When you have good people who care about West Easton, you let them know it. Council members wanted to let them know with more than just words.
Three plaques, previously ordered for two employees and a volunteer resident were presented on Monday evening during West Easton’s online Zoom Council Meeting.
The only regret is the presentation couldn’t have been done during an in-person meeting, with more residents in attendance. The plaques were ordered with the inscribed dates before the pandemic caused social distancing guidelines.
Council expressed their gratitude to these outstanding individuals, even though two of them were not present, because of the meeting being held online.
Dane Thatcher, who has worked for the borough a decade, is more than just our Road Department Supervisor.
Dane, who for most months works alone and has no crew, is the man the borough also relies on to clean storm drains, handle PA One Call notices, plant flowers, spread mulch, mow grass, collect trash, vacuum leaves, inspect and maintain parks, repair equipment, plow streets, shovel public walks, put up or replace signs, remove debris, perform carpentry, and… well, you get the idea.
Dane is the “Jack Of All Trades” for our borough. He does multiple jobs and could use more than a part-time helper for a few months each year. I’ll see if a grant is available.
Joan Heebner is another with more than one hat. Our Borough Manager is our Borough Secretary, and also our Agency Open Records Officer (AORO).
While being Borough Manager provides plenty of work in getting reports done, grant applications put together, assigning tasks, working with vendors, handling most complaints, and dealing with bureaucracy, her job would be far less difficult if she didn’t have the AORO hat.
Considering the number of RTK Requests and appeals she has to put up with from a single resident, Joan deserves much more than a plaque. I’ve written the Pope, requesting living Sainthood.
James “Jim” Jankowich is a resident who spent his time and energy as a volunteer assisting in the refurbishment of our police station.
He assisted Dane Thatcher with carpentry work and providing much needed help on numerous occasions to get the police station looking as good as it does now.
It’s volunteers like Jim who make our community a great place to live. He is one of a few volunteers who are stepping up to make West Easton even better than it is.
Jim cares about his community. He contributes his skills without pay and with no expectation of any type of recognition.
Council is giving him that recognition, anyway.
While it’s nice to say, “Thank you” it’s much better to say it with a small token of appreciation that shows we really mean it.
