January 9, 2024 - ChaddsFordLive.com

Kennett Township manager resigns

The Kennett Township manager will resign on Feb. 1 to take a new position in Virginia, according to a press release sent out this morning.

Eden Ratliff will be the deputy city manager for administration for the city of Charlottesville, Va.

Eden Ratliff is heading to Virginia after four years as Kennett Township manager.

“Charlottesville is on a mission to sustain stability within its local government and as I join that effort, I know the experiences I have gained in Kennett Township will serve me well,” Ratliff said.

The township hired Ratliff in 2019, the same year that former township Manager Lisa Moore was fired and charged with embezzling $3.2 million in township funds.

“Nearly four-and-a-half years ago, the township entrusted me with the responsibility of stabilizing the Kennett Township government and professionalizing the services we provide to this great community,” Ratliff said.

Ratliff was introduced to the public at the Aug. 21, 2019 meeting, and spent the next couple years growing the township staff and working with supervisors to strengthen policies and procedures in the aftermath of Moore’s charges.

“Working in Kennett Township was an intense rebuild project, and there are many great professionals who enthusiastically joined this team to help,” Ratliff said in the release. “They are dedicated public servants who make this government run smoothly and professionally daily. Collaborating with them has been a great honor, and I will cherish the memories and progress we made together.”

Township Finance and HR Director Amy Heinrich will be the interim manager while the supervisors search for a full-time replacement.

According to the press release, Roseann McGrath, a local government search consultant, will work with the township to fill that role. Kennett Township first contracted with McGrath in 2019, so she could help the then-newly hired Ratliff create human resources policies that the township lacked.

About Monica Fragale

Monica Thompson Fragale is a freelance reporter who spent her life dreaming of being in the newspaper business. That dream came true after college when she started working at The Kennett Paper and, years later The Reporter newspaper in Lansdale and other dailies. She turned to non-profit work after her first daughter was born and spent the next 13 years in that field. But while you can take the girl out of journalism, you can’t take journalism out of the girl. Offers to freelance sparked the writing bug again started her fingers happily tapping away on the keyboard. Monica lives with her husband and two children in Kennett Square.

Kennett Township manager resigns Read More »

U-CF board talks money

School & Education

Unionville Chadds Ford School Board directors heard reports on three items concerning facilities that are up for a vote at next week’s regular meeting. They also resumed the budget talks for the 2024-2025 school year during the board’s almost four-hour-long Jan. 8 work session.

Director of Finance Joe Deady gave the presentation on the preliminary budget, which estimates revenues of $106,728,061, and expenditures of $106,740,256.

“It’s a relatively balanced budget at just a $12,000 budget deficit,” Deady said.

Estimated millage rates are 33.17 mils for Chester County property owners and 18.89 mils for properties in Chadds Ford, the only Delaware County municipality in the district. Those figures represent an increase of 3.82 percent in Chester County and 12.98 percent in Chadds Ford. (A mil is a tax of $1 for every $1,000 of assessed property value.)

Deady said Chadds Ford property owners will provide 21.337 percent of the real estate revenue for the district if current numbers hold up through the rest of the budget process. The preliminary budget includes $600,000 to implement full-day kindergarten, he added.

The board is scheduled to vote on the final budget on June 17. The numbers will likely change between now and then, with budget hearings held in May.

School district Director of Facilities James Whitesel reported on the facilities items, saying a new tractor the district is considering buying will more than $50,000, but added that the purchase is in this year’s budget. The new John Deere tractor would replace a 30-year-old Ford tractor and a 28-year-old John Deere that the grounds crews have been using.

“Both of them have operational issues,” he said, “but both will be used as trade-ins to help offset the cost.”

The trade-in will take $11,000 off the cost of the new tractor, Whitesel added. “The final cost will be $39,834.” The contract, if approved next week, would go to Robert E. Little, Inc.

Also up for consideration at next week’s meeting is the need to upgrade various pieces of playground equipment at Unionville Elementary School. Whitesel said three new pieces of equipment are involved, including a new rope climbing system, a volta spinner, and new swing sets for a total cost of $52,808. The recommended equipment provider is Recreation Resources.

Whitesell said a similar proposal will be considered next month for Pocopson Elementary School. Playground equipment at Hillendale and Chadds Ford Elementary schools has already been upgraded.

The other agenda item listed as being a voting item for next week is the consideration of new school “clean” buses as part of an EPA clean bus rebate program. However, Whitesell told the board that the district has not gotten any grants from the first two rounds for applications to upgrade the bus fleet. Grants from the first two rounds would have provided $350,000 for each bus, which would cover the cost of a new bus. A third round for grant applications is upcoming with some different forms, he said, and grants from round three would provide $200,000.

The next school board meeting is scheduled for 7:30 p.m., next Tuesday, Jan. 16 at C.F. Patton Middle School.

About Rich Schwartzman

Rich Schwartzman has been reporting on events in the greater Chadds Ford area since September 2001 when he became the founding editor of The Chadds Ford Post. In April 2009 he became managing editor of ChaddsFordLive. He is also an award-winning photographer.

U-CF board talks money Read More »