HONESDALE, PA — Four months since the resignation of Honesdale's last borough manager, borough councilors remain divided on what role the council should play in the borough's day-to-day operations. 

Some councilors take the view that, particularly in the absence of a borough manager, members of council should have hands-on oversight and control of the borough's operations, including those of the Honesdale Borough Department of Public Works (DPW). Others are more hands off, seeing the council more as a legislative body that sets overall policy while leaving the details of execution to the borough's employees. 

The rift has real world consequences. They showed in a series of arguments at the borough council's Monday, October 26 public meeting, which left a community art initiative stillborn, membership on a workplace safety committee disputed and the proper level of oversight over the DPW debated. 

Authorization and oversight

Late in the meeting on the 26th, the borough council brought a motion to the floor that put added a layer of oversight to the DPW. 

The motion established reporting requirements and fiscal controls for the DPW. It also designated council member Larissa Llewelyn as a public works oversight liaison. 

Council president Pat Resti told the River Reporter following the meeting that, under normal circumstances, the director of the DPW would report to the borough manager. Because Honesdale does not currently have a borough manager, it was suggested to put oversight in place to maintain a chain of command, he said. 

The controls on the DPW aren't permanent. Resti told the River Reporter that the increased fiscal controls would be needed only in the absence of a borough manager, and that the borough council still intends to acquire a borough manager. 

Fellow council member William McAllister saw the situation differently. 

"We have a DPW director, and as the head of the department, he has the authority to make decisions without [someone] micromanaging what he does," McAllister told his fellow councilors. 

Honesdale Mayor Derek Williams spoke in alignment with McAllister. "We have had our recent history of that direct oversight from council providing some difficulties to staff, and ideally that's something the manager would address, and has helped us with in the past," he said. "My hesitation regarding this would just be that it's kind of re-establishing that pattern that we have noticed as a problem."

"Right now, we do not have checks and balances in the DPW department." — Honesdale Borough Council President Pat Resti

Resti insisted that the oversight was needed. "We need to have some checks and balances, which, right now, we do not have checks and balances in the DPW department, nor do we have it in the office. We are just trying to get a handle on everything that's been running rogue for the last four years."

"I resent that comment," said Nilsen.

"I didn't make it towards you," said Resti. 

"Come on," said Nilsen. 

The motion passed, with councilors Resti, Llewelyn, James Hamill and Kim Fisch voting in favor, and with McAllister and Jason Newbon voting against; James Brennan was absent. 

Who manages the manager?

These disagreements have previously emerged regarding how much direct oversight borough councilors should have over the office of borough manager. 

Kevin Kundratic served as the borough's interim manager from April 2024 to the spring of 2026. He told the River Reporter in 2025 that, in his time in office, he tried to define roles, separating out what should be addressed by borough council and what should be managed by the borough’s administrative side. 

The majority of the borough council was committed to him as he did that work, according to Kundratic. However, those who weren't made things “rocky” for him.

Resti came on council at the start of 2026, and only served with Kundratic for a few months. Talking with the River Reporter in August about the search for a new manager, he said that he sees things a little differently; whether the borough has a manager or not, borough councilors need to be involved in the daily grind of the borough’s business, he said. 

That's not an opinion that's shared by everyone on council. 

"It's imperative that the council recognizes its responsibility to be a policy director and creator, not a managing opportunity, not responsible, not directing the operations of the borough itself," McAllister told the River Reporter in September. "It is formulated to structure the policies and the direction of the [borough], not to manage the [borough]. That's why we need a borough manager."

Borough councilors "are way too involved," McAllister added. "There is no question in my mind that the involvement of the council relative to the operation of the borough is totally inappropriate."

DPW staffing

During department of public works director David Nilsen's report at the October borough council meeting, he brought up issues with staffing at the department. 

He said that, when he addressed the council in August, he brought up the idea that he needed help at the department. The department currently has three field employees, plus himself; additionally, with no administrative staff in the department, the burden of the paperwork falls on him, often keeping him sidelined. 

Only three employees—two of the field staff, plus himself—are certified to drive the borough's snow plows, he said. "This leaves little margin for illness, extended storms, equipment problems or simultaneous emergencies. With so few operators, borough-wide ploughing can take much longer, potentially extending hazardous road conditions and delaying access for fire, police and ambulance services."

"It also places a strain on the employees' safety and fatigue management," he said. "Staffing shortages already affect leaf collection and seasonal roadway painting. These are operational and public safety consequences, not simply preferences for staffing."

"Staffing shortages already affect leaf collection and seasonal roadway painting. These are operational and public safety consequences, not simply preferences for staffing." — Honesdale Borough Department of Public Works Director David Nilsen

Resti told the council that steps are already in motion to hire additional employees. He said the borough is posting the job on Indeed, and also has contacted the Wayne County Workforce Alliance. "We're actively working on that, regardless of what we heard in [Nilsen's] report," he said. 

The morning after the borough council meeting, at 8:28 a.m., the borough put a post out on its official Facebook page that included a link to the job description and said the borough is "seeking a dependable, hardworking individual to join its Public Works Department!" 

Separately, Resti confirmed with the River Reporter that the employees in the department of public works are actively pursuing unionizing. 

Paint a plow, touch-a-truck

Department of public works director David Nilsen, during his report at the October borough council meeting, told the borough council about a community initiative he wanted to start with the department's snow plows. The initiative would allow community residents under 18 to submit artwork to be painted on the plows, with three designs being chosen. 

"The initiative would encourage creativity, civic pride and positive interaction with [DPW]. If council should not have any objections to the program, I would like their blessing to see it through," he said. 

The council did have objections. Borough council member James Hamill said that the proper procedure would be to bring that request through a council subcommittee, rather than to bring it up for the first time at a meeting of the full council. 

Nilsen disagreed. In the past, department of public works vehicles have participated in the public library's touch-a-truck events without council's explicit authorization, he said. "Here, I asked to put some paint on a plow, and it has to go to the committee?"

That was different, Hamill said. "There's precedent there, Mr. Nilsen. There's precedent. [The touch-a-truck has] happened every year, year over year. It's a pretty obvious answer there."

Workplace safety committee

At the start of the October meeting of the Honesdale Borough Council, former council member James Cordaro used his time during the meeting's public comment period to berate the council for what he characterized as attempts to target him. 

"I sit [in] on a safety meeting, and I know some of you here are targeting me as far as—if you've got something to say, say it to me—but they're targeting me to get off a committee that I was put on for the last year and a half… I would appreciate some of you acting like adults and not ten-year-olds," he said. 

At that point, Resti attempted to gavel Cordaro down, saying that he was making personal attacks. 

The issue regards Cordaro's presence on the borough's Workplace Safety Committee. 

That committee is made up of borough officials and employees. It meets monthly to discuss safety information and to share concerns about workplace safety in the borough. Nilsen acts as its chair. 

If the committee meets monthly for a year, the borough is eligible to receive a discount on its next year's insurance policy. However, if it misses even a single month's meeting, it becomes ineligible to receive that discount for the following year. 

Cordaro told the River Reporter the discount could be in the realm of 5-8%; the borough's adopted 2026 budget includes several lines listed as "insurance," with an "insurance" line at $100,000 and a fire department "workers comp insurance" line at $30,000.

Cordaro originally served on the committee in a dual role, as a borough council member and as a member of the Honesdale Fire Department. However, when Cordaro lost re-election at the start of the year, he continued to serve purely in the latter role. 

Cordaro left the October 26 meeting following his public comment. Afterwards, Resti told the council, "We were asked by the fire department that he wasn't to represent the fire company in that matter." 

Cordaro disputes that claim. He told the River Reporter that, in his conversations with leaders of the fire department, they told him not to worry about his position on the committee unless the borough put something in writing. 

The Honesdale Fire Department did not return a request to comment from the River Reporter.  David Nilsen declined multiple requests for comment from the River Reporter.