Politics

At Monday’s Ellwood City Borough council agenda meeting, council member George Celli questioned a motion to purchase an LED lightning package for the volleyball court in Ewing Park at a cost of $9,068.98. Celli felt it was unwise to install lights for one court without considering the costs of installing lights for other amenities, such as the tennis court and skateboard park. In addition, he felt lights would nullify the “dawn to dusk” hours of the park. Council member Jim Barry felt all the courts should have lights, on the grounds that money was available from the Marcelus Shale Fund…

At Monday’s Ellwood City Borough Council agenda meeting, council member George Celli proposed a resolution to oppose PA House Bills 1405 and 2030. Both bills would set new regulations on the borough’s electric department, including restricting council’s ability to shift electric fund revenue to the general fund. If council passed Celli’s resolution, it would indicate council’s opposition to the legislation but have no legal impact. Council added the resolution to the agenda but no other members spoke for or against it. The bills are sponsored by State Rep. Aaron Berstein, (R-10), and both include language that would limit the borough’s…

The following is a brief summary of the Ellwood City Borough Council meeting held on Monday, March 19: Visitors: Numerous visitors urged council to reconsider charging organizations event costs to recoup borough expenses. One visitor requested that council hire a borough manager capable of effective grant writing and said the costs of most events could be covered by grants. He also praised Council President Judi Dici for acting as interim manager on “pittance” money. Former council president Connie MacDonald criticized council for throwing away $171,900 on an aborted new electric building. He had previously attacked council for this decision and…

During its meeting on Monday, council voted to allow all requested events in 2018 at no charge. In edition, the estimated borough costs for events provided last week was recalculated at significantly lower rates. In February, council announced the Ellwood City Relay for Life would be charged $550 to recoup borough expenses and that all other borough events would be required to pay borough expenses. At the agenda meeting on March 12, over 50 visitors urged council to reconsider and have the borough absorb event costs. At the regular meeting on Monday, held in the auditorium to accommodates over 60…

The Ellwood City Chamber of Commerce took issue with council’s decision to charge nonprofits recoup fees for events held in the borough. At Monday’s Ellwood City Borough Council agenda meeting, chamber President Ray Santillo urged council to reconsider. Santillo argued that events such as Relay for Life and the Concert Series promote a healthy local economy and urged council to compromise and solve problems amicably while marketing the community positively. He also pointed out that chamber members pay dues, and the chamber helps with funding events, such as providing electric panels for the downtown car cruise. Santillo praised the quantity…

At the Ellwood City Borough Council agenda meeting, Dawn Santagata requested that the entire council resign due to alleged violations of the First Amendment’s right to freedom of speech. In a prepared statement, Santagata asserted her freedom of speech was violated when her comments were deleted from a Facebook page titled Ellwood City Council – Rob Brough and Lisa Guerrera. The two council members use the page to post information on council topics. Santaga cited a 2017 court case, Davison vs. Loudon County Board of Supervisors, in which a federal court determined a public official couldn’t delete dissenting viewpoints from…

At Monday’s Ellwood City Borough Council meeting, visitor Dave McQuade criticized council for a slow response to his Right to Know Requests, for its decision to charge events recoup fees and for statements made on social media. McQuade filed two requests on the weekend of March 2 and said the borough had yet to respond. By state law, an agency has five business days to respond in writing.  The first request was for the current procedures for holding events in the borough. The second request was for the police contract. The requests were in response to council’s decision in February to…