West Easton will no longer turn a blind eye, or be coerced, because we fear of the cost of litigating something through the Courts.

Bureaucracy and the requirement to follow legal guidelines slows the process of addressing offenses quickly, but action still progresses.

I know that the majority in our community, aware of the past history of a resident with vindictive and immature displays of anger, give little credibility to the garbage spouted. I thank those who provided the printouts and their assurances they take what they read from our malcontent with a grain of salt. They eagerly await this resident to follow through on her desire to leave what she has called our “disgusting” borough.

However, there are those who may not be familiar with our distiller of deception. The disgruntled one, who carries on a personal vendetta and uses the Internet like a middle school bathroom wall.

It is the unaware citizens who may hear something said and believe it. So, eventually, the BS must be answered in order to set the record straight.

1. A developer was “forced” to remove trees and now West Easton has cited him for removing trees.

Mostly FALSE: The Borough only passed along information to the developer that it had been receiving calls of dead branches falling from his trees along Main Street and suggested the developer may want to trim them before anyone/thing got hurt. The developer chose to remove those trees completely. No action was taken on the removal of those trees along Main Street.

West Easton is moving on a separate tree issue. Months after the Main Street trees were removed the developer was sent a notice of a Zoning Violation when trees were removed along East Street. These trees were the Cypress variety, narrow and tall. The 12′-14′ trees were a landscape buffer between a residential district and the industrial district, as required by existing Zoning Laws. Approximately 80 trees were removed.

2. Budget was over-expended by $135,000

FALSE: Arriving at this false amount after looking at the 2018 audit, our resident can’t seem to comprehend that our borough accounting is done on a cash basis, thus an audit does not show “carry over” money, or money due, but not yet received. It literally only shows what went out and what came in for the year. An audit doesn’t take into account all the other funds that are sitting elsewhere. The money we have invested in CDs for example, does not show up on the audit. Projects started in 2018 show as an expense. If we don’t receive the grant money reimbursement for those projects until 2019, that reimbursement (income) doesn’t appear on the 2018 audit.

2. The Borough Hall Roof was replaced when it didn’t need to be.

FALSE: Built in 1991, the original Borough Hall’s shingles were nearing their life expectancy in 2016. That year, the roof was inspected and it was recommended, by more than one roofer, it be replaced. Council opted to patch the roof where needed, which we were advised would buy two additional years of service, giving the new Council that year time to budget for the $11,000 job. In 2018, Council had the roof replaced because it needed to be replaced.

3. The new “patio” at Monument Park cost $50,000.

FALSE: The new War Memorial Fountain honoring fallen military heroes, (which our resident refers to as a “patio”) cost approximately $18,200. It was also 100% funded by grants – And we only have our one resident who has tried to prevent West Easton from receiving grants.

Even if the resident “mistakenly” added in the separate project of replacing the electrical service that had been out of commission for more than a year, the cost of that being approximately $4800, it doesn’t come close to the $50K claim. Coordinating both projects to be done at the same time actually saved the borough money, by not having to do the landscaping twice. The $4800 for the separate electrical project was also covered by a grant.

4. Home Depot charges not accounted for.

FALSE: Apparently unable to read a budget, it was explained to the resident that there is no stand-alone line item for Home Depot purchases, just as there is no line item for Staples, Amazon, and others. Purchases used to all show up in the Vendor file, but when online payments began, they could not be added to this Vendor file, as there was no check number to go with the purchases, required by the accounting program.

Once this was noticed the office reached out to their accounting representative and asked them to come up with a solution, which they did. All purchases now go to both the correct budget line and the correct vendor account. This was explained to the resident by our Borough Manager. Purchases are still recorded in the correct line item for which the purchases were made. Purchases from Home Depot were charged to line items such as Police Start-up, Custodian, Maintenance, etc.

5. Council budgeted $24,000 for grant preparation.

Mostly FALSE: Though I could rightfully call this false because of the incorrect amount claimed, I’ll allow for the unlikely possibility this wasn’t an intentional over-exaggeration and the fact that Council does budget for grant preparation. The actual amount budgeted for 2019 is $20,000 and we have used $0 this year for grant preparation.

I’ll even expand on the subject with additional facts:

$40,000 was also budgeted in a different line item, should West Easton need to provide its own money for matching funds to obtain a grant. To date, we have matched $0 of our own money. However, if a grant recently applied for is awarded, Council has included a Letter of Commitment for $16,600 that will come from $40,000 budgeted. That $16.6K will be the only borough money contributed to complete the $112,000 project for Phase II of the Public Works Garage. The remainder would be covered by a grant, if it is awarded.

6. Local Taxes rose a “silent” 18.4 Mill and $417K was “taken from surplus.”

FALSE: Taxes remain at 11.7 Mill, not 30.1 Mill (“silent,” or otherwise). Nobody has been able to figure out our resident’s bizarre math used to arrive at the $417K figure, or how it was “taken from surplus,” but conjecture runs that investments in CDs, or carry-overs from previous years of unspent Police Start-up costs may have the resident unable to emerge from the fog of confusion.

The Borough’s Treasurer, when asked about our assets at a recent Council meeting, confirmed the Borough has more cash on hand than it did at the start of 2019. The Borough is actually more financially sound than it was at the beginning of 2016.

7. A 40-gun capacity safe was purchased for a one-man Police Department.

Mostly FALSE: While a 40-gun safe was purchased, it won’t remain a one-man Police Department as time goes on, as our resident is well aware. It is a well-known fact that part-time police officers will be hired and there could be, at some point in the future, a dozen officers on the call roster to cover a part-time schedule, because some may be unavailable to work for various reasons.

The safe would not only hold off-duty hand guns, but would also hold rifles, assault weapons, shotguns and their ammunition that will likely be acquired over the years, providing uncluttered storage needed for all of it.

8. Massive Tax Increase! The annual donation to the Safety First Volunteer Fire Company will increase from $10K to $60K

FALSE: First, our resident who apparently has a reading comprehension problem, got this year’s donation incorrect. West Easton donated $20,000 to Safety First Vol. Fire Co. (SFVFC), up from $16,000 in 2017.

Ten months ago, back in September of 2018, representatives from SFVFC met with the Safety Committee during a scheduled meeting, open to the public. I was the Chair of the committee that evening and provided detailed Minutes, which have been available on this website under the “FYI” tab.

At the time we met, SFVFC indicated financial difficulties due to various reasons and the possibility of additional monetary assistance. As can be seen in the Minutes, the meeting concluded with SFVFC to present its needs at the next Council Meeting.

SFVFC did not appear at that Council meeting, or any meeting that has followed. Being a member of the Safety First Social Club, it is my understanding that the fire company and support organizations have been working among themselves, trying to resolve any financial problems reported last year.

Other than an annual donation, the Borough does not get involved with the SFVFC business affairs, or those of their support organizations, as they are an independent and volunteer organization, which is not run by the Borough of West Easton.

There has been no proposal by any Council member to increase the donation to $60,000, though it is possible, should such a request be formally made from the SFVFC at some point, and the situation requires it.

As of this post, the actual amount of any donation increase is unknown until Fire Chief Bogari puts in his request for a donation. It is also unknown if any donation increase will result in a tax increase.

9. It cost taxpayers $49,000 for the trestles to be inspected.

FALSE: West Easton and Wilson, seeking to incorporate the trestles over Iron and Spring Streets as part of trails system, needed an in-depth inspection done by a certified engineering firm qualified in bridge structures and approved by Pennsylvania to perform such inspections. Other than visual inspections previously conducted on the trestles, no previous Council wanted to tackle the rotting trestles problem and the liability they pose to West Easton.

West Easton’s share for the inspections was $18,375. Wilson’s share was $6125 (for 1/2 the trestle over Iron St.). A grant covered the remaining cost.

The trestles were determined unfit for trail use. On a related note, West Easton and Wilson actually satisfied an unfunded mandate from PennDot that was issued throughout the state, shortly after the trestles were inspected and Council awaited the completed report. PennDOT informed West Easton that an inspection of the trestles be conducted by a certified bridge engineer within 60 days, if one hadn’t been done previously.

The Trestles Report has been available to the public upon request and is also immediately available under the “FYI” tab found along the header of this website.

Both West Easton and Wilson satisfied the 60 day requirement and beat a rush by communities seeking grants to help pay for these expensive inspections.

So folks, the next time somebody tells you something, consider the Patient Zero it originated from. Don’t allow yourself to be infected with a virus from a common scold.

7/2/19 – Edited to correct donation amount to SFVFC