The Real Pottstown Citizen for Responsible Government
Jody Rhoads, the “Real Deal” Pottstown Citizen for Responsible Government
POTTSTOWN, PA – Pottstown Councilman Jody Rhoads has our vote for responsible citizen of the decade.
It’s only fitting that on page A3 of today’s print edition of The Fishwrap appears the continuation of a front page article detailing the proposal laid out by Mr. Rhoads during Wednesday’s committee of the whole meeting to obtain a full audit of taxpayer money donated to self-proclaimed responsible Pottstown citizen Thomas Hylton’s Trees, Inc. so-called non-profit.
Our good friend Roy, over at Roy’s Rants, has posted, in its entirety, the comments made by Councilor Rhoads, and you can read those comments here.
According to Borough Manager Jason Bobst, the borough has contributed roughly $120,000 to Hylton over a four year period from 2003-2007. The money was strictly to be used for the maintenance of trees in the borough (not as a political rainy day slush fund).
Even though the borough discontinued contributions in 2007, Trees, Inc. still has over $80,000 in assets as of December 31, 2010. Since the borough has disbanded the Shade Tree Commission, why does Hylton still have access to that $80,000+ and exactly what is Hylton doing with all that money? After all, Hylton himself states in today’s article that he no longer has the authority to touch a street tree, so why doesn’t he do the ethically correct thing and give the money back to the borough?
We applaud Mr. Rhoads for his request for a full audit of Trees, Inc. Since we launched our site in 2009, we have written about and shared factual information on Tom Hylton and the several non-profits he operates from his Chestnut Street home. Mr. Rhoads makes an excellent observation when he states that the common denominator of these fringe organizations is Tom Hylton.
When you examine the excessive amounts of money that Hylton has access to through his combined organizations and the amount of money Hylton spends in his personal political crusades (over $8,000 this year alone), one can only wonder where the source of this endless supply of money comes from.
We are looking forward to the results of this full audit and once again applaud Mr. Rhoads in his continual efforts to be a responsible citizen who demands transparency in our local government.
Thank you Mr. Rhoads! It’s no wonder that you easily carried both party lines in last month’s election.
Tom Hylton = teapartner
Need I say more?
Last year Code Blue called on Boro Council to conduct a full audit of the Trees Inc money. Simply put, Mr. Hylton co-mingled the money given to him by the Boro with funds from other sources. All of the funds went into one pot. That’s the problem. Mr. Hylton’s argument will be that he has spent all of the money given to him by the taxpayers but we cannot believe that since there was never a wall between funding sources for accounting purposes. The same pot that the taxpayer money was placed into is the same pot that Mr. Hylton has used for paying the property taxes on the European Tree Park at Beech and Charlotte, leaf cleanup at the Potts cemetery next to Mr. Hylton’s house, etc. Unless the pressure is ratcheted up on Mr. Hylton, he will continue to obfuscate. The best solution is for Mr. Hylton to hand the leftover money in the Trees Inc to the Boro and shut down his non-profit.
Do you really think Tom Hylton is a teapartner, or are you saying that he writes the shout outs in the Mercury as the teapartner, and also hear at save pottstown?
Charter schools are coming,the School board should be saying YES to this after all you work for the tax payer. This will give the families of town a choice of where they would like to go. 3 schools have closed in Philly this year because of low enrollment, where do you think they are going (some pottstown) don’t you think.
At the last Shade tree meeting, Hylton was asked about the money from Pottstown,( I was going to check the minutes on Trees inc. and I see the shade tree page was removed) and he said once the money is donated, it can be used any way he wants. Remember, when this was passed by council, Jack Wolf was Council President, and he is on the Save our Land, Save our Town board of directors.
Jeff, I looked at those bills posted on the Trees website, they seem awfull high for the size of the property. I’m sure he did not put the work out for bid.
Just a note of interest.. Teapartner is not Hylton, it is his devoted side kick..
Trees Inc. paid for snow removal at Beech and Charlotte, several times in 2010. Who owns Beech and Charlotte? Snow removal isn’t a tree maintenance thing. He’s hiring a company called Creations Splendor. He also paid this company to fertilize and mulch the cemetary.
Creations Splendor is based at 248 Walnut St. (Imagine that!)They do a lot of work for Trees Inc. I searched Paul Desch, the owner of Creations Splendor, in the Mercury and found an interesting connection.
Paul Desch of the 200 block of Walnut Street said the trees had turned his street from a ?sterile situation? into ?a different place. It made me love Pottstown so much, I bought the house next door to mine. (Published: Saturday, July 21, 2007)
Does anyone think that he is supporting Hylton because of the inflated price he is getting for doing his work?
Here is the link http://www.pottsmerc.com/articles/2007/07/21/past%20stories/19973037.txt
Just another interesting connection. Mr. Desch is one of Tom Hylton’s unfortunate guinea pigs (just like the rest of Pottstown). Hylton conned Mr. Desch into applying that crazy colored asphalt in front of his Walnut Street property.
We wrote about that in our “Color Us Jaded” post from January 14, 2010:
http://savepottstown.com/2010/01/color-us-jaded/
“Yvonne Prittskutch of Glasgow Street said in the 20 years she has lived at her house, no one has ever come to maintain our trees. Whatever maintenance was done came out of our own pocket.
She said after a storm knocked a dead tree down into her street, she received a terse note from Hylton saying the next time we want to take a tree down, could we at least get a permit”?
The taxpayers took in in the end from the very beginning. This quote from a 2007 community meeting.
This is shameful and that Tom Hylton can walk around this town with his head up AND justify resisting a full scale audit of his activities is criminal.
It is interesting that in 2007 Hylton’s Trees,Inc. spent $2,472.07 on his park at Charlotte and Beech Sts. for various maintennace issues, insurance and taxes. Then in 2010 the cost of the very same services for his park rose to $5,492.63. Talk about inflation! One must wonder if any of those funds came from the Borough funds donated to Trees, Inc, from taxpayers $$$$ to be used for the maintenance of street trees in Pottstown!
Thank you, Save Pottstown, and all of you posters who have supported and continue to support Jody’s work for Pottstown on Borough Council. He is 100% dedicated to the revitalization of Pottstown. Anyone who knows Jody understands his passion and also knows that Pottstown will not have a more avid supporter. Jody tells the truth and speaks his mind, which is not popular with those people who believe themselves to be the power brokers in Pottstown. Therefore, he will be constantly bashed, insulted and dismissed. These negatives are painful for me to hear because I know how dedicated and committed Jody is to Pottstown and it’s recovery. More people such as yourselves need to stand behind him and work with him. Together, we can resurrect Pottstown! Thank you all again, so much.
Christine Rhoads