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Some great news came out of Honesdale Borough hall on Friday morning.
Finance committee chairman Scott Smith said officials are moving straight ahead on trying to find out if there have been discrepancies when it comes to money transfers between the borough and Texas Township.
Questions about these transfers have been raised over the past few weeks and finding a complete paper trail has been anything but easy. In fact, it’s been pretty much impossible.
On top of that, the newly elected council has also discovered the borough’s records are anything but in order.
There are boxes upon boxes of unmarked records at borough hall, not to mention the records in the planning and zoning office.
All of these things have raised red flags — and not just with this newspaper. It’s now obvious borough officials are taking these matters seriously, as well.
Through all of this, all we have asked for as a newspaper is for the records to be straightened out and shown to us and the public. That’s all. If the records can be found, great, everybody should have access to them to see exactly how the deal worked between Texas Township and the borough. If the records can’t be found or if questions arise, then a complete forensic accounting of these records needs to take place.
Certainly the naysayers will come back and cry foul, saying the status quo should remain and we should just move forward. They will cry fowl and say there’s not enough money to have such an accounting take place.
Of course, they will conveniently leave out the fact that a complete audit and accounting of records could in fact save the borough a lot of money in the long run. Just simply streamlining processes and eliminating unnecessary paperwork will save money. If it does appear there are paper trails missing, it becomes paramount this be thoroughly investigated.
Actually, we believe this should happen right away — and be conducted by law enforcement. Enough red flags have been raised by our reporting as well as by members of the community there is sufficient evidence to start an investigation. Yet it appears politics might be getting in the way of that step, which is a disservice to every resident of the borough and Texas Township.
Maybe the latest move by the borough will prompt a little more interest for law enforcement officials, or maybe not. Only time will tell. We’re still waiting on a update report from the Pennsylvania State Police when it comes to the alleged three break-ins, or incidents, or whatever, at borough hall. Even those incidents have conflicting reports coming from various sources, but the police remain tight-lipped. Does this mean they know more information than suspected? Or does it mean there’s still no more information available?
Some great news came out of Honesdale Borough hall on Friday morning.
Finance committee chairman Scott Smith said officials are moving straight ahead on trying to find out if there have been discrepancies when it comes to money transfers between the borough and Texas Township.
Questions about these transfers have been raised over the past few weeks and finding a complete paper trail has been anything but easy. In fact, it’s been pretty much impossible.
On top of that, the newly elected council has also discovered the borough’s records are anything but in order.
There are boxes upon boxes of unmarked records at borough hall, not to mention the records in the planning and zoning office.
All of these things have raised red flags — and not just with this newspaper. It’s now obvious borough officials are taking these matters seriously, as well.
Through all of this, all we have asked for as a newspaper is for the records to be straightened out and shown to us and the public. That’s all. If the records can be found, great, everybody should have access to them to see exactly how the deal worked between Texas Township and the borough. If the records can’t be found or if questions arise, then a complete forensic accounting of these records needs to take place.
Certainly the naysayers will come back and cry foul, saying the status quo should remain and we should just move forward. They will cry fowl and say there’s not enough money to have such an accounting take place.
Of course, they will conveniently leave out the fact that a complete audit and accounting of records could in fact save the borough a lot of money in the long run. Just simply streamlining processes and eliminating unnecessary paperwork will save money. If it does appear there are paper trails missing, it becomes paramount this be thoroughly investigated.
Actually, we believe this should happen right away — and be conducted by law enforcement. Enough red flags have been raised by our reporting as well as by members of the community there is sufficient evidence to start an investigation. Yet it appears politics might be getting in the way of that step, which is a disservice to every resident of the borough and Texas Township.
Maybe the latest move by the borough will prompt a little more interest for law enforcement officials, or maybe not. Only time will tell. We’re still waiting on a update report from the Pennsylvania State Police when it comes to the alleged three break-ins, or incidents, or whatever, at borough hall. Even those incidents have conflicting reports coming from various sources, but the police remain tight-lipped. Does this mean they know more information than suspected? Or does it mean there’s still no more information available?
Either way, the police should give a public accounting of what they know and where the investigation stands. Instead, we get silence and the usual dodging of information because something is under investigation. When it came to the sadness in Happy Valley, they were quick to give out information, but here it seems the opposite is true. Why would that be? Could it be the spotlight shines less brightly in the rural stretches of the Poconos?
We hope that is not the case. It should not matter where you are located if there are questions of illegality, yet it seems sometimes that is absolutely the case.
Hopefully, this first step by the borough will get the processing moving more quickly. If the officials in charge of the records have questions, then we should all have questions — including law enforcement.
