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It was a portion of the Mayor’s Report that wasted a lot of time focused on trying to kill the the messenger, rather than offering solutions.

It had to do with the Work Release Facility and my speaking to County Council.

Never one to shy away from self-promotion, he took the opportunity at last night’s Council meeting to provide his own resume of importance to the public, or as Mayor DePaul put it, to “give a history lesson.”

His own history.

He gave a review of positions he held, boasting of his accomplishments in helping judges and others get elected, including County Executive Lamont McClure, while chastising me for speaking before the County Council.

He claimed I “scared half the residents to death,” by saying facility residents were “escaping.”

Mayor DePaul follows the County’s mantra of describing them as, “Failure To Return (FTR),” parroting the line of McClure and the Work Release Facility.

My Uncle told me he drank potato juice. It sounded so much better than, “vodka.”

Maybe state prisons can use terminology like, “run-aways” or, “non-secured guests” to describe those who aren’t in their cells each morning. The public won’t be alarmed, if they would just tone it down a bit.

I can understand DePaul not wanting the problems with the Work Release Facility since 2015 being looked at too closely. He was on Council in 2015 and voted to approve the changes to the facility that have caused residents of West Easton discontent. The increase in FTR’s began in 2015 (note I didn’t write, “escapes”).

10 of them “walked off” last year (note I didn’t write “escaped”). 25 in total since 2012, if the most recent Express-Times update from the County is accurate.

But, according to Mayor DePaul, he hasn’t heard any complaints from West Easton residents about the number of facility “residents” who haven’t returned.

He might be telling the truth. The lid was kept on the situation until I started digging and requesting an accounting from the County through a Right to Know Request.

I’m aware my refusal to get on board with his mad rush to a police force without proper preparation doesn’t have me on his “favorite people” list. My opposing his desire to hire someone without Council approval being a challenge to his perceived authority as Mayor also didn’t sit well with him.

His aggravation with me becomes more open and confrontational with each Council meeting. He doesn’t send me flowers any more.

It felt like old times when leadership in a previous administration would complain about something I wrote.

I “aired our dirty laundry,” he said.

Our new Mayor seems to have learned something from those he, himself, aired plenty of “dirty laundry” about at public meetings during the past two years.

My length of residency in West Easton and on Council was brought up by him. I’m not as accomplished as he, nor vested in the community as he, was the message implied.

I think I saw a glitch in The Matrix.

I never knew there was a mandatory time of residency to get pro-active in the community, or even a set time on Council to speak my mind.

That may come as an eyebrow raiser for new Council members and residents who haven’t lived in West Easton for as long as Mayor DePaul.

DePaul said he got numerous phone calls about my appearance before County Council. I don’t doubt if he did receive calls, they were from those at the County level complaining that the Work Release Facility problems was making news.

Though he probably had no intention of saying it, he forwarded the information that, after those at the County level read what I said (in the newspaper, I assume), they reached out to him to set up a meeting.

He may have limited power on West Easton’s Council as Mayor, but a Mayor’s role takes on a different role as a representative of a borough. It’s a status position that can do some good when the opportunity presents itself.

He now has that opportunity.

He might ask McClure if a County Sheriff can have Work Release Facility resident’s cars towed if they are parked on our streets, have the Work Release Facility notify a West Easton designee if a resident fails to return, or have Work Release Facility residents clean up the trash they and visitors leave out front. Ask for a contact number residents can call directly when a visitor throws a dirty diaper at them.

He can go in with laundry list of changes regarding the Work Release Facility that residents of West Easton have been wanting during his tenure in leadership.

Or, he can continue to play nice and worry about upsetting all those friends in high places.

For the sake of those living around the Work Release Facility and all of West Easton, I truly wish him success in getting the problems solved.