Security at issue in Chadds Ford

Security issues were the dominant topics of conversation during the Chadds Ford Board of Supervisors’ meeting on March 6. Discussed were issues of keeping people safe in the township building, keeping documents and information secure and keeping residents informed during emergency situations.

The Board of Supervisors is also trying to collect back taxes from businesses that were never billed.

Supervisors took two votes on building security measures. Passing quickly and unanimously was a motion to keep the building closed from 10:30 p.m. to 6 a.m. the following day. If scheduled township meetings ran long, they would able to do so without problem.

One controversial measure, however, was a motion to insure that a supervisor or a township employee would be present whenever other people had access to the business office area, including the small conference room.

It’s in that area where potentially sensitive information is kept. It’s also the area where the township’s elected tax collector conducts official business after normal business hours. She works in the conference room and will sometimes need to use the copier.

The issue has been a touchy one since first discussed during workshop sessions. The tax collector and other volunteers expressed concerns that they weren’t being trusted.

During the March 6 meeting, Supervisors Deborah Love and George Thorpe said they weren’t pointing fingers at anyone, that it was simply a matter of following proper security procedures as recommended by the state police.

However, during an exchange between supervisors, there was reference to an executive session that was held regarding security matters. Under the Pennsylvania Sunshine Act, executive sessions can only be held to discuss buying or selling real estate, personnel matters or litigation.

The morning after the meeting, Love said there had been two security breaches since the township moved its offices to Turners’ Mill. The first occurred within a year after the move. She said some documents were taken.

Toward the end of last year, someone damaged an inner door at the rear of the building. According to Thorpe, the unknown suspect used a key to unlock the outer door and then damaged the inner door. He said it looked as if someone had tried to take it off its hinges.

Thorpe stressed again that he wasn’t trying to point fingers at anyone, but felt uncomfortable that someone with a key, someone “who is either gone or still here now” would have done such a thing.

The measure passed 2-1 with Supervisor Keith Klaver voting against.

Love said that committee people and other volunteers could use the main meeting room without needing a supervisor or employee to be present. She also said that it wasn’t safe having someone such as the tax collector alone in the building at night.

There are also plans to have a zoned alarm system installed in the building, Love said.

In another security related matter, supervisors voted unanimously to contract with Global Connect Emergency Contact System. Global Connect contacts people by phone or text in case of emergency situations. The system can be fine tuned to alert people in just one part of the township if the situation isn’t township-wide.

Love gave as an example flooding on Ring Road. She said people living in the village area would be more readily affected than people living in Springhill Farm on the east side of Route 202.

Supervisors would be responsible for fine-tuning the alert system, Love said.

The price tag for the Global Connect system — paid for by the township — is $1,000 per year with a one-time startup fee of $1,400 along with a $12 per month maintenance fee.

It will take several months before the system is online for Chadds Ford. Residents will be notified how to sign up and Lizza said there is no extra cost to the residents for the service.

Other business

• Supervisors also voted 3-0 to have Keystone Collections, the company that collects the Business Privilege and Local Services taxes, contact businesses that have not paid those taxes. The idea is to get them caught up for back taxes owed since the BPT and LST were enacted in 2007.

Klaver said he would like an amnesty period so businesses that pay the back taxes within a certain (but still unspecified) period time would not be charged interest or penalties.

As previously reported, many businesses in the township were never billed for the taxes. Going after back taxes is a way to recoup an estimated $740,000 that were never billed or collected. The former collecting agency was using a business census that was short by 150 businesses. Keystone now has an updated list.

The actual mechanisms and procedures for collecting those back taxes have not yet been determined.

The BPT is a tax of $100 per year on businesses in the township. The LST is a tax of $52 per year on employees of those businesses.

• April 27 is the date for the township cleanup and recycling day. Household items, documents to be shredded and electronics — “anything with a plug” — can be recycled that day at the township building. More details will be announced later.

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.