Year one review
Just about a year ago this site was started with the charter of being a digital hub for all things going on in Starrucca, PA. hence the name Starrucca.info. We list business, and events and host the videos of council meeting (All 22hours 55 minutes & 32 seconds) as a labor of love and at no cost the the community.
The community has reacted. Dozens of people both current and former resident of the borough have thanked me personally, some more than once for hosting this site, (and thousands have watched the videos from Susquehanna and Harrisburg to Forest city and Honesdale, as well as across the country, thanks TX border agents!, and world),and providing a way for people to understand what is happening in their community. It has been really gratifying.
It has been an eventful year…
We had resignations:
Mary Ann DeBalko - Council October 2021
Demi Travis - Secretary tresurer, RTKO October 2021
Kirk Rhone - president of council (from council) November 2021
Ray Woods - Secretary Treasurer RTKO March 2022
Auditor (6 year) - Carly Batzel August 2022
Charles Irace - Secretary Treasurer RTKO August 2022
Jack Downton - As Vice President of Council (remained on council) August 2022
Gale Reddon - president of council (from council) September 2022
Ray Woods - Asst. Secretary September 2022
We had Appointments:
Kirk Rhone - to council
Ray Woods as Secretary/treasurer
Ray Woods as Secretary/treasurer & Rights to know
Charles Irace as Secretary/treasurer & Rights to know
Ray Woods as Asst. Secretary
Honesdale National Bank as Treasurer
Councilman Keith Payne as Asst. Secretary
Kristen Rechner as Asst. Solicitor
As well as numerous committees
We sold real-estate
We “bought” real-estate
We had lawsuits
Several newspaper articles were penned
Dirt roads were repaired
Grants were applied for and granted
Agendas
To know the agendas in men’s hearts.
There are a lot a questions about agendas in Starrucca Borough these days. Both the kind printed on paper and the kind in the hearts of men.
Below are the the agendas for the last 6 months of meetings of the Starrucca Borough Council. Note the variation in specificity and the use of “other business that may come before the council” Jan 10th, and “Miscellaneous New Business not listed in agenda”. I’m not a lawyer, but pretty sure even ‘most’ lawyers would agree that those statements are comparable. Additionally when PA State Association of Boroughs was questioned about this they sited the PA State legislature agenda which had similar language.
I have a few questions:
Did the solicitor review this agenda prior to being called by Darl Haynes? What about the May 2nd Agenda?
Why would Darl Haynes a council member(or any of the other council members who ‘objected’) who was provided the agenda prior to the meeting not raise their objection to this language in sufficient time to make adjustments?
Why is Darl Haynes calling the solicitor at the communities expense instead of communicating with the council president to resolve issues with the agenda? Seems like the most expensive and confrontational way to accomplish this action.
Why don't the Council members in question want to attend council meetings as is their duty as elected officials. Why? What additional things are they hiding? (of note in the last month two road grants have come to light that “no one knew about” worth well over $100,000 in total.)
Is the solicitor is working with the council members in question to “clean up their act”?
Was the solicitor involved in writing the Jan 10th advertisement and if so, what about his legal opinion changed since then?
If the solicitor is compelled by contract to attend council meetings (motion form Feb 7th put forward by Keith Payne) then why is he not attending these scheduled meetings? March 7th, March 14th, March 15th, May 2nd, May 9th. (oh wait, he did attend the March 15th meeting. Scheduled for 1:45 pm when several council members AND the mayor AND the secretary AND the public could not attend, what exactly was different about that meeting?).
Below are a sampling of posted agendas, many containing no agenda at all, or “other business” or “conduct other such business as comes before the council” etc. (Bonus, was Demi Travis Secretary when the Dec 31st meeting advertisement was printed?)
CDBG Road Grant Bid Process
Friday April 22nd 2022 9am
Councilmen Darl Haynes, Keith Payne, Road committee members councilman Jack Downton and Dave Soden met with the CDBG Official and three contractor representatives at the bottom of Penn Hill road to review the scope of the project work to be done on Penn Hill, Bucks Road and Kellogg Road.
It was an interesting process as we drove to the various locations, Darl never getting out of one of the contractors trucks, and Keith relaying specs to the other two contractors. Jack and Dave following along and asking a few questions as too when and why the specs change from the original application to how the grants are now to be used. Grants btw that are federal dollar not borough or state specific tax revenue, public money none then less. Finally it was my understanding that the bids will be decided upon by the agency and not the council members.
Also of not the represnitive from Rutledge Construction was left behind at Bucks road and didn’t review the Kellogg road parts of the project.
Photos & maps below (approximate locations since the roads are not yet marked up).
Citizen Voices
It all begins with an idea.
The idea for this website is to provide an online resource for all things Starrucca Borough. Businesses, events, history and most popular right now the goings on of the Starrucca Borough Council.
Today we add a new sections, maybe the most important and interesting sections of all…
Citizen Voices
Starting today Starrucca.info will be accepting editorial submissions from all of those who call Starrucca Borough home, either physically or in their hearts.
Use the form below to submit your story or your story idea to the editorial staff here and we'll work with you to make sure your voice is heard on this website and in the local papers. If there is one thing the residents of Starruca can agree upon is they all have strong opinions.
As always there is no cost for this service, or any of the services on starrucca.info so let your voice be heard, and if you are having an event or have a business you’d like to get the word out on as always just let us know.