By Todd Smith, Lancaster City Councilman
Re: “Good luck Charlie in getting information from Lancaster City”
LETTER: This is not new information. If Charlie Smithgall would have showed up at even one meeting regarding the Green Infrastructure Plan he would have been privy to an itemized breakdown of Green Infrastructure projects and the associated wastewater runoff that was mitigated.
There are also very specific runoff valves that empty into the Conestoga and other areas where there are diagnostic tools in place measuring the reduction in runoff. It’s a part of the Action plan that we put together and submitted to the federal government….which they have supported.
It should be known that the only reason the Gray administration created the Green Infrastructure plan was because we were under a federal mandate to reduce the runoff from the combined wastewater/stormwater system….thanks to decades of neglect.
I appreciate your site and love the independent voice, however, I have been pretty intimately connected to the City’s finances over the past few years and am concerned with the level of deception coming from Mr. Smithgall’s campaign concerning our finances.
Coincidentally, the County GOP is circulating literature boasting of their A-1 rating and how it reflects their fiscal effectiveness. Well, 3 years ago…in the midst of an unbelievable recession…the City also had their bond rating increased to A-1 thanks to the implementation of an activity based costing model in charging for services, various tough decisions, consolidating services and positions, and us squeezing every penny out of the taxpayer dollar.
In the past four years since I have chaired the Finance committee we have raised taxes one time and it was by one mill. I keep receiving Charlie Smithgall’s mailers, reading the letters to the editor and watched the debates and have come to this conclusion….if this is the type of dishonesty and smoke and mirrors that are necessary to be successful in politics than I am glad I am on my way out the door.
I am very proud of what has been accomplished…and was actually disappointed by the fact that we had to waste so much time collecting baseline information (inventory of housing stock, rental properties, cost of police services to LT, real engineering and inspection costs, etc.). Now that we have this information we at least have a reference point to compare against benchmarks and other municipalities to determine whether or not we couldn’t be getting a better value elsewhere.
EDITOR: The dual sanitary and storm sewer system from the nineteenth century causes an overload of the sewer treatment plant, which is the root of the problem that city faces.
When our publisher sought to meet with Randy Patterson to review the possibility of somehow diverting storm water via newly installed exclusively storm water lines, he was rebuffed.
The same occurred when the publisher sought to discuss with Patterson the status and possibilities for redevelopment of Lancaster Square East. Even if discussions were off the record, it would have assured accurate reporting by NewsLanc.
Moreover, the publisher had ideas for how the Brunswick and its Annex could be acquired through private contributions, even if not with public funds, and donated to RACL as part of the total redevelopment of Lancaster Square East apart from the parking garage.
This disdain for communicating with the public and media has been experienced by others, not just our publisher.
When over the course of time both matter were brought to Mayor Gray’s attention during meetings in his office, he seemed powerless to even arrange an appointment for the publisher to meet with Patterson or another in the planning department.
NewsLanc does not endorse the election of Republicans very often. But we support Charlie Smithgall who is open to dialogue and has proven he can get important things done.
If on Tuesday Rick Gray is ‘retired by his constituents’, we hope he become a part time adjunct professor at Millersville University or Franklin and Marshall College. The students would find his presentations to be exciting and would learn a lot.
He is a patriot, a genuine intellectual and a political theorist… But not a competent CEO.
You see Todd, there’s no reason responding to Robert’s arguments on this site, as he always gets the last word.