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Photo by Evan Brandt
Upper Pottsgrove Police Officer Steve Sigoda, center, holds a frame with his badge, police patch and photo of him when he first started with the department 29 years ago, given to him Monday night by members of the department, who he referred to as "my Band of Brothers."
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For most of us, Monday night was a night like any other night.
It rained -- again -- and maybe you watched the Emmys or some football.
But for Steve Sigoda, Monday was the night he said goodbye to Upper Pottsgrove Township, where he has served as a police officer for 29 years.
Police Chief Francis Wheatley said when Sigoda started, he was one of only three officers. There were so few of them that for the first eight years of his career in Upper Pottsgrove, he worked every single weekend, "unless he asked for it off."
"It was an honor and a privilege to serve you. I love Upper Pottsgrove," said Sigoda.
When he started, Sigoda said he was working at Bally Case and Cooler, full time and part-time as a police officer in Macungie, but it was too much, so he stopped the police work for two years.
"But it was in me and I missed it, so I started taking civil service tests around the area, and I was doing pretty good ont he tests, just not cracking the top five," he said.
"So one day I was working second shift and lunch time came around and The Pottstown Mercury happened to be sitting there and I opened it up and saw Upper Pottsgrove was looking for an officer, so I said to one of my co-workers, where's Upper Pottsgrove?"
When he got the study materials, "for some reason I really studied and when I took the test, I was surprised, I got number one and that's how I got started. So what I guess I'm saying is with this township, it was meant to be for me."
Congratulations to Steve on his retirement.
The new officer hired to replace him is Quinn Gauger.
Here is some video of Sigoda speaking about his time with the township:
In other news, George Harmansky, president of the township's fire committee announced that the new fire chief is T.J. Wojton. The post was made permanent after a fire committee meeting last week at which former chief Tom Mattingly was unsuccessful in appealing his removal as chief.
Details on that turn of events was not discussed last night.
What was discussed was replacing the current fire ordinance with one proposed by France Krazalkovich, who is also a member of the fire committee. The new ordinance would make it easier for fire company activities like participating in parades, to occur without formal permission from the board of commissioners.
It would also revoke workers compensation insurance for firefighters injured during boot drives at intersections. And while it names the Upper Pottsgrove Fire Company Number 1 as the primary fire fighting entity in the township, it also would allow the commissioners to name other entities to fight fires in town as well.
The proposed ordinance will go to the fire committee for comment before Solicitor Charles D. Garner Jr. whips it into legal shape.
The fire committee gained a new member Monday night when Dave Waldt was appointed by the commissioners to the seat formerly occupied by commissioner and firefighter Martin Schreiber, who was removed by the commissioners last month in a split vote.
The commissioners also approved changes to the by-laws of the fire committee to put them in alignment with teh memorandum of understanding between the township and the fire company.
Other items of note to come out of last night's meeting are:
- Bids for a new salt shed again came in higher than the commissioners are willing to pay, so they rejected the bids from last month and made no decision on the new set of bids. There was discussion of putting tarps over the current salt shed, which one public works employee said is "on borrowed time," in the hopes it will survive the winter and bids can be put out again in spring.
- Township commissioners unanimously approved a five-year agreement to once again support the regional recreation director program operated under the umbrella of the Pottstown Metropolitan Area Regional Planning Committee.
- Garner reported that the homes being built oat the Sprogel's Run development, a 29-lot sub-division, are larger than planned and as such will create more impermeable surface than the current stormwater management plan can handle. The developer agreed to hold off on seeking more building permits until a new, more appropriate plan is submitted and approved.
- Upper Pottsgrove Community Day will be held at Pottsgrove Middle School on Saturday, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. rain or shine.
- The township is strongly urging residents to participate in public workshop on the future of parks and open space in the township. It will be held Thursday, Sept. 27 from 5:30 to 7:30 pm at the Upper Pottsgrove Township Municipal Building.
- Also, an online survey for the purposes of getting more input from the residents on parks, trails and open space is online at the township website. Click here to take the survey.
- Dennis Elliott, chairman of the open space committee, said he is seeking funding for a $30,000 veterans memorial.
And with that, here are the Tweets from the meeting:
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