Correction: This article as initially published misattributed several quotes which were sourced from a Tri-County Independent article, due to an editing error. Also, this article as originally published did not carry the needed disclaimer that the author formerly worked for the Honesdale Borough Department of Public Works. 

HONESDALE, PA — The fountain at Honesdale’s Central Park, the park’s main attraction, hadn’t worked all summer.

It became a non-operational eyesore after the borough’s entire Department of Public Works (DPW) resigned en masse in April, leaving no one to maintain it. Borough councilors and volunteers tried to fix the fountain, which came back on in mid-August. But it became clear the fountain’s aging parts needed to be replaced.

“It is things like this that grow your appreciation for all that a DPW staff do for the community without public knowledge or appreciation,” said Kevin Kundratic, the interim borough manager, in remarks published in the Tri-County Independent. “Appreciating the beauty of the fountain when it is running should be an appreciation of the men that worked to keep it running.”

Councilor David Nilsen suggested the Parks and Recreation Committee conduct an engineering or feasibility study on a fountain restoration.

“The detriment of the current design is that it takes an enormous amount of time and money for an individual to monitor the fountain multiple times a day. This is required to ensure it's not clogged or needs cleaning,” Nilsen told the Tri-County Independent.

“Skip, a former DPW employee, kept it running perfectly,” the DPW’s former director, Joe Rulis, told the River Reporter. “It just needed water added and the filter cleaned weekly, which took about two hours a week.”

From seven workers to two

The borough hired two new DPW workers but still falls short of the seven-member crew that resigned in April. With an average of 10 work orders per day per worker, the department was chronically understaffed, even before the resignations. Workers said snowstorms, broken pipes, special events, and requests from councilors made daily scheduling difficult.

According to former DPW employees, when the workers approached councilors with demands for better pay, working conditions, and union representation, they were initially met with concern and promises to do better. But negotiations quickly stalled, and the promises never materialized. The crew resigned later that month.

In May, the borough police asked the former DPW workers to take lie detector tests as part of a criminal investigation into an incident at the borough pool, in which piping seemed to have been cut from its plumbing system. Officials claimed vandalism, and Councilor William McAllister offered a $500 reward for information leading to the arrest of the perpetrator.

But Richard Southerton, the borough’s police chief, later revealed that the pool had not been vandalized but improperly winterized by contractors.

“The water had been turned off for the winter in the fall of 2023 and was turned back on in April 2024.” Southerton said in a news release on June 26. “Several pipe fittings connecting pipes in the Pump House had frozen and subsequently failed when the water was turned on to the Pump House. These leaks caused water damage which was reported as vandalism. A section of pipe reported as cut out and missing was removed by contractors attempting to repair fittings.”

The former DPW workers say being investigated for criminal activity has damaged their reputations, and that the borough has yet to apologize to them.

The borough is suing Rulis for the fee for his commercial driver’s licence (CDL). Rulis noted that he was one of three men who took the course but is the only one being sued.

The borough has been hiring outside contractors for maintenance while still paying the $11,000 yearly fee for the iWorQ program, previously used by the DPW for scheduling.

Sycamore Point Park transformation

What was once Industrial Point, where the Dyberry Creek and Lackawaxen River meet, is now Sycamore Point Park.

Strolling through the park along 12th Street in Honesdale, PA, you can envision its future as a community space with access to a river trail that continues to White Mills, Hawley, and Lake Wallenpaupack.

Councilors talked about plans for the park, started by a partnership between the Wayne Pike Trails and Waterways Alliance and the Wayne County Commissioners back in 2017. They commissioned a trail feasibility study, and the result is a river trail plan that features access points and parking areas accessible to people with disabilities.

The borough next meets at 6 p.m. on Sept. 23, at 958 Main Street, Honesdale, PA 18431.