The Borough Recreation Department hosted its annual Christmas luncheon for employees and volunteers on Thursday, December 15, 2005. More than one hundred people attended including police officers, fire safety officials, public works employees, office staff, elected officials and volunteers from the Library Board, Zoning Hearing Board, Historical and Architectural Review Board and others. One of the highlights of the event was the announcement of a contest winner. The Borough's Safety Committee, which looks for ways to reduce lost time and insurance claims due to on-the-job accidents, held a contest for Borough employees to submit the best slogan and safety tip. Don Anderson of the Public Works Department was selected the winner for his slogan "Think Safety" and received a certificate and check for $125.

Last night (December 20, 2005), Borough Council considered an application for the transfer of a liquor license into West Chester. By itself, this was not news, but the thing that made this hearing different was that for the first time, Borough Council came equipped with the recommendations of the Liquor License Ad Hoc Study Committee (LLAHSC) on ways to limit the impact of a new liquor license.

Here's some background: In February 2002, the state legislature removed a long-standing prohibition against the transfer of liquor licenses within a county. Before that, the only way to open a new alcohol-serving establishment was to purchase an existing license in the municipality. Now, thanks to the new law, an applicant can purchase a liquor license in one place and, after going through some hoops, transfer it to another one.

At a lengthy public hearing on Wednesday, December 21, the Chester County Commissioners voted unanimously to approve a resolution that commits the County to upgrading its voting systems in compliance with the 2002 Help America Vote Act. The resolution did not specify the choice of a specific voting system, and left the way open to retain the existing punch card system, albeit with upgrades to achieve HAVA compliance.

After opening the meeting, Commissioner Chair Donald Mancini turned it over the Lawrence Tabas, a Philadelphia attorney who was hired by the Commissioners as special counsel for HAVA compliance. He provided some background on HAVA -- the federal statute passed in October 2002, its companion Pennsylvania statute passed in December 2002, and the County's compliance plan accepted by the state in October 2005 -- and then took questions from the audience. At least one member of the County's HAVA Task Force attended the meeting, and Linda Cummings, Director of County Voter Services, participated by telephone from California where she was on vacation.

The audience, which numbered about 60 people at its height, asked a range of questions that focused on the following issues: 1) how will citizens and election boards verify that a machine counted votes accurately; 2) can Chester County opt not to accept the HAVA money in order to keep the existing punch card system; and 3) will the Commissioners' resolution prevent the County from choosing something other than a direct record electronic (DRE) voting machine (the only type certified by the State so far).

Currently Chester County is one of eleven counties in the state which use punch card ballots, and they are already HAVA- compliant. Provision will still be necessary for people who cannot use the punch cards because of physical disability or language difficulties. In response to numerous questions about retaining the current punch card system, however, Mr. Tavis argued that it was legal under HAVA but it would create problems by requiring two different systems to operate side-by-side, one using punch cards and one using another technology that could accommodate disabled voters, and that punch cards might cease to become available in the future. Several members of the audience responded that in such an event, they would willingly start a business to produce punch cards for voting machines. One speaker pointed out that the County currently uses two voting systems side-by-side: one for voters who go to the polls and one for voters who cast absentee ballots.

After more than two hours (including a fifteen minute recess). Commissioner Mancini (Rep) moved to adopt the resolution and received a second from Commissioner Aichele (Rep). Commissioner Dinniman (Dem) completed his answer to one of the members of the audience, then explained hat he would vote for the resolution because he was convinced that it did not obligate the County to purchase any particular system or to give up its punch card system. After that, it took less than two seconds to produce a 3-0 vote in favor of adopting the resolution, which earmarks the following sums for HAVA compliance:

Amount	Purpose	Source
$1,590,870.34	Replace existing system with HAVA-compliant system	US General Services Administration
702,288.40	Purchase direct record electronic voting machines to meet ADA requirements	US General Services Administration
43,593.86	Voter education and outreach, training, etc.	Federal Election Administration Commission
6,000.00	Support for efforts to make voting places handicapped accessible	US Dept. of Heath & Human Services
$2,341,752.60	Total

According to Commissioner Mancini, the next step will take place in January 2006 when the Commissioners vote to adopt a specific system. The third and final step will be to request bids and sign a contract with a provider in time to get delivery for the spring primary.

In other business, the Commissioners approved a grant of $5,000 to provide interim heating oil assistance for County residents who are waiting for acceptance into a state program to aid the poor with home heating costs. The money will be administered by the Housing Partnership as part of a larger assistance program, and provide money to purchase heating fuel for the elderly, single mothers, "health compromised" and other people at risk during the winter.

Maria Chesterton (Dem, Ward 7), surprised everyone at the December 20, 2005 work session by announcing that she will resign her Borough Council post effective December 31. Citing "professional and personal reasons," she explained that her new job in Harrisburg makes it impossible to attend Council meetings that start as early as 5:30pm. In addition, she has become the primary care giver for a member of her family, which places additional restraints on her time.

Chesterton, who was born in Argentina and who raised two daughters as a single parent in a rental dwelling on Lafayette Street, helped to energize the people in the southern end of her ward during her four years on Council. Their most visible accomplishment was the revitalization of Veterans Memorial Park on W. Washington Street. She also chaired the Borough Finance Committee for the past four years and won reelection in November 2995 by a three-two margin (59.5%). As the Daily Local News wrote on February 14, 2004:

Chesterton thanked her colleagues, the Borough Manager and her neighbors and constituents for their support, and expressed regrets about resigning. "If I had known earlier, I would not have run at all, or else dropped out so someone else could run. But I only found out [about the job] just before the election."

The last time this happened was in October 1994 after Mitch Crane (Dem, Ward 4) resigned in September. According to the Borough Code, the remaining six council members (5 Republicans and 1 Democrat) had to pick a replacement from his ward. Despite protests from members of the audience and the press, they held interviews in executive session (i.e. in private) and then voted to replace Crane, a Democrat, with Boyd Davis Jr., a Republican. The Code also required a special election the following spring to fill the remainder of the term, and when Davis chose not to run, Anne Carroll became was the winner, beginning a term on council that lasted until 2003.

Borough Council has thirty days to select a replacement. Ward 7 covers the area north of Chestnut Street and west of High Street, minus a couple of blocks near the public library on N. Church Street. If you are interested and you live in Ward 7, send a letter of intent plus a resume to:

Jay Shur, the owner of WCHE (1520 AM), has applied for permission to expand his station. WCHE, which was founded in 1963, currently broadcasts at 250-watts during daylight hours so that it will not interfere with other stations. The station is best known for its morning talk show, live broadcasts of WCU football games and taped music from the Glenn Miller era.

Shur and his brother David bought the station in 1986. In an effort to attract more advertisers, the Shurs applied for permission to increase the station's power in 1997. According to FCC records, after a number of delays and extensions the FCC refused to allow an increase in the height of the antenna but granted permission to add a second antenna of the same height in March 2001. The FCC also imposed strict rules about where it could be located so that the new, stronger signal would not interfere with other radio stations in the area.

That was merely the beginning. Next, JMK Communications, a Los Angeles company that owns small radio stations in several parts of the country, filed a "Petition for Reconsideration" against WCHE just over a month later. After another delay of more than two years, the FCC dismissed the JMK petition in August 2003 and granted WCHE until September 26, 2006 to construct its new antenna.

Although WCHE broadcasts from a studio located on W. Gay Street in the Borough, its antenna site is located in East Bradford Township northwest of town. It stands on 4.3 acres of wetlands located on the east side of Downingtown Pike just south of the PA 322 bypass. The nearest structure is the Borough's Taylor Run wastewater treatment plant. Taylor Run, a tributary of the Brandywine Creek, runs through the property.

Once all of the FCC hurdles were surmounted, the Shur brothers began to look for contractors. They chose Prometheus Methods Tower Services Inc., a local company. Unfortunately, its owner, Nicholas Berg was killed in Iraq in the spring of 2004. Then David Shur died in November of that year, triggering more FCC paperwork to transfer the station's ownership to Jay Shur. It was completed in March 2005, so finally, in the summer of 2005, the process began to move forward once more.

Last August, WCHE applied for a building permit from East Bradford Township. Since their project was planned for wetlands and involved a few other unusual considerations, they had a lawyer, Ron Agulnick, present the plans to the East Bradford Planning Commission. On September 6, Agulnick provided the Commission with a "Project Narrative" that explained the strict requirements of the FCC permit and claimed that "If the tower, at its present location and in its precise configuration is not up and operating by September 26, 2006, the station will die."

East Bradford's engineering consultants, Gilmore & Associates of Kennett Square, reviewed the plans and identified thirty concerns. Among them were the new tower's impact on the Taylor Run floodplain, the effect of a tower collapse on the adjacent tower and nearby power lines, and the project's environmental impact. The Chester County Planning Commission also submitted a review letter that echoed some of Gilmore's concerns.

At its October 10 meeting, the Planning Commission voted to recommend approval of the project, but made that contingent on satisfying the concerns raised by Gilmore and the County, plus an additional requirement that the tower be painted green to blend in with the surrounding foliage. That threw the application into the hands of the Board of Supervisors who had to decide whether to grant permission for a "conditional use" and what requirements and restrictions should be imposed.

Meanwhile, the East Bradford Zoning Hearing Board started its deliberations. They were involved because the antenna project required the expansion of a non-conforming use; i.e. the first antenna would not normally be allowed at its present location but was "grandfathered" since it predated the current zoning law. But adding a second tower made the non-conformity larger, so a ruling from the Zoning Hearing Board was necessary. But after considering the proposal on October 17 and November 21, the Board decided to table the matter until the Board of Supervisors decided whether to allow it all.

The Board of Supervisors started its work on October 11. To answer the concerns raised by Gilmore, the applicant needed letters from an array of agencies including the PA Department of Environmental Protection and the Army Corps of Engineers. They were not ready in time for the first meeting, so it was continued to November 8, November 29 and December 17. As of that date, the paperwork was still incomplete, and according to East Bradford's administration, the next hearing before the Board of Supervisors will take place on March 8, 2006.

At this point, it looks like WCHE is still a long way from round-the-clock broadcasting, and the clock is ticking. The FCC deadline runs out next September.