Eidle letter 12-27-10

December 27, 2010
Gennaro A. Marino P.E.
409 West Main Street
Kutztown, Pa 19530
610-683-7977
kmayor@ptd.net
marinoreport.com
Kutztown Council President Eidle
Kutztown Borough Hall
Dear Council President,
On December 23, 2010 a Reading Eagle article announced a 6.5% increase in our electricity rates and you stated in the article that it was because of the increased cost of delivery and then you state that 3% of it was going into the General Fund. I am sure the revenue from the 3% increase will find its way into the Telecommunications Department which loses about $1 million a year.

Speaking of Telecom, under your leadership the Borough has refused to give me Telecom financial reports for 2008 and 2009 as ordered in the Final Determination by the Office of Open Records. In refusing my request Solicitor Mooney stated it would be onerous and a herculean task to list each and every expenditure in my request for 2008 and 2009 audits or budgets. President Eidle, you and Solicitor Mooney know, by law, that all revenues and expenditures should have been listed and totaled out in their annual reports, ask your independent auditor Long & Barrell.

Then you quietly conduct Budget meetings on Sunday morning at 8 am and hope the public will not attend. In fact the budget wasn’t important enough for you to attend. The meeting was opened at 8 am and was adjourned at 1:30 pm. 51\2 hours and there only about 2 pages, double spaced, for the meeting minutes.

I also asked the Borough about the retirement of Secretary Bray and was told she received a sizeable amount of settlement money from the Borough and there was no wrongdoing by the Borough. I asked for further information of the details of the case and was told by the Borough all the information was not published because it was covered by lawyer- client privilege. There has to be a very good reason she received the settlement and it should be made public.

To sum up it is about time you realized that you are a public servant and are obligated to update all Borough finances and activities to the public.

The public should know the amount of revenue that will be raised with the 6.5% electric rate increase. The public should also be told why the Borough will not abide by the Office of Open Records Final Determination to make the finances of Telecom public and the Borough Secretary’s retirement should also be discussed publicly.
Sincerely,


Gennaro A. Marino P.E.