Supervisor candidate alleges lack of transparency in Kennett operation
[EDITOR’S NOTE:] This is the first of a series of stories about local candidates running for election this November. Stevens’ opponent, Allan Falcoff, will be featured tomorrow.
By P.J. D’Annunzio, Staff Writer, KennettTimes.com
Scudder Stevens
KENNETT — The issues facing the township are as vast as they are numerous. Some, such as Scudder Stevens, say they feel that in a time when rampant commercial and residential development is the order of the day, open space preservation is more pertinent than ever.
“I’ve been living in the township for over 30 years,” Stevens said. “When I moved here it was a rural area where foxes and pheasants ran free. And now it’s a suburban area with McMansions sprouting up and Wal-Mart shopping centers. Things have changed.”
Stevens, a Democrat, is a candidate for Township Supervisor, facing incumbent Allan Falcoff, a Republican, in this November’s election. Falcoff is current the chairman of the township Board of Supervisors.
But the preservation of the township’s rural heritage is not the only concern on Stevens’ plate; forcing honesty in local government takes precedence.
“The sentiment that I’ve noticed, in the broadest sense, from talking with people throughout the township is that there’s a real concern about openness in the township government,” he said. “It’s about what’s going on with financial management, questions like ‘why are we paying the highest taxes in the area?’ and ‘why is there no accounting for operating funds?’ are being asked. There are just a host of concerns that need to be addressed.”
Stevens earned his Juris Doctor from Valparaiso University School of Law and began a long law career that he continues to practice to this day in Kennett Square. His legal career has included commercial, corporate, estate planning and administration, litigation, real estate, financial planning and domestic relation matters. In 2008 he obtained his Master of Laws in Health Law from Widener University School of Law. Currently, he is the legal counsel for the Chester County Department of Aging Services.
Stevens makes his drive for openness in government apparent, elaborating on his first act, should he be elected to the township Board of Supervisors.
“The first issue I would tackle is to find out what’s really going on and push for documentation to be made available to the public…there doesn’t have to be this expense and bother to the township to keep you from seeing public records. I think that they should be available just as it is in the surrounding townships on their websites—it should be done that way here. And what it takes to do that is what I would be concerned with pressing to accomplish.”
Stevens refers to the recent audit produced by the township’s BOS regarding the nature of their expenditures and how tax money was being spent.
“At the last Board of Supervisors I produced a CD that contained the audits that were presented to me through the ‘Right to Know’ claim for 2009-2010. I put both of them on the CD and I gave them to Lisa [Moore] and urged her to put it on the township website so that everybody would have a chance to see what I produced after a great deal of expense and bother to both sides,” he said.
The audit can be viewed at the township building for a fee but has yet to be posted on the website.
“I was trying to help them to be able to provide governmental transparency to the community,” he said, “I would continue to do that. I would move the work sessions from early afternoon when people work and cannot show up into an evening setting so that residents can be a part of the process.”
“My goal is not be contentious,” Stevens continued, “I have tried not to attack the individuals that are on the Board of Supervisors. I’m concerned about the issues. I would continue to be concerned about the issues and I would do my best to try to open up lines of communication so that we—whether it’s community members, supervisors, or a combination—could sit and talk through the issues.”
To that end, Stevens offered his perspective on his opponent, Allan Falcoff, and any good that he perceives Falcoff has done in his duty at the helm of KennettTownship.
“He has taken part in the decisions that needed to be made. Somebody needed to do that,” Stevens said, “My sense is that he has become more of his own man over the last year or two, and if that’s correct than that’s been great for the township—but I can’t say that for sure because I still see every decision that is made in the township is passed by a three to nothing vote with no discussion taking place at the public meetings…I hope I am correct in assuming that he has matured in his role. My concern, however, is that he has become part of the system; and the system is not working.”
The accusations by Brian Gore (Our town Manager/Treasurers boy friend) are laughable and show the desperation of the Falcoff campaign. So funny how Falcoff can try to use the accomplishments of the DuPont Company to give him credibility but in the same breath try to say the family eases land for self-serving purposes. It is common knowledge that the Dupont family is one of the most generous families in the area. Giving millions to area schools, YMCA’s and almost every cause in the area…..how self serving!! Kate duPont is following in the families tradition of philanthropy by giving 100′s of hours of her time and 1000′s of dollars so that EVERYONE can have the opportunity to enjoy open space.
Have any of you been on eased land on Mike Elling’s, Allan Falcoff’s or Tom Nales property? All three current supervisors received over $100,000.00 in compensation for the eased land in their back yards which is used ONLY by them…..The two preserves near our home are used by hundreds every week and are maintained by volunteers including Kate and I. We have no regrets supporting the Land Conservancy and will continue to donate our money and time no matter who is supervisor in Kennett…..because it is the right thing to do for Kennett community. We have received $0 in compensation.
I find it very interesting that 2 out of 3 local newspapers REFUSED to run Brian Gores and Allan Facoffs latest add. When asked why they refused to run the add they said ” It was obvious the statements were false and with absolutely no merit” When Randy Lieberman owner of the Chester County Press was asked why he ran an obvious false advertisement he response was ” THIS IS HOW WE MAKE OUR MONEY” enough said….The paper is usually very unbiased so the fact that he took the advertisement just for the money was very surprising.
Helping to preserve land for EVERYONE and very proud of it !!
Alfred duPont
Once again Scudders supporters attack everybody else for not revealing things when he has stll not revealed that he is surrounded by millions in open space. In fact he and his supporters on the land trust board ARE SURROUNDED BY EVERY PENNY OF THE 3 MILLION DOLLARS OF OPEN SPACE FUNDS THAT HAVE BEEN COLLECTED SINCE 2006. You don’ t need an open records request to figure that out. Just look at a map. Kate duPont and her buddies then changed the bylaws of the land trust and took it as their own! These people are the ones who need a little closer scrutiny. They took the land trust with no public notice whatsoever. This represents an investment of OVER 10 MILLION DOLLARS of taxpayer money. The land trust board under these self serving hypocrates has committed the biggest taxpayer rip off in Kennet Township history!
Truthsayer continues to spin lies and confusion in the shadow of anonymity. As I have written in several other replies to recent Kennett Times articles, while I had nothing to do with the purchase of State Line Woods, I certainly supported the efforts of the Land Trust and the Board of Supervisors to add this jewel to the list of resources available to Township residents. Contrary to Truthsayer’s false assertions, only a fraction of that preserve abuts my property, and none of it abuts the duPont property. Although Truthsayer states that all the money collected for open space since 2006 is a part of State Line Woods, that clearly is not true. Unfortunately, since the Supervisors have refused to provide the facts regarding monies collected for open space, and have, in fact, hidden them, it is impossible to be specific about what has been collected and what has been expended. That is the purpose of the Right To Know requests that I filed, and am now having to defend in Common Pleas. Once the Supervisors finally disclose their secret deals and fancy financial arrangements, the truth will be out. That is what I’ve been trying to accomplish for the duration of this campaign. I request the reader’s support in assisting me in this on-going fight by voting for me on Nov. 8th. Thank you.
Scudder G. Stevens
Mrs. Burkett is a shill for the K T supervisors, she is a republican committee person as is her husband who happens to be the twp engineer receiving $150K a year from them. She failed to disclose that secret.
Truthslayer is another shill, use your real name, are you Mrs. Burkett’s husband?
Mr. Duffy, who must resort to name calling, obviously does not go to the meetings at our Township (or he is not being transparent LOL) as he would know that the Township Engineer is Robert Johnston.
OH but yes, my husband does work for Gilmore and Associates, but he works for private sector clients. My husband is a Landscape Architect, first and foremost, who became an engineer (many years ago) and then in 2008 became a Republican Committeeman. Occasionally my husband will substitute for Bob…but if you discredit people based on their place of work….by the way where do you work? What disclosures have you made?
Oh yes…I also am a Landscape Architect and work for G&A as well, but since there is very little LA work in this ECONOMY (dare I name the PARTY who , I am serving as an Administrative Assistant and do the PRIVATE SECTOR LA work when we are busy enough.
We moved from Delaware to this Township because we had seen how nice it is here and since there were no Republican Committee People serving in our precinct just before the 2008 election of OBAMA, (another Democrat who ran on lowering taxes and you can see where THAT has gotten us) and our signs were being stolen …I went to Republican HQ so many times, they asked us if I would serve and so I brought my husband into this situation. Then both my husband and I ran to be re-elected as Republican Committee people and have continued to serve in that capacity. We are so hidden that we stand in the polling place each election day ever since.
So…is that disclosure enough! Most of this information you can find on the internet if you know how to use it!
Its funny that Mr. Stevens keeps using the Friends Home as his volunteer work when he was forced to resign as treasurer of the board under a cloud of controversy. Members of other organizations that he was a member of such as the Rotary and the Library Board all claim he caused chaos and disruption. Sounds like a great leader.
Truthsayer it is hard to know if you are telling the truth if you are not willing to use your real name.
Truthsayer hides his/her falsehoods in anonymity. I resigned from the Friends Home Board at my own choice and on my own timing, and still provide assistance, as requested, to that Board. I served on the Board of the Library at the request of the Board of Supervisors of Kennett Township and was continually re-appointed until I chose not to continue to serve. My services to the Library and Rotary were successfully fulfilled and sufficiently appreciated that I was elected to President of both Boards. I served in other elected and appointed roles in Rotary, as well. Truthsayer writes anything BUT the truth, and hides in the shadows to do harm with his/her poisoned pen.
I ask for your vote on November 8th to serve on the Board of Supervisors of Kennett Township.
Scudder G. Stevens
It seems to me that Mr. Stevens has been making a nuisance of himself with excessive requests for information. He then spins the facts to act as if there is some problem within Kennett Township. It is prudent for the Township to hire a lawyer to make sure that the documents they release are truly public information and to redact the information that should not be released.
Here is a quote from a document called “A QUICK GUIDE TO PENNSYLVANIA’s NEW OPEN RECORDS LAW ” with the link to the document entered below:
“Can a public body limit the number of requests that a citizen can make? ”
“No. The law states that a state or local agency cannot limit “the number of records which may be requested or made available for inspection or duplication.” However, citizens should use good judgment in seeking records from the public body and not use this law to harass or overburden a public body from performing its job. Also, a public body can deny repeated requests for the same records by the same requester”
See page 2 in the below link for the source of the above question:
http://www.openrecordspa.org/rtk_assets/RTKQuickGuide.pdf
I do not think that Mr. Stevens is using good judgment and believe that his actions border on harassment.
My vote will be for Allan Falcoff ( http://falcoff4supervisor.org/ ) for supervisor in Kennett Township.
There would be no need for time and expense if public documents were turned over as required by law. The State of PA agrees with Scudder that residents have a right to see Township audits and the Township’s financial transactions and awarded him that right. After 4 months of delay, he received the “audits” but the Supervisors, led by Mr. Falcoff, elected to appeal to the Court of Common Pleas to stop him from getting a copy of the actual transactions. The close to $20,000 Mr Falcoff has spent to date to hide the Township’s finances will be many times more after the Township pays it’s lawyers for the appeal. This is public money and the residents have a right to know how their tax money is spent. What is Mr. Falcoff hiding? I want a Supervisor that has the residents interests in mind at all times and believes they have a right to know and that is why I am voting for Scudder Stevens on November 8th.