Representative Government works for The People when EVERYONE
is represented. When I first ran for McSherrystown Borough Council, I did so
because of the conversations I had with other residents. During those conversations,
I discovered that the decisions that were being made by the members of Council
were not completely representative of The People with whom I spoke. Before I joined the Council, all votes on
subjects passed with unanimity, and there were very few discussions about what
The People thought, and more about what the Council thought. I will concede, as it was stated at our last
Council meeting, that The People elected us to be their voice and to make
decisions, but I find it extremely disturbing when I bring the voice of The
People, to whom I have spoken at lengths, to the Council and do not receive
their support on those subjects. I am a
full supporter of the democratic process, and if a vote is defeated, or does
not receive a “second” to even come up for a vote, or when a subject is tabled
due to “lack of interest” by the Council to pursue it, although I feel the
voice of The People has not prevailed, I do feel that I have done my best to
represent them and bring their concerns before the Council, and to defend their
issues to the best of my ability, and I will continue to do so for as long as The People will let me!
That being said, what
have I done for The People of McSherrystown in the past two months?
Leash Law: I was contacted by several citizens who were
concerned about dogs not being controlled by their owners. They wanted to see a Leash Law imposed for dogs
on public streets and lands. I did my
research, spoke with the appropriate governmental agencies, and even employed
the assistance of Rep. Dan Moul’s office to see what could be done on a local
level to have dogs in public leashed. In
short, I discovered that the Borough WAS allowed to pass such a law, which
could be enforced by the Police Department and the District Magistrate. Opposition on Council said the DM would not
enforce such a law, from their personal conversations. I held that it was his prerogative whether he
wanted to enforce it, but it is negligent for us as Elected Legislators to
ignore the requests of our citizens. I was also told that we should not pass a law just because ONE PERSON had a complaint. I believe that when you hear one person who is brave enough to speak out, there are many others in silent agreement, and those are The People that I went out to speak to about this topic, and could find only ONE PERSON not on Council who opposed such a law. I
also believe that, if the Borough is going to pass an unconstitutional law
telling you what kind of furniture you have on your porch, in the name of
safety (if you remember, they backed up their stances by saying that some
furniture could POSSIBLY become infested with rodents and bugs, even though we
already had a law on the books to enforce this situation), then it follows that
a dog not on a leash is potentially more dangerous than a couch sitting on
someone’s porch! After three meetings of
discussion, I brought my Amendment to the Ordinance up for a vote, and received
NO SECOND. Not one member of Council
believed that physical control of dogs in public was necessary for the safety
of our citizens.
ACBA Resolutions: I authored two resolutions, after speaking
with The People of McSherrystown and other municipal leaders of Adams
County.
--The first would eliminate the limit of how much local
service, civic and charitable organizations can raise for the community through
the use of Small Games of Chance (House
Bill 290, page 6, Line 2-4, Section 302).
As you may know, the State Government and the PLCB limits, fines and
suspends the licenses of such clubs as the Moose, the Home Association, the
Republican Club, the Eagles and others due to these limits. The only thing this accomplishes is to take
money that is generated by The People out of the community. This money is used to fund public lands, to
provide for police and fire service needs, to support school programs, and much
more. If the money belongs to The
People, and they want to use it to support their community through the Small
Games of Chance at their local clubs, then it holds to be unconstitutional for
any government to deny them.
--The second resolution would support Senate Bill 65, which would allow local municipalities to decide on
issues they want to put on the voting ballots via referendums. I believe that this is the cornerstone of our
democracy; to poll the voices of the voters on important issues. When I brought this up at the Council
meeting, it was tabled, and opposition stated that people vote for us as
Council members to make those decisions, and that putting referendums on the ballot would “confuse people”
because “most aren’t smart enough to research the topics”. I cannot disagree more to this rebuttal! I believe that The People know more than this
person thinks, and that if it were known by The People that this was said in a
Council meeting by an elected official, there would be a definite backlash. The People deserve to have their voices heard,
and what better way to state what they want than to have them vote on it while
voting for the leaders they believe will defend their views?
Although I have the support of the Adams County Boroughs
Association (ACBA) and several other Boroughs in Adams County, who have or plan
to pass my legislation on a local and county level, and in light of the fact
that the Pennsylvania State Boroughs Association (PSAB) is considering both
resolutions for adoption on a state level, I am having difficulty gathering support
from my own Council. I hope that YOU will make your voice heard
by calling the Borough Office at 717-637-1838 and tell them you support my
resolutions, or by attending the next Council meeting on Wednesday, April 24th
at 7pm at the Borough Office and telling the Council to let your voice be
heard!
Hanover Regional
Economic Development Committee:
Being assigned to the Steering Committee, I was happy to reach out to
community leaders to join us in our efforts to bring more businesses and jobs
to the area. I am excited about the
direction we are taking with our efforts, and it is essential to everyone’s
benefit for us to find businesses who will come to our area and create more
jobs for our citizens and thus better the living conditions for everyone. I was honored to be able to recruit Tommy
Hufnagle (Winner’s Circle owner) and Troy Wentz (Business Manager for Hanover
Public School District) to the Steering Committee last week. I believe that Tommy has his finger on the
pulse of culture in Hanover, as he has big plans to bring a true musical venue
to the area with his expansions of the Winner’s Circle. Mr. Wentz will bring invaluable information
to the Committee in formulating what courses could be implemented in the local
school districts to support the businesses we currently have and also the ones
we wish to attract.
York Waste
Management agreement: The
Borough’s contract with York Waste has concluded its three year segment, and
they have the right to extend the agreement under the same terms for two more
years. However, Council heard from Don
Isabella that the company wished to only extend the residential service, as the
commercial service is not profitable for them.
I argued that the original contract stated that it could be extended “under
the same terms”, and by picking and choosing which part the company wanted to
extend based on profitability was not in the interest of The People. Why?
If the Borough only bids out the commercial part of the contract, it
will not get as good an over-all rate as if both residential and commercial are
bid. Also, if you remember, York Waste
petitioned the Council to limit the number of bags YOU were allowed to put out
last year to three, because they were picking up “too much” and again, it wasn’t
profitable for them. This company has
repeated shown that they are concerned more about their bottom line than they
are about fulfilling the promises made in their bid contract. When a Pro Athlete wants to change their
contract in mid-stream, the cries go out that they are being self-centered and
not being a team player. I feel the same
way about this contract, and I was very vocal at the last Council meeting that
I am not in favor of continuing with any extension that is not in line with the
original agreement. As of the writing of
this blog, York Waste has NOT replied by the deadline of last Friday to extend
the full contract. Council will vote at
our next meeting to advertise bids for the next contract. I am hopeful that we will be able to get local
service at a comparable price who will put The People first!
There is so much more that I would love to discuss with you,
but I see that I have gotten a bit long-winded, so I will save my other topics
for the next blog. Please call on me anytime; I'm always around! Thank you once again
for allowing me to represent YOU on the McSherrystown Borough Council, and I
hope that you will support me in my re-election bid on May 21st at
the polls.
David “Scotty” Bolton
McSherrystown Borough Councilman and citizen
717-634-8726
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