A First Class Township

My involvement with the township began in 2006 when long-time supervisor Pat Ross was at the helm. My dear friend, the late-Edward Elliott, who once sat on the township Planning Commission and later held the job of Zoning Enforcement Officer, had been going to BOS meetings for almost two decades and I joined him one Monday night. It wasn’t a particularly interesting meeting and I would continue attending only on occasion for the next four or five years. In 2011, Jane Cilurso chaired the BOS and Frank Hess was relatively new on the board. Harold Werkheiser had been on the job since 2008 after running against Pat Ross and winning the election by a small number of votes. A bridge near my home had collapsed and the township didn’t have money in their budget to repair it. When supervisors started discussing the hiring of a township manager, I thought it contradictory that they would have enough money for a new position, but not to repair the bridge. I already had a letter to the editor about this matter published in our local newspaper, the Pocono Record, when I went to a meeting and made a public comment about my concern. My comment, along with those of many other residents, was duly noted. Under Cilurso’s leadership, when residents spoke up, the BOS listened and a township manager was never hired while she was chairwoman. In time, the bridge was repaired. What I witnessed at that meeting fueled my interest in attending more often. There was a troubling divide between the supervisors. A two-to-one dynamic was keeping Hess out of the loop and there was seething anger between him and the other two. Hess had many supporters at the Monday night meetings who didn’t like seeing him marginalized and they were quite vocal. An unsettling tension filled the room. It wasn’t a healthy environment for effective governing and clearly wasn’t beneficial to the taxpayers of Pocono Township. I found it all very disturbing and wanted to keep an eye on it. So, I did. Jane Cilurso was soon to retire and many, including myself, looked forward to the possibility of Hess taking over as chairman once she departed. It was widely believed that he’d do a great job once unfettered. I vigorously argued with my dear friend Ed Elliott when he told me that “the township is going to fall apart” when Cilurso leaves. I didn’t realize at the time, but Ed’s words could not have been closer to the truth!