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Chester CountyPRESS
www.chestercounty.com
Covering Avon Grove, Chadds Ford, Kennett Square, Oxford, & Unionville Areas
Volume 153, No. 51 First in a series
Wednesday, December 18, 2019
The Kennett Township investigation: A web of deceit, devices and trickery begins
The following news story provides a summary of the specific and detailed findings that are contained in the 43-page police criminal complaint filed by Robert J. Balchunis, Jr., a sworn police detective with the Chester County District Attorney’s Office, that details former Kennett Township manager Lisa Moore’s misuse of Kennett Township funds, that resulted in her Dec. 10 arrest when it was discovered that she had embezzled $3,249,453 from Kennett Township over an eight-year period. While much of this news story contains information pulled nearly verbatim from this report, it is also supplemented with additional facts relevant to Moore, the township and the investigation, in order to provide a clear and comprehensive narrative. By Richard L. Gaw Staff Writer From the time she was first hired as a clerical manager for Kennett Township in June 1997, Lisa Moore was on a fast track to a very successful career. She quickly rose through the ranks of municipal government, and in 2010, she was appointed as the township’s manager. Subsequently, she was given the responsibility of overseeing the township’s daily business and its financial operations, such as employee compensation, processing vendor invoices and payments, and taking direction from the township’s supervisors, Allan Falcoff, Michael Elling and Robert Hammaker.
Over that time, Moore exercised primary – at times exclusive – control over access to the QuickBooks accounting software the township used to record financial transactions. While she was earning top marks for her work at the township, Moore was also becoming a key stakeholder in the economic development and historic preservation of southern Chester County, serving on the Kennett Area Economic Development board and on the board of Historic Kennett Square. Over the last decade, she had become a well-respected fixture throughout the Kennett area community, a tireless advocate for open space, parks and trails and business owners.
By Betsy Brewer Brantner Contributing Writer
Lincoln University Concert Choir to perform at Eagles-Cowboys game...7A
INDEX Opinion.......................7A Obituaries.............2B-3B Calendar of Events.....6B Classifieds..................4B
© 2007 The Chester County Press
In a wealthy municipality that had assets of more than $25 million, and which had an annual general fund budget of more than $5 million – Lisa Moore was Kennett Township’s first – and many would say, best – face forward. On April 3, 2019, Dr. Richard Leff, the township’s board vice chairman, reported to the Kennett Police Department that he had been contacted by the Capital One Fraud Department concerning township money transfers – both via check and automated clearing house (ACH) payments – from a township account to a personal Capital One account. He told police that the fraud department report-
Courtesy photo
Former Kennett Township Manager Lisa Moore.
ed that Capital One had ed fund business checking received deposits from the account with Fulton Bank Kennett Township Board – using account number Continued on Page 3A of Supervisors consolidat-
No tax increase in Early plans for White Clay Point presented in New Garden Oxford Borough Borough council also appoints a new mayor to fill vacancy
R e - e n v i s i o n i n g Toughkenamon...4A
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There will be no tax increase for the residents of Oxford Borough as borough council unanimously approved a general fund budget in the amount of $3.8 million at the Dec. 16 meeting. The Tax Levy Ordinance was also approved and the millage rate will remain at 12 mills for the second consecutive year. The meeting started after an executive session was held for council members to discuss the letters of interest that were received for the position of mayor. That position was vacated when Lorraine Durnan Bell submitted her resignation, citing medical reasons, and borough council accepted the resignation at a meeting on Dec. 2. Appointing a new mayor was a major item on the lengthy agenda for the last council meeting of the year. The borough received four letters of interest from borough residents Susan Miller,
Phil Harris, Paul Andriole and Amanda Transue-Woolston. All the candidates were present at the meeting to answer questions from council and the public. Each candidate was given an opportunity to answer two questions from Council: the first question pertained to why the person wanted to serve as mayor, and the second question was about what the person would hope to achieve as mayor. Miller said that her life experiences and desire to address the needs of the people made her a good candidate. She added that serving as mayor would be a good way to be involved in the community. Andriole previously served Oxford Borough as a council member and mayor, and said that he could hit the ground running due to his experience. His concern was both the police budget and the safety of the community. Harris, who owns a construction business and has Continued on Page 2A
By Richard L. Gaw Staff Writer When New Garden Township first floated JP Morgan Chase’s sketch plans for its proposed White Clay mixed-use development on its website on Dec. 5, the red flags of concern flew from Landenberg to Avondale and from West Grove to Toughkenamon. The concerns were many: Route 41, already
clogged, will not be able to sustain additional traffic from this development, not to mention the roads that will border it. It will place an additional population burden on the Kennett Consolidated School District. It will have a negative impact on the environment. New Garden Township is already becoming too overdeveloped. A project of this kind would destroy
the semi-rural quality of life here, forever. On Dec. 16, more than 150 collective voices gathered at the Township Building to articulate those concerns, during the initial introduction of the proposed 200-acre project that will include both residential and commercial components, on the north and south sides of Route 41. Continued on Page 5A
Photo by Richard L. Gaw
More than 150 residents packed the New Garden Township Building to hear the first presentation for White Clay Point, a 200-acre mixed-use development that is being proposed by JP Morgan Chase to be built in the township.
Avon Grove School Board approves opt-out resolution At the school board’s reorganization meeting, Bill Wood was selected as school board president and Jeff Billig was voted to serve as board vice president By Steven Hoffman Staff Writer The Avon Grove School Board concluded a busy 2019 with two meetings in December—the first a reorganization meeting and the second a regular meeting where the school board handled a relatively light agenda. At the reorganization meet-
ing on Dec. 2, the school board officially welcomed the newly elected members and selected a new president and vice president. Magisterial District Judge Matthew Seavey administered the oath of office to the five people who won seats on the board in the November election—Jeff Billig, Herman Engel, Tracy
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Lisi, Bonnie Wolff, and Dorothy Linn. This is Linn’s first term on the board, while Wolff, Lisi, Engel, and Billig are all returning to the board. Once they were sworn in, the newly elected members joined the holdover board members: John Auerbach, Richard Dumont, Lynn Weber, and Bill Wood. The first duty of the newly
configured board was to select a new president. Wood, who served as board vice president in 2019, was nominated for the top leadership position. There were no other nominations and he was unanimously approved as the board president for 2020. Billig was then nominated for vice president. He, too, was approved by a unan-
imous vote. The school board approved the list of meeting dates and times for the next year. The regular meetings will continue to take place on the fourth Thursday of the month at 6:30 p.m. With the current school year reaching its approximate midpoint, district Continued on Page 6A
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