Save Our Land, Save Pottstown – Just Say No

Part III of a three part series of articles on Tom Hylton and why he should not be reappointed to a fourth term on the Pottstown Planning Commission

POTTSTOWN, PA – In our first two articles of the series, we shared factual information on the decisions and direction of the Pottstown Planning Commission and how its commissioner, Tom Hylton, continued to steer the commission towards goals only benefiting himself…and not the taxpayers of Pottstown.

In this, the last article of the series, we will look at the last four years and what exactly Hylton has accomplished (or not) for Pottstown taxpayers while serving on the planning commission.

Shuffling the House of Cards

On January 23, 2007, the Pottstown Planning Commission held its organizational meeting.  As no surprise, Hyltonites Karen Weil and Terry Fetterman nominated Hylton as chairman of the commission (as Hylton had just been reappointed by borough council for a third term during their January 7 meeting).  Weil, a former council member and president, and Fetterman, a former council member, have been steadfast supporters of Hylton over the years.  So much in fact that Fetterman’s blind allegiance to Hylton caused him to lose his seat on the planning commission in February of 2010 (just another body carelessly cast aside along the hazardous and non-pedestrian friendly Hylton Highway).  Weil would later become a paid consultant for Hylton’s questionable and controversial fringe political activist group known as Pottstown Citizens for Responsible Government (PCFRG).  It’s also worth noting that Weil currently sits on the board of directors of Hylton’s so-called “non-profit” Trees, Inc.organization.

And while we’re on the subject of responsible government and Pottstown citizens, in February of 2007 borough council named former council president Dennis Wausnock to fill the seat on the planning commission left vacant by the retirement of former economic development director Jim Fairchild.  And yes…this is the same Dennis Wausnock who was recruited by Hylton in 2007 to run for the Pottstown School Board on the “Neighborhood Schools Team” ticket…and the very same Dennis Wausnock who currently serves as chairman of Hylton’s PCFRG political action committee…and yes…the same Dennis Wausnock who was Vice President of Pottstown Borough Council when Hylton’s ruinous downtown back-in parking plan was approved.  See a pattern here folks?  If your last name is Wausnock you have a friend for life in Tom Hylton.  Did we also mention that Wausnock (who owns property in Pottstown but lives with his girlfriend in Boyertown) is up for re-election of his school board seat this year?

Now that the school district’s Neighborhood Schools Committee has been disbanded and the President’s Task Force is in the process of exploring all options for the future of Pottstown’s elementary schools, you can rest assure that the “Neighborhood Schools Team” that was conjured up by Hylton in 2007 will be irrelevant and a non-entity in the 2011 elections.

“Overstepped His Bounds”

In 2007, two lots in High Street's business district were poised to be purchased and developed until Tom Hylton got involved. Instead of new businesses added to the tax rolls...the borough got sued...and the lots today remain undeveloped.

At the March 22, 2007 planning commission meeting, a “prospective owner” made a presentation to the commission regarding development of the two borough-owned lots at High and Evans Streets (and no…it was not a presentation for building an elementary school).

Tom Hylton invited David Yeager, the “prospective owner” and president of Radnor Property Group, to speak to the commission about his ideas for development of the properties.  Sounds good right?  Except that the role of a planning commission is to meet with property owners to discuss planning and land use, not to meet with a “prospective owner” and start having borough paid consultants drawing up plans for the property before an agreement of sale has even been discussed.  Which is what Hylton did and then submitted the consultant’s bill (the consultant being Hylton crony Mary DeNadai) to the borough for payment.

Hylton’s mad scramble to have the lots developed (before an offer of sale was proposed)  placed the borough in a sticky legal situation…which came to fruition when Creative Health Services sued the borough over the sale of the lots to Radnor Property Group.  Hylton also came under scrutiny by borough council for his ethically-challenged antics in the matter…so much so that council discussed his “presence on the planning commission” during an April 4 behind-closed-doors executive session.

So what happened to the development of those two lots?  Did the 40,000 square foot grocery store (such as a Whole Foods) get built?  Did the parking deck and two or three floors of condominiums get built?  Did a one-story bank building or 10,000 square foot retail building get built?  Nope.  None of Hylton’s pie in the sky proposals ever made it off the drawing board.  His gerrymandering only produced a lawsuit for the borough and lots of headache for lots of folks.

Campaign Manager

In addition to his planning commission chairman responsibilities and running his two “non-profits” (Trees, Inc. and Save Our Land, Save Our Towns Enterprises, Inc.), Tom Hylton also found time to manage and fund election campaigns for the “Neighborhood Schools Team”…a group of individuals Hylton personally recruited to run against the five incumbent school board directors (School Board President Barry Robertson, Vice President James Smock, Philip Thees, Bonita Barnhill and Cathy Skitko) in the 2007 elections.  Hylton seized upon the “mega-campus” moniker used extensively by his media partner (The Mercury) in an effort to derail the possibility of his beloved neighborhood schools being closed and sold off in favor of new construction and consolidation.  Because, let’s face it, as much as Hylton talks in his paid speeches (and writes about in his paid advertisements) about how great neighborhood schools are…it wouldn’t be good for his personal financial bottom line (and future paid speaking engagements) if his own community did away with the outdated and tax-bloated concept that he claims are “an indispensable element of vibrant towns”.

To help win the election against those he perceived as dissing him, Hylton used Friends of Montgomery County (a political action committee headed up by his GOP buddy and former Pottstown Planning Commission partner Scott Exley) to finance postcards and mailers to Pottstown voters.  In 2007 Hylton spent close to $10,000 to get his hand-picked “Neighborhood Schools Team” elected to the Pottstown School Board…all because the board refused to endorse Hylton’s concept of a sixth elementary school at the corner of High and Evans Streets (and the fact that the board was about to dismantle the antiquated “neighborhood schools” system in Pottstown).  It’s also worth noting here that Exley is the president of Bursich Associates…the planning commission’s engineering firm that was reinstated in 2008 by borough council.  Ain’t politics grand?

In 2009, Hylton was extremely agitated that the folks he personally financed to the school board only two years earlier were, to his horrors, making their own decisions based upon the real facts and figures of the school district…not the half-baked cherry-picked distortions that he fed to them.  In a panic (and having run out of warm bodies to use as potential candidates), he decided to run for a school board seat and selected a running mate to join him.  Who would make the perfect running mate?  Valerie Harris, an employee of his Preservation Pottstown partner and a member on Hylton’s Trees, Inc. Board of Directors…Pottstown State Farm franchise owner George Wausnock.  What better way to exercise control than to select a running mate who would get canned if she strayed from Hylton’s political objectives.  And isn’t everyone just pickled that Harris joined the race to become a member of the Pottstown school board?  She’s been soooo good for Pottstown…hasn’t she?

You would think that becoming a member of the Pottstown school board would be a conflict of interest for Tom Hylton…who, at the time of being elected to the board, was already a member of the Pottstown Planning Commission…the entity that would be approving/denying any school development plans.  In the past two years, does anyone recall Hylton recusing himself from any school board/planning commission conflicts of interest?  Hell no…after all…that’s why he ran for office in the first place…so he could attempt to derail any school district decisions that would bring an unhappy ending to his neighborhood schools fractured fairy tale.

New Avenue of Paid Advertising Opens

In 2008, Tom Hylton was becoming increasingly frustrated in not being able to sway Pottstown taxpayers into drinking his Kool-Aid.  So…what’s a retiree with numerous taxpayer funded non-profit banking accounts to do?  Partner with the local newspaper and start placing paid advertising on its opinion page!  That’s the ticket!  In December of 2008, Mercury Editor Nancy March ran an editorial announcing the paper’s new money-making policy of offering an advertising block on its Opinion page. And guess who proposed this idea to March?  Yup. None other than planning commission member Tom Hylton.  And you know it’s funny…we here at SavePottstown!! are trying to recall how many other businesses or non-profits  have placed advertising on The Mercury’s opinion page since this policy went into effect. Hmmm…let’s see…how about…NONE.  And do you know why?  Because most Pottstown area non-profits do not have annual advertising budgets of $10,500+ (and also the fact that if any individual or group wanted to place an ad on the Opinion page, they’d have to pay the full advertising rate…not a volume discounted price…which is what The Mercury only offered Hylton).  In 2009, Hylton placed advertisements on The Mercury’s Opinion page 33 times (at a cost of $320.77 per advertisement).  It was also during this same time frame that Hylton launched his political action committee, Pottstown Citizens for Responsible Government, and announced the PAC’s Web site in the December 14, 2008 edition of The Mercury.  And do you know what is most hypocritical about Hylton’s PAC scam?  He proclaims that he created this “committee” (consisting of himself and his retired Pottstown School District wife Frances) to encourage Pottstown Borough government and the Pottstown School District to conduct their business in an open and professional manner.  Yes folks…this is the same Tom “I’m pretty familiar with the sunshine law” Hylton demanding open dialogue and professionalism of others…but yet he was caught red-handed last March violating Pennsylvania’s Sunshine Law.

“Excellence in Local Government”

Speaking of “encouraging excellence in local government”, in June of 2009, then council President David Garner sent out an e-mail in regards to an upcoming economic development meeting with county and state officials (a meeting that Tom Hylton organized and set up without the knowledge of the planning commission or approval from borough council).

The problem?  Then council Vice President Greg Berry was the only other member of council copied on the e-mail.  Other individuals who received the e-mail were planning commission member Tom Hylton, Mayor Sharon Valentine-Thomas, Assistant Borough Manager Jason Bobst and Erica Weekley, the borough’s grants administrator.

Councilman Stephen Toroney stated the obvious, “This looked to me like something that is being spearheaded by one or two individuals,” Pressed to identify those officials, he said, “Dave Garner and Tom Hylton.”

Hmmm.  It’s hard to believe that Tom Hylton would be involved in sending an e-mail to “a few people” around town.  Remember…that the stated mission of the Citizens for Responsible Government PAC is to “encourage excellence in local government” and to “encourage Pottstown Borough government and the Pottstown School District to conduct their business in an open and professional manner”.

And that’s one of the reasons why Pottstown voters gave Garner and Berry pink slips in the general election of 2009…because of their culture of secrecy and back door politicking with planning commission member Tom Hylton.

A Painfully Long Process

Tom Hylton thought it necessary to submit his own drawings and also to have two architects review St. Aloysius’ plans for their new gathering center. He also made the church appear before the commission four times. Does that sound like a speedy approval process??

The headline of the December 18, 1975 edition of The Mercury read: Transportation rule burdens school budgets…Cost of taking area youths to non-public schools is skyrocketing.

The article was written by staff writer Thomas Hylton.  In the article, Hylton railed on non-public schools and how much they were costing Pottstown area taxpayers.  Hylton called these non-public school students a “transportation nightmare”.  Obviously, area non-public schools were outraged by Hylton’s article.  Pottstown’s St. Aloysius was no exception.  The church even took the additional step of issuing a letter to all its parishioners singling out Hylton’s irresponsible and inflammatory article.

Fast forward to 2008 when the church reluctantly had another dealing with Hylton…this time in front of his Pottstown Planning Commission court to discuss the church’s intent to demolish its existing rectory and to build a “gathering center” for its parish members.  Over a four month period from April to July, the church had to revise its land development plan several times.  The church’s architect stated that “someone on the planning commission” submitted drawings to the church before the church even made its first appearance in front of the commission in April.  Does it take a genius to figure out who that “someone” was? At one point, Hylton suggested that his crony Mary DeNadai get together with the church architect to “get her thoughts on” the drawings.  What changes did Hylton propose?  He made major changes to the façade of the building.  Why does Tom Hylton feel it appropriate to dictate the appearance of a new church building?  Was Hylton paying for the project?  If not…it was the church’s decision and certainly none of Hylton’s business.

Six years earlier, Tom Hylton stated the following: “The Planning Commission wants to speed up the approval process” … “People making improvements to our buildings should be treated like valued customers, and time is vitally important to them.”

Really??  Is making a property owner appear in front of the planning commission four times a speedy process?  Why did Hylton feel it necessary to consult two architects (Joe Fay and Mary DeNadai) on the church’s development plan??  Why did Hylton make a first pass at the drawings and then have Fay and DeNadai review them again?  Is Tom Hylton really treating the church like a valued customer and respecting their time?  It doesn’t seem like it to us.  It seems like Tom Hylton is making the land development review a long and painful process.

Summary

“Oh what a tangled web we weave, When first we practice to deceive”

SavePottstown!! firmly believes that Pottstown Planning Commission member Tom Hylton SHOULD NOT be appointed to a fourth term.  In the past 12 years, he has been wrong wrong wrong for Pottstown.  Look around town.  What has Hylton done to improve Pottstown and bring more businesses to town?  Is Pottstown better off now or before Hylton was named to the commission in 1999?

How many businesses, large and small, have left the borough during Hylton’s tenure on the commission?  How many have left on account of Hylton?  How many businesses declared that Pottstown is an unfriendly place for business and have taken their tax dollars elsewhere?  While Hylton likes to promote open government, he has proven over and over again that he is not a team player and goes out of his way to try to discredit (and disparage in his paid advertisements) those who have opinions that differ from his.  In 2011 Pottstown needs to move forward, to embrace the 21st century, and be a town of team players working together for the betterment of Pottstown.  It cannot do this with Tom Hylton in any kind of borough decision-making capacity.

We ask members of Pottstown Borough Council to read through the 240+ posts we have on our site.  We didn’t make this stuff up.  We did research and shared with our readers the facts and figures never published in The Mercury or in those glossy mailers.

Smart growth for Pottstown is not reappointing Tom Hylton to a fourth term on the Pottstown Planning Commission.

We think Ringo said it best…

Tags: activist group, advertising, blind allegiance, Board, Borough, citizens for responsible government, concept, Council, hylton, member, Neighborhood, political activist, terry fetterman, Trees Inc

This entry was posted on Monday, February 7th, 2011 at 8:48 and is filed under Borough of Pottstown, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Friends of Montgomery County PAC, Just Say NO!, Montgomery County, Non Profit Corporations, Pottstown Citizens For Responsible Government PAC, Pottstown Has Too Many Elementary Schools It Cannot Afford, Pottstown School District, Preservation Pottstown, Save Our Lands Save Our Town, Shade Tree Commission, The Pottstown Fishwrap, Trees Inc. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.