Pottstown Purchase Of iPads Questionable

Editor’s note:  We SO agree!  Chief BM has a spending addiction.

Going paperless, going green, embracing technology are goals of government these days, and Pottstown borough is getting on board.

A positive path to be sure, but it comes with a cost.

At Pottstown’s council meeting last week, it was announced that the borough has purchased 23 iPads for members of borough council, the mayor, and members of the borough authority.

Each iPad cost $389 for a total of $9,960 with the cost of the covers, Borough Manager Mark Flanders reported.

Read more:  http://www.pottsmerc.com/article/20130317/OPINION01/130319487/pottstown-purchase-of-ipads-questionable-

Pottstown Officials All Get iPads To Save On Paper Costs.

Editor’s note:  While I am ALL about technology, there might be better uses for taxpayer money at this time.  I would have been far more impressed if security cameras were purchased for high crime areas in Pottstown to act as a crime deterrent and a means to solve crime faster. Pottstown‘s crime problem isn’t going away (even if we stick our bobbleheads in the sand and make a wish).  

Another item sorely needed, as pointed out by the Golden Cockroach, is a street sweeper.   The first block of North Charlotte Street looks like a landfill there is so much debris blowing about. Maybe suck up a few loitering souls down by the clock tower too.  I am as sick and tired of looking at vagrants standing around doing nothing as I am the trash!

Considering the scope of Pottstown’s problems, this is a waste of money.  Especially giving Missy Mayor an iPad.  What on earth will that woman do with an iPad?  Hope you bought the extended warranty and service contract.

POTTSTOWN — If you’re thinking that you might like to get yourself an iPad, perhaps you should instead consider running for borough council whose members, it was revealed Monday, have all received a shiny new electronic device courtesy of you the taxpayer.

In addition to the eight members of borough council, also receiving the popular electronic device were the five members of the Pottstown Borough Authority.

(It should be noted that one fewer iPad is needed for the borough authority board given that Council Vice President Jeff Chomnuk is also a member of the borough authority.  It is presumed he will only receive on iPad and not two.)

All total, Pottstown taxpayers have purchased a total of 23 iPads “for borough councilors, the mayor, the authority board members, and department heads,” according to information provided in an e-mail from Borough Manager Mark Flanders.

Read more:  http://www.pottsmerc.com/article/20130313/NEWS01/130319690/pottstown-officials-give-themselves-ipads-to-save-on-paper-costs#full_story

Management Raises For Pottstown Government Vary From Zero To 14 Percent

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Editor’s note:  Kudos to Jason Bobst for trying to lead by example and forgoing a raise in 2012.

POTTSTOWN, Pa.  — In a year that police officers saw a 3 percent salary increase and borough workers 2.1 percent, some borough managers and supervisors are enjoying pay increases as high as 14 percent, including a 10 percent raise for a supervisor recently convicted of drunk driving.

A review of management staff wages for 2012 shows a wide disparity in the raises provided to the non-union staff.

The information was provided to The Mercury through a Right-to-Know request made by former code enforcement director Jeff Smith.

According to the information provided by the borough, the highest increase — 14.2 percent — went to grants coordinator Erica Weekley.

Read more: http://www.pottsmerc.com/article/20120309/NEWS01/120309539/management-raises-for-pottstown-government-vary-from-0-to-14-&pager=full_story