Another short meeting. Probably the only things of note are two appointments.
Jennifer Morelli from Soil Conservation was appointed to replace Eric Hamby as the Recycling Coordinator.
Joseph Franks was appointed to the County Railroad Authority. Is this a case of another good citizen being appointed to an organization which enjoys NO support from the commissioners and has NO funds to operate? The Commonwealth can support the existing (almost dead) New Milford project to the end, however, without a county guarantee, nothing will happen. What a shame. What a waste of the volunteer members’ time.
Question: Would it be a conflict of interest for Michael Giangrieco, Esq. (R) who is an elected county commissioner, to attempt to organize landowners regarding gas leases for a potential class action lawsuit as a portion of his private practice, when as a commissioner, no obvious attempt at action to protect the citizens of Susquehanna County has occurred?
Your thoughts, please.
That was a meeting? It was more like a sixteen minute hiccup. Local party leaders were there to make sure their representative commissioners were not skewered; the commissioners left without being asked tough questions; and the elephant in the room, gas leases, was not discussed. Could heads be anymore in the sand?
1. Many people in the county are going to reap money from leasing.
2. Over the years, local and county taxes will go up
3. City folks and people who couldn’t sign leases will have a relatively harder time paying taxes
4. And this current administration will be gone without the foresight for a mineral extraction tax on natural gas, or a gas extrication tax.
But hey, the meeting only lasted sixteen minutes, so everbody’s favorite politician(s) didn’t have to answer any akward questions. That’s what counts… Maybe next time, we could get the meeting down to twelve minutes. Maybe the meeting could be held before sunup, in that small room in the courthouse, before one press person, and two people from the public. Democracy in inaction.
I guess we are getting our money’s worth?
A sixteen minute hiccup? The ‘business’ on the agenda was taken care of, people hired, appointments filled, bills paid, salaries set, etc.There was also a decent amount of audience there to boot. Seems people have gotten used to getting up early to attend those 9AM meetings. The COMMISSIONERS’ business meeting was fulfilled. The chairman asked for public comment, that also, was fulfilled with answers to the questions along with the comments from the public.
Rotaryconnection now comments
1.“Many people in the county are going to reap money from leasing’. Are you jealous? Do you want to help them invest? Are you helping someone them pack to leave for life in a warmer climate?Just what does this have to do
2.“Over the years, local and county taxes will go up”. They’ve never gone up before? Look back to the last administration, what exactly was that percentage of increase? Taxes will go up because people sign gas leases? They’ll go up because “many people in the county are going to reap money from leasing”? And only local or county taxes will go up, while SCHOOL taxes will not? It’s those school taxes that currently hit our pocketbooks the hardest.
3.“City folks and people who couldn’t sign leases will have a relatively harder time paying taxes.” What city folks? The ones with their second properties here? If they have a second property (undoubtedly in clean and green) they can well afford the taxes;2 or more houses, expensive cars, etc. Residents in boroughs are already paying more to make up the difference that the state’s abused clean and green has offered our rural counties. Whatever happened to taking care of the farmer?
4.”And this current administration will be gone without the foresight for a mineral extraction tax on natural gas, or a gas extrication tax”. It’s been explained to me that the commonwealth does NOT allow an extraction tax in Pennsylvania. (this could be bad information) Please say what it is you want this administration to do for the newly rich residents or the assumed poor city folks. People buy and sell properties in our fair county every day. Commissioners, supervisors, councils regulate that? Do you buy or sell a house without an attorney? Of course not! Ask Ms. Warren, Mr. Allen or Mr. Giangrieco to accompany you to your next property closing if that’s the case. Mr. Allen could drive the bus, while Mr. Gaingrieco gives your attorney legal advice and Ms. Warren will suggest where to stop for lunch.
And Mr. Blogger aka Concerned Taxpayer, thanks for the opportunity to share opinions and condescension between those commissioner meetings. And rotaryconnection, I’ll be the one with a carnation at that commissioners’ next meeting.
Regarding my comment about getting our money’s worth, that wasn’t as facetious as it may have appeared on the surface. They came, they did their job (almost in record time) and they left. The only shortcoming, again is, as Rotaryconnection noted, no one addressed the gas lease issue.
As noted previously, our greatest freedom is Free Speech. You are welcome. Please continue to avail yourself and tell your friends. You have to admit, it is more immediate than waiting for the papers next week!
A carnation? That would be worth the price of admission!
Still, I would be interested in more comments to the conflict of interest issue.
Thanks for the feedback, taxpayerpayingattention, and your comments:
“Many people in the county are going to reap money from leasing’. Are you jealous?” Who has time for jealousy? I learned that back in Sunday School. BTW, our banker will be very happy…
.“City folks and people who couldn’t sign leases will have a relatively harder time paying taxes.” What city folks?” I should have said town and village folks. I am just thinking of those people who won’t make money from leases - how can they also get a bit of benefit from the massive resevoir underneath all our feet. Maybe a gas extrication tax would benefit all households in the county. This thinking of others also came from Sunday School. Nothing more, nothing less.
As far as your suggesting that such a tax is illegal in Pennsylvania, we need to find out the facts. All of us need to work on this, including the commissioners. They have more pull than a lot of us, and yes, sometimes we need to push them. Then again, there is a lot of information our here in the people of our county that the commissioners need to study. The gas companies will get their hundreds of millions - it is perfectly ok for them to pay a small part to the county in the form of a tax. Let everybody benefit.
“Whatever happened to taking care of the farmer?” I agree, that is job number one.
“I’ll be the one with a carnation at that commissioners’ next meeting.”
Yes, spring has sprung!
The following URL gets a list of the county manuals from the Governor’s Center for Local Government Services in pdf format
http://www.pacounties.org/commissioners/cwp/view.asp?a=2297&Q=519004&commissionersNav=|30000|
Page 7 of “Manual for County Commissioners” contains the following:
“Conflict of Interest - Ethics
“Generally, a conflict of interest is when the elected official or member of his or her immediate family is
directly affected by a matter before the governing body. In this respect, commissioners are governed by the
provisions of the Public Official and Employee Ethics Act (65 Pa.C.S.A. 1101, see also 16 P.S. 1806), which
delineates the circumstances in which an elected official in such a position may deliberate and vote, or must
abstain. The act is administered by the State Ethics Commission, which may also render written advice at the
request of the elected official.”
Page 12 of the same Manual:
“The County Code makes the chief clerk responsible for the minutes of official meetings of the Board of Commissioners.
It is not required that the chief clerk physically take minutes. While the chief clerk might take
notes of important actions, he or she should be free to participate in the meeting to the extent to which the
board requests. In any event, the chief clerk must attest to the accuracy of the minutes and is the keeper of the
minute book. The Sunshine Law requires that minutes are to be taken of all public meetings, promptly recorded,
and open to public inspection.”
Does anyone know who gets the county computer money and what is it for?
In last year’s county budget, when it was on the web, there were 32 entries for a total of over $165,000. And there was an “MIS Department” entry of $29,972. There is no mention of “MIS Department” on the County web site, nor any people related to computer service. Are we getting good value for the money?