Candidates Square off for Easttown Supervisor

Eattown voters will vote for candidates for one of the five seats on the Easttown Board of Supervisors.  Easttown Supervisors serve a six year term.

Republican incumbent Chris Polites is running for reelection against Democrat Paoli resident and retired builder Francis Reardon.

Both submitted candidate statements to Main Line Media News.

Late Monday evening Polites sent an email to Patch, in response Reardon's statement,  In his letter Polites quotes Mr. Reardon's entire statement which was first published on Main Line Media News.  It is being included in this article because it is part of the letter Polites sent to Patch, but it should be noted that the profile was originally posted on Main Line Media news and is not original reporting by Patch.

Here is the rebuttal submitted to Patch by Mr. Polites.

 Rebuttal to Mr. Reardon’s allegations in the Main Line Suburban  

#1    The Board of Supervisors record speaks for itself.   We have repealed the Local Services Tax, implemented a lien collection policy for delinquent sewer and trash accounts and reorganized our Public Works Department resulting in a $400,000 savings.  We also began using part-time supplementary police officers, resulting in a better police presence with no additional costs and a 49 percent reduction in overtime.  We implemented an Operating Reserve Fund which now maintains a healthy balance. We refinanced our bonds resulting in 1 million dollar savings in interest. The Supervisors would hardly qualify as being complacent or maintaining the status quo.  We have been very proactive.  

#2   The Supervisors initiated the contact with PNC Bank to see how we could save money on our pension fund.  Although their fee was within the normal parameters for municipalities they agreed to lower our fee.  We are now in the process of sending a Request for Proposal to other financial institutions for bids to manage our pension funds.

#3   It is true that the township had a surplus in the police pension fund in 2001.  At that time the township only had four retired police officers and 3 beneficiaries collecting.   Our fund lost 1.3 Million dollars in the financial crash in 2008.  Now the township has 11 retired police officers including 4 of their beneficiaries collecting.   Both of these occurrences have had an impact on our funds.   Mr. Reardon's figures are based on 2011 actuarial valuation reports.  They do not reflect our position today.  We have always paid our required minimum municipal obligation into the fund and are in a much better position than some of our neighboring townships.

#4 In 2011 our pension fund was rated as Distress Level 1.  One is minimally distressed.   Again Mr. Reardon quotes 2011 actuarial valuation reports which does not tell the whole story.  The township will be rated again in 2013 and we expect to see improvement.  Standard and Poor’s 2013 rating has our township at AA-/Stable.   The same rating we have always had.  The township has never been downgraded.

#5 It is an outlandish allegation for Mr.  Reardon to think the Supervisors would employ three managers simultaneously.  We consulted with former managers for advice but did not employ them.

#6 If Mr. Reardon had attended any of our Supervisors' Meetings this year he may have been better informed and not made such embarrassing statements.

Here is the original candidate statement that Polites is responding to as published on Main Line Media News and included in Polites email to Patch :

Francis Reardon (D)
“My wife and I have lived in Paoli for over 30 years and have raised six wonderful children. Presently retired, I have had long and successful career as the owner of a home building business in Chester County. In this capacity I worked with townships on land development, building permits, open space and road dedications. I have been involved in with St. Norbert CYO youth programs and have worked with the Daylesford Neighborhood Association to preserve the quality of life in their community.
Easttown Township has become very complacent. The supervisors are content to maintain the status quo. In the past month it was revealed that PNC Bank was over charging our township pension fund for our 32 employees an excess fee of $50,000 a year. With our many excellent financial institutions in Chester County, it was decided that PNC Bank would continued to manage our pension fund. The police portion of the fund had over $1 million surplus at the end of 2001 but by 2011, this police fund had a unfunded accrued liability of over $2 million.This is a loss of $3 million the past 10 years for our 13 police officers. Our township pension fund is rated by the State as a Distress Level 1 Fund. This past year we had four township managers, probably three being paid at the same time, but nobody seems to know why.
The residents and business people in Easttown Township deserve to receive value for their tax dollar spent. In the past 15 years the tax rate for Easttown has increased 14 times. We still have many challenges ahead of us with a under-funded pension plan. I believe I can give the residents a clear prospective view of the issues in the township. We have to be serious about the possibility of consolidating our services with neighboring townships for efficiencies in economy of scale. At the township level our problems are not so hard to solve. We just need to make responsible choices in the future.”