Upper Darby narrowly avoids government shutdown

‘Where’s the money?’ isn’t the only issue

About 30 minutes into the public meeting, it became clear that a lack of communication was part of the issue. Council President Brian Burke said that it was important to work together — but also that he didn’t appreciate seeing Rongione’s proof of a fully funded ARPA coffer on CBS3 first.

“As we work together, we have asked for things. We have received them. We’ve had miscommunications, but to receive this wonderful letter today where [reporter] Joe Holden posted it first is not transparency,” Burke said.

He tore into the independent audit proposed by Keffer because she did not publicly disclose the company’s name in her announcement.

One member of the public contested the validity of Rongione’s letter from the Pennsylvania Local Government Investment Trust. Gary Merron — the township’s former finance director, who resigned over the weekend — came to the podium and cited his 40 years of experience as a certified public accountant.

“This particular cash crisis is just the first in what I fear will be a continuing parade of management mistakes if action is not taken. This, in large part, is why I tendered my resignation,” Merron said.

He had scathing words for chief administrative officers past and present, who he believed were “unfit” for their jobs, having “neglected” proper financial practices over the years.

“Upper Darby is a $90 million-a-year enterprise whose accounting systems and methods more closely resemble that of a Kool-Aid stand,” Merron said.

Merron categorized the letter that Rongione provided from the Pennsylvania Local Government Investment Trust as “convenient,” considering that as of Jan. 28, the last time Merron was in the township building, “this account did not exist.” Merron said the money was moved from special-purpose township bank accounts to produce this result, which is why he believes any audit done on township finances should report to the council and not to the administration.

Though Merron wasn’t the only person expressing concern over transparency, some community members, as well as township employees and their families, wanted the attention to be focused on making sure municipal workers would be paid.

Resident Jennifer Hallam admonished council members for engaging in “political nonsense.”

“I don’t care when that documentation was produced … the money is there. There is no money that’s lost. We know where our money is, OK? OK, so we need the council to allocate that money so that people can get paid, so that I can stay at home and do my job and get paid for the hours that I just took off here so that our streets get cleaned up, the trash can get picked up, and we can do good things for this township,” Hallam said.

Resident Kyle McIntyre told the council that while he initially had questions about the money after the previous meeting, he felt as if the letter Rongione provided was enough to pass the ordinance allocating the $6 million. However, he had criticism for all the elected leaders in the room for the way they had conducted themself over the past week.

“The way that council treats each other, the way that council treats the administration, and vice versa, is an embarrassment to this township. And in all honesty, I don’t know how some of you even showed your face today,” McIntyre said.

Given the infighting, he said his biggest fear was that local government was becoming more like its federal counterpart.

“And that’s shameful, for God’s sake, I’m 23 freaking years old, and I have to come up here and tell you guys that. Some of you are twice my age,” McIntyre said.