For the past four years I have had the opportunity to serve the residents of East Pennsboro Township as your elected school board director for the East Pennsboro School District.  During this time, we, as a board, were faced with many challenges and many that had major effects on the students we were elected to serve and the taxpayers of East Pennsboro.   When I decided to take my seat on the East Pennsboro School Board of Directors in December 2007, I pledged to be fiscally conservative and being the voice for the citizens while also ensuring that the students were given top quality educational opportunities.   In my first year, I requested that the ad-hoc committee on cost savings and revenue generation committee be formed.   I am proud to see several new avenues for saving the school district money along with bringing new revenue into the district resulted from the work of this committee.  

Some of these items were the change to a 4day work week during the summer, which saved thousands of dollars in energy cost for the district.   We also saw additional revenue with the addition of advertising to our football and baseball stadiums.     Some other recommendations that were brought forward from this committee and from the feedback of our community is for the reduction is busing for our students and selling real estate lots on Salt Road that the district owns but has no future plans for.   It is sad to see these recommendations have not moved forward after many citizens spoke in favor of these items. I also sat on the nominations committee with our teachers union and was proud of the agreement that was settled fairly for both the teachers and taxpayers.   We also saw an attempt by some board members and our administration to outsource our custodial and maintenance staff to Aramark service.  After a loud outcry from the community and the support of a few board members, including myself, we were able to stop this process and keep these dedicated employees as East Pennsboro School District employees. 

 This past budget year was very trying for all of us as board members.  We have seen many changes and recommendations that were brought forward.    Some of the recommendations were the reduction in teachers and support staff and the realignment of other staff members.  As a board member and parent of students in our district, I was very upset to see these recommendations were being considered while not a single cut to the administration staff was included.  As a result of this I voted NO to the recommendations and publicly stated that I could not and would not support these cuts unless cuts at the administration level were also made.  Unfortunately, these recommendations were not included in the proposal and for this reason I didn’t support the administration’s recommendations to cut positions or increase taxes on the taxpayers of East Pennsboro.

During my tenure I also was part of a major transition with the retirement of Dr. Linda Bigos and the hiring of Bruce Deveny as our current Superintendent.   We also saw the retirement of both elementary principals. I would encourage my fellow board members that I served with over my four-year term to continue to positive movements that we as a board had taken with the best interest of the students opportunity for a quality education being first and foremost while also continuing to be fiscally conservative to the taxpayers of East Pennsboro Township.

Thank you again for giving me the opportunity to serve you as your voice on the East Pennsboro School Board for the past four-years and look forward to continuing my community service through my continued activities with the East Pennsboro Township Fire Department and also as a member of the Title 1 Parent Advisory Committee.

I will be keeping this website going but will be transitioning this to a more personal website covering issues within the community, state, and nationally related to the emergency services community.   I would encourage everyone to continue to follow my website for valuable information related to the emergency service community and our local community of East Pennsboro Township.

I would like to take this opportunity to wish everyone a safe and Happy Thanksgiving Holiday.   As we remember everything that we are thankful for during this holiday season please take a moment to also thank all of our troops who are serving this great nation and not being at home with their families.  

I am honored that the voters of Cumberland County have entrusted me with their support for another term as their commissioner.

My focus will continue to be on promoting a forward-looking county government that lives within its means by putting our communities first, and remembering that every dollar belongs to the people of Cumberland County.

In the time since taking office nearly eight years ago, my team and I are proud to have accomplished an enviable record for our citizens. We did this as a direct result of the better path chosen in my first term. With enormous financial challenges facing county government, I intend to continue promoting merit-based government that limits spending and taxes by focusing on clear priorities rather than fluff, and ensuring our efforts attain real results for every dollar spent.

I look forward to serving as part of the new Board in January and sincerely hope my elected colleagues are committed to keeping their campaign pledges about fiscal integrity and limited government.

Our county now has the proven blueprint for continued success in our hands. Our citizens deserve, and should accept nothing less.

As part of their ongoing efforts to keep our country and communities safe during emergencies, the Federal Communications Commission and Federal Emergency Management Agency will conduct the first nationwide test of the Emergency Alert System (EAS). The EAS test plays a key role in ensuring the nation is prepared for all hazards, and that the U.S. public can receive critical and vital information, should it ever be needed.  The first nationwide test will be conducted Wednesday, November 9 at 2 p.m. ET.  This test may last up to three and a half minutes, and will be transmitted via television and radio stations within the U.S., including Alaska, Hawaii, the territories of Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and American Samoa. Similar to local emergency alert system tests, an audio message will interrupt television and radio programming indicating: "This is a test." When the test is over, regular programming will resume.  For more information about the nationwide Emergency Alert System test, please visit http://www.fema.gov/medialibrary/media_records/6407 and www.FCC.gov.   On November 9 at 2 p.m. EDT, please remember: Don't stress; it's only a test. 

• FEMA Administrator's Message – In English http://www.fema.gov/medialibrary/media_records/6407

• FEMA Administrator's Message – In Spanish http://www.fema.gov/medialibrary/media_records/6408

• FEMA Press Release – http://www.fema.gov/news/newsrelease.fema?id=55722

• FEMA Blog – http://blog.fema.gov/2011/10/emergency-alert-system-test-one-month.html

• FCC Website – http://www.fcc.gov/encyclopedia/emergency-alert-system-nationwide-test