Pattye Benson

Community Matters

No Oscars but Locals Receive Awards for their ‘Antithesis of Outstanding Performances’

Last weekend, Los Angeles played host to the glitterati of the film world for Oscar night, the world’s greatest wrap party. The evening was filled with the glamorous fashions, long-winded acceptance speeches and first-time host Seth MacFarlane, his controversial humor making for an interesting choice for Hollywood’s most prestigious awards show.

From the moment that the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences announces its annual award nominations, the campaign season for a little golden man kicks into high gear, with movie studios spending large amounts of money in an attempt to influence Academy voters. For moviegoers, armed with personal award predictions of who will take home Hollywood’s biggest prize, the red-carpet evening always entertains.

Ray Hoffman noted the glitz and glamour of Hollywood’s big night in Main Line Suburban Life today by presenting a few local “performance awards” of his own. In lieu of a golden statuette, Hoffman presented ‘Razzy’ trophies to deserving locals for their “antithesis of outstanding performance”.

Banter’s Razzy winners include –

  1. The Tredyffrin Township BOS for ‘Worst Performance by a Community Board’ for its long-standing stonewalling of the sidewalk issue at St. Davids Golf Club;
  2. The T/E Board of School Directors for ‘Worst Case of Communicating with the Public’ in the matter of hiring of former Tredyffrin Police Chief Andy Chambers as special school safety consultant;
  3. Former Easttown Township Manager Mike Brown for ‘Worst Performance in a Short Subject’, his term of office lasted only 13 months;
  4. Easttown Township BOS for ‘Worst Use of a Worn Excuse for Termination of a Manager’ in the matter of Brown’s firing so that he could “pursue other opportunities”; and
  5. Regency Center for ‘Worst Application of Pedestrian Walkways in a Shopping Center Parking Lot’ at Gateway Shopping Center.

Looking back over the last 12 months, I think Hoffman may have missed some deserving Razzy winners. Here are some personal additions:

  1. Former Tredyffrin Township Manager, Planning Commission and BOS for ‘Worst Zoning Amendment Change for a Specific Developer’ in the matter of a C-1 zoning amendment change so developer Ed Morris can build an assisted living facility on the old Jimmy Duffy’s catering site in Daylesford;
  2. T/E Board of School Directors for ‘Worst Board Participation in Teacher Contract Negotiations’ for not having a seat at the contract negotiation table;
  3. Tredyffrin Township Supervisor John DiBuonaventuro for ‘Worst Attack of a Private Citizen by an Elected Official using Township Resources’ for the matter of using official township letterhead and the township website for a personal tirade against a resident;
  4. Tredyffrin Township BOS for ‘Worst Communication Website Policy’ which permits individual township supervisors to use the public’s township website for personal reasons; and
  5. Tredyffrin Township BOS for ‘Worst Police Department Study Not Used’ in the matter of spending $49K for a boilerplate consulting study and then not following the consultant’s advice and hiring additional police officers.
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  1. Pattye
    How many more Razzy awards can there be? Many I think. Let me start with one more and see if we can make it to 20, or more, with help from the people out there.

    11. A 100% GOP Board of Supervisors that is committed (at least during election campaigns) to no new taxes and yet raises our taxes again in 2013.

    How can you trust them? How can you re-elect them?

  2. In reference to former township manager Mike Brown, Mr. Brown wreaked havoc in Honey Brook Twp while he was there. All references brought about by RosiesDad in the Tredyffrin-Easttown Patch fit Mr. Brown. Search Mike Brown’s navy career.

    1. I noticed that your tagline for Honey Brook Action Committee Association is “A watchdog group bringing transparency to local government”. Mike Brown came to Easttown Twp from Honey Brook Twp, right? A little research indicates that if residents didn’t agree with township decisions, they were apt to be targeted with zoning violations and that often times it was Mike Brown behind the threats? Would be this be a fair assessment?

      You reference RosiesDad comment on TE Patch re the reason for Brown’s abrupt departure from Easttown. Here is that comment from TE Patch:

      Maybe a contest is in order to guess the real reason Brown left?

      Fiduciary/fiscal impropriety
      Sex scandal
      Abrasive/abusive management style
      Represented himself dishonestly to the township but someone discovered the skeleton(s) in his closet

      Any other good guesses?

      Abrupt departures happen but “escorted out of the building” generally do not and certainly not because the escorted party wanted to “pursue other opportunities.” Someone is trying to sweep something under the rug. It would serve the residents of Easttown well to find out what that something might be.

      According to your comment, Honey Brook Action Committee Inc. — you suggest that all of these reasons fit Mr. Brown. Do you say this because these are the reasons that Mr. Brown left Honey Brook? If that is the case, you would think that Easttown Twp would have found out the information when Honey Brook’s references were checked. I do agree with RosiesDad that the residents of Easttown should be given a better explanation other than Mr. Brown left to pursue other opportunities. Clearly, there’s more to this story. Based on your experience, can you offer an explanation. I

      1. In answer to your question “based on your experience, can you offer an explanation” In part we can, Mike Brown was not forth comming that he had been fired by the Navy for “Improper personal misconduct” and this was just the tip of the iceberg. Excerpt :Michael J. Brown vs. the Dept. of the Navy :Docket#00-3003:(The witnesses emphasized the special circumstances that made Mr. Brown’s misconduct especially troubling in light of the role of MWR in general and the program manager’s position in particular. The MWR operations officer testified that the critical factor in this case, in his view, was that the woman with whom Mr. Brown became involved was married to a Marine in one of the units that Mr. Brown was charged with supporting. He testified that the program manager was responsible for supporting the Marine families when the Marines were deployed, and that a commander of the deployed units has “to know that he can trust the people who are back here with these families. His marines and sailors can’t do their jobs very well if they know there’s someone not very trustworthy back there.” He further explained that Mr. Brown’s job was to make sure that “the dependents of the members who were deployed were taken care of. And that didn’t happen.” The case would have been quite different, he testified, if Mr. Brown had not held a position of trust or if he had had his affair with someone who was not the wife of a Marine in one of the units he was charged with supporting.

  3. In fact this was the Tip of the iceberg. Once HBACA brought this forward many things about Michael Brown began to come to light. If you have an e-mail address or phone number we would be glad to give you as much information as possible. In the end Mr. Brown left Honey Brook quite in a hurry. Lucky,Lucky, Eastown Township.
    HBACA

  4. So what is the process to check references in Easttown? Did Mr. Williams have any role in hiring his assistant who then became the Manager? Perhaps we can jump to a conclusion that these are not great jobs with a long line of candidates.

  5. As long as easttown doesn’t follow this mistake by hiring Mimi Gleason maybe they can minimize the damage.

  6. indeed. wonder how many applicants there are? Bet you there are “over 25 highly qualified applicants.” tic

  7. Maybe you should do a little homework on the honey brook action committee…. I’m sure the authors of the comments about Mike Brown are anonymous or written by Homer Brooks. Homer Brooks is Joe Fenstermacher. Mike Brown left Honey Brook Twp because Joe Fenstermacher (the current Supervisor) ran on the campaign promise to fire Mike Brown if elected. By the way, the president of the HBAC is NOT even a resident of the Honey Brook Twp. Their treasurer was sent to jail for check fraud. It was a very sad day for Honey Brook Twp when we lost Mike Brown. The HBACA is very proud to confess Mike Brown’s sins… why don’t they confess their own sins 1st. There are plenty of them committed.

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