SC Votes to Abolish Civil Service Commission

The Spring City Borough Council voted 6-1 to abolish the Civil Service Commission on Monday night at its monthly meeting. Councilman Mike Hays was the sole nay in the voting process.

Council had about the abolishment in the April meeting. The civil service commission provides its own grievance system for officers who think they were unjustly terminated, as well as aids in the hiring process of new officers. In previous talks, Borough Manager Dennis Rittenhouse explained he contacted the solicitor of the local commission, who said it is not required that the borough utilize the commission, since historically the borough operates with three or less full-time officers at one time.

Abolishing the commission also saves the borough money and allows the chief of police to make quicker and more defined decisions on personnel. With the abolition of the commission, the borough will adopt its own grievance policy, which council regarded as strong at the April meeting.

The official ordinance is listed as number 517 and has been duly advertised by the council's solicitor. Rittenhouse announced to council that he will notify the police association so it can sign off on the ordinance.

Council also accepted the letter of resignation by former Chief of Police . Brown, who was hired for the role in September, resigned effective April 20. There were no new discussions on replacing Brown and April's police committee meeting was canceled. The next meeting will be on May 17 at 7 p.m.

News and Notes

• Spring-Ford High School senior girls basketball guard was awarded a plaque by Spring City Mayor Michael Weiss for her role in the PAC-10 and District champion team.
• Police activity for the month of April: 199 complaints, one burglary, four thefts, four criminal mischiefs, 15 traffic citations (two speeding tickets), 17 criminal arrests, three accidents, two parking tickets. Assisted other departments: East Vincent - 15, Limerick - 1, East Coventry - 4, Royersford - 3, East Pikeland - 3, Phoenixville - 1. Mileage - 3,011. Gas - 277.4 gallons.
• Sharlene Tucker of Commercial attended the meeting and introduced herself to council. She is trying to sell a property at 111 N. Main St. and was hoping to get input from the community on who may be interested and what might be the best fit there, from a business and community standpoint.
• Dennis Keen of N. Church Street, who is a pastor at a local church, asked if council could provide the church with a temporary "yield to pedestrians" sign for Sundays and special services.