Boro funds can be allocated more creatively
To the Editor:
To the residents of Honesdale Borough,
On November 3rd Honesdale Borough voters will go to the polls to elect four council persons to the Honesdale Borough Council. I hope that you will include me in your choice of the four.
In the past four years as a Honesdale Councilman I have worked diligently for the residents of Honesdale Borough. In working to help create the Central Wayne Regional Authority, we have through the authority received a five million dollar grant to fund the new Wastewater Treatment Plant along with an 11 million dollar 30 year loan at 1%. An additional 6.8 million dollars in grant funds were received for the upcoming Combined Sewer Overflow Project in Honesdale Borough which will assist the collection system in delivering the sewage through Honesdale to the treatment plant.
We are now in the process of building the 17 million dollar Wastewater Treatment Plant that was mandated by Pennsylvania DEP. This project is being done at a great savings to Honesdale residents through the grant and loan funds we have received.
Councilwoman Rickard and I have had several meetings with the Wayne Highlands School District Superintendent, their engineer and with the State Department of Conservation. These meetings have resulted in the implementation of a series of reforms suggested by a study done by Spots, Stevens & McCoy. These efforts should slow down the run-off of water in the hill section of Honesdale. However, more needs to be done to funnel the water through Honesdale to the Lackawaxen River. We are presently trying to obtain more state or federal funds to accomplish this goal.
In the next two months Honesdale Borough Council will be preparing a new budget for 2010 and a great deal depends on the outcome of this preparation. We must bear in mind the needs of our fire companies, the Department of Public Works, the Parks & Recreation Department, as well as the safety of our residents. We must do this by allocating our existing funds in a creative way without raising taxes.
Please vote on November 3rd.
James Brennan, Jr. Democratic Candidate for Honesdale Borough Council
[Editor’s note: This and other letters regarding the election which appear this week were received by the cutoff date of Monday, October 26.]