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On Tuesday, as I was walking my dog, a resident approached me and smiling, told me they heard the “New” Council was going to bankrupt West Easton.

“How are we going to do that?”, I asked, not smiling in return.

They told me they had been told by someone else, who saw it on Facebook. When this person told me who supposedly posted it on Facebook, I wasn’t believing it. Especially when part of the post allegedly had the person saying to vote the Council out in the upcoming election. The relationship of this person making the post to someone on Council made the credibility of this information a little more than suspect.

“Tell your friend to take a screen capture and you can forward it to me. I’ll believe it when I see it.”, I told them.

Yesterday, I received the screen capture and have been trying to decide if it is something to be ignored, or if it should be addressed. Considering who made the statement, it can’t be ignored.

The screen capture below is from Patty Nodoline’s Facebook account. Patty, as many residents are aware, is wife to sitting Councilman Tom Nodoline (Not to be confused with Henry Nodoline, who also sits on Council).

Whether or not Tom was aware of the post put on Facebook I can’t say, but if he feels it’s time for him to get his family jewels out of her purse, he can discuss that with her. He seldom gives an explanation on anything he votes against, when he does attend Council meetings.

While Patty is certainly entitled to her own opinion, I do have concerns when opinions aren’t supported with facts.

Council has heard from many, many residents and the consensus is clear. Residents want local police protection, as they aren’t satisfied with Pennsylvania State Police (PSP). They are willing to spend money, but not go bankrupt doing it.

Council looked into contracting with Wilson Borough and the Safety Committee sat down with them several times to try and come to an agreement. The agreement they insisted upon was a contract that would have bankrupted West Easton in a decade, or sent our local taxes through the roof just to keep up with the ever increasing cost of renewal. Councilman Robert Lewis provided a detailed breakdown of what that contract would mean to West Easton residents at a previous Council meeting.

Our only option is a part-time police force. Council budgeted $150,000 in 2017 to start a part-time police force that would work in conjunction with PSP, following the example of Stockertown, that has a budget of $132,000 this year for their part-time police force that works with PSP. It’s a subject that the Safety Committee investigated thoroughly before bringing to the full Council for a vote to proceed.

$150,000 is at least $50,000 below what Easton would charge for part-time coverage – if they would even consider providing the coverage, since Mayor Sal Panto has made it pretty clear he does not want to provide the service. It is also more than $100,000 less than what Wilson Borough proposed (with a 5% increase each year to follow).

Then there is the, “time to vote them out” part of her statement. Is that, “vote them out” referencing her own husband? Tom Nodoline is up for re-election this year.

It makes me believe that Tom Nodoline won’t be running this year. He seemed to have lost interest in serving on Council anyway, since he lost his muse, former Council President Kelly Gross. He isn’t a happy camper being on a Council that, though we can disagree on issues, we do work to improve the borough and provide local government transparency.

Tom voted “NO” to hiring our Borough Manager, our Treasurer, our Solicitor, The Pennsylvania State Association of Boroughs (PSAB) providing West Easton assistance (for free), changing to a bank that would pay interest on our borough accounts, and more simple agenda items like distribution of checks.

Of the one task he was asked specifically to complete – having new signs created for Gerald W. Gross Park – it took him almost year to get nothing done. It was only after the full Council directed him go to different sign maker (who had the signs completed in less than 1 month), were the new signs delivered.

Not surprising and something I would expect, considering he is assisting someone currently suing our borough, was caught on camera removing computers from Borough Hall after the election in 2015, and was instrumental pushing and supporting the failed policies of Kelly Gross.

As far as Patty’s statement of West Easton Council being, “out of control,” Council President Dan DePaul will answer that in the next post that will be uploaded tomorrow.