Past, present and future meet in Honesdale

LINDA DROLLINGER
Posted 8/21/12

HONESDALE, PA — As Honesdale prepares to boldly go where it has never gone before, preparation to celebrate what has gone before met with resistance and constraints.

At its March 21 …

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Past, present and future meet in Honesdale

Posted

HONESDALE, PA — As Honesdale prepares to boldly go where it has never gone before, preparation to celebrate what has gone before met with resistance and constraints.

At its March 21 meeting, the Honesdale Borough Council moved forward with its plan to hire a borough manager. After amending the borough manager position description to reflect additional duties, grant writing chief among them, the council voted unanimously to advertise for candidates to fill the vacancy. Advertisements will appear in a local newspaper and on the borough’s own website (honesdaleborough.com), with an application submission deadline of April 18. The full, amended position description of 35 specific duties can be found at (www.ecode360.com/27034095.)

The council also dealt decisively, albeit temporarily, with the problem of critical police understaffing. For the second quarter of 2016, from April 1 to June 30, the council has delegated to Police Chief Rick Southerton full authority to eliminate, if necessary, borough police coverage for any shift. But before that happens, the borough will upgrade security inside and outside police department premises, including police vehicles parked in a lot adjacent to department headquarters.

In other business, a request by the Greater Honesdale Partnership (GHP) to hold a Civil War reenactment in Central Park on May 7 was greeted with a distinct lack of enthusiasm. Although several council members said they liked the idea of celebrating Honesdale’s Civil War history, certain reenactment activities would violate current borough ordinances, particularly the discharge of firearms, open fire burning and overnight encampment in Central Park.

The request presentation, made jointly by GHP Executive Director Gail Tucker and recruiting NCO of the 143rd New York Volunteer Infantry Jesse Staszewski, sought to allay those concerns. When insurance committee chair Jeremy Ebert asked if live ammunition would be used, Staszewski assured him that only blanks would be fired. Still not satisfied, Ebert told Staszewski that all musket-firing regulations must also be observed.

Overnight camping is prohibited in Central Park, making impossible the reenacting group’s plan to camp there the night of May 6. However, after considerable negotiation, the council agreed that the group could pitch tents and post a sentry to guard them and the equipment they contain, provided that nobody actually sleeps in the tents.

The council was also adamant that open-fire cooking could not take place. Cooking over fire is permitted in Central Park with explicit permission, but even then only with the use of regulation barbeque pits or grills. At the sacrifice of period authenticity, Staszewski was agreeable to meeting those standards.

Eventually, it was agreed that Staszewski will meet with fire and police chiefs, who will detail what must be done to ensure both public safety and compliance with borough ordinances.

Ebert suggested that holding the reenactment elsewhere might be a better option for all concerned. To which Tucker replied, “For that matter, it could be held up on the cliff or over at the fairgrounds. The purpose of holding it in Central Park is to bring business to downtown.”

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