Several Morrisville taxpayers file state action against council over stalled streetlight improvement project

Published: Wednesday, October 23, 2013

By D.E. Schlatter
21st Century Media News Service

MORRISVILLE BOROUGH - Four residents, including former borough council president Jane Burger, have asked the state to determine the validity of the mayor’s recent veto of a $1.25-million funding package to pay for the energy-saving streetlight improvement project which is now on hold.

At the Oct. 21 meeting, borough council voted 8-0 to formally answer the petition which was filed Sept. 23 with the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development (DCED). The agency oversees how local governments finance certain projects and ensure they comply with state regulations and guidelines.

“It’s a civil petition that taxpayers can file when they question the debt proceedings for borrowing by the municipality,” explained Burger. “There’s so many questions whether the veto was valid that need to be resolved.”

At issue is whether Mayor Rita Ledger’s veto for funding the street-light project by Johnson Controls, Inc. was indeed proper. The veto was sustained last month when council failed to garner the six votes needed for an override.

At the time of the override vote, borough solicitor James Downey stated that there was considerable uncertainty surrounding when Ledger actually received and returned the necessary documents pertaining the veto, and if the mayor’s action was done in the prescribed time frame.

As a result, he could not definitively determine whether the veto was indeed valid.

Downey also had indicated that the mayor’s approval was not needed on a funding ordinance because it was not legislative in nature. That issue is also outlined in the DCED petition.

With the veto upheld, the funding ordinance could not take effect in order to move the $1.25-million project forward.

Earlier this year, borough council approved a 17-year contract with Johnson Controls to replace more than 600 streetlights with energy-saving state-of-the-art LED lamps, as well as perform energy upgrades to the municipal building.

However, the question of the sustainability of Mayor Ledger’s veto is only one aspect of the petition filed with the DCED.  

If the agency eventually determines that the veto was proper, further proceedings are then halted. If not, then other questions must be addressed, such as the project’s total cost and whether the appropriate information was given to all council members before they approved the 2.99-percent loan from TD Bank in July.

Council members Debbie Smith, Todd Sanford and Eileen Dreisbach, who repeatedly have opposed the project, have contended that they were kept in the dark and they were not given all the cost estimates in order to make an informed decision on the street-light improvement plan.

All along, Mayor Ledger had backed the three council members, also questioning how the energy upgrade would be paid for, and whether the contract best protected the borough.

Also at issue is whether borough manager Tom Bates had the authority to sign the $1.25-million funding ordinance along with Council President Nancy Sherlock.

The petition questions whether Bates has the authority under the state's Local Government Unit Debt Act (LGUDA) to sign any loan documents, such as the one procured through TD Bank.

According to the petition, Bates is not a borough employee, but rather an independent contractor because the borough had hired his consulting firm, THB Management Services, LLC, on a part-time basis. The petitioners argue that he is not an “officer, employee or agent of the borough,” and therefore lacks authority to sign ordinances.

Burger and the three other residents, including borough controller Eric Hellmann, are asking that the Department of Community and Economic Development not endorse Morrisville’s $1.25-million bank loan for the project, and to also hold that the mayor’s financial review was proper.

And if Morrisville still wants to proceed with the financing, the petition asks that borough council follow all procurement guidelines, as well as provide realistic cost estimates to councilmembers for each of the improvements.

“I asked DCED to review all the information and make a determination that everything was properly done and valid,” Burger said. “It is important that everyone follow the laws and regulations and does it properly.”

In its response, the borough has denied all the claims and asks that the DCED uphold the bank loan, as well as determine that Mayor Ledger’s review of the funding ordinance was not required, therefore making a veto unnecessary and the override invalid.  

If that’s the outcome, then the project can move forward. Morrisville has until January to initiate the contract with Johnson Controls without penalty.

However, that time frame, and the project itself, could be in jeopardy.

According to the borough solicitor, the DCED plans to take at least six months to gather all the information in the case, meaning a decision might not be made until next spring at the earliest.

Under the project, every streetlight in Morrisville would be replaced with the same type of LED lamps and wattage, something which Council President Nancy Sherlock has said “will make the town very attractive and uniform.”

Currently, the borough spends about $120,000 a year for electricity to keep the streetlights on, a cost is expected to be reduced to around $70,000 annually with high-energy efficient lighting, which is guaranteed to last 30 years. Besides the electric costs, Morrisville pays around $25,000 each year to maintain the streetlights and replace the existing bulbs.

At the Oct. 21 meeting, Bates said that the borough recently spent $15,000 in labor and supplies for streetlight maintenance and repairs.

In addition to the streetlights, the company would replace windows and insulation in the 64-year-old borough hall, as well as new heating and air conditioning installed. Electronic sensors would also be placed in the municipal building, as well as the library and public works garage, which would also see improvements.

In other news, Councilwoman Dreisbach offered a surprise motion to terminate the contract with borough manager Bates’s consulting firm as of Oct. 31, and advertise for the position.

That angered several of the more than 50 residents who packed the two-and-a-half hour meeting, which at times was acrimonious.

“Get off the petty stuff,” cried former borough councilwoman Kathy Panzitta. “If you have a problem with this guy, then fire him.  

“If you want to hire a borough manager, let’s do it right,” she added. “Put on your big girl panties and act like adults.”

Other residents, including former councilwoman Pat Schell of Grandview Avenue, also expressed their outrage at the motion to void Bates’s contract.

“This is getting ridiculous, it’s petty politics getting out of hand,” cried Schell. “You have a budget coming up, do you want to have a new manager preparing the budget?

“I’m getting sick of it ... I’m so mad,” she exclaimed.

After listening to the comments, Bates declared, “I can end it right now, if you want to end it,” hinting that he could quit.

Dreisbach agreed to drop her motion after Councilwoman Debbie Smith suggested that council take up the issue next summer, when Bates’s contract expires.

Meanwhile, several residents decried the lack of police protection, especially around schools in light of recent reports of attempted child abductions in the area.

Mayor Ledger, who oversees the police department, said that she will ask that more officers patrol school locations, if possible.

“It’s hard to manage the whole town and watch the kids on the streets,” she said, citing the current lack of manpower.

Ledger also said that Bucks County detectives are currently investigating the attempted abduction reports and will issue their findings to the borough once the investigation is finished.

Other residents also decried the aging fleet of Morrisville’s patrol cars.

“When you leave tonight look at the police cars back there,” commented Scott Robinson of North Pennsylvania Avenue of the patrol cars sitting in the municipal building’s rear parking lot.

“The transmission in Lt. Herron’s car is about to crap the bed,” he noted.

“This town is never going to be the way it was when I was growing up, but let’s make it better,” Robinson emphasized.

In response, the borough manager explained that there was $34,000 budgeted this year to purchase a new patrol car. But because of cost overruns in the police department, many of them related to the several ongoing lawsuits, Bates noted that the money originally set aside for the vehicle had to be allocated elsewhere in the department.

However, efforts to increase police staffing levels are in the works.

In August, borough council approved hiring of three full-time police officers to fill the vacancies created by retirements and sick leave. Currently, Morrisville, which has a population of roughly 8,700, has eight full-time and five part-time officers.

But manpower levels have recently dropped and several part-times have resigned.

To facilitate the hiring, borough council is using the Bucks County Consortium, a non-profit local government services group which helps screen police applicants for municipalities, and administers written and physical testing of the candidates.

The names of qualified individuals will then be given to the borough’s Civil Service Commission so the candidates can be interviewed. Afterward, the commission will make its hiring recommendations to borough council, which has the final say.

Those new hires are expected within the next several months.

Morrisville also has hired the search-firm CityBurbs Group, which is run by Lower Makefield Township Police Chief Ken Coluzzi, to help vet candidates for the now-vacant police chief’s position, which pays between $85,000 to $90,000, depending on experience.

CityBurbs will narrow the list of applicants to six candidates, with borough council interviewing the top three job seekers. That position is expected to be filed soon.

The next regularly-scheduled borough council meeting is Nov. 18.