Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Code Enforcement Collapse

Norristown's code enforcement department is about to have a bomb dropped on it, and of course, I mean figuratively.
Charlie Sweeney has his job back.
Sweeney, who, when I was a cop reporter, was the borough's fire marshal, was fired after a debacle unfolded at the 4 Bakers building on Airy Street.
He took the borough to court, who by the way hired the very pricey firm of Cozen-O'Connor out of Philadelphia, and won.
He's been re-instated with full back pay.
I'll have more as the story unfolds.

Friday, May 9, 2008

Let the sun shine in

The state's Sunshine Law is not the greatest effort at transparency in government that I've ever seen, but it's better than nothing.
Local governments and local school boards are supposed to abide by the law, but I'm not so sure everyone out there is playing by the rules.
Officials in the Methacton School District have apparently been telling a resident of the district that he may come into the administration building only during a two hour window to see documents.
That's just wrong.
I checked with the Pennsylvania Newspaper Association's resident expert on the Sunshine Law and she told me the district has to make public documents available during their regular operating hours.
I really don't think violating the state's Sunshine Law is in the best interest of the residents of the district, even if there are one or two residents who are a little more demanding than others.
While we're on the subject. What the heck are Norristown officials thinking with this new proposal to destroy public documents? Space is always at a premium, but some of these documents are not all that old.