So, Tredyffrin has a new manager. I still have a bad taste in my mouth from what the exiting manager Mimi Gleason and VP of the Board of Supervisors John P. DiBuonaventuro did to fellow blogger and friend and all around awesome lady, Pattye Benson who authors Community Matters.
Tredyffrin has hired one of their hometown boys, Bill Martin, formerly of Radnor Township fame and the Bashore years. Not that Bill Martin was a particular fan of Bashore’s (I was told he wasn’t), he was just from that truly unfortunate era. An era which took the fortitude of some persistent residents, commissioners, and others who were on the up and up to correct. It was not, however, without blood shed.
Bill Martin went from assistant township manager (and vartious other positions) in Radnor to interim township manager in Radnor in early 2010 when Radnor was saved from the debacle of almost hiring problematic ex-Coatesville manager Paul G. Janssen Jr. as interim township manager. Martin, however, was ultimately passed over for the permanent manager position when Bob Zienkowski was bought in from Ohio.
I will tell you honestly I am of the Radnor Bob Zienkowski fan club and with good reason – he is amazing. He doesn’t just talk the talk, he walks the walk. That man walked in to a hot mess, rolled up his sleeves, and got busy.
As an aside, some timely news about Radnor as it relates to Chester County is Bob Zienkowski suggested at the October 15th, 2012 public meeting that Radnor consider studying to leave Delaware County and to join either Chester or Montgomery County. Yes, municipal secession (see Radnor meeting on You Tube for 10/15/12 and start listening just before 9 minutes 42 seconds to catch this.) The irony is I have always felt Radnor Township had more in common with Chester County versus Delaware County, but I digress.
Ok back to Bill Martin. After Radnor, he went to Bridgeport – a very tiny municipality in Montgomery County. He has been there about a year as per newspaper article I found. Of course, Bill Martin joins another mid level Radnor refugee of the Bashore era, Matt Baumann, who is Tredyffrin’s current Director of Planning and Zoning. Matt helped me when I got the historical marker for the Wayne Natatorium. He’s a heck of a nice guy.
Bill Martin is also a nice guy from what I have always heard told. But truthfully, Tredyfrrin as I see it is a municipality in need of serious remediation ASAP. And choosing a manager who may or may not be a politically connected local resident may not be the way to go here. I am actually going to disagree somewhat with my esteemed blogging colleague Pattye Benson ever so slightly.
Pattye comments that this is the first time a Tredyffrin Township Manager is a Tredyffrin resident and lives in the township. Now I agree with the residency part, and I think the departing and in the end disappointing Mimi Gleason is actually a West Chester area resident. What I do not agree with is choosing someone who lives in Tredyffrin now as a manager. I think the best thing that could have happened to Tredyffrin would have been a new Township Manager coming in from waaaay outside Tredyffrin and the area, truthfully.
I hope I am wrong, but I wonder if Bill Martin will have the chops in the end to take on what needs doing in Tredyffrin. Tredyffrin has historically been subject to whispers – people are afraid of retribution. And before you poo poo me here, look what happened to Pattye Benson when she spoke up? That still does not sit right with me, and I still believe that troll of a supervisor John P. DiBuonaventuro as well as Tredyffrin Township’s administration owes her an apology, don’t you? In true lettergate fashion, I say a written apology.
Insular politics and politics of one party rule without much balance is bad for a community – just look at the snarl of tangled politics that is Lower Merion Township.
So I will be looking for Bill Martin to be an independent voice, beholden to no one. I hope he can accomplish that. I hope after what he saw and experienced at Radnor Township during the Bashore years that he can bring a different tone to Tredyffrin.
Congratulations Bill Martin, but my oh my you have a large job ahead of you.
ByBob Byrne Email the author 5:56 am
Community Matters and TE Patch Blogger Pattye Benson reports that Tredyffrin Township’s Board of Supervisors has appointed a new Township Manager to replace Mimi Gleason, who left the position in September 17 after ten years with Tredyffrin Township…..What sets him apart from Gleason and others who have served as Tredyffrin Township Manager is that Martin is a resident of the township.