Officer of the Year, Fire Merger Fall-out, New Life for Mrs. Smith's Pies Site, Rental Issues Update

Photo by Evan Brandt

Pottstown Mayor Sharon Thomas, right, reads the proclamation naming Det. Heather Long Pottstown's Office of the Year, while Police Capt. Robert Thomas, left, and Chief Richard Drumheller listen.

So sometimes, you know, technology just fails you.

Despite waning battery life, it was not my mobile devices which made life difficult last night, it was the after-the-fact compilations.

I don't know if it was Storify or YouTube that had a stick up its ass, but I could not get the video links of Heather Long's swearing in to show up on the Storify of last night's council meeting.

And I had such good seats too.

Anyway, because I will never let a good video go to waste, I am embedding them here in a different, hopefully more cooperative program (Not much more).

Here is video of Police Chief Richard Drumheller praising Heather Long's dedication:



And here is more video, this time of Pottstown Mayor Sharon Thomas, reading the proclamation for Long's honor:



And I'd like to say more about last night's meeting, because it was kind of interesting, but you'll have to get it from the Tweets below because at this point, I need a cocktail ... or 10.

Marathon Council Meeting focuses on Housing, Housing and Housing

It's hard to know where to start in writing about last night's Pottstown Borough Council meeting.

It dealt with three major initiatives; the Better Landlord program, the proposal to convert the old Fecera's warehouse on Beech Street into housing for artists as well as a surprise change of heart concerning proposed changes to the rental housing ordinance.

All three garnered an uncharacteristic level of discussion from this council as well as some surprises.

Its actually covered pretty well in the Tweets (everything was working) so I won't belabor it here.

Look for at least three individual stories in upcoming issues of The Mercury.

In the meantime, here are the Tweets.

A Steely Council Meeting

New Pottstown Police officers Matthew Maciejewski, left, and Brett Cortis get sworn in at Wednesday night's borough council meeting.

So for those of you who don't know, I occasionally have a life that does not include municipal meetings.

On Wednesday night, with great reluctance, I gave up my chance to attend the Pottstown Borough Council work session, and instead made a pilgrimage to Bethlehem to Musikfest where I saw one of my favorite bands -- Steely Dan -- perform live.

As my darling bride aptly observed, "really, this is the soundtrack of our youth."

So on a beautiful summer evening, with a warm breeze playing and a Leinenkugel's Summer Shandy in my hand, I forgot about Pottstown municipal affairs for a few hours and surprised myself with how many lyrics I remembered from those songs.

Luckily for you readers who are addicted to the goings on of Pottstown municipal government, Mercury Ace Frank Otto stood ready to stand in.

And so he did, pelting out Tweets with a dizzying frequency and them organizing them into this handy Storify for me to purloin shamelessly and present here as if I did it myself.

So, without further ado, I present to you, Frank Otto's Twitter coverage.