Mayor Paula Brown

“A House divided against itself, cannot stand”... President Abraham Lincoln

So true are the words of President Lincoln 151 years ago and they ring true today in Darby Borough. History has demonstrated that working against one another continually fails and is demonstrated to this day in Darby, as political factions work extremely hard against individuals because of personal reasons, not what’s best for our town.

The recent election this November clearly sent a message nationwide that it’s time for the partisan and “faction” bickering to end. We are in a serious economic downfall and we need to work together, not against one another, so our future generations can survive.

As a fourth-generation resident of Darby, my heart and passion lies within our town. I’ve seen through the years what our tiny borough once had, how it was the formation of our lives and what it can continue to be for us and our future leaders.

Our rich history that traces back before our nation was formed is too important for us to waste over petty personality and political differences.

Over the past year, I have offered the “olive branch” to work with the current administration in solving our problems. I am again offering that same olive branch and reiterating my plea to work together to save our town, its history and its future.

I realize that to some on our council, drafting, revising and implementing a $7 million budget can be quite exasperating, especially when you are new to the process. When we leave it up to the administrators who are not connected with our town, sometimes the very foundations of our history are diverted to other sources and we lose track of our base. Our library is a prime example.

I have almost 30 years of experience in drafting and revising our budgets and would like to offer help and suggestions for solidifying the operating budget by ensuring that expenses and revenue reflect accurately the needs of our people.

Education is paramount to our future. Our library is the foundation of our education. Currently we only allot $21,329 to our nation’s oldest library. That amounts to approximately $5 per home.

Forty percent of our homes in Darby are owned by landlords who rake in thousands of dollars in income, many of whom are delinquent in their taxes. The library tax could be effectively raised and tripled without our residents seeing an increase in their taxes.

There are many ways this can be done. The millage for the library can be raised while the property tax can decrease the same amount. The total millage would stay the same.

Expenditures could be cut that would allow the millage to be lowered. Specifically, the retainer fee paid for the solicitor could be drastically reduced.

For the fiscal year 2008, $74,264.03 was paid to the attorney in legal fees. This is the highest ever paid for a municipal solicitor in Darby. This expense can be cut in half quite easily, if everyone comes together and works with each other and not against.

The role of the municipal solicitor is to advise the council and mayor in legal matters only. However, in the last six years, we have grown to an enormous dependency upon the solicitor and allowed him to advise in all matters, not just of a legal nature.

The solicitor should come to one meeting per month, submit his report in writing at the beginning of the meeting, advise, answer questions and be dismissed. The $200 per hour fee can be reduced by dismissing the solicitor after the legal report. However, he is not dismissed and stays for the entire meeting, several a month.

He researches ordinances, resolutions (not of a legal nature), drafts and writes the final pieces. These are tasks the council can do quite easily and then submit to the solicitor for his advice.

I am offering to work with this administration to save this unneeded expense.

Council also floated bonds for almost $3 million to build a $4.2 million police station next to our library. The principle alone for this bond for 2009 is $122,500. I am recommending that the project for the new police station come to a halt and change the scope of the project to renovate the library for handicapped accessibility and retrofit the building for maximum energy efficiency. With the new stimulus package recently passed, funding is available for projects to retrofit public buildings and turn them into “green buildings.” I am offering my assistance to help with this project.

Through Facebook, Myspace and the Internet, we have received the support of people all over the world who want to help us save our library. They’ve offered solutions, donations and support. If strangers can realize that our library is fundamental to our lives, then we who live here in Darby surely must realize the same.

We are not two separate neighborhoods; we are one. We need to work together, no matter what our race, creed, color or political or personal preference is.

That’s what Darby is all about, it’s how we grew up and it’s how we need to stay ... together ... or the house will surely fall.

Anyone who is willing to help and put our differences aside, please do not hesitate to contact me. Thank you all for your support.

Deregulation. Definition: The act or process of removing restrictions and regulations.

The removal of restrictions in Darby is at high level, causing a silent, unspoken economic crisis. Every elected councilperson or commissioner in Pennsylvania, are given the opportunity to see each bill to be paid, and given the opportunity to vote to approve or disapprove each expenditure for the municipality they represent.

In Darby, the deregulation of the right to know law and laws of common sense has escalated. For almost four years now, councilpersons have not received an itemized list of bills to be paid.

Councilpersons have unofficially delegated this part of their responsibility to appointed officials who live in Springfield, Aston and Rose Valley. Because of this deregulation, Darby is delinquent in utility bills, contractor bills, equipment bills, even PortaPottie bills.

From Wikipedia: A golden parachute is a non-contractual agreement between a company and an employee (usually upper executive) specifying that employee will receive certain significant benefits if employment is ended.

On June 28, 2000, the Delaware County Grand Jury investigated the golden parachute of Police Chief Robert Smythe. They determined Smythe manipulated the borough’s payroll over the past 16 years to ensure himself a gigantic economic bonanza in retirement.

The Grand Jury said, if he retired then, he’d walk away with a lump sum of more than $125,000. If the lump sum was added to Smythe’s retirement —- which is based on his last three years of service —- his yearly pension could conceivably total more than his current salary.

The Grand Jury stated, “The fact that Chief Smythe did not tell a direct lie about the ever-growing liability does shield him from criminal responsibility. However, in failing to inform other public officials about the magnitude of the liability for accumulated time, he has done a grave disservice to the borough. His silence for decades has now burdened the borough with significant financial responsibilities, both for payment of the large amount of accumulated time and for the possibility of the unexpected inflation of some pensions.”

Within the last few months, Darby council was questioned by me as to the amount of money Chief Smythe claims the borough “owes” him. The $125,000 the Grand Jury reported in 2000 has grown to $383,000.

If Chief Smythe retires today and is paid his lump sum that would amount to $474,000 for a one-year salary. His retirement, as the Grand Jury stated, would be based on that annual figure and he would receive tens of thousands of dollars in retirement, more than his annual $91,000 salary. This is a golden parachute if there ever was one.

The combination of deregulation and the golden parachute alone have caused an undue tax burden on the residents of Darby Borough. We do not deserve to have one of the highest tax rates in the county, when only 40 percent of us are homeowners — 60 percent of the homes in Darby are rentals, mostly Section 8.

At a special meeting of council on Oct. 5, we learned the real reason behind the necessity of this new building they term a “Recreation Center.” The reason stated was the “police station has outgrown the building and they need to expand.”

This project is now totaling $4.2 million. Municipalities cannot receive “earmarks” to build new police stations and borough halls without having some type of “recreation” facility that will comprise at least 60 percent of the new building. Therefore, Darby cannot build a new police station unless there is a “recreation” facility attached to it.

The current plans call for a small gymnasium. There are three school district gymnasiums in Darby that are not utilized by the borough. I recommended to council that they put a stop this multi-million dollar police station and pursue another avenue that would be no cost to borough taxpayers.

I suggested they discontinue the lease with the county of Delaware for housing the courthouse on police department property. This would also ensure the residents a more fair opportunity to be heard without the auspice of having the police department so close to the courthouse. The courthouse could move to another more suitable location and be separate, at no cost to the borough.

Move Borough Hall across the parking lot to the former courthouse and expand the present police department within the Borough Hall. This would not cost a cent. For recreation purposes, utilize the three free gymnasiums already in place

In a time of a global economic crisis, when governments are tightening the belt, curbing spending, unemployment is the highest its been in 25 years, our retirement plans are washing away with little or no hope of recovery, what does Darby do? Build a $4.2 million police station.

Our residents were never asked if this is what they wanted. Our residents were never asked if they wanted to fund a $4.2 million police station placed in the middle of a residential neighborhood. $1.5 million was borrowed in 2007, 2.5 million was borrowed in 2008 and now the borough just applied for a $1.8 million “earmark” for the “building to nowhere”.

Council has stated at meetings they will apply for grants from state Sen. Anthony Williams, D-8 of Philadelphia, and the state of Pennsylvania that will cover the cost.

When are we going to wake up, stand up and stop this madness? We better do it now, before the final bell tolls on Wall Street and Main Street Darby, signaling the crash of our lifetime.

As of 11-3, talk from the local contractors indicate Darby Borough did not receive all the funding and now, the project has to be cut in half, only a gym will be built — for now. Taxpayer money could have been saved by applying for the grant first, receiving approval before any monies were spent, but that’s the “new regime” in Darby — act first, then think about it.