Four Democratic candidates are seeking their party’s nod for two Lebanon County commissioner nominations in the May primary.
Four-term incumbent Jo Ellen Litz faces off against former county Democratic committee chief and business owner Chris Tarsa; Kathy Pflueger, a former employee of the state auditor general’s office; and Ralph Duquette, a Palmyra Area School Board member.
The two successful nominees will face off against two incumbent Republicans in fall to see which party holds a majority of three commissioners’ seats.
There hasn’t been a Democratic majority on the board of commissioners since 1976-1980, when Democrats John Anspach and Phil Feather were in office with Republican Tom Behney.
The Democratic committee isn’t endorsing in the primary, which isn’t unusual, said Lois Herr, chairwoman. “They are all credible candidates, and would do a good job,” she said.
Ralph Duquette, 57, a stay-at-home parent and former paralegal, said he’s running due to “general unhappiness with the way the county’s run.”
Duquette said his interest in county government grew during the 2012 countywide reassessment, in which his South Londonderry Township neighborhood saw assessments rise 25-30 percent and land values doube.
With multiple gas pipelines coming through the county, he believes there will be ramifications for property assessment values. “I would not want to have the same three commissioners running the show,” he said.
Duquette said he believes the commissioners should have taken a position earlier on the pipelines, and haven’t been transparent and kept the public abreast of what’s happening with the new Williams pipeline.
Serving as a commissioner is “a way to protect my investment in the community. I don’t think my investment is being handled very well. If you want to have change, you have to be the change you want to see.”
Paying attention to county business such as the Cedar Haven sale and the county pension obligation are other issues that concern Duquette.
Whether the county should have been running a nursing home, competing against private sector companies, was a valid question, he admits. But he believes the fact the county couldn’t make it a profitable enterprise is due to “lack of leadership.”
Duquette said there is lack of transparency and supervision in the county by the commissioners and administrator, citing the recent death of an inmate at the prison and lack of blankets there last winter.
He also believes the county should pay more attention to paying its pension obligations.
“Bickering among the commissioners needs to end. That will not happen until a couple of them are gone,” he said.
Jo Ellen Litz, 63, of West Lebanon Township, sums up the reasons she is seeking a fifth term as “protecting children, serving families, security and justice, managing emergencies and safeguarding elections.”
Her agenda for the next term would include getting the 911 center out of the municipal building basement, establishing a family homeless shelter, and add staffing for Children & Youth department due to new state child abuse reporting requirements.
Litz also would like to see a day reporting center established at the county prison, which would help alleviate overcrowding by allowing inmates to serve sentences during the day.
Regarding the Cedar Haven sale, Litz said she fought to prevent it, and called for the study that showed ways money could have been saved at the home. Over 10 years, she said the county could have been in a good pension position without the sale.
“To me it was a workable plan, but it fell on deaf ears,” she said. “I worked hard on for over a year. … I wish I could’ve done more.” Litz said she had advocated for paying the county’s pension obligation for years, and voted on measure to reduce these costs, such as reducing interest paid to retirees and not paying a cost-of-living increase.
On the gas pipeline issue, Litz introduced a motion May 7 that the commissioners approved 2-0 to seek intervener status in the Williams pipeline application to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
“I think we have to work diligently for the safety of the public,” she said, adding she opposes use of eminent domain.
As to whether county salaries should be changed, Litz said manager salaries have been frozen, and there are union contracts that have to be followed. But she feels longevity and expertise warrants a higher salary than someone new, and adequate pay is needed to retain quality workers.
Litz said she missed few meetings when she was launching a bid for governor last year. She said she used vacation time, weekends and evenings, adding, “It did not interfere with my duties. I carried them out to the fullest.”
Regarding her opponent’s petition challenge, Litz said she saw something she thought should be “looked at with a fresh set of eyes.” An out-of-county judge heard the case, and Litz said several of Duquette’s signatures were disqualified, although he still satisfied the requirement of 100.
Kathy Pflueger, 65, of Lebanon, retired in 2008 after working 10 years in the county commissioners office doing compliance audits for service agencies receiving state and federal funding. That followed her 15 years in the state auditor general’s office performing compliance audits.
She ran unsuccessfully for commissioner four years ago.
The sale of Cedar Haven is what Pflueger said convinced her to run again. She called the sale “a tragedy,” and might have been prevented. “It wasn’t necessary. It shows what can happen when you have poor management and people are not familiar with government accounting and budget process and implementation of internal controls,” she said.
Pflueger said the county didn’t heed warnings about its pension debt as early as 2003, and in 2013 its bond rating was lowered. While the sale of Cedar Haven enabled the county to pay down pension debt, she said a study months before the sale showed where potential savings might have been generated.
She maintains the commissioners’ mindset “has to change or we will have to face same crisis in 10 years, and which building will we sell now?”
Pflueger said she would more thoroughly analyze the county budget to ensure it is accurate, follows state guidelines and includes pension costs. “I would have at least a monthly meeting on the budget,” she said, to make sure finances and spending are on track.
She also believes the county’s wage scale should be revised to make it more attractive to new employees as opposed to those who have been there long-term. She believes an $80,000 salary cap is reasonable, and would like to raise entry level salaries to attract higher quality workers. Also, increases should be a dollar amount rather than percentage.
On pipelines, Pflueger believes the county “should try to buck them at every possible juncture.” Lebanon County should have followed Lancaster County’s lead, and been more proactive, she said.
Chris Tarsa, 47, of North Cornwall Township, is president of C. L. Sturkey, a Lebanon County company that manufactures knives used in medical and research facilities.
He stepped down last June as county Democratic committee chief after two terms.
“It’s time for change,” Tarsa said, which is the theme he heard from voters. “They are looking for positive change at county level. My experience as a businessman, manufacturer and employer makes me unique in our Democratic field,” he said. “I think there is an opportunity to cut costs, increase output – quality output – and look at things with a new set of eyes.”
Tarsa said he knows how to build relationships, having done so in the business world. He said he could work collaboratively with both parties to get things done.
Tarsa also advocates applying the Lean Transformation Model, made famous by Toyota, to county government. It focuses on continuous improvement and looking for efficiencies, to give a better output. “I think we can get a better result and hold taxes steady,” he said.
The county prison is one area Tarsa said he would examine for improvement, particularly in training offered inmates, so they are more productive when they area released.
View the original content and more from this author here: http://ift.tt/1PCRqhK
from democratic dojo http://ift.tt/1cK6m1w
via IFTTT
No comments:
Post a Comment