It's Dangerous to be Away on Vacation

My letter to the Editor in the Ephrata Review on this subject:

Editor,

Another “curiosity” took place at the August 20, 2009 East Cocalico Township Supervisors workshop meeting.  With Supervisor Noelle Fortna absent (being away on vacation), Supervisors Mackley and Fry voted to start the process of hiring two new police officers.  To the best of my knowledge, the hiring of two new police officers had not been previously discussed at a public meeting this year.

The police force is down two officers from its authorized strength, and the overtime from the recent Roseboro murder investigation and trial has put a burden on the police department’s budget.  However, voting to start the hiring process now without a public discussion of the cost and its impact on the budget seems somewhat strange to me in light of the current economic conditions.  Unemployment and reduced salaries have undoubtedly reduced the Township’s income by a significant amount.

Questions that I think should have been addressed prior to this vote are the current need for the new officers, whether possibly hiring only one now might be an effective alternative, and did Supervisor Fortna know that the other two supervisors planned on doing this?

As I have commented a number of times in the past, in most townships, the workshop meetings are usually just for discussions on issues rather than for significant votes.  Our planning commission does that – they save the votes for the regular meetings and just hold discussions at the workshops.  Since a regular supervisors meeting was held the night before that workshop (and those positions have been vacant for some time), there is no apparent reason involving timing that should have forced them to vote on the issue at this workshop with only two supervisors present.  Might the reason have something to do with the fact that reporters rarely attend the workshop meetings?

The remaining question that needs to be answered is how much is this going to raise our property taxes?

Ken McCrea

Stevens, PA