POTTSTOWN >> Although it’s a little for New Year’s resolutions, Pottstown Borough Council has reviewed the success of its goals for 2016 with mixed results, and set its sights on 2017.
It has taken a while to get these goals into print in large part because it has taken Pottstown Council President Dan Weand a while to get the figures on his goal of “100 new, living wage jobs” for 2016.
According to the raw numbers, obtained with evident difficulty from Berkheimer Associates, which collects the borough’s earned income taxes, Weand’s goal was achieved in spades.
At the March 8 meeting he reported that Pottstown had 1,276 more jobs in 2016 than in 2015, and that 69 of those new jobs were held by borough residents.
He said Berkheimer indicated that in 2015, Pottstown had 10,446 jobs, 2,777 of them held by borough residents.
In 2016, Berkheimer indicated Pottstown had 11,716 jobs, 2,846 of which were held by borough residents.
“It’s pretty impressive,” said Weand, who is up for reelection this year. “I had not realized we had grown so much.”
Unfortunately, Weand said, Berkheimer has yet to provide information on how many of those new jobs were “living wage jobs.” Nevertheless, he set his goal for 2017 to be the same – 100 new living wage jobs by the end of the year.
As for the other council members, they were able to report on their goals, successful or not, during the Feb. 8 council meeting.
Councilman Joe Kirkland doubled down on his 2016 goal. “I’d still like to see more development, maybe an inventory of properties available for development.”
Kirkland also suggested contacting businesses to see if they have expansion plans. “I think we need to be more aggressive as opposed to reactive,” he said.
But when asked by Weand if he would like the help of borough staff in pursuit of this goal, Kirkland replied “No, I’m doing that myself.”
Borough Manager Mark Flanders then informed Kirkland that much of what he outlined is already being undertaken by Pottstown Area Industrial Development – the borough’s economic development arm.
Councilwoman Rita Paez said she would like to see Pottstown’s diversity celebrated more in 2017.
Councilman Dennis Arms said his goal for 2016 – increase communication with the community – was “a terrible goal. It is not specific, there is no way you could measure it, I could go on and on about why it was awful.”
For 2017, Arms was very specific about his goal – “I want to increase library funding by $10,000.”
Councilman Ryan Procsal said his goal for 2016 was to increase homeownership, which he thought might have been accomplished because he know of “at least five in my neighborhood.”
However, Council Vice President Sheryl Miller disabused him of that belief quickly given that she had shared the same 2016 goal.
“We failed by eight properties,” she said, noting that she was informed by the licensing and inspections department and the borough’s stock of rental properties had grown by eight between 2015 and 2016.
“I am going to continue the same goal for 2017,” said Miller, saying she hoped that some initiatives now underway might bring it about.
Procsal, for his part, said his goal for 2017 is to improve the aesthetics of Pottstown, particularly picking up trash in the street, and may look into an adopt-a-road program for Pottstown.
Councilwoman Carol Kulp said she would like to see improvements in the publicity for borough events for both residents and those living outside the borough.
“A lot of people don’t even realize how much is going on,” Kulp said.
