Awards and a Bitter Goodbye in Upper Pottsgrove

It was a small number of us who made our way through the cold December rain Monday night to watch the Upper Pottsgrove Township Commissioners meet for the last time in 2019.

Photos by Evan Brandt
Michelle Reddick, left, thanks all those who have helped her in
her 25 years of service to the township including, at right,
Commissioners Chairman Trace Slinkerd.

Those of us who did, were witness to the passage of another budget that does not raise taxes.

Were were also witness to some awards being given out.

Michelle Reddick, who is the current township manager and has held more positions in the township office than you can shake a stick at.

She received a plaque and the thanks of the commissioners for 25 years of service to Upper Pottsgrove.

Reddick, in turn, thanked the commissioners who have given her an opportunity to learn and achieve.

Outgoing Upper Pottsgrove Township Commissioner France
Krazalkovich, left, is congratulated by Slinkerd.

Also receiving a plaque was outgoing Commissioner France Krazalkovich, who decided against seeking another term on the board to instead pursue a seat on the Montgomery County Commissioners, an effort which ultimately fell short.

As the meeting would down, Krazalkovich made a short speech, listing the board's accomplishments during his time.

He thanked the commissioners, past and present, including Elwood Taylor, who was also at his last meeting.

Noting that "when we first met, it was like "oil and water."

"But once we became colleagues, it certainly matured me enough to understand that at the end of the day, we are colleagues and we're both working to use our own principles to serve our neighbors," Krazalkovich noted.

He's video of much of his speech:



When it came to Taylor, despite more than 20 years of service on the board, he received no plaque from the township.

Nor did he want one, Commissioner Renee Spaide said after the meeting.

Taylor, a retired Pottsgrove Middle School social studies teacher, told the board "I'm a history teacher and I know history is written by the winners and I am a loser," he said in apparent reference to his reelection loss last month.

He decried what he said was the deliberate twisting of his legacy, which in evidently include the effort to force him to resign from the planning commission, or his township commissioner post.

He did neither, despite a September vote by the commissioners to remove him. He was granted a hearing in October and while the board met in closed-door session to discuss its next move, they never took the final step, which was made moot by his election loss.

Taylor's term in the planning commission ends on Dec. 31, 2020 and, no longer being a township commissioner, will no longer be in conflict with the resolution the board passed banning commissioners from serving on other boards.

His comments last night were bitter and he made little attempt to hide it.

"I've been here a long time. I never sought power. People came to me and said 'Elwood would you do this? starting 25, 30 years ago and here I am, absolutely disappointed about the history that is going to be written about this time," he said.

He thanked those with whom he has served over the years, saying "nothing that was done here was done by one person. I always thought my power, was the power to persuade."

Taylor decided to skip over most of his "long list" of concerns, and focused on just one: "I am very concerned about the status of public dialog here, especially at our meetings. There is no public dialog. People are limited to just asking a question or making a statement, not participating in any dialog."

Here is as much video of his comments as I was able to catch:



And once again, since Twitter seems to have given up on allowing its own creations to be embedded, I can only offer this link to the Tweets from the meeting.