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Contracts in limbo
The promise of an action packed City Council meeting Monday night fell short amid a flurry of additions and deletions to the agenda (here it is in it's original form).
Among the items tabled by council were two resolutions: one that would have had council vote whether to renew City Manager Harry Walker's contract, and a second that, if passed, would have amended Police Chief William Matthews' contract allowing him a
nother year to get his Act 120 certification.
Here's a link to the story I wrote live from Monday's meeting and another to the follow up in Wednesday's paper. They're pretty similar.
Among the items tabled by council were two resolutions: one that would have had council vote whether to renew City Manager Harry Walker's contract, and a second that, if passed, would have amended Police Chief William Matthews' contract allowing him a
nother year to get his Act 120 certification.Here's a link to the story I wrote live from Monday's meeting and another to the follow up in Wednesday's paper. They're pretty similar.
Labels: Chief Matthews, city council, contracts, Harry Walker
posted by Daily Local at
11:55 AM
37 Comments:
It says in the article that the chief has already passed his physical yet can't get his certification because of some physical ailment. I am really confussed to say the least.
While i think that both men are very intelligent i don't feel like they have Coatesville's best interest at heart.
What the story is pointing out is the chief was given a clean bill of health before beginning work with Coatesville.
So the ailment that is currently preventing him from pursuing his certification arose some time after he started with the department.
As was said before, the chief is not going to get certified. He will only be around a little while longer. And as he said himself, "I don't think getting certified will help me do my job any better". Right, he is doing a poor job now and would still do a poor job certified. Plus it is too late to gain the respect of the other officers now anyway.
I'm not sure what Walker's plans are, I think he will stick around for a while yet and keep collecting that fat paycheck.
Hi Jon - do we the public have the right to know why/how the chief was injured? Can the Freedom of Information Act be used?
Speaking of ceritfications, has the Codes director obtained his certifications which needed by state law. Also the codes officer that was brought back from being laid doesn't have certifications.
I wonder if Walker's new contract will be longer than 2 years. If it is it may cause a new council to have to buy out his contract, after the block of 4 are no longer in control. I do not trust anything that this council does, especially if attorney Lehr is involved.
I am considering a run for council next year has anyone else out there had similar thoughts?
May 15, maybe not, but taking your comment as its written I bet he has a smile on his face.
To May 15th poster:
To answer your question I just did a little research. It appears that Molina is registered in Delaware as a codes official but not on the ICC (national site). If he had passed a ICC test he would be on that site listing within 2 weeks.
As far as some other codes officers(no names mentioned) they don't seem to be certified at all yet. The main problem that I have with that is if they inspect something and pass it and God forbid someone gets hurt the city is looking at a BIG lawsuit, and guess who will be paying for the defense of that lawsuit? you guessed it, the citizens will with their tax money. Would make more sense to me to spend a few hundred dollars and get everybody certified. But then again things are not done in a sensible fashion in this City.
The city is not even willing to to pay a modest fee to maintain ICC certifications for its career firefighters. Thye are trying hard to dumb the place up.
May 14:
I doubt the freedom of info act will help. Under hippa laws and other personnel laws health issues are private. However, it seems to me that if someone cannot perform there normal job duties they should provide a written doctors note saying that they cannot perform the function.
May 16 - Agreed about the HIPPA but I'm just curious to know why no one on the council has officially asked what the problem is?
ICC re-cert fee for one certification=$50.00 for three years plus 30 hrs of continuing educational training. Two weekends in three years would give you that. When you divide that by 36 months one can see how little the city needs to invest in keeping employee certification up to standards. Approx $1.40 per month. Lawsuit $000000.00 ???
I would bet however, motivated employees pay for the fee themselves, take it off their taxes and marvel at the lack of certifications their supervisors maintain.
I would encourage every citizen in Coatesville to seek legal assistance when ever anything happen to them in the City limits. Fires, code inspections just to name a few in the last few years have been brought before the court system with some tremendous payout being awarded to the victims. Have the City fathers show you what training and documentation current department heads are providing to their employees which in fact are your employees as you the tax payer are paying for their salaries. Information can be obtained by the freedom of information act. The fact is, training is provided through your tax dollars either by City, Federal, State, insurance funding.
ANOTHER question. What was the decision the council arrived at regarding individual homes being inspected? Did the light bulb go on when they realized they would need a search warrant to come into a private home and inspect without just cause?
You think the City is in the hole now, just wait till a unreasonable search practice lawsuit hits the courtroom.
Makes one wonder what member(s) on council whom has a past practice of suing the city wants that put on the books so she/he can sue and reap the rewards.
Just some thoughts to ponder.
On a side note, a point need to be clarified, codes are not changed every year, but every three years. 2000 ed, 2003, 2006, 2009 etc., applies to ICC and NFPA codes. Now if one would make the statement there may be modifications to the code, then that would be a statement that could be considered as factual.
If you are not aware, the City needs to adopt the code they are enforcing as well. It must be voted on and adopted by council.
Look at the City code and see what standard and edition the code department and the fire department has adopted. Don't be miss led, if it's not adopted, or unless the state has mandated it, you can't be held to the current code.
As an example, if one builds to the current code (and the current code has backed off of the strictness of the older code), and the city has not adopted that code, the builder COULD be required to remove the structure and rebuild it to the code as adopted by the city even if its an outdated code.
More points to ponder. All of this information can be obtained by searching on the Internet. Isn't the Internet great? With information comes knowledge, then power, some good, some bad.
May 17th,
Might as well go one step further, here is the website for Nationwide codes, iccsafe.org
You can search on there to see what code officials are certified and in what field.
I doubt that they will be able to inspect owner-occupied homes as that is not in the ICC codes, only rentals and any home that is being resold/sold
With the amount of properties up for sale and that were sold in the last 5 years you would think that just about every property in the city has been inspected recently!
The city no longer does inspections when a home sells. They still do require a heating certification and they still require $50. Now they just don't do the inspection but charge the same amount of money.
To May 18th,
I don't know about that, I recently sold a residental property and when I went to pay the fee they did intend to inspect it and came out later that week. Yes, still need the heater cert. also. Why do you say that they don't inspect resales? Now if you don't contact them that's one thing but if financing is involved the bank will want the home inspected.
Looks like the police had their hands full chasing gunshots this weekend. luckily no one was hurt. I work at a store checkout and last week a young guy was reaching in his pocket for his money and he pulled out 3 bullets and set them on the counter, he joked about them but I didn't think it was funny. I didn't want to think what he might of had under his belt. Things are out of control!
to may 18th.
They just recently changed their requirements. I know this because I am a real estate broker. Also, when the inspection was in place you had to get the resale cert. regardless of any financing. Theoretically you could not go to settlement without it.
We needthe police to be out and seen everywhere in the city. i do agree that they need to work on the relationship with the citizens to make the city safe but at the same time we don't have that long to wait for the realtionship to cement. i hear gunshots all the time. sometimes it is only one, sometimes its four, five six if not more. i live in a quite neighborhood and i never see police in there and would like to every now and then.
what has our chief done recently?
how is his community relationship building progressing?
does the average citizen feel safer?
is crime down?
are drugs down?
these are questions i would love to have answered.
Here's a good one for you and a true story. About a week ago or so there was a "walk" for some purpose in the eastend. The chief was participating with a young lady walking at his side, out of no where a guy runs by and grabs her purse and takes off. The chief (not having a gun or able to arrest people) had to stand there and watch and call on his radio for a policeman. This is a true story, and a damn shame that we don't have a "real" chief.
As previously reported on this blog site.
It's now and has been illegal to J-walk in Coatesville !!
Mr Matthews ( Grandpa ) to his friends is now asking his officers to enforce J-walking as a crime.
Check out his Chiefs Corner for his own words in the Coatesville Ledger this week
Just great. Don't worry about drug dealers and guns, go after J- walkers. Council wants to give Matthews a new contract. Why. Schenk thinks this man is a great chief. That just shows the idiotic mind set that prevails in Coatesville's leadership. Way past due for a change.
Hi Everyone,
I just read this and I think it's worth putting here. It's a letter to the editor about Walker/Matthews. Regardless of what side of the fence you are on about them, I think letter makes some good points:
Thoughts about Walker, Matthews
I am writing this article regarding extending, amending or renewing of the contract of Coatesville City Manager Harry Walker. But first, I am going to discuss Police Chief William Matthews.
I would not vote to extend the chief’s contract if he does not produce a doctor’s report (make it public) explaining the reason his health is preventing him from attempting to get his certifications. I would then look at his job performance in the time he has been in that position.
The City Council must have areas it wants to see improved for the safety of the Coatesville citizens. This is not a decision to be taken lightly because with the extension of a contract can come more money and better benefits. City Council members have to realize this extension is a vote of confidence regardless if they want it to be or not.
In regard to Harry Walker, many of us would not want City Council to renew or extend his contract simply because he is not qualified, even though he attempts to put himself on the same level as Bill Gates (successful businessman) and Michael Bloomberg (New York City mayor). With a statement like that, City Council should look as his work history and see how many jobs he has had before he came to Coatesville and the length of time he has stayed on a job.
In a new vision for Coatesville, what has he completed and not just started? Some of the new vision statements are part of the vision of the previous administration and so some of them have already started.
There are other reasons why City Council should not renew his contract, amend it or extend it. If it decides to do anything, allow him to work on a month-to-month basis. I think he is asking to renew his contract so that the new City Council will have to buy him out if it decide to get rid of him.
Jean Krack, the former city manager, part of the time was not given time or the chance to produce any progress.
Let Mr. Schenk spend a Friday or Saturday night near the Little Chef parking lot. I bet he won't think so much of Matthews then. A couple of weeks ago I counted 17 different cars going behind the Little Chef in a 20 minute timeframe. Tell me that's not suspicious and anybody who lives over here knows exactly what's going on. Why doesn't Walker, Matthews or Schenk know? Last week Jennifer Miller even referred to the area around the Little Chef as a known trouble spot for the after hours bar crowd. So why isn't anything done? Maybe it's time to bring in the state and feds. I'm sure the DEA would be very interested in investigating.
Let's start a petition to have little chef close at 11pm on weekends. that will stop the nonsense that goes on over there after the bars close. Then the crowd will have to go outside the city to find a eating place still open late.
Anyone hear that Matthews is trying to get an extension on his physical? If that is the case then I can't see the city council backing him. He's had long enough. If he can't do the job then let Canale be the chief. He's from here certified and should have been the choice from the beginning.
As for Walker I think it's more interested in a paycheck then actually doing anything. Hey Walker how was ARD classes this weekend?
I believe police presence has increased on city streets...there will always be an increase of some of the "bad" social norms in Coatesville because of the overabundance of the poor in such a small area and it seems like everyone wants someone else to fix the problem...If everyone would start trying to work together to make things better, things would be better...
Has anyone seen an agenda for tonight?
The Little Chef does close. That's not the problem. The problem is the parking lot behind the Little Chef is lit up enough to conduct illegal activities and at the time these activities occur between 2 to 4 am there are no police patrolling the area. Just one police car sitting in the area would deter what's been going on.
To 8:28
Being poor is no excuse and there is no such thing as a "bad" social norm. Bad, illegal or criminal activity is not the societal norm. Poverty is just an excuse. Coatesville has become the Chester of Chester county.
What you say about an increased police prescence may be true for other parts of the city but not the West End. There is so little police prescence here that dirt bikes are ridden illegaly on city streets in broad daylight. A drug superstore opens up behind the Little Chef on the weekends. Just a small police prescence may curtail a lot of these activities. Sadly the only time we see police is in response to a criminal act. Seeing a cop in the West End is so rare it's like seeing Bigfoot or a UFO. If the police can't handle the job due to being overworked or understaffed then it's time to ask the state and feds for help. The citizens in the West End of Coatesvile deserve better than what they're getting.
Isn't the parking lot behind the Little chef owned by the West End Fire Company.
Maybe the trustee's can stop drinking in their raciest bar long enough too handle the crime issue.
With all the money they save(not)paying taxes on their bar, banquet hall and apartments you'd think they could afford lights or security guard etc.
I think the City, Couty, and School District should make the WEST END FIRE COMPANY pay all taxes like everyone else.
Fair Taxation !!!
They should fence that lot off, it's not really used for legitimate parking that much is it?
First off the West End Fire Company is not racist. They respond to fires for all citizens of Coatesville not just the white citizens. Whether they pay taxes or not is immaterial to the conversation at hand. If they aren't taxed I would venture to say there are groups and clubs (white, hispanic & black) all over town who aren't taxed. Either way I don't care.
It doesn't matter who owns the lot. Without police patrols in the area the lot becomes a drug supermarket on the weekends. In the past year there have been four seperate shootings in or around that area. You can't blame the Little Chef or the fire company for that. You can blame the police department and the city for not doing enough to prevent it.
BALONY !!! Then why don't they allow people of color to even enter the bar. That's descriminatory.
The Bar. the banquet hall and the apartment portions should pay taxes !! Plain and simple.
We need Lou Ann Kahn up here in Coatesville. Like she did in Cowlyn Pa with their exclusive bar rules. Call the Feds folks
I agree let's call the Feds. Maybe they can finally put an end to all the garbage that takes place in this town. You claim racism and demand investigations. Let's investigate. Coatesville never had the problems it has now when it was a predominately white town. When was the last time you heard of gunplay or shots fired at the West End firehouse by club members? Compare that to the Elks club where trouble occurs frequently.
The fire company has a private club. That means members only. It's not a public bar. Instead of crying racism, try joining and if you're actually told that you can't because of your race then cry discrimination. While you're at it get me into the Elks club. I'll never go because I know I'd never be welcome. But since we want everything to be equal I at least want the chance to join.
One other thing. How do you know what taxes the West End fire company pays? Last I checked that should be private information as they aren't publicly funded. Seems to me you have an axe to grind for being turned away from the bar.
My solution for Coatesville is to get a huge gay influx in the city. Because when the gays come in the properties values go sky high. It's a well known fact that gay men and woman have pride of ownership, they can take a nasty neighborhood and turn it around. Go to any city in the US and the neiborhoods that have a large gay population is the area with the nicest homes. June is national gay pride month, maybe Coatesville can do some kind of campaign to get people to buy houses out this way. Mark my word if we had a larger gay population the city would definatley improve.
Hi Everyone - just read a really interesting article about the Philly Police commissioner. Unlike Matthews, he is certified and can make arrests.
http://www.philly.com/philly/hp/news_update/commissioner_ramsey_makes_arrest_06062008.html
Commissioner Ramsey personally makes arrest
David Gambacorta
Philadelphia Daily News
Daily News
Police Commissioner Charles H. Ramsey still likes being in middle of the action after all these years.
The city's top cop and his driver, Officer Christopher Frazier, were on their way back from a downtown meeting at about 1 p.m. on Wednesday when they heard a call go out on police radio about two people trying to pass off a fake check at a Bank of America.
Car One arrived at the bank, located at 16th Street and JFK Boulevard, before any other law-enforcement teams. One of the suspects was inside the bank, trying to pass off the phony check, while the second was working as the lookout outside.
"Next thing I know, the commissioner says, 'I got the one outside. You go after the other one," Frazier said. Ramsey, in full street cop mode, went straight for the suspect, who turned out to be a twentysomething woman dressed in baggy clothing.
"I asked her if she had any weapons and patted the outside of her clothing. I heard a lot of, 'Yo dawg, don't touch me,'" said Ramsey, who didn't bother mentioning to the young offender that he was the police commissioner.
Instead, Ramsey marched the suspect into the bank, where Frazier was with her cohort, another woman in her 20s who had tried to pass off the bad cashier's check for an estimated $4,900.
"She was trying to convince them that she worked construction and got four months' pay," Frazier said. Both women were taken into custody, although their names weren't immediately available.
Ramsey seemed delighted as several cops teased him about the arrests at last night's Fencl Award ceremony in South Philadelphia. "We're always out there, responding to calls," he said. "That's the fun part of the job."
What a concept.
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