Letter sent to council president

Received this letter from resident and former council president Tim Swartz, which he sent to current council president Mary Wickenheiser today.

As a member of the audience in the Council chambers I must share my concerns regarding the June 14th Council meeting. I found it very disturbing the exchange of dialogue between a citizen and you, the Council President. It was unprofessional on your part to talk down to a citizen as you commonly do. When any citizen stands before a Council their purpose is by and large, someone seeking answers to a question. To be told to sit down and your questions will be answered is demeaning.


It comes across as though you have better things to do rather than be bothered by a taxpayer. The body language displayed by certain elected officials was so noticeable and the side bar comments that so often happen while a citizen is asking questions is unbecoming of any public official.

Regardless of who stands in front of Council and certain remarks are made, elected members must toughen it out. Mr. Doutrich’s leading off comment and your reaction set the tone for the evening. In my opinion the lack of leadership prevailed over the entire meeting. One should always address in an appropriate manner. In return, the governing body should display professional mannerisms.

As you well know, there have been many new faces coming to Council meetings for a number of reasons. Some off the comments related to that meeting by in large were not favorable ones. Words used to describe the meeting such as lack of leadership; circus atmosphere and the lack of knowledge on issues were commonly brought out.

As a former Council President, it was my approach to have each and every member of Council respond to a citizen’s question relating to his or her committee. My purpose was to hold members of Council responsible to their constituents. It almost seems as though every question is answered by the Borough Manager or the Mayor.

So I truly ask the question. Who really runs this Borough? Public perception clearly tilts away from Council. With that being said, a true remedy in my opinion is change. That’s coming in the year 2011. Not soon enough quite frankly.

I want to briefly mention two action items that come to mind. The last property meeting the gavel was passed to you. The explanation from you was that the Chair was inexperienced to run this meeting. This is six months into her term? I believe as others do, you talked her into this. Perhaps your ability to appoint, needs some guidance.

The motion on the floor to purchase two new police vehicles is a perfect example of not knowing what to do. All motions were made and the discussion among Council members was excellent. As soon as Council knew the motion wasn’t going to pass, another member of Council wanted to rescind her second. As Council President I would have thought you knew this was not possible and it was an up and down vote. However, you relied once again on someone else, the Solicitor. I question if you know procedure on how to run meetings.

Please view my comments as constructive criticism. I would not want the few good members of Council to be brought down by poor leadership. I often praise Mary Barninger and Kelly Murphy on how their committees are conducted. Openness and transparency along with their ability to make the citizens a part of the end result. Make no mistake, when I was in your position it wasn’t an easy one. Don’t make it any harder by setting your tone as the only one.


Regards,
Tim Swartz