As some readers may be aware, Atglen Borough chose to no longer contract with the Parkesburg Police Department after rates were raised. LancasterOnline has continuing coverage.
The Christiana Borough Police Department is now authorized to cover both Christiana and Atglen.
Christiana Borough Council enacted the ordinance allowing the police coverage outside their borough limits at their March 27 meeting.
Then, Atglen Borough adopted the same ordinance at their April 1 meeting while also swearing in Police Chief Richard Finfrock as well as officers Seth Hulshizer, Brian Smyth, Mike Pulaski, John Carpenter and John MacKay.
Other officers who were unavailable for the meeting as well as future hires will be sworn in at a future date.
The only hold up now to beginning coverage of Atglen is getting police radios that operate on the Chester County Emergency system. “Until they come in we have no communication with Chester County,” Finfrock said.
The car radios are not expected to be installed until May 6, but Finfrock is working on getting portable radios to use in the meantime. He is hoping to have officers working in Atglen by April 15, if not earlier.
Atglen is paying for the new radios, as well as covering other expenses the department will have in covering their borough. This is in addition to the $50-per-hour fee for police coverage that Christiana is charging Atglen. (Read more…)
According to Parkeburg committee meeting notes, from January, Highland and Avondale have agreed to the $75/hour for police services.
Read more:
Parkesburg Gazette 
I wonder if any police officers will be cut from the force now that we lost Atglen? We can’t afford their pensions anyway, and nobody ever thinks about how much it would cost if a police officer is hurt while on duty. I bet the insurance is through the roof, but that s just my opinion. I haven’t asked how much the cost of insurance is, and I doubt the borough would tell me anyway. I’m sure Jim McCabe will find out for us.
Joey I just asked Jim and he said he will find out for you! I also want to know if Chief Sheller’s fee to manage these police contracts has gone back down to 14K from 20K since Atglen has dropped out. He lost a 3rd of his responsibilities I think his compensation should reflect that as well. Why should he receive money for duties he isn’t performing anymore? But do you think it will? Yeah, me either!
Debbie the first problem we have in town is the false information from Parkesburg today, Ken is covering up a lot of stuff because he helped build that new police building with our tax dollars, he supports the police, the Mayor, and everyone on the borough council in my opinion. This is why you have been struggling to get information in the past. They may possibly be hiding something from the public, and if I get elected to Mayor I personally will search the records and investigate what is really going on in there.
Until I get into office I can not answer your question about the police chiefs bonus (which he should pay back in my opinion), but if elected the cuts will be made for sure. Parkesburg today and the borough council are very worried to get an (outsider) like myself as they call me, into office because they know the game will be over.
Tim Alexander made his voice heard at the school board meetings this year, and made an impressive impact this year, and I hope to do the same with the borough. There is hope! It seems that everything we are fixing is from the Knickerbocker era (school board out of control spending, new police building..etc), and the only way to start new is to get rid of the old in my opinion. Continue to read the Parkesburg gazette for true facts and unbiased information.
Thank you and please vote for Tim, and myself this election!
Joey I’m happy to find any fresh new information about Parkesburg. And they have tried to hide everything from me, not just police info. I kept digging and found out alot more. One of the former council members was talking to me about it but has since stopped. I don’t know why. I got tired of the bull so I stopped going to the meetings for awhile. I certainly hope they don’t think Chuckie chased me away because that could’nt be further from the truth. That little blow out makes me want to get into it even more. One things for sure, I can’t be intimidated by anyone. I hope this year will be a little more TRANSPARENT, the Mayor’s words. We’ll see!
The only way to achieve transparency in the borough is to get new people in office that will work for the people, not against them. This election will bring us a chance for a new Mayor, possibly one of the youngest Mayors in town history. I have listened to many residents and business owners in town and I will do whats best for them if I get elected.
I believe the council will be full of Republicans if Joey Rzonca takes Mayor!
I guess I’m not the only person who feels like the borough is not getting it done. Here is a comment I read on an old news blog stating some interesting questions.
“nameless
April 10, 2013 at 4:34 PM
Not to change the topic of conversation too much, but lets talk about a sensitive subject: borough management.
We are paying more than $175,000 per year to employ a manager and secretary with gratuitous health and pension benefits (for the record, I am an advocate of high salaries. Salaries=expectations). What do we get for that investment?
We get serious responsibilities being delegated to borough council, a group that should oversee the operations of the borough, not manage them. We get almost 0 advocacy, poorly prepared financial reports, inept leadership, and nonexistent communication. What is going on with the bridge? What is going on with the train station? What efforts are being made to bring in new businesses?
Why do serious borough events get delegated to PABA? Why is the borough’s budget not posted on the borough’s expensive new website? Why does Willard Marsh get blamed for financial mistakes when it clearly
Why has it been 10 years since Chester County last invested in Parkesburg? Why do borough council members seem frustrated at the inevitability of borough financial trouble?
Why do local developers express continual frustration when trying to invest in Parkesburg? Why can’t Parkesburg seem to benefit from the incredible economic development occurring throughout Chester County?
Why hasn’t the borough done strategic, inclusive strategic planning? What efforts are the borough making to partner with the WCCC and the EDC?
If you want to get things done, bring in someone who knows how to manage a borough, not the lackluster B-team that we have found ourselves with. If we brought in the right group of leaders, it would empower council members to support a healthy, vibrant Parkesburg.
Again, we are paying a great deal of money for the management of the borough with mediocre results. In my humble submission, council should hire a executive search firm to find people better suited to do what we are paying to have (half) done.”
I was amazed at how high the salaries are for those 2 jobs. My question is why do we have a retired police chief working as the borough manager, and I am wondering if he is already collecting a pension from that. Sounds like double dipping in my opinion. Can the tax payers afford these salaries, and insurance?
Are you kidding me the borough manager and the secretary get paid that much! The council members only get like $1000.00 per year and they call the shots. Who is in charge of creating these jobs and putting these high salaries with them?
I pulled a site to compare the actual budget report, and I don’t full understand it yet, but it looks like the borough manager gets a salary of $68,610.00, and the secretary gets a salary of $50,165.00. These salaries have increased tremendously since 2005, which shows that even with an economic crisis their salaries have increased.
Here is the link: https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&ved=0CDAQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.parkesburg.org%2Findex.aspx%3FNID%3D908&ei=DptpUYnlAaeH0QH9wYHACA&usg=AFQjCNHCFYmN2jZj-4F4R9v2kAMx6l07Kw&sig2=AEJkrC9AtrqOy1yIjzdVgw
Go on the Parkesburg Borough page and look at the budget. You can see the figures there!
Oops! I just went on there. The figures are higher than they were on the budget at the beginning of the year. WTW??
I need to be educated on the budget before assuming anything is wrong. We lost Atglen which was huge, and that means we are not making as much money as we should to cover the budget. I don’t think the budget should go up every year especially with the economic crisis we are in. What is really bad is when you tell people your running for Mayor and they say ” we have a Mayor? “
We were talking about the tax increase and if you remember they tried to say it was for the fire company and it was not. Then it was for the West Bridge St. bridge project. That hasn’t happened yet either and yet they told me there is no escrow account for that money, so where did that money go to?? It just got frustrating and I think that’s what they wanted, to be rid of me and Jim. I pulled out my paper work from last year and was looking at figures. Some things still just don’t add up yet Mark Agen had said the finances looked good. What does that even mean?? If you ask, they lie to your face. Makes me sick!
Maybe it is time for us to head back to the meetings and ask questions again (on camera) and see if they answer more respectfully. Never give up on finding the truth because they can’t hide it forever. I sent an email to Jim with my number on it if you ever want to talk about the borough problems. If Jim can gather all the information and sit down with me and my girlfriend I am sure we can find out where the money went that may be missing.
I agree it’s time to go back to the meetings too! I believe they will hide things until somebody drags it out of them. I’ve seen it repeatedly last year. if anybody can find it, it will be Jim.
I have a bunch of questions to ask, but I know they won’t answer them. Someone started a rumor that I don’t even live in town, which made me laugh. I do live in town and work out of town a lot because I just had a baby and need money to feed him. These people will try anything to make me out to be a bad guy. Well I guess that’s politics for you!
Perhaps if I win the Mayor position things would be different, and for the better.
Debbie show us the dirt!