i i B i $ i 4 ® The Dallas Post Dallas, PA Thursday, January 16, 2003 3 ntersection (continued from page 1) “It would take the green time that would have been allocated to the southern travelers and allocate it back to the main streets. It would help traffic flow — it would actually im- prove service by a full level,” said Paulette. The engineers explained that this option would actually change the level of service to a C designation — leaving the in- tersection better that it is cur- rently. Council members expressed many concerns about that al- ternative. “There are a number of issues that we're going to need to dis- cuss,” said board president John Oliver. “One of which is how it's going to affect the school district's transportation and the students that commute to College Misericordia.” Another council member uestioned how making Lake treet one-way would affect businesses on the street. Oliver questioned how the change might affect traffic on Church Street. “By making Lake one-way, you're going to force more traffic onto Church, which will make a bigger prob- lem of people trying to exit the post office,” he said. Before making a decision, the council members decided they would meet with Chuck Mattei, Chief Engineer for District 4 of the state Department of Trans- portation (PennDOT), and Pen- noni to make sure they have ex- hausted all of their options. “We don’t want to stand in anyone's way, but at the same time we have concerns about the nature of our community and people's perceptions,” said Oliver. “The real issue is it’s probably the number one issue in the borough. Your development is going to impact probably the number one challenge we have here,” said Joe Moskovitz, Bor- ough Manager. J. Naparlo, developer of the township property, explained to board members that currently he has no agreement with Wal- Mart, the rumored large store for the site. “My project goal is to get something approved and then approach one of these companies and say, ‘hey I've got something here’,” said Naparlo. He said Wal-Mart looked at the property and determined it wasn't a prime site. “Just as these intersections are marked A-F so are locations and unfor- tunately Dallas isn’t a top loca- tion for one of these places,” said Naparlo. Naparlo then seemed to imply that the borough was asking for too much from him. “If you're over in Wilkes-Barre, you can demand a lot from a developer coming in, but if you don’t have an A site, there isn’t room for that.” Paulette explained that the developer could sidestep a council decision. “If the bor- ough’s position is we're not ready to deal with this right now or there are other issues going on that we're not comfort- able with the one-way scenario, then maybe PennDOT will grant a waiver,” explained Paulette. Naparlo could apply for a waiver from PennDOT that would allow him to break ground without the cooperation of the borough at this time. Naparlo responded. “We're willing to do something, but if I go get a waiver, then whatever you want to accomplish is gone. Here I think there is some ben- efit to working together, but I don’t know what you want,” said Naparlo. POST FILE PHOTO This land at the intersection of Routes 415 and 118 in Dallas Township could become the site of a major retail development. Dispute (continued from page 1) Fowler have cost the borough $15,000 in the last year that wasn’t allotted for in the budget. He said if things stay as they are, the borough could spend another $10,000 before the year is out. “The chief has been unwilling to negotiate agreement on this. The chief has fought everything we've done,” said Moskovitz. Mayor Tim Carroll said the problem started when he created the 2002 police work schedule. said the schedule had "changes in it that Fowler object- ed to. Carroll said he found a way to streamline the police depart- ment budget and save the bor- ough $7,000 annually. He said during 10 weeks out of the year, in place of Fowler's normal 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. shift, he had L scheduled him to cover shifts for a “It's 10 weeks out of the year; in doing so we don’t have to pay 2 % 0 NER, a a EE EU AE NTR CNTR ¥ | i! ¥ ) @® } — frm | a part-timer,” said Carroll. Dennis Garvey, a member of e borough council, responded ¥> Carroll's comments. He said Fowler over the last year has been the recipient of harass- ment, intimidation and retalia- tion by Carroll. “In an attempt to harass the chief and cause dis- ruption to the schedule, he (Car- i roll) started bouncing Jack back and forth when clearly Jack is the administrator and should be there during the day,” said Gar- vey. d be second or But Carroll defends his ac- tions as having minimal impact on Fowler's work schedule. “All he has to do is adjust his schedule nine or 10 weeks out of the year,” said Carroll. Carroll said Fowler worked some of the shifts, “but he didn’t work very many of them.” Fowler filed a grievance in ear- ly 2002, objecting to the sched- ule. In late October, both parties went into arbitration. “The bottom line is we've asked him to do certain things; we believe he hasn't followed or- ders,” said Moskovitz. Garvey contends the things Carroll has asked the chief to do are unreasonable. He agreed the problem began when Carroll re- quested the chief work hours that are not conducive to his ad- ministrative duties. “How is Jack going to handle investiga- tions and take his cases to the magistrate?” asked Garvey. He said the next incident was in May when the mayor request- ed a key to the police depart- ment. Garvey said the chief ob- jected to giving the mayor a key for security reasons. According to Garvey, Carroll wrote Fowler a letter of reprimand. “You have a man who is in his 50s, served his borough for 15, 16 years, is a Vietnam veteran has many friends in the borough — I feel the treatment of Fowler is unjust,” said Garvey. At the November borough council meeting, it was learned the Mayor had suspended Fowler for removing a schedule DR. CARL URBANSKI JANUARY IS “NATIONAL EYE CARE MONTH” BUT YOUR VISION IS IMPORTANT TO US ALL YEAR ROUND! DEVOTED TO THOROUGH EYE CARE IN A PROFESSIONAL, CARING MANNER. CALL 714-2600 DR. CARL J. URBANSKI ¢ DR. MARTHA SHIPE NEW PATIENTS WELCOME « 417 MARKET STREET, KINGSTON DR. MARTHA SHIPE Kio THE UNIVERSITY OF SCRANTON A child-centered, experiential curriculum for Pre-K through Grade 8 For more information call 941-4100 Located on 134 School St. (one block east of West Market St. SCIENCE « AJTESUIT : UNITVERSITTY Meet our Pare FINE ARTS CAMPUS (Snow 45Sr00MS r Teachers and Students x Visit our Cl Talk with ou nts 2 7 RR “It’s all about sav- ing money for the town. Everybody’s got to work together to keep it afloat.” Tim Carroll Dallas Borough Mayor from the department to give to his arbitration lawyer. At the time, the mayor stood behind - his decision saying that “it is against the law” to remove the schedule. Garvey brought a motion to rescind the suspension, but the suspension was upheld by a vote of 4-2. Garvey and Ed Don- ahue, who has since resigned from the board, voted for the motion. “I'll say it on the record, the agenda of this council and this mayor is to get rid of the chief of police.” Dennis Garvey _ Dallas Borough Councilman According to Moskovitz, Fowler has, on the advice of his physician, been on paid sick leave since November 4. In the meantime, Fowler has appealed the suspension. The civil service commission, which will oversee the case, has requested the bor- ough appoint a solicitor other than the borough’s solicitor, to advise the commission through- out the process. The mayor, Moskovitz and Garvey all agree they are frus- trated that the issue has taken such a central role. Carroll said the borough has recently had the largest paving and water- shed projects to date, they are active in the Dallas visioning process, an umbrella for ad- dressing downtown revitaliza- tion, traffic concerns and region- al planning, all of which, they say, are being lost in the shuffle. “It takes a lot of the borough manager's time, certainly it seems like you don’t have time to focus on things that would be good for the borough,” said Car- roll. “It's taking time, money, con- flict, heated arguments. My con- cern is we've already spent $15,000 and there will probably be another $10,000,” said Gar- vey. “It's the mayor's doing.” Carroll said he believes he is R X ’ Sl yam acting in the best interest of Dallas Borough. “It's all about saving money for the town. Everybody's got to work together to keep it afloat. You (Fowler) can't adjust your schedule to help a little town?” Carroll asked rhetorically. “I'll say it on the record, the agenda of this council and this mayor is to get rid of the chief of police,” asserted Garvey. “And I want the taxpayers of Dallas to wake up and see what's going on.” Final arguments in the arbi- tration case will be submitted by March 1, at which point the ar- bitrator will have 30 days to pro- vide a decision. A hearing date for Fowler's suspension appeal has not yet been set. Chief Fowler was asked to re- spond to comments in this arti- cle, but neither he nor his attor- ney did so. hal © et gu Eel © Sh wT aX 2085] Format: Tabloid Rates: More: executive Publishing: Thursday, February 6, 2003 Deadline: Friday, January 31 Special 1/2 and full page rates Extend your reach with special rates on pickups. To advertise: Contact your account The Dallas Post Kari Wachtel, 674-4659 The Abington Journal: Mike Farrell, 585-1603 or call 570-675-5211. ALLAS POST
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