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Having created more of a belated campaign letter than a community newsletter, outgoing Council President Kelly Gross sent out a mass mailing to residents of West Easton. The letter was largely a Kelly Gross history of Kelly Gross, Council President.

It appears that almost all residents received the letter Saturday, though some, like those who were recently elected, were missing from her mailing list. A neighbor gave me a copy.

The paper, envelopes, labels, the metered postage, and even the copying machine used to produce the pages for mailing was paid for by taxpayer dollars, so that Ms. Gross could aggrandize her own contributions to the community, rehash personal grievances, and omit missteps.

All of this I wouldn’t have the major problem with, that I do, if the taxpayers weren’t footing the bill.

If Kelly Gross wanted to mail a letter that had nothing to do with upcoming events, meetings, and other town functions, we shouldn’t be paying for her editorial of what she believes she accomplished during her time in office. Even if some of what was written might be considered newsletter worthy, a newsletter paid for by taxpayers is certainly not a venue for her opinions of others, whether justified or not. Remove that and if she had just stuck to the facts of what the entire Council accomplished and not used the word, “I” so frequently, it might have been arguable that it was simply a review. Her personalized farewell, however, would have negated that argument, as did her providing an entire history, rather than a yearly report..

To be clear on this, if Kelly Gross paid for her ostentation from her own pocket I wouldn’t recognize it publicly as anything more than sour grapes and an attempt at self-vindication. There are definitely arguable points and some omission of facts related to claims made, but she has a right to speak her mind and have her own opinions of herself and those she served with – even if only 24 people voted in agreement with her in the primary election.

You might be thinking that I write a good number of opinionated pieces, and I would agree. The difference is that I’m not charging the taxpayers for it. This website is paid for with my own money, not yours.

My beef is that she used taxpayer money, rather than her own, to send out a self-promotional statement poorly disguised as some type of newsletter, which was presented as a personal letter to residents, that she signed. Considering that the letter wasn’t mailed to every household, also contributes to my opinion that it wasn’t a newsletter.

This is a good example of why a Council President shouldn’t be acting as a Borough Manager.

Any Borough Manager worth their salt wouldn’t have mailed it until getting Council President approval, because they would have recognized it for what it was – an insult to those who voted her out of office for reasons just like this one.

But that’s what happens when a Council President who has gotten accustomed to doing things her way because she was also acting as a Borough Manager, once again, did just that. Even if it was, for the last time.