Council Welcomes New Members, Same Leadership

Photos by Evan Brandt

Michael Paules, center, takes the oath of office as a new member of Pottstown Borough Council representing the Sixth Ward while holding his one-month-old grandson Elias Johnson, while his daughter Alyssa holds the Bible and Mayor Stephanie Henrick administers the oath of office during Monday night's re-organizational meeting for council.

Two new members of Pottstown Borough Council took the oath of office Monday night and a third returning member joined them.

Lisa Vanni, representing the Second Ward, and Michael Paules, representing the Sixth Ward too their

Pottstown Mayor Stephanie Henrick, left, administers the
oath of office to new Councilwoman Lisa Vanni, right,
while Pam Hacker holds the Bible.

oath and their seats at council for the first time Monday night.

Councilwoman Trenita Lindsay, who was appointed to the seat in June of 2018, took her seat for the first time as an elected official. She ran unopposed.

By contrast, both Vanni and Paules ousted incumbents to win their seats.

Vanni defeated former vice president Carol Kulp in the spring Democratic primary. Paules ran a write-in campaign during that same primary and ran as a Republican, narrowly defeating incumbent Democrat Rita Paez by a handful of votes.

Whether the party differences make any difference remains to be seen as Paules voted with the majority to return Dan Weand to the Council President's post and to appoint Don Lebedynsky to the vice president's position.

Councilwoman Trenita Lindsay, left, takes the oath of office Monday.

Councilman Joe Kirkland cast the only vote against Lebedysnky and was then unanimously elected President Pro Tempore.

Weand told the new board members that they were now "the leaders of a much larger family of 22,000. Don't do anything to them that you wouldn't want done to your own family."

Weand added, "it's not your money, it's theirs. It's not your personal agenda, it's theirs."

There were few other changes, Virginia Tackacz remains council treasurer and the borough's Open Records Officer; Charles D. Garner Jr. remains the borough solicitor and Matthew Hovey the assistant borough solicitor.

Cedarville Engineering remains the borough engineer and the planning commission engineer and Jim Derr was appointed to the vacancy board.

It will be a week before other appointments are made. They will be discussed Wednesday during the work session.

They include a five-year appointment to Pottstown Borough Authority where incumbent H. Michael Benner has applied to be re-appointed and, according to the agenda, has a Dec. 17 letter of support from Borough Authority Board Chairman and former council member Jeff Chomnuk,

The other applicant is Kulp. As a former council member and regular supporter of Weand's while she was on council, my money is being put on council appointing Kulp over Benner.

Also up for appointment are four one-year terms to the Blighted Property Review Board; a four-year term on the Historic Architecture Review Board and a three-year term on the Zoning Hearing Board.

Incumbent Mark Patrizi has applied to be re-appointed.

Also on the agenda for Wednesday night's meeting are recognition of two retiring police officers, Dave Mull and Greg Fritz, and long-time borough hall employee Kathy Minotto.

Click here to see the Tweets from the meeting.