Pottstown Gets New Officer, Delays Ricketts Vote

NEWEST OFFICER: Robert Seanor pinned on his son's police badge for the first time Monday night after Adam Seanor was sworn in as the Pottstown Police force's newest officer.

Seanor was sworn in by District Judge Scott Palladino because Mayor Stephanie Henrick is still recovering from surgery and was absent from Monday night's meeting.

Here is video of Seanor's swearing in:

Ricketts Center Vote Delayed

The other news looming over Monday's meeting evaporated when a motion on the agenda to extend for another four years the Olivet Boys and Girls Club's contract for running the Ricketts Community Center.

Regular readers will recall in May that another organization, the STRIVE Initiative, also applied to run the center.

"The borough has to do better," said Bill Robertson.

For the past 10 years, the center has been run by Olivet, which is based in Reading and, by their own admission, not always smoothly.

STRIVE, which is an acronym for Strengthening Tomorrow Requires Initiative and Vision, is a Pottstown-based organization and said they would return the center to its original mission.

Bill Robertson, who is one of the principals in STRIVE, chided council for not being transparent about the decision.

He said STRIVE sent the borough an email in late June asking about the status of the decision and whether any additional information was needed. "We received no answer," he said.

Robert Brown

"The borough has to do better," Robertson said. "If you vote tonight without some kind of explanation for your reasoning, it's going to be another example of why we have a problem in Pottstown."

Robertson was not the only person critical of the borough's record of making Ricketts available to the public.

Robert Brown, who said he was program director at Ricketts in the 1980s, questioned why the gates at the outdoor basketball court at the center were locked at 8 p.m., when it is still light out in the summer.

"I'm throwing up a red flag," said Brown. "I need answers about why things always get cut there."

Terrence Shawell, left, and teens who want to play basketball
into the evening at the Ricketts Center address council Monday.

Terrence Shawell brought the teens from his mentoring class to the meeting to raise the same concerns.

He said the problem was first identified on Memorial Day.

"My biggest concern is having these kids on the streets, riding in the bike lanes getting hit by cars," Shawell said. 

"We just want to be sure the center is not the only placing that is being locked up, and closed at 8:30 because that's very detrimental to do all summer. It's very detrimental to put kids on the street at 8 o'clock," Shawell said. "That's one of our big issues."

Andy DeJesus

Adding his voice to the chorus of concern about summer nights with nothing to do was Andy
DeJesus, who told council he is a federal officer, but grew up in Philadelphia.

"What saved me is there was a park behind my house. We played basketball, we played baseball, we played whatever we could," he said, adding it was those activities which kept him out of trouble.

"If you don't give these kids some way to burn off all that extra energy they have, it's going to go into things none of us want," DeJesus said.

Representatives of Olivet Boys and Girls Club were in the audience, but did not publicly respond to the issues raised by the other speakers.

When it came time on the agenda for the vote, Councilwoman Trenita Lindsay made a motion to table the vote. It was seconded by Councilwoman Rita Paez.

Lindsay said because Ricketts is in the Seventh Ward, Councilman Joe Kirkland, who monthly provides a report from the Olivet Boys and Girls Club about operations at the center, should be present for the vote. He was absent Monday night.

Tracy Daywalt

Mascaro Complaints

Another theme that ran through public comments Monday were complaints about Mascaro trash
service.

The Berks County-based company has held the borough trash contract for several years, and it expires this year.

Tracy Daywalt told council that half the time her trash is not picked up and she has grown frustrated with the excuses.

She said he won't pay her trash bill any more and, as a result, the borough has sent her a water shut-off notice.

Nicolette Sambrick

Nicolette Sambrick complained about Mascaro's service last month and was back again Monday with similar complaints.

"I keep shelling out money for a service I'm not getting. I am so sick and tired of excuses," Sambrick said. 

From now on, she said, she will deduct trash billing from her payments to the borough if it is not picked up on the proper day. "I'll put the money in an escrow account," she said.

During his report, Borough Manager Justin Keller said some of the problems being raised may be addressed in the new trash contract, whoever the successful bidder may be.

"One of the things we're working with the Housing Coalition on are penalties and how do we keep whoever we get here with the next contract hones," Keller said. 

"We're working on creating an escalating penalty schedule for missed pick-ups, that will put you into specific categories and in order to get out of the penalty system, you'll have to have perfect pick-ups for six months," said Keller.

"And just to remind residents, if you have a trash complaint, please call Public Works (610-970-6527), Mascaro has an individual who has been assigned to essentially come in and clean-up after the regular trash crew and essentially take care of any missed pick-ups, put the cans back where they belong, that sort of thing," Keller said.

Here is the full video of his report:



Finally, council also approved a number of temporary street closings; two for block parties, one for a church service to be held out in the street; one for National Night Out; two for Red Horse Motoring Club car shows and biergartens and one for a Sly Fox Brewery half-mile run.

And with that, here are the Tweets from the meeting.

New Officer and Delay of Ricketts Decision