Bandaids in Darby fall off as the infection continues to spread...

By Paula M. Brown

Applying bandaids to an infection, without treating the root cause and cleaning the wound only tend to make the infection spread. In Darby,our current Administration continues to look for quick fixes without tackling the main problems...

The Darby Borough Council and their Mayor, have a bad habit of not cleaning and treating the wound. They just stick a bandaid on it and hope it gets better. One wonders if they even care if the infection spreads, as the bandaid only hides it.

In Darby, we have a very high crime rate, compared to other municipalities. Drugs, burglaries, car thefts, assaults, shootings, just to name a few. Because of this, our properties decline, our housing values plummet and many of our homeowners move out to greener and safer pastures. This is why we now have 40% of our properties that are homeowners and 60% rentals or abandoned.

We also have extremely large areas of municipal owned properties that we need to maintain. Large areas where homes have been torn down such as Chestnut Street, Creek Avenue, Springfield Road, 8th Street - and our "recreation areas" such as New Walnut Street, the Darby Little League field (that we should be maintaining but we don't) and all the scattered individual lots throughout the town where homes once stood. These areas are our responsibility to maintain and keep in an acceptable condition free from trash, debris, overgrown weeds and havens for drug users and sellers. We should also be maintaining abandoned properties to keep them from looking empty and unkempt, charging the property owner for our services.

These are the simple tasks that most towns do to keep the appearances up and reduce crime and blight. But, in Darby, it is not possible to do this when we only have four (4) Highway employees and three (3) full time patrol officers. In fact, the task is IMPOSSIBLE.

It was reported at the last council meeting that we have only 11 FULL TIME police officers. This includes a Chief of Police, two (2) Lieutenants, six( 7) Corporals/OIC's and one (1) patrolmen. All CHIEFS and no Indians. Of the 6 Corporals, there are 4 squad leaders and 2 detectives leaving only one full time officer to patrol our town.

This might be sufficient if we lived in an area that was well kept, with low crime rates. However, it's dangerous for our residents and those who work or travel through our town on a daily basis. It's also fiscally irresponsible as the bandaid is about to come off and when it does, we are not prepared for the massive destruction it will cause.

Throughout the State of Pennsylvania, municipal pension funds are a main concern. In Darby, our concerns are multiplied because we are not taking steps to ensure they are actuarily sound. In both the Police Department and Highway Department, there are more employees that are retired, than those currently employed who are paying into the fund. In a few years, Darby will become completely bankrupt as it is our obligation to pay our retired employees who served our borough for many years. When there aren't enough paying into the fund, we the taxpayers will have to make up the difference.

After all, we can't say to a retired police officer who has selflessly protected us for many years, "oh sorry, you don't get a retirement check this month, we ran out of money"...

Many unnecessary items can be reduced or trimmed in a municipal budget. Reducing police officers or highway workers is not an unneccessary expense.

For example, Darby has TWO municipal solicitors instead of one, as other towns have. Both are"political friends" of the Council and Mayor. Since this current administration took control, both of these solicitors attend all meetings, stay for the entire length and rarely, if ever, submit an oral report. Written reports are non-existent. Because of the high hourly cost of their attendance, between $150.00 and $200.00 per hour, previous administrations, both Democrat and Republican, have restricted the attorney's from attending the entire meeting. They present their report in the beginning and leave. This saved thousands of dollars. Our Council and Mayor however, keep the attorney's present and rely heavily on them to help them conduct the meeting, which is NOT part of the municipal solicitor's duty.

This current administration has borrowed over 5 million dollars to build a new police station, borough hall, court and recreation center. The dilapidated sight where they started to build this two years ago, continues to sit with rusted fences, trash, weeds and debris. A basketball gym was erected and children are encouraged to come to the "rec center". However there is no certified staff that operates the center. Council President Janice Davis lives across the street. She appears to be the main "director" and has full control of the property. Janice does not have any certification in child care or recreation. Anyone is allowed to "volunteer" without credentials or background checks. We've already had individuals selling narcotics at this location and numerous fights have occured. Until a suitable certified individual that has an educational background in working with children and recreational studies can be hired, we should not allow children to be on our property under the care of those who have not had background checks performed. We should also have an ID system installed so we know exactly what children are inside, and no one who is not registered, should be allowed into the facility. Today's society is different. We have to take as many precautionary measures as possible to protect our youth and residents. A minimum of two police officers should be scheduled for specific duty at the Recreation center until these tasks are completed. We cannot take a chance with our children. If Borough Council does not take these protective measures, the Center should not be open until all phases of the project are complete.

Why, in this economy, when we can't even afford to have an adequately staffed police department or highway department, would we take on more responsiblity and start to build something we can't afford to complete and that we already have?

In the new 2011 budget, the principal alone for this building is $135,000.00. That's three or four police officers we could have hired! And for what? So our kids can get off the street? Darby has three well maintained school district gymnasiums that we can use for little or no cost that would also strengthen the bond between the children and their educational institutions. But we chose to build another gym, to "get them off the streets". This will cost additional money as it will have to be staffed with responsible adults and provide utilities etc. Again, an unnecessary item that should have been eliminated instead of a police officer or highway worker.

Council announced that they will not consider hiring full time police officers or highway workers to fill the vacancies. That's a travesty that we the residents will feel the brunt of.

Long term solutions should be the agenda of this Council and Mayor. Quick fixes will only send us further downhill into the hole of bankruptcy and blight where there is no return.

Darby Council and Mayor, it's time to put our "thinking caps" on, and do the right thing, for "we the people". Please start thinking on your own, and stop listening to those appointed political friends who care only about filling their pockets with our tax money.