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08/16/2004: "Superintendent and Assistant Superintendent of Public Works Dismissed"

Well, here we go again. Perkasie Borough Council tonight summarily dismissed long time Borough employees Neil Fosbenner (employed for the last approximately 15 years), Superintendent of Public Works, and Jim Soliday (27 year employee), Assistant Superintendent of Public Works, in a move that, according to Council President Lee Metzger, will streamline Borough services and save Perkasie Borough an estimated $25,000 a year. The Public Works department and the Public Utility department are to be combined into one new department, to be headed by Phil Ivins, currently Superintendent of Public Utilities (electric department).

Council had no public discussion on the move to combine departments and asked for no public input in a move that is highly questionable, along with dramatically terminating two long term key employees, for a very small projected savings. In fact the savings are likely to disappear completely if the former employees file suit against the borough, a real possibility because of the way Council conducted the secret proceedings. The lack of discussion became painfully apparent when Council had great difficulty answering simple questions from the press at the end of the meeting, such as how many employees each department had (neither Council nor the interim Borough Manager had a ready answer!), or the salary of the new department head. Phil Ivins, the new department head, will receive an $8,000 salary increase (to nearly $80,000) to manage the new combined department.

This Council's incompetence becomes more apparent with every meeting. Micromanagement is just the tip of the iceberg and probably the most obvious symptom of the problems. Plus they have either fired or encouraged the resignation of nearly all of the key borough staff and services: the Borough solicitor, the Borough engineer, the Borough manager, and now the key public works staff [forgot to include the resignation of the Director of Community & Economic Development in that list -- ed. 8/24/04]. It appears to me that they're trying to create an entirely new staff who owes their jobs to the current council, and will be "yes" men to Council without questioning Council's wisdom or judgment on the management of the Borough. It's a setup for disaster in the years ahead -- sooner if not later. And already there are money problems -- the "savings" apparently aren't materializing as they fight projected deficits for the remainder of 2004, and slash the 2005 budget in ways that are likely to cost the Borough big-time down the road.

It shouldn't be all that surprising. No one on this Council has experience managing employees, and almost none have experience handling a multi-million dollar budget. Council is wasting time making decisions staff should be handling, such as approving what family can rent a park pavilion, or deciding what to do with helmets donated to the skate park, while the big issues are given 30 seconds on the agenda and employee morale is at an all time low. It's so bad that Council meetings that should have been finished in less than two hours have expanded to six hours, and the Finance Committee is taking six months to do what previous committees have done in three. There is no effective leadership on Council; the Council president mutters under his breath, the solicitor looks confused, the interim borough manager appears lost, and the mayor just sits there holding down his chair. Council's only direction so far, if there is one at all, is to look for more ways to cut spending and services. But they're being penny-wise and pound-foolish. No one seems to have a grasp of the big picture, or the long term consequences of their actions. There is no vision, no plan, with issues handled only as they come up, like fires that must be put out. Or, perhaps, the vision is top secret, discussed only behind closed doors, like the move to consolidate departments. Whatever it is, the public is being left out almost completely. And the downward spiral continues ....

Replies: 5 comments

And Again this should be labeled FORMER councilmens BOB's opinion page. Because again it certainly does not represent the opinion of the people of Perkasie.
FORMER councilmen Bob in your rebuttle if all you can say is that I don't attend council meetings again, WOW you can do better, like talk about the issues right?
BUT since I know that is all you can say, I will answer your statement now: That does not mean that I DO NOT KNOW THE REASONS these actions have happened that YOU have chosen to ignore again.
All I can say is get over it you lost by a LAND SLIDE, LAND SLIDE. Do you know what that means? If you don't let me spell it out for you. YOU lost by what was it 270 something for Councilmen Harry McGonigal to 30 something for you that is considered a LAND SLIDE. This does not tell you something? Like your misguided intentions are NOT what the people want, OK? SO JUST GET OVER IT!
Just a thought : Why can't you be more positive about what these people are trying to do. Do you really think that they want things to go to h@#$ in a hand bag do you, now come on even you don't think that or do you?

Ward, first of all, this site existed before, during, and now after I've served on Council, so I don't understand the point of your first comment. And to clarify your comments about the election, what you failed to say was that I wasn't even on the ballot, and what votes I got were write-ins. To have that many write-in votes in an election says a lot about what people feel about the "endorsed" candidates ... but that's irrelevant to this discussion.

As to your source of information, I believe you're best friends with new Councilman McGonigal (the one who never attended a Council meeting before being elected) ... I do know you never called me even once during the two terms I served on Council to find out what was going on, so your sources are limited to say the least.

To answer your only relevant question, no, I don't believe the new Council wants "things to go to h@#$ in a hand bag" -- I just think they're incompetent, lack direction and leadership, and are not doing what they were elected to do. My goal here is twofold: let the voters know what's going on from my viewpoint, and to encourage those in office to do some homework and do a better job. There is already slight progress to report in both areas, so I'm not about to give up yet -- as I've said elsewhere, I love Perkasie and care very much about its future. This Council still has a long ways to go to get their act together, and I don't want them to destroy what we have, unintentionally or not.

One more thing I meant to respond to in Ward's first paragraph ... this site was never intended to be "Bob's" opinion exclusively, nor have I ever intended to speak for Perkasie as a whole. This is an interactive site -- where ANY Perkasie citizen can responsibly share their opinion -- that's why it's called Perkasie Opinion, not something else. Anyone can add their opinion here, Ward, just as you have -- and anyone can post on any subject at all on the Bulletin Board, newly revised and upgraded. Perhaps not surprisingly, very few people are willing to post their opinions publicly where they can be debated or even attacked by those who disagree with them. I've been in public life long enough to know that's the way it goes, and I have pretty thick skin as a result. I also know from years of experience that I DO speak for many of those in Perkasie, that many (maybe even most) of my opinions are widely held, so I speak boldly and confidently.

So you say Bob so you say

can we get a spellcheck for the lady?