Many citizens are still outraged that Albion Borough Council, at the beginning of the year, cut the town's police department from ten officers to only two.   

However, one citizen is doing something about it.  Stephanie Kramer has spent many, many hours sifting through borough documents, including budgets, phone bills, job descriptions, and overtime payments.   She has some tough questions for borough council at its meeting tomorrow night.  They're questions that most council members are not going to like.

 

"They've had too many years of just running wild and doing what they want. The more we dig, the more money we're seeing spent on stupid stuff, and the more we see them cutting back our public safety,” says Kramer.

 

Kramer compiled the documents after borough council dramatically scaled down the town's police force, and then suspended the police chief, without pay, twice within one month.  . She says council trimmed the police force for financial reasons, but members themselves have a practice of wasteful spending.
    

Kramer says borough employee Barb Hershelman has no official job description, but does a variety of duties inside the borough offices. Kramer says Hershelman has racked up over 67 hours of overtime as of September 4, at a rate of $22 an hour.   Kramer says most of that overtime is for operating the carousel at Albion Borough Park.

 

"22 bucks an hour we're paying her when we can't have a police department fully staffed, but we can have an untitled job for somebody to run a carousel for $22 an hour overtime,” she said.

 

Kramer also has a problem with borough electrician Scott Seaton, who also serves as vice-president of borough council.  He's racked up 112 hours of overtime, at a rate of $34.59 an hour. Kramer says the duties in which he's charging overtime could be contracted-out much cheaper.
    

Police Chief Dan Ries was suspended for using too much data on his borough issued cell phone. Kramer has documentation that Seaton did the same thing, but was not punished.

 

"But because he's a member of borough council. What's good for one employee is obviously not good for another,” she said.

 

Kramer's documents show that money saved by the reduction of the police force was transferred to the borough administration. $76,000 has not yet been spent. There is a request to purchase a new $30,000 vehicle for use by office staff.