This is how government is not supposed to work. The matter of Quakertown Councilman Dan Williams, who took exception to my revelation of the sweet deal he got from borough manager Dave Woglom for stone delivery to his alley.
His exact quote, "I think it's a sad day when the local newspaper allows someone to unfairly and inaccurately criticize the local authorities and honest residents".
Councilman Dan, we finally agree on something. It will be a sad day when local authorities and honest residents are unfairly and inaccurately criticized. But not today.
Your February 10 letter to the editor was 713 words long, including puzzling references to pizza, chocolate milk, tree limbs, and postage stamps. You said emphatically that my column was not true, nor fair.
But you didn't use a single one of those 713 words to show how I was untruthful or unfair. Not a single answer to the question of why your delivery was kept off the work log. Or why you are the only resident in five years to get a delivery. Or why you weren't charged for the borough truck, or personnel, or tax. Or how the borough weighed your stone without a scale. Or why you were billed 280% less than market rate.
You used the catchphrase "Now you know" eight - count 'em, eight - times. And perhaps we do now know about pizza and chocolate milk and treelimbs. But we don't know anything about how I was untruthful or unfair.
And speaking of not knowing, just a reminder that when I called you on January 28, before my column was published, you promised that the next day you would show me the bill and postmarked envelope you claim to have received from the borough. You promised several times. I'm still waiting.
And, Councilman Dan, voters can be very comforted by your financial advice that they would save 37 cents every month (enough in a year, you say, to buy a slice of pizza) by paying their electric bills at the borough building drive-up window. With the cost of operating an average car at more than 40 cents per mile, plus the value of the residents' time, better skip the pepperoni. And hold the chocolate milk.
But, of course, for someone whose stone bill didn't include a charge for the borough truck, or labor, perhaps those types of costs just didn't occur to you.
Councilman Dan, you are up for re-election this year. How about writing another letter actually answering the questions! Then you can truly say "Now you know". And, while you're at it, maybe you can explain how individual council members seem to be able to create self-serving borough policies. Like delivering stone to any resident who asks (but no actual deliveries in five years until you asked).
Or your supposed policy about the borough picking up tree limbs from a resident's yard. There's no mention of this, or the stone deliveries, in the "Quakertown Quotations" newsletter. Or on the town website, which, according to the newsletter, lists " ALL" borough services. Public works employees say that they have never picked up branches going back at least 15 years.
Is it now Quakertown's policy to announce new municipal services in a councilman's letter to the editor? Please explain. Then, we'll all know.
Actually, I can explain why you were not charged tax. Because the borough is not authorized to sell the stone in the first place . According to a spokesman for the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development, municipalities should not be providing retail services.
The Borough Code, which controls everything Quakertown may do, was created as "inclusive" legislation. What this means, Councilman Dan, is that Quakertown can only do what is "included" in the code. According to the DCED, the state agency that oversees these matters, everything else is excluded . Like selling stone. Or, for that matter, selling almost anything that is normally sold by private enterprise.
This is done intentionally, to prevent municipalities from becoming a Sam's Club (or, in your case, a Dave's Club) - buying stone, or computers, or cars, or heavy machinery at the bargain rates often granted to towns, and then selling them to the public (or friendly council members) and undercutting local merchants. School districts also have policies forbidding the practice.
And even if your 280% Off Sale had been legal, the borough violated state law again by failing to collect sales tax from you and send it to Harrisburg. The Department of Revenue just reviewed your scenario, and stated "The borough must register, charge, and remit sales tax". They are waiting.
The truth is, Councilman Dan, neither you, nor Quakertown, meant to violate state law. You just didn't know. And you didn't know because there was no reason to know. Stone had never been sold until Woglom did you a personal favor. And, when you were caught, you looked for an excuse. And you needed one quickly. No time for research.
And there was a very good one right on the tip of your tongue. Say that the borough would do it for anyone! Ignore the fact that there was no known policy. Who could argue with "Everyone wants to keep taxes down, including council. The answer - sell stone at cost to borough residents"?
Who could argue? The Office of the Inspector General of The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Or the voters this year.
Now you know.
The Following is a Woldow.com Exclusive
A is for Alley - if its stoned, its your problem
B is for Borough, run by Dave Woglom.
C is for Councilman, Williams by name
D is for Delivery - free! What a game.
E is for Elm Street, where Dan Williams lives
F is for favors, like Dave Woglom gives.
G is for Government, in our leaders we trust
H is for Honesty, and its a must.
I is for Invoice, so tiny and small
J is for Joke, like you played on us all.
K is for Knowing, if you're elected, you should
L is for Laws, even in your neighborhood.
M is for Money - not enough, but it rhymes
N is for Now You Know, repeated eight times.
O is for the One man who got stone in five years
P is for Politics, which works wonders, I hears.
Q is for Quakertown, though the records aren't thorough
R is for improper Retail sales by the borough.
S is for Sales tax, but not billed to you
T is for truck, no charge for that, too.
U is for Uh-oh, you can't hide when you're boss
V is for Victims, we must make up the loss.
W is for Williams, no explanations still
X is unknown, like most things to Council.
Y is Your Chances at the polls late this year
Z is for Zero - if enough people hear.