Pattye Benson

Community Matters

Board of Supervisors

Resident's Letter Supports Reinstatement of Fire Company's Proposed Budget Cut

The following letter of support to reinstate the proposed budget cut to the fire companies appeared in this week’s Main Line Suburban newspaper. Although Kathleen Keohane of Malvern speaks of the proposed $3.5 million reduction in overall township spending, it is the Fire Department that receives her major attention. Kathleen offers her explanation of what this decrease in township conributions will mean to Berwyn, Radnor and Paoli Fire Departments.

Support volunteer firefighters

To the Editor:

I hope Tredyffrin residents are paying close attention. On Nov. 30 the Board of Supervisors voted 4-2 to pass the 2010 preliminary budget. It features a whopping $3.8-million reduction in spending, almost 15 percent below last year’s operating budget. And it does so in the name of holding the line on property taxes – even as transfer-tax revenues continue to decline.

But in my view this lean budget comes at a significant cost to our community’s safety and vital services, especially in terms of our fire departments. Berwyn and Paoli fire companies are manned mostly by volunteers, and adequate funding has been an ongoing struggle for them. In fact, until 2007, Tredyffrin provided no capital contribution for the replacement of costly equipment. It was all the responsibility of the fire companies themselves.

Next year our local tax dollars will provide less than $300,000 toward the $2-million-plus operating expenses of the Berwyn and Paoli fire companies. Easttown and Willistown’s combined contributions to B.F.D. and P.F.D. will account for about half that amount.

That leaves a huge funding gap to be filled by insurance reimbursements and fund-raising. And it doesn’t even begin to cover the huge capital costs our fire departments incur in order to purchase major pieces of equipment. For example the replacement cost of an ambulance is about $150,000, a fire engine $500,000 and a new ladder truck over $1 million. And Berwyn Fire Company is in need of all of these in the next two years.

These are staggering costs for volunteer fire departments to manage. Yet we expect them to save lives and protect property with this minimal level of taxpayer support. And commit more time for training and spend more time fund-raising than ever before.

Is it any wonder that the number of people willing to volunteer as firefighters has declined greatly in recent years? Have taxpayers really considered the real cost of maintaining a full-time firefighting/EMS staff in Tredyffrin? It has been estimated at $7-12 million – and that’s annually.

So when Tredyffrin makes across-the-board cuts in tough times, our already underfunded fire departments really suffer. They need more support, not less – from the township as well as individuals and businesses that benefit from their services.

Notably both Easttown and Willistown have decided not to reduce their funding for fire and ambulance services in 2010.

So please step up. Get the facts on Tredyffrin’s proposed budget cuts and funding levels for public safety. Call your supervisors and let them know you want to see the fire companies’ funding restored to the 2010 budget. And please get out your checkbook and contribute to the most worthy of organizations – your local fire companies.

Your life may depend on it. Just ask the disabled woman rescued from her burning Chesterbrook home on Thanksgiving afternoon. Tredyffrin police, fire and rescue responded in a matter of minutes and saved her life and her property.

Kathleen E. Keohane, Malvern

Paoli Business Association names Judy DiFilippo as Citizen of the Year; Barbara Tachovsky as Business Person of the Year; and Beautification Award to Paoli Hospital

Each year the Paoli Business & Professional Association (PBPA) names a Citizen of the Year, Business Person of the Year and Business of the Year. The PBPA named Tredyffrin Township Supervisor Judy DiFilippo as Citizen of the Year; Paoli Hospital President Barbara Tachovsky as Business Person of the Year; and Beautification Award to Paoli Hospital. Below is the Letter to the Editor that I wrote which appears in today’s Main Line Suburban newspaper.

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Celebrating excellence in the community

To the Editor:
Annually the Paoli Business & Professional Association (PBPA) selects a “Business Person of the Year” and “Citizen of the Year” and gives a “Beautification” award. Some years the PBPA Board of Directors labors over its decisions with much discussion. However, this year the choices were immediate and the vote unanimous. The honorees were recently celebrated at our 2009 Annual Banquet held at the Farmhouse at People’s Light & Theatre in Malvern.

Paoli Hospital president Barbara Tachovsky was chosen Business Person of the Year for providing outstanding leadership for the hospital’s mission, values and goals. Barbara is responsible for developing and implementing the master plan at Paoli Hospital, which includes the five-story patient-care tower, the Pavilion. Under Barbara’s leadership, Paoli Hospital has been named to the list of 100 Best Hospitals in the country. We thank Barbara for her vision for what Paoli Hospital “could be” and then the leadership and ability to make it happen.

The decision in the Citizen of the Year category was equally as easy this year. Retiring at the end of this year from the Tredyffrin Township Board of Supervisors, Supervisor Judy DiFilippo was named the Paoli Business and Professional Association’s selection for Citizen of the Year. Judy is currently serving her fifth four-year term as township supervisor and will retire at the end of 2009, having served 20 years. The best reflection of Judy’s skills lies in her long-term outcomes. With outstanding civic and charitable responsibility, Judy has demonstrated through her leadership a generosity of spirit that embodies the idea that volunteerism and community service must be inclusive for all and can enrich all our lives.

The Paoli Hospital was named our choice for this year’s Beautification Award. The new 259,000-square-foot Pavilion officially opened in July. The Pavilion features 124 private patient rooms, a new Emergency Department, new surgical suites, outside courtyards and a three-story Atrium that connects to the parking garage. From the moment you step inside the doors of the new Pavilion, the interior design creates a calming, peaceful environment through generous use of glass and neutral colors. Over 350 carefully selected pieces of art continue the theme of bringing nature inside and helping create a sense of serenity for visitors and patients alike.

We salute Paoli Hospital for setting a new standard in community hospitals. We salute Barbara and Judy for their vision, leadership and commitment to our community.

Pattye Benson, Board of Directors, Paoli Business & Professional Association

St. Davids $50K Cash Offer . . . Lots of Questions, But Not So Many Answers!

First off, let me say that I truly appreciate the amount of time extended by the BAWG committee on behalf of the residents of Tredyffrin Township. As a committed community volunteer, I understand all too well the amount of time and effort, this project demanded of the BAWG committee.

Now on to last night’s Board of Supervisor meeting, the BAWG report and the St. Davids Golf Club’s $50K cash ‘offer’. The BAWG members were introduced, thanked and given framed commendations for their efforts. It was my understanding that BAWG Chairman Tom Colman would give a summary of the report; he did not, choosing instead to thank the township staff and other BAWG committee members for their willingness to help in the process. I expected that Supervisor Chairman Kampf would then ask if his fellow supervisors or audience members had any questions/comments related to the BAWG report. However, Mr. Kampf did not ask for comments but instead made a motion to accept the BAWG report as a township public document. Without further discussion, all supervisors voted to accept the BAWG report as a permanent document and proceeded on to the budget discussion.

As I had stated in an earlier posting, I intended to ask my questions surrounding the $50K St. Davids Golf Club cash offer contained in the BAWG report. In the official acceptance of the BAWG report as a public document, Mr. Kampf referenced using the report’s recommendations going forward – to me this implied anything contained within the pages of the report could be considered (including the St. Davids ‘offer’) as possible budget revenue sources.

Troubled by the offer from St. Davids Golf Club which appeared in the BAWG report as a suggested revenue resource, I decided to publically ask the following questions:

  • Where did the $50K St. Davids Golf Club offer come from?
  • Was this a written offer from St. Davids Golf Club Board of Directors and was it made directly to the BAWG committee?
  • Was the Township Solicitor, Township Manager and members of the Board of Supervisors advised of the St. Davids Golf Club offer (prior to BAWG’s publication of its report)?
  • If this is a written offer, what are the conditions and timeline for its acceptance? Who has the authority to accept the offer?
  • Was this offer and the details discussed with the Planning Commission or Sidewalks, Trail & Paths (STAP) Committee prior to appearing in the BAWG report?
  • Are any of the members of the BAWG committee also members of St. Davids Golf Club?
  • Are any of the members of the Board of Supervisor also members of St. Davids Golf Club?

Just to ask these questions, became a testament to my patience (and for those who know me, I do not claim patience as one of my virtues). Apparently, Mr. Kampf decided that at first my questions were not budget-related; and therefore could not be asked during the budget discussion. However, having not been given an option to comment on the BAWG report earlier, and knowing that this report was now a public document that could be used in budget discussion, I felt compelled to keep going — to get the questions out there, and hopefully answered.

Finally getting the questions asked, I looked to the supervisors for answers to the ‘mystery’ of the St. Davids Golf Club $50K offer — where did it come from, who made the offer, what’s the timeline, etc. etc. I suggested that acceptance of this offer would be setting precedent for future land development projects (along with usurping the authority of the Planning Commission). In reponse to the question of the St. Davids offer, they knew nothing of any offer and suggested that Tom Colman come to the microphone and address my questions. Mr. Colman’s explanation was that he had just ‘heard’ of the offer, didn’t know from where or from whom, but thought it could have been right here in Keene Hall. He mentioned that the BAWG committee was independent and made decisions on their own, even stating that the Township Solicitor had suggested the removal of the St. Davids offer from the report, but that the BAWG members voted to keep it in.

Following Mr. Colman’s explanation that there was no $50K offer in writing and complete vagueness of the offer’s origination, I once again stepped forward. I told the supervisors that I had read every Board of Supervisor and Planning Commission meeting minutes from 2004 onward and that there was absolutely no discussion of any $50K offer from St. Davids Golf Club — was this OK to have a offer in this official public document that had no verification or proof to exist? My sense was that yes we can accept the BAWG report as public document with a suggested revenue source that is not verifiable and has no basis.

I sat there for a full 20 min. as the budget discussion continued on, trying to understand what had just happened. There was an easy solution, a right solution — why couldn’t someone make it? Why not offer the public full disclosure, why not take a stand and do what’s right? For this taxpayer, the St. Davids Golf Club cash offer of $50K appearing in the BAWG report was wrong. If this offer existed (albeit no one was willing to publically admit that the offer existed) where was the proof of its existence? Why wasn’t this so-called offer being seen as a way to allow St. Davids Golf Club off the hook for building the sidewalk? Sure, St. Davids would come out ahead — the cost of the sidewalk is more likely $75-100K, not $50K. What about the authority of the Planning Commission – the sidewalk was part of the acceptance of the St. Davids Golf Club land development agreement? Doesn’t anyone see the potential future problems with setting this kind of precedent?

At the end of the evening, other members of the audience took the stand to make similar remarks about the St. Davids’ offer. There certainly seemed a need from people to understand what they had just witnessed. Under new Board matters, Supervisor DiFilippo made a motion to set up a subcommittee with board members and Planning Commission members to look at the St. Davids offer and how they may be able to deal with future land development situations. Mr. Kampf offered to be on the subcommittee with Ms. DiFilippo. The motion passed, 6-0. This motion confused me further. If there was no actual $50K offer from St. Davids Golf Club, why was there a need for a subcommittee to look at it? Or did I just misunderstand the the reason for this subcommittee?

I do not question the integrity of the BAWG members or their commitment to this project. I just believe that if an error or inaccuracy is made, we should try to correct it – I still contend that there is great mystery surrounding the inclusion of St. Davids Golf Club’s $50K cash offer in the BAWG report. I also believe that the St. Davids offer had no business in this official report and should be removed as a possible revenue source. Following the Board of Supervisor meeting, Mr. Colman stopped to tell me that one of the BAWG members, Rob Betts was a St. Davids Golf Club member and that he recused him from votes pertaining to St. Davids.

It is fascinating to look at the dynamics of our local government.

Our Fire Companies — No Reinstatement of Their Budget Cut!

Tonight’s Board of Supervisor meeting tested my faith in our local government. The audience witnessed our supervisors heap accolades on our firefighters, praise their saving of a handicapped, wheel-chair bound resident in Chesterbrook on Thanksgiving Day, and then watched as the firehouse representatives groveled to have their 5% Tredyffrin Township 2010 budget cut reinstituted. How is it possible that in one meeting, our supervisors can extol the virtues of our volunteer firefighters and their life-risking efforts and at the same time (some of the supervisors) can vote to take away township support? And yes, the supervisors can vote to leave the annual fireworks in the budget (I think that budget line item was $20K). I am all about the 4th of July and fireworks, but does this seem an equitable trade?

Let’s remember tonight’s meeting when some of these individuals take to the campaign trail and speak of their emergency services support.

As for the BAWG report and the St. Davids Golf Club’s $50K cash offer — I think I better sleep on it before I write how I feel about that part of tonight’s experience. I have to remind myself that I will take the higher road and not follow the example of other’s bad manners.

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