The Sanatoga Post

Sen. John Rafferty, center, gives his “Thumbs Up!” to a Reading Site Contractors pavers, joined by volunteers David Shafer of Royersford PA, left, and Jim Rivers of Mattiola Services

POTTSTOWN PA – It pays to know people, state Sen. John Rafferty recognizes, and sometimes tapping the right people pays off in unexpected and delightful ways.

Take, for example, the Pennsylvania Army National Guard armory in Spring City PA. Rafferty’s been there dozens of times, usually in the capacity of welcoming home troops returning from overseas deployments. During his visits there late last year, the senator said he was disappointed to find the driveway into Guard headquarters “was crumbling and full of potholes.” The Guard lacked the money to fix it; the state couldn’t afford it either.

So Rafferty called on people he knew – the corporate leaders of The H&K Group contractors, whose quarrying operations extend across Sanatoga and Pottstown – and asked them for help.

Voila! New driveway.

“When Sen. Rafferty reached out to us … we immediately jumped at the opportunity to not only give back to the community, but also to the brave men and women who serve our country,” H&K President and CEO Scott Haines said recently.

H&K donated all the materials and equipment needed to make the repairs. In addition, 15 employees of Mattiola Services LLC and Reading Site Contractors of Pottstown, two H&K divisions, rallied to the cause and volunteered their professional services. Within hours of meeting Rafferty and armory Chief Warrant Officer Michael Murphy at the site a few weeks ago, about 70 tons of new asphalt had been delivered, placed and rolled, “leaving the driveway in a condition worthy of a war hero,” Haines reported.

“The end result is a repaired driveway that will greatly benefit the Guard,” Rafferty agreed, at no cost to the Guard or taxpayers.

Haines praised those who gave of their time to make the job move quickly.

From Mattiola Services, Mike Arrivello provided saw cutting and Travis Zimmerman operated the milling machine. Reading Site Contractors employees Bryan Mclain, Wayne Archer, Chad Davis, Michael Hillegas, Jason Stauffer, and Jistino Villalva made up the paving crew. Terry Gennaria, Dave Leister and Jason Tokonitz hauled paving materials. Tony Alexander was the broom truck driver. Ray Cushman and Gary Halteman mobilized and demobilized the equipment, and Uriah Lessig mixed the asphalt at the H&K Group’s Sanatoga asphalt plant.

“I am so proud that a local company and its workers pitched in to get this project done,” Rafferty noted. “This is an example of neighbors helping neighbors, and a great way to honor our troops.”

Archbishop Chaput

PHILADELPHIA PA – Yet another call to the Pennsylvania Legislature for passage of a school choice bill – a debate in which Lower Pottsgrove (PA) Township‘s state House advocate, Rep. Tom Quigley, has been a key player – arose Thursday (Jan. 25, 2012) from Philadelphia, this time in the form of the weekly column from Archbishop Charles J. Chaput.

Chaput, the spiritual leader of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia and its more than 1 million Roman Catholic parishioners, in a statement distributed to the media challenged his flock to “get active and focused” in lobbying elected officials to support proposals that would help families pay for their students to attend alternative and private schools rather than public ones.

Chaput’s column makes several references to the use of Educational Improvement Tax Credit (EITC) funds as the source of financing for a school choice or voucher program. Using EITC money has been championed by Quigley, but not yet become law. A bill with that provision died in legislative committee discussions last year. Members of both the state House and Senate are due to return for work in Harrisburg on Feb. 6 (2012).

Chaput blamed the recent announcement to close dozens of parochial schools in the archdiocese, including Sacred Heart in Royersford and St. Philip Neri School in East Greenville, in part on their supporters’ inability to date to force legislators’ hands. “Elected officials do listen, and they act when the noise gets loud enough,” he said, in promoting a lobbying campaign.

Here’s Chaput’s column in its entirety:

“Monday, January 29, begins Catholic Schools Week.  It’s a time to honor the unique value of Catholic education.  Here in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, we have a long record of dedicated service by the women and men who teach in our classrooms and run the “business” of Catholic schools.  That record includes the legacy of thousands of women and men religious and diocesan clergy.  In the single academic year of 1963-64, more than 4,100 religious and 1,600 laypersons taught more than 263,000 students enrolled in our schools.  Today, scores of our pastors make extraordinary commitments of parish funds to keep our schools open and excellent.

“Unfortunately, schools run on resources, not simply good will and heroic service.  Our schools can no longer count on unlimited Church support.  The resources simply don’t exist.  Many of our parishes are financially strained.  The archdiocese itself faces serious financial and organizational challenges that have been developing for many years and cannot be ignored.

“So where does that leave us?  We can honor Catholic Schools Week this year by actually doing something about the fiscal problems hurting our schools.  We need to press our lawmakers, respectfully but vigorously, to pass school choice.

“First, we need some clarity:  School vouchers do not mean “government support for religious schools.”  That argument is flatly false.  No vouchers go to any school, religious or otherwise.  Vouchers do, however, return the power of educational choice to parents, where it belongs.  In doing so, vouchers make all schools more accountable for the quality of education they deliver.  Parents get the voucher.  Parents choose the school.  This makes perfect sense.  And if a school offers a poor education for young people, parents will rightly vote with their feet — and their vouchers.  Of course, most Catholic schools do the opposite:  They offer a strong education, in a safe environment, with a focus on developing good moral character.  That’s why parents are so upset when they close.

“Some people argue that school choice legislation only helps families in poor areas. Helping the poor is obviously vital, and vouchers would accomplish that.  But vouchers would also assist many more families than the poor.

“If vouchers are approved, they will free up what’s known as EITC funds — Educational Improvement Tax Credit funds – along with other grant and scholarship monies for many thousands of other school families. In effect, the positive impact of vouchers translates to millions of dollars of additional educational resources potentially available to a wide range of school families each year – including Catholic school families.

“Now here’s an unhappy fact:  In 2011, the bishops of Pennsylvania made the passage of vouchers one of their priority legislative issues.  People like Bob O’Hara in our statewide Catholic bishops’ conference and Jason Budd in our archdiocesan Office of Catholic Education worked hard to mobilize Catholic support.  Their efforts failed – and not because they didn’t try, but because too few people in the pews listened.  Very few Catholics called or wrote their state senators and representatives.  Even fewer visited their offices to lobby as citizens.  Despite this, vouchers passed in the state senate, before stalling in the house.  One non-Catholic school choice activist – who has poured years of his time and millions of dollars of his own resources into fighting for vouchers as a social justice issue – was baffled at the inability of Catholics to mobilize around an issue so obviously vital to the public interest and so clearly helpful to the survival of their own schools.

“In the coming week I’ll be writing every state senator and representative in the territory of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia to press them to support school vouchers.  And I’ll continue doing it until vouchers pass.  I hope my brother bishops and pastors across the state will do the same.  More importantly:  Our Catholic people need to do the same.  Elected officials do listen, and they act when the noise gets loud enough.  If nothing else, the crisis of Philadelphia’s Catholic schools is an unpleasant but finally very healthy wake up call.  The bill for our failure to pass school choice over the past decade has come due.  Now we’re paying for it.

“When vouchers stalled, yet again, in the Pennsylvania house last fall, a frustrated Catholic school teacher friend of mine said “Catholics are suckers.”  I don’t believe that.  But then, I’m new in town.  If we Philadelphia Catholics love our Catholic schools, and we obviously do, then the time to get active and focused is now.  We need to begin pressing our state lawmakers to pass the school choice legislation — including vouchers and expanded EITC credits – that’s currently pending in Harrisburg  And we need to do it this week, today, right now.  I plan to do that.  I hope you’ll join me.”

Related (to education tuition vouchers):

• Archbishop’s Column Pushes Again For School Choice
• School Voucher Users Must Pass Tests, State Suggests
• PA School Voucher Bills Seem To Run Out Of Time
• School Choice Voucher Action Anticipated This Week
• Pottsgrove Board Officially Opposes School Vouchers
• Local Rep. Quigley Favors Tax Credits In School Choice
• PA Senate School Choice Vote Possible Next Week
• Two Unions Break Ranks, Back State School Vouchers
• Idea: Pottsgrove Might Prosper With Own Charter School
• Choice Amendment Would Remove Vouchers’ 3rd Year
• Teacher Unions Say Budgets, Vouchers Top Their Agendas
• Poll Claims Public Opposes Tuition Vouchers
• Senate Education Chair Preps For Voucher, Choice Battle

Photo from Facebook

SANATOGA PA – New members were appointed Thursday (Jan. 19, 2012) to Lower Pottsgrove (PA) Township’s planning and zoning hearing boards, despite the objection of a local resident who – after the Board of Commissioners’ meeting ended – alleged it played favorites by choosing people “in their buddies’ network” to fill government vacancies.

P.J. McGill hoped for, but didn't get, a planning board position

Donna Cleaver, of Donna Lane in Sanatoga, wasn’t shy in telling board members what she thought of their actions to their faces, either. “I think your selection of individuals stinks, to be perfectly honest,” she commented during their public meeting in the Buchert Road municipal building.

The board named Brian Brentzel to the Planning Commission, to fill the vacancy left last year by the resignation of Nicholas Hiriak. It named B. Scott Fulmer, who also serves as vice president of the Pottsgrove School District Board of School Directors, as an alternate member of the Zoning Hearing Board. The votes for both, who will serve as unpaid volunteers, were unanimous. Both attended the meeting.

Cleaver, who is a frequent audience member during board meetings, questioned commissioners about the appointments from the outset.

She asked about the number of people who applied for the planning position (“five,” Manager Rodney Hawthorne replied); the number of people interviewed (two; a third sought by the board declined for reasons unknown, he added); and their qualifications (determined primarily from interviews and resumes, Hawthorne said.)

“Why didn’t you interview everyone who applied?,” Cleaver wondered. “We took the three we thought were best qualified,” Hawthorne responded. “So only a favored few get to be considered,” Cleaver shot back. No one at the board conference table answered her.

She also pursued Fulmer’s nomination. “He’s busy with the school board,” Cleaver observed. “Wouldn’t it have been more appropriate to find another member? What if he has a conflict of interest between the zoning board and the school district?,” she asked. “Then he’ll recuse himself,” board President Jonathan Spadt suggested.

One township resident who has actively lobbied to be selected for planning commission membership, but was passed over, is Cleaver’s neighbor P.J. McGill of Rivendell Lane. McGill, a proud Democrat in the Republican-dominated township, has run unsuccessfully for several elective offices in years past. He was a candidate last November (2011) for a Board of Commissioners’ seat.

In an e-mail to The Post earlier during the day, McGill said he was unable to attend Thursday’s meeting because of a prior family commitment. It likely “will be a cold day in hell before I would ever get appointed to any board” in Lower Pottsgrove, he wrote.

“It won’t always be this way,” Cleaver claimed after the board adjourned. “Things are changing, the parties are changing, and it won’t be like this much longer.”

Related (to the Lower Pottsgrove Board of Commissioners’ Jan. 19 meeing):

• Board Appointments Prompt Questions, Angry Words
• Commissioners Welcome Lower Frederick To CMERT
• Jump Start: Township Wants Early Police Contract Talks

State Rep. Tom Quigley, left, talks Tuesday with Lower Pottsgrove developer Wil Hallman following the Board of Commissioners' meeting

SANATOGA PA – Even Jonathan Spadt admitted he was having an ‘off’ night last Tuesday (Jan. 3, 2012).

Maybe the Lower Pottsgrove (PA) Board of Commissioners‘ newly re-elected president failed to eat his Wheaties that morning, or he might have had a tougher-than-usual day at the law firm where he is chief executive officer. Whatever the reason, Spadt jokingly acknowledged things just weren’t going his way during the board’s first meeting of 2012.

First he was momentarily confused on the procedure for conducting a board vote following a public hearing. Then he had to be reminded to lead commissioners and their audience in reciting the Pledge of Allegiance. Finally, and worse yet (but taken in good-natured stride), he almost overlooked a visit to the municipal building by Lower Pottsgrove’s state House representative.

Yeah, it was that kinda evening.

With a full agenda (and, as one township official later noted, with the Sugar Bowl college football game simultaneously playing on television), Spadt promptly opened a public hearing on the transfer of a liquor license to Bella Italia Restaurant. Once the hearing discussion ended, Spadt called for a board vote on the transfer.

That’s when township Solicitor R. Kurtz Holloway spoke up and gently reminded the president to close the hearing first, then call for the vote.

The unanimous decision had no sooner been cast when Keith Diener, Republican committeeman for Lower Pottsgrove’s 3rd voting district, mentioned Spadt had not asked those present to stand for the Pledge of Allegiance before the hearing started. “You’re right. I didn’t,” Spadt agreed, and quickly remedied the problem.

“And while we’re at it,” Spadt added, “I also failed to mention that state Representative Tom Quigley is here tonight, just to visit us.” At which point Quigley smiled and gave a short wave. “My pleasure,” he replied. For good measure, Spadt suggested Post Managing Editor Joe Zlomek take a photo of Quigley’s appearance.

He did (above) as the board meeting room was emptying … and before anything else could go wrong.

• Editor’s note: Notebook Worthy is a series of occasional articles consisting of jottings from a reporter’s notebook. Find others in the series, here.

SANATOGA PA – The one newly elected, and two re-elected, members of the Lower Pottsgrove (PA) Township Board of Commissioners took their oaths of office and were sworn into civic duty Tuesday (Jan. 3, 2012) during the board’s annual reorganization meeting in the municipal building, Buchert Road, Sanatoga PA.

Elected in November and returning to the board after a two-year absence was Commissioner Stephen Klotz, above at right. His son held the Bible upon which his oath was pledged, as Magisterial District Justice Edward Kropp Sr. officiated.

Klotz, in turn, held the Bible as Kropp administered the oath for re-elected Commissioner Bruce Foltz, above at right, and;

Foltz performed Bible-holding duty for re-elected Commissioner Jonathan Spadt, center.

As part of the reorganization:

• Spadt was re-elected board president, and Foltz, vice president;
• Commissioners James Kaiser and Michael McGroarty were named as members of the board’s standing Finance and Budget Committee;
• Kaiser and Spadt were named as members of the standing Police Committee.

Named as representatives of the board’s occasional or reporting committees were:

• Kaiser and township resident Patty Bleakly, Pottsgrove Recreation Board;
• Klotz, Assistant Manager Allison Elliott, and McGroarty (as an alternate), Regional Planning Commission;
• Spadt, Economic Development;
• Foltz, for the Pottstown Area Council of Governments, township building, fire companies, trash collection, and highway department; and
• Former Commissioner James Phillips was named as the township’s representative to he MS4 Stormwater Coalition

The 2012 Board of Commissioners, from left: McGroarty, Kaiser, Spadt, Foltz, and Klotz.

Related (to the Lower Pottsgrove Board of Commissioners’ Jan. 3 meeting):

• All Sworn In And Ready To Work In Lower Pottsgrove
• Police Officer’s Heroism Acknowledged With Award
• Commissioners Ring In New At Tonight’s Township Meet

SANATOGA PA – On this, the third day of the new year (Tuesday, Jan. 3, 2012), the Lower Pottsgrove (PA) Township Board of Commissioners will welcome a new member, who’s also an old member; say goodbye to an old member, who’s expected become a new volunteer representative; and officially get under way with its business for 2012.

The township municipal building

The board conducts its annual reorganization meeting tonight at 7 p.m. in the municipal building, 2199 Buchert Rd., Pottstown PA. The meeting, open to the public, occurs a few days earlier than usual this month due to state laws that regulate reorganization which follows an election year, according to township Secretary Michele Cappelletti. A copy of the agenda is available for download from The Post’s Resources Page, here.

Reorganization is a process during which commissioners take their oaths of office, a president is elected or re-elected, and board committee chairmanships and assignments are announced. Members this year will witness the swearing-in of new commissioner Stephen Klotz, who previously served on the board, lost his seat in an earlier election, and then won it back in November (2011).

Relinquishing his seat to Klotz will be outgoing commissioner James Phillips, but his soon-to-be former colleagues apparently will ensure he stays active in township affairs.

A resolution on tonight’s agenda indicates Phillips will continue as a volunteer representative for Lower Pottsgrove with what is known as the regional MS4 Stormwater Coalition. He has several years of experience in dealing with state regulators on storm drainage issues, and board members say they want to keep him working on that and possibly other tasks to benefit township residents.

Also tonight, commissioners are expected to re-open a public hearing on the transfer of a liquor license from Norristown to the proposed Bella Italia restaurant on East High Street just west of North Pleasant View Road. It was delayed from December.

Related (to the Lower Pottsgrove Board of Commissioners’ Jan. 3 meeting):

• All Sworn In And Ready To Work In Lower Pottsgrove
• Police Officer’s Heroism Acknowledged With Award
• Commissioners Ring In New At Tonight’s Township Meet

RECYCLING THE ELECTION IN MONTGOMERY COUNTY – Remember all those general election signs that dotted streets, lawns and utility poles across Lower Pottsgrove (PA) Township and elsewhere during October and November? Most are gone now, and according to Montgomery County Recycling Coordinator Chris Kaasmann (above), thousands were recycled rather than discarded. Kassmann reported Monday (Dec. 19, 2011) that the county’s campaign to recycle no-longer-needed election materials collected 1.09 tons of mixed paper campaign signs, 2.97 tons of scrap metal sign holders(below), and a pile of plastic bag-like signs that grew to 5 feet wide, 5 feet deep, and 10 feet high (bottom).

Photos from Montgomery County Recycling

SANATOGA PA – The vacant seat on the Lower Pottsgrove (PA) Planning Commission is likely to be filled by Jan. 19 (2012), but by whom isn’t yet known.

A field of several candidates who indicated interest in serving in the volunteer position has been whittled down to three semi-finalists, Board of Commissioners’ President Jonathan Spadt said Thursday (Dec 15, 2011), following proposed selections made by board members. Spadt asked that interviews with the three be scheduled in coming weeks, so commissioners can decide on a single individual and make an appointment during their second meeting of January.

The chosen finalist will fill the seat vacated by former Planning Commissioner Nicholas Hiriak, who resigned in July (2011). Planners can serve for terms of up to four years, depending on the nature of their appointment. The board is responsible for initial review of most major construction and land development activity within the township.

Related (to the Lower Pottsgrove Board of Commissioners’ Dec. 15 meeting):

• Spadt: Expect Planning Vacancy To Be Filled By January
• Public Works’ Task List Proof That Winter’s Coming
• Lower Pottsgrove, Its Officer Settle Disciplinary Dispute
• Township’s November Warrants Detail Month’s Spending
• Township Budget Final, Approved With Average $31 Hike
• Lower Pottsgrove Settles Police Matter; Looks Ahead to 2012 (Pottstown Patch)
• Last 2011 Commissioners Meeting, Budget Approval Tonight

Photo from Google Images

POTTSTOWN PA – A final 26-24 vote Wednesday night (Dec. 14,2011) in the Pennsylvania Senate confirmed months of work by legislators who created a new decennial map of the state’s congressional districts, which The Pennsylvania Independent online news service said had been “drawn in behind-closed-door meetings,” unveiled only a day earlier (Tuesday, Dec. 13), and conducted without input from the public or the state legislature’s Democrat minority.

Rep. Jim Gerlach

The process “has reignited a debate about the proper way to draw new districts,” The Independent reported.

The new maps must now be approved by the state House of Representatives, which is scheduled to vote on the measure Monday (Dec. 19)

Lower Pottsgrove (PA) Township is significantly affected by the redistricting. It has been represented for the past 10 years by Republican Congressman Charlie Dent, whose 15th District primarily covered the Lehigh Valley. If the new maps are approved, as is expected, the township would be consolidated with the borough of Pottstown, and Upper and West Pottsgrove townships into a re-configured 6th District represented by Republican Rep. Jim Gerlach.

Gerlach’s district already includes Limerick Township.

Representation by one congressman of so many contiguous municipalities is seen as a boon for local governments and politicians who oversee them and, by extension, their constituents. Area observers believe uniting under a greater Pottstown banner in a single district better focuses municipal interests at the federal level on consensus issues like improvements to U.S. Route 422 and economic development.

On the other hand, it also means Lower Pottsgrove, which had been working with Dent’s office, would begin somewhat anew with Gerlach … even though local officials know and have collaborated with him before.

New congressional districts must be redrawn every decade following the national census to reflect shifts in population, but every state undertakes that process in their own way. Pennsylvania Democrats charged Wednesday that the controlling Republican majority unfairly chopped and reassembled districts in puzzle-like fashion for their own electoral advantage.

• Read a story by reporter Eric Boehm, titled “PA lawmakers say redistricting process unfair, seek changes” and published Wednesday by The Independent, here.

Other coverage:

• Pa. Senate Passes Congressional Map 26-24 (Politics In PA)
• State Senate approves congressional redistricting plan (The Independent)
• New redistricting maps ‘puzzling’ for many (The Mercury)
• Pennsylvania state Senate moves Congressional district map to House (Harrisburg Patriot-News)
• Pennsylvania’s redistricting map poised for Senate approval (Pittsburgh Tribune-Review)

HARRISBURG PA — Monday (Dec. 12, 2011) will be D-Day for all levels of Pennsylvania’s political redistricting process, The Pennsylvania Independent online news service reported Thursday (Dec. 9).

With state legislative and congressional redistricting still waiting to be completed, lawmakers in charge of the two separate procedures have pointed to Monday as the day they will each take respective big steps toward finishing new maps.

At the state level, the five-member Legislative Reapportionment Commission plans to hold a final voting meeting at noon to approve the new state House and Senate maps that will be used for the next decade. Republican chairmen of the House and Senate State Government Committees, which handle the drawing of the new congressional district maps, plan a joint informational meeting on the same day to make the new congressional map public for the first time.

The congressional districts have been negotiated behind closed doors, and as of Wednesday afternoon, details still needed to be worked out, said House Majority Leader Mike Turzai, R-Allegheny. Turzai said he expects the map will be ready by Monday. The new map will include only 18 congressional districts, as Pennsylvania is losing one due to lower population growth than the national average.

• Read a story by reporter Eric Boehm, titled “PA’s congressional maps will be made public Monday” and published Thursday by The Independent, here.