700-pound spore to descend on borough for New Year’s Eve
By Kathleen Brady Shea, Managing Editor, The Times
A sketch shows the mushroom that is being fabricated for Kennett Square’s New Year’s Eve celebration.
Move over, Manhattan: Kennett Square is poised to supplant Times Square as the go-to destination for New Year’s Eve.
After all, who wants to watch a boring ball when the sky can be lit up with a fancifully festive fungus? That’s right, a lighted, 700-pound, stainless steel mushroom measuring 8 feet by 7 ½ feet will descend 80 feet from a crane during the Mushroom Capital of the World’s inaugural Midnight in the Square.
After listening to a presentation from Kathi Lafferty, the maestro behind the Mushroom Festival, Borough Council unanimously approved the New Year’s Eve special-event application at its meeting Monday night, a session that included additional cause for celebration: a proposed 2014 budget with no tax increase.
Outlining the proposed budget, Borough Manager Brant Kucera said the millage rate would remain at 5.35, which includes increases of 2.5 and 2 percent for uniformed and non-uniformed employees respectively. Because of inflation, the water and sewer fees would increase by 2 percent and solid-waste by 3 percent, he said.
Kennett Consolidated School District Superintendent Barry Tomasetti (left) joins Kennett Square Police Chief Edward A. Zunino in recommending that Borough Council apply for a grant that would fund a school resource officer.
The borough’s capital projects include the West Cypress Street Gateway, Closed Loop, Yeatman Well, and water meter replacement, all of which are grant-funded or paid for with enterprise fund money, Kucera said. Three public works vehicles and a police cruiser have been budgeted, he said.
In a chart depicting millage rates from high to low for other county boroughs, Kennett appears exactly in the middle, Kucera said, adding that the borough compares favorably with other municipalities that provide similar services. Applauding department heads for their “realistic” proposals, Kucera, who has prepared five budgets, said for the first time he did not need to make cuts.
“Kudos to the department heads for their diligence,” responded Borough Councilman Leon R. Spencer Jr. “That speaks volumes.”
Elaborating on the New Year’s Eve plans, Lafferty explained that the idea originated from State Rep. John Lawrence, and that its scope appropriately mushroomed as members of the community, including the Kennett Area Restaurant and Merchant Association (KARMA), got involved. For example, Bob’s Cranes stepped up to provide the necessary equipment – “We lower; we don’t drop,” Lafferty said she was told – and Manfredi’s Cold Storage will find a spot to store the giant spore, Lafferty said.
She’s hoping that Longwood Gardens, home of master illuminators, will assist with the lighting the iconic mushroom, which is being fashioned by M & P Custom Design Inc. Lafferty said she would be contacting local vendors to see who might be interested in selling food. She has already reached out to the Kennett Food Cupboard and will request that everyone who attends bring a non-perishable food item. The cupboard will have a truck on site to accept donations, Lafferty said.
“I think it’s fantastic,” said Borough Councilman Geoffrey R. Bosley of the presentation as his colleagues nodded.
In other business, Council heard recommendations from Kennett Square Police Chief Edward A. Zunino and Kennett Consolidated School Superintendent Barry Tomasetti to pursue a grant that just became available through the state Department of Education. It would provide up to $60,000 the first year and up to $30,000 the second year to fund a school resource officer.
Zunino explained that the officer would work full time in the school under the command of the police department and “in unison with” the school administration. Right now, officers patrol the high school and kindergarten center regularly but sporadically. “I think it’s very important in this day and age that we do this,” Zunino said, explaining that the officer would be able to monitor security and address areas of concern.
Tomasetti agreed. He said in the past having a police officer in the school represented a stigma and suggested that the school had a problem. These days, the presence of an officer succeeds in “keeping people with ill intentions outside,” he said. Tomasetti added that that some districts, such as Downingtown, report that students even confide in the school resource officer. “We would like the officer to develop relationships with students,” he said.
Borough Council President Danilo P. Maffei said the grant is designed to increase student safety. “I think we’d be foolish not go after it,” he said. Council voted unanimously to authorize the grant application.
The meeting opened with a moment of silence for two borough police officers who were fatally ambushed in the department’s parking lot on Nov. 15, 1972. Officers William W. Davis and Richard J. Posey lost their lives when Ancell E. Hamm, one of the earliest members of the notoriously violent Johnston Brothers gang, gunned them down in predawn darkness.
During the meeting, residents were urged to attend a number of additional meetings. On Jan. 6 at 7 p.m., the proposed storm water ordinance will be the topic of a public hearing, and two meetings are scheduled at the Red Clay Room to discuss the proposed historic district ordinance, including boundaries: Nov. 19 at 7 p.m. and Dec. 18 at 7 p.m. Finally, a public safety meeting, normally held in the morning, is scheduled for 7 p.m. in the lower level of the Genesis building so that more residents can attend.
