Chester CountyPRESS
www.chestercounty.com
Covering Avon Grove, Chadds Ford, Kennett Square, Oxford, & Unionville Areas
Volume 152, No. 20
INSIDE
60 Cents
Wednesday, May 16, 2018
Thank you, sponsors
U-CF School Board approves proposed final budget By John Chambless Staff Writer
Get ready for the Kennett Run .....................…...... 1B Courtesy photo
In celebration of the upcoming 29th annual Kennett Run on May 19, the Kennett Run Board of Directors held a ‘Thank You’ luncheon for their sponsors at Two Stones Brewing Company in Kennett Square on May 10. For the story, see Page 1B.
State director tells leaders that Kennett ‘is a place that gets it’ The Garage announces an important partnership ....................................... 4A
By Richard L. Gaw Staff Writer
Before about 100 elected officials, key volunteers and the movers and shakers in the Kennett Square community, Richard Vilello, Pennsylvania Deputy Secretary for Community Affairs and Development and the keynote speaker at the annual “State of the Square” event on May 9, equated the economic, cultural and systematic progress being Red Devils make a run to 10-3 victory ….............. 9A made by the Kennett borough and Kennett Township to being on the varsity team or being an honor roll student. A former four-term mayor of Lock Haven, Vilello said that his mayor’s job only paid him $37.50 a week, which required him to
INDEX
Opinion........................7A
Police Blotter.............10A Obituaries...................2B Calendar of Events.....4B
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Classifieds..................5B
© 2007 The Chester County Press
Photo by Richard L. Gaw
Pennsylvania Deputy Secretary for Community Affairs and Development Richard Vilello delivered the keynote address at the annual “State of the Square” in Kennett Square on May 9.
continue his career in construction management and code inspection. In his role, Vilello was responsible for the hiring of personnel, and he would often look for the intangibles in a potential
employee, such as how they wore their tool belt, the degree of use that their tools had, and seeing if their tape measure was well worn. Soon after he accepted his Continued on Page 2A
East Nottingham Township supervisors discuss agricultural easement, truck traffic The supervisors also receive an update about the Oxford Area Sewer Authority’s financial situation By Steven Hoffman Staff Writer During the May 8 meeting of the East Nottingham Township Board of Supervisors, there was an update about the financial situation of the Oxford Area Sewer Authority. East Nottingham Township is one of four member
municipalities―along with Oxford Borough, West Nottingham Township, and Lower Oxford Township― of the sewer authority. In 2016, the sewer authority failed to make debt service payments totaling $1.2 million on a $27 million loan from the United States Department of Agriculture. The loan was taken out
more than seven years ago to expand the public sewer system for the Oxford area, and in order to secure the loan each member municipality had to agree to back the loan in the event that the sewer authority couldn’t make its payments in a given year. Each municipality accepted a portion of Continued on Page 3A
The Unionville-Chadds Ford School Board, during a marathon three-and-a-half hour meeting on May 14, ultimately approved the proposed final budget for 2018-19 by a vote of eight to one. The board considered the budget option that was previously recommended by the administration, along with three other options that arose as a result of the relatively high tax increase proposed for Delaware County residents. The second option was to use part of a surplus from reduced health-care spending to reduce the Delaware County millage increase to 6 percent. The third option was to use all of the surplus to reduce the Delaware County millage increase to 5.7 percent, and the fourth option was to defer the district’s capital plan for one
year, essentially “kicking the can down the road,” as board member Tom Day said. In the end, the board agreed that any option besides the one presented by the administration opened the district up to too much risk, and while some on the board weren’t entirely pleased with the options, the vote of eight to one was the conclusion. Under the proposed final general fund budget, the millage rate in Chester County will be 28.51 mills, an increase of 0.35 percent; and in Delaware County, the millage rate will be 25.15 mills, an increase of 6.43 percent. The weighted average is a 1.56 percent increase. Final adoption of the budget and the levying of real estate taxes are scheduled at the June 18 School Board meeting. The board also heard from administrators and student Continued on Page 2A
Kennett Square Borough approves waiver for park authority By Steven Hoffman Staff Writer Kennett Square Borough Council agreed to waive the tapping fees that could have been charged to the Kennett Area Park Authority for connecting to the public wastewater treatment system at the meeting on May 7. Kennett Area Park Authority, which oversees the Anson B. Nixon Park, was seeking to have the tapping fees waived to connect to the public wastewater treatment system as a way to save some on the overall costs of connecting to the public system. Council member Wayne Braffman, who serves on the borough’s Finance Committee, said that the tapping fees are estimated at $2,500. “It’s no expense to the
borough, but it would be lost income,” Braffman explained to council. It was the Finance Committee’s recommendation to approve the waiver. The borough doesn’t have a parks department, and the expenses that come with it, because of the work of the Kennett Area Park Authority. Borough officials emphasized that the waiver was only being considered because the Kennett Area Park Authority is essentially a department of the borough. They do not want to set a precedent for issuing waivers, and did not think they were setting one with this decision. The waiver issue was just one item on borough council’s agenda that evening. Portabello’s Restaurant in Continued on Page 3A
Nottingham School fourth-graders release trout into the Big Elk Creek They raised the fish during the school year as part of the Pennsylvania Trout in the Classroom program By Steven Hoffman Staff Writer Fourth-graders in Scott Schaffer’s class at the Nottingham School in Oxford spent eight months conscientiously raising brook trout from eggs in an aquarium in the classroom. While they did so, Schaffer incorporated lessons about science, ecology, and the environment. The students learn about the life cycles and habitats of the fish, and the importance of clean water. Last week, the class released the brook trout into the Big Elk Creek. This is the second year that Schaffer’s class has
taken part in this unique, hands-on learning experience that was made possible through the Pennsylvania Trout in the Classroom program, an interdisciplinary initiative for students in grades 3-12. The Trout in the Classroom program partners with hundreds of schools throughout the country. Brook trout is the state fish of Pennsylvania, so the schools in this state get to play a part in boosting the population of the state fish. Each teacher who incorporates the program into their classroom instruction can design it Courtesy photo to meet the needs of the For the second year in a row, students in Scott Schaffer’s class at Nottingham School participated in the Trout in the Classroom program. They released 44 trout students. Continued on Page 6A
into the Big Elk Creek last week, concluding eight months of work on the project.