Time for another thrilling episode of Wes and Kate make a podcast! To start the show off in the usual way, Kate discusses another key issue of the Collingswood Together campaign platform (reminder: Kate Delany, Bill Johnson & Jen Rossi are running for Collingswood Board of Commissioners on 5/11/2021; find them on Twitter, Facebook,Instagram and TikTok). Kate details some of the ways that she and her running mates would address an issue they are hearing about often on the campaign trail--concerns about affordability.
Kate believes an essential part of the equation to achieve greater affordability is accountability, so the Collingswood Together candidates would implement ideas such as participatory budgeting which broadens public participation in financial decision making and let’s community members have a say about what their budgetary priorities are. Kate notes that after rewatching some of the town forums where the current commissioners discussed the public safety plans it’s clear that some kind of social impact calculator is needed when big expensive tax funded projects are being considered so the public’s ideas and worries can be meaningfully included in all public project planning. Kate believes this would be a far better way to measure real return on investment and make sure that the government is answerable to the public when the public’s money is being utilized. Kate talks about the need to put contracts out to bid and the need to scrutinize bids, again in order to protect public trust and public dollars. While the commissioners apparently collected bids for contracts this year, they awarded professional contracts to all the usual Norcross aligned players, increased hourly payments for several firms and removed the yearly earning caps for others, meaning these firms stand to make more money this year. Some of those contracts the commissioners could not account for when the local paper inquired, such as the need to hire three different labor attorneys. Kate would also prioritize paying down the municipal debt which is one of the highest in the state.
Wes and Kate then discuss the most recent Commissioners meeting where there were several issues on the theme of water. At present the borough is paying to rent filters to maintain a safe level of PCB and other chemicals but these filters are only a stopgate. The borough needs a new water treatment plant. Kate inquired about the timeline and cost for the construction of a new water treatment plan but got new real answers from the Mayor. Also on this month’s agenda was a shared service agreement with the city of Camden for emergency water supply. Kate inquired about the details of this agreement, if one of the municipalities anticipated emergency water needs (if it was Camdent then at would be of note, since Camden has a semi privatization water system).
Kate and Wes recap some of the ongoing controversies at Parkview which seem far from resolved. They also share some of what they love most about Collingswood right now! Listen and don’t forget to subscribe.
