Welcome back. As I sit here preparing for the meeting tonight, I thought I would let you in on that process to see what all goes on "behind the scenes". I have three matters to bring before the Council tonight. Under old business, I will be asking what progress is being made to the Borough's Municipal Website. It was discussed in previous meetings last year that the website hosting the 250th Celebration, which ended last August, would be donated and converted over to the Borough website, and plans were established to build content on this site. As of this time, this project is still not complete. I will be asking how I can personally assist in making this happen for The People of our community. The second matter involves documents from the McSherrystown Moose pertaining to their funding pledge to our "K9 Trust Fund".
The 3rd matter is just an idea that I had to help stimulate the local economy in the immediate future.
I held a Yard Sale event this past weekend, just for one day, to experience the process first-hand, but also to get rid of some clutter and create some personal revenue! During that process, I pondered a thought to increase local revenues as well. What I developed, I titled "McSherrystown SALES":
McSherrystown Stay of Application for Local Economy Stimulus (McSherrystown SALES)
Every member of this Council is aware of the dire situation in which our economy is
in, not only on a National level but here in our Borough as well. There are
fewer jobs to be had, and those available are sometimes not providing enough to
sustain a family’s budget. More and more, we see an increase in the
participation of such programs as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance
Program, the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families and other governmental
programs designated to lend aid to those who cannot provide for themselves.
These programs are designed to help our citizens while they put forth efforts
to better their situations and hopefully, eventually, find work that will
sustain their families.
Unfortunately, many of these families do not find
adequate employment, and are stuck in the vicious cycle of relying on the
government to procure funds for their basic needs. In these instances, there is
no way for them to find a path towards independent financial sustainability.
It is the true function of government to create an environment in which the
individual may utilize their entrepreneurial savvy to better their financial
situation and increase their wealth, but not to provide that wealth directly.
The Market, which is touted to be Free in this country, is the only viable
arena in which an individual may hope to secure a profitable niche amongst his
neighbors, and in doing so, obtain the necessary independence to accumulate personal
revenues with which to provide for themselves and their families.
It is in the spirit of this function of economics that I propose this Council
adopt and enact the McSherrystown
Stay of Application for Local Economy Stimulus
Under this proposal, the residents of McSherrystown Borough will be exempt from the conditions
for sales listed in Chapter 215, Article XVII, Section 113 of the McSherrystown
Borough Code during the specified time frame, waiving the current application process
and fee associated with the procurement of a Garage/Yard Sale Permit during the
month of June. Furthermore, during said time period, there will be no
restrictions on the number of days during which a citizen of the Borough may
hold a sale at their residence. This proposal will not negate the established
regulations associated with the hosting of such an event, and anyone holding a
sale will still be expected to abide by those regulations of conduct as denoted
in Chapter 215, Article XVII, Section 116 of the McSherrystown Borough Code, and
as outlined in the Garage/Yard Sale Information publication; specifically
Numbers 5, 7 and 8 of said document. In addition, any sale held during this
time frame will be exempt from the 2 sale limit described in the above documents.
Not only will this proposal directly aid our citizens in procuring additional funds
with which to use towards their pursuits of life, liberty and happiness, but it
will furthermore attract those from outside our Borough, bringing in additional
traffic and revenues to our local businesses. In turn, the increase in local
sales will generate more revenue for the Borough in the form of local sales
taxes generated from the increase in business activity.
A government FOR The People, which has the ability to create the environment in
which our citizens may motivate themselves and better their standing through
their own individual efforts, should consider nothing less than that for which
this proposal stands. I implore this Council to adopt this proposal to stimulate
our local economy and to promote the financial well-being of our citizens.
David W.S. Bolton
McSherrystown Borough Council member and Citizen
Presented this 28th day of May, 2014
I hope that you will attend the meeting in support of my efforts to serve YOU, but if you cannot attend, please let your voice be heard concerning these matters, and let us know if you support these efforts by emailing us at mcstown@comcast.net or call 717-637-1838. As always, you can contact me directly via the numerous communication channels available to us in this day and age (Phone, email, Facebook, Twitter, or just knock on my door if I'm home). Thank you once again for allowing me to serve you. DB.
