Who's on Your Payroll?

Next Tuesday, schools will be closed throughout the school district for Election Day, but does that mean we get the day off, too?  No.

True, one might argue why care when in Spring City all parties listed on next week’s ballot are automatically a part of the general election in November.  Some might even argue that it is a waste of time to go to the polls, but I see it as wasting our voice if we don’t show up now.

Regardless of what is obvious, we still need to direct the flow of this election and steer the actions of people we have already elected into power.  As a voting body, we show those running and the people affiliated with them what our priorities are and where we stand as a borough.  We make it known that collectively we do care and put the status quo on notice.

Voting also gives the silent majority an opportunity to voice their opinion without fearing fallout.  (I’ll talk about the “silent majority” in another blog post.)

Let’s look at this from a different perspective.  Imagine the borough as Spring City, Incorporated.  If Spring City were a business, this is where we stand as a company: At the top of the organizational chart would be the “citizen.”  Yes.  You would be the president and chief executive officer.  CEOs are responsible for the success of the business.  We dictate the cultural climate, set strategies and offer a vision to be followed.  CEOs also hire, fire and lead the management team.

Who is on the management team?  We elect our “management team” and they sit in the vice president, director and chief operating officer positions.  Here at Spring City, Inc., our mayor and borough council members hold some of these positions.

The management team supervises our commissions, solicitor, treasurer, and borough manager.  In turn, this level of supervision trickles down to our various departments including public works, police, etc.  I’m sure you get the picture.

The election process represents our hiring season.  A time where we hang the help wanted sign, place an ad in the newspaper, and take inventory of those we currently employ.  The primary election is essentially an initial review and from there we determine how we as executives feel about an elected official’s performance or potential to perform if hired.  If we believe they should continue forward, we give them an opportunity to advance to the final review – the general election.  Awaiting the Spring City, Inc. employee is the opportunity to help execute our vision.

The problem is (before we start barking orders and ask to tow the person in our reserved CEO parking space) let’s review our own performance as president and CEO of Spring City, Inc.  In the 2009 primary election, 15 percent of the registered voters voted.  For the general election, the number jumped slightly (and I stress slightly) to 22 percent.  That means, if we took a 40-hour workweek and compared it to our polling turnout, that would be the equivalent of just under nine hours worth of work during the general election.  For the primary, we only worked a six-hour workweek.  I don’t know of any CEOs running Fortune 500 companies by putting in less than ten hours a week.  How successful do you think we can be as Spring City, Incorporated or as a borough?

What trends are we seeing?  The governing members that support the status quo mentality rely on you sitting at home, minding your business (as in business outside the borough) on Tuesday so they can go undetected as they fly under our radar.  (Basically, they want to come in two hours late to work, take an extended lunch, and leave early without it affecting their raise.)

Right now we have 1,813 people registered in Spring City’s four districts (of those, 768 are registered as Democrat and 737 as Republican).  Imagine if all registered voters showed up for work on Tuesday and voted.

Borough Council has three of their seven seats open this election.  Donald Shaner (R) and Michael Petak (R) currently sit on borough council and are on this year’s ballot.  (Petak replaced Norm Castor a few months ago.) Eugene Sweeney (R), Patty Dunwoody (D) and Andew Finkelstein (D) are also vying for a council seat. 

Whoever wins this year’s election will join our council president Louis S. DiGuiseppe (R),
council vice-president
Thomas K. Kratz (R), James J. Burns (D), and Michael D. Hays (D). (Rich Beard is not running.) 

If you read the comments you are either happy where things are in Spring City or you want change.  Here’s a hint, change will not happen if we stay in neutral.  We need new blood and people to execute our vision CEOs!  The people on council fighting for change need us to hire reinforcement employees to help them.

If you’re happy with the way things are, go ahead and take the day off on Tuesday.  For those of you who aren’t or have some grumble and gripe about the state of Spring City, show up for work on Tuesday.

If we want to see borough hall cleaned up and for us to take steps to improve how employees conduct business at borough hall – guess what… we have to vote people in place that will serve as Human Resources with a vested interest in you.

Want funding and grants to improve Spring City?  We need to bring on council members that support seeking out funding and make our borough manager accountable for applying in a timely fashion.

Bottom line is, who signs the paychecks around here?  Us?  Or the people we elected to work for our greater good?  This Tuesday, let’s remind our elected officials that we are not bottom feeders in this food chain.  We run this house and it’s time they take notice.

Keisha Mennefee (www.keishamennefee.com) resides in Spring City, PA.  She is an author and part of the awareness campaign "Wake Up Spring City" (www.facebook.com/WakeUpSpringCityPA) encouraging change in Spring City.