Bitter end-of-year meeting in Honesdale

By OWEN WALSH
Posted 12/11/19

HONESDALE, PA — The borough’s final council meeting of the year was better attended than usual by both councilors and members of the public.

Bente Schmidt got the ball rolling with …

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Bitter end-of-year meeting in Honesdale

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HONESDALE, PA — The borough’s final council meeting of the year was better attended than usual by both councilors and members of the public.

Bente Schmidt got the ball rolling with comments about icy snow banks still lining the sidewalks downtown. Schmidt told council that since the winter’s first snowstorm, she has seen a woman slip and fall on the ice. She also said that she’s had trouble pushing her grandson in a stroller across the Fourth Street crosswalk toward CVS. Schmidt presented the council with several photographs of snow banks along Main Street. Some applauded as she left the podium.

Councilor Bill Canfield, who has not attended a meeting in several months—for reasons he said would not be discussed—used the snow issue as an opportunity to generally decry increased regulations ever since Honesdale created the position of borough manager, currently held by Judith Poltanis.

“I have offered [to plow, shovel, cinder and salt the borough roads and sidewalks] many times… I was told by the borough manager that I am not allowed to do anything in the borough because I’m not covered by workman’s comp,” he said. “The reason I am here tonight is to bring this out to the public that my hands are tied by the president and the borough manager.”

There was some ensuing confusion about what areas are actually the borough’s responsibility and what are property owners’ responsibility. Property owners in Honesdale must clear the snow from their sidewalks by 5 p.m. the day after a storm ends or be subject to a fine.

President Mike Augello said that the Department of Public Works (DPW) was short-staffed and without a sitting director at the time of the storm, which he said hindered efficient snow removal.

Canfield later turned to Augello and began shouting, using expletives and accusing the president and Poltanis of taking control over the borough the past year.

“You run this borough and manipulate it with one person,” he said to Augello. “We can’t do nothing because you and the borough manager and the labor lawyers run this friggin’ borough.”

Councilor Robert Jennings asked Poltanis to contact Honesdale’s insurance carrier and find out if councilors would actually be covered to help with snow removal. Solicitor Richard Henry doubted they’d be covered, since they are elected officials, not employees and likely not qualified to be using the borough’s heavy snow-removal machinery.

With decorum decaying, councilors James Jennings and Travis Rivera tried to keep comments constructive, calling for a “creative” plan for future snow removal.

Former DPW director Rich Doney then asked permission to speak, which he said he had not planned on doing. After 27 years, Doney stepped down as director last Labor Day. The council has since been tight-lipped about his reasons for leaving, saying that it could not be discussed.

Doney did not go into specifics Monday night, but cited frustration with Augello, Poltanis and the labor attorneys as well as poor treatment from council. He also claimed that seven other DPW employees have left for similar reasons.

“The manager’s got to go; you’re going to ruin this town,” he said. In response to Jennings and Rivera, Doney said that there is already a snow-removal plan in place, but that the recent DPW resignations have left the borough with too little manpower to get the job done.

Augello, who once told The River Reporter that his main goal as a councilor was to create the borough manager position, defended its necessity as well as the borough’s utilization of labor attorneys over the past year. He disagreed with Canfield’s claim that things ran more smoothly without them, saying that Honesdale had been plagued with lawsuits and a financially wasteful, inefficient council—to the point that it risked losing its liability insurance—before it had a manager and labor attorneys.

Another member of the public, Chad Weigelt, who owns Mike’s Vending, spoke later that evening. He brought a myriad of complaints and accusations against the council, ranging from improper snow-removal, unfair parking tickets, obscene graffiti in the park, a lack of “checks and balances,” too few police officers and too many tax increases. He remained at the podium for 30 minutes, banging his hands on the podium and sometimes using expletives.

A woman from the public spoke next, saying that the language that had been used by both councilors and the public that evening had no place and that it should not have been tolerated. Augello apologized on behalf of the council, but also said as president he prefers to keep his hands off the gavel and allow people to express their emotions and opinions openly.

With the extended public comment portion concluded, the council voted on buying a new car for the police department. At $50,000, the car was about $11,000 over budget. Robert Jennings and James Brennan voted yes, but Augello, Canfield, Rivera and James Jennings voted no.

The council also voted to hire Daniel Brown as new DPW director. Brown’s grandfather was a former director. The vote was unanimous with one abstention from Robert Jennings; Canfield had already left the meeting. Monday’s meeting was Rivera’s last as a councilor. Opposing the 13 percent tax increase in the 2020 budget, Rivera urged the future council, which will include Jared Newbon, to reopen the budget next month to make changes. He also urged the council to treat the borough’s poor road conditions as its number-one crisis.

To hear audio from the meeting, visit The River Reporter’s SoundCloud

Honesdale, borough, council, meeting, bitter, end-of-year, manager, DPW

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