Memos at Random


	A potpourri of miscellaneous news SCRIBBLED IN A REPORTER'S NOTEBOOK

The public will, in effect, be able to look over the shoulders of county government employees as they go about doing their jobs.

That is not a futuristic promise, but a present-tense proposition as a commitment to extensive use of so-called e.government is implemented, County Council's administration & finance committee was told. A redesigned county police site which is about to go on line and was demonstrated to the committee on Mar. 9, for instance, contains such data as a catalogue of recovered stolen property and photos of 'most wanted' individuals. There are 'press release'-style reports about crimes and arrests which can be accessed electronically hours before they are published or even broadcast by the media.

Separate sub-sites on the county's Web site provide departments and even units within departments 'real-time' control of posted material without recourse to webmasters, according to John Kassay, of Digital Technologies, the firm designing the sites. "Content is maintained by the people closest to what is going on," county project manager Mary Beth Thompson said. To be sure, there is still an ample serving of public relations on the sites, but what is described as top-echelon interest in Internet information technology by the Gordon administration is said to mitigate against there being much stale data. (CLICK HERE to read previous Delaforum article.)

Click these links to access the sub-sites now available -- County police ... Department of Land Use ... County library system. The county site and sub-sites are available to Delaforum's GET CONNECTED.

The Brandywine school board will appoint a committee of community residents to advise it about which of its buildings to renovate and which ones to close.

An ambitious timetable accepted at a workshop meeting on Mar. 8 calls for the panel to report back by October so that a referendum to approve selling bonds to finance the district's 40% share of the cost of the third and last phase of a long-term renovation program can be held in April, 2005. That, according to Jeff Edmison, facilities director, would "maintain the momentum" of the second phase, now underway. Board president Nancy Doorey said it also would avoid having to wait a year to go to the voters and, with an operating tax referendum likely in 2007, scheduling tax-affecting votes in consecutive years.

The committee probably will have the option to recommend reconfiguring the district's four-tier grade structure. Also, Doorey said, a previous commitment to expand Lombardy Elementary "was contingent on having the enrollment" to justify it. Edmison's plan did not specifically state that it involved shutting down schools, but accompanying enrollment projections for the coming decade were well below the present 13,000-student capacity and he referred in his oral presentation to district facilities being "underutilized." He later told Delaforum that the committee will not be restricted to considering closing only those school buildings which have not yet been renovated.

Edmison will not be around to oversee implementation of the plan. He has resigned, effective Mar. 12, to become assistant superintendent of the Christina district.

Contrary to what a New York Times article reported, M.B.N.A. Corp. has not stopped work on converting the former Public Building on Rodney Square to offices, a spokesman said.

James Donahue said exterior construction will be completed, probably before summer, and interior work will go to a point where the space "will be made ready" for future use. A plan to move executive

Still up in the air is how much impact the company's reported decision to scale back its philanthropic activities. M.B.N.A.'s affiliated foundation has been a major source of grants to a wide range of public and private nonprofit organizations.

Catholic bishop Michael Saltarelli described his seeing the controversial motion picture The Passion of the Christ as "a magnificent experience."

Preaching at the annual Knights of Columbus communion breakfast on Mar. 7, he strongly recommended that it be seen by everyone over the age of 14. It is particularly appropriate, he said, "as a powerful lesson during this Lenten season." Taking as his sermon text the account of the transfiguration of Jesus in the Gospel of Luke, Saltarelli said Christians should experience Him in both a glorious state and "brought down" by suffering. Of His followers, only the Apostle John, His mother Mary and Mary Magdalene "actually followed Him to the cross," the bishop said.

Without referring specifically to the sexual abuse scandal that has rocked the Catholic Church, Saltarelli compared its present situation with Christ's passion. "This church of ours is suffering. She is beaten; she is battered; and she is bloody," he said. But, paraphrasing the Gospel text, he added, "It is good for us to be disciples of Jesus Christ when things as going bad, as it is when things as going great." He acknowledged the violent and graphic nature of the film, saying, "It's painful; it's frightening; it's horrible. ... The impression of the movie will be with us until we die."

The county administration will make a concerted effort to get the General Assembly to create an agency to tame errant creeks to prevent another flood disaster.

County Executive Tom Gordon told the monthly gathering of officials of areawide civic groups on Mar. 4 that the immediate need is for comprehensive studies of the Red Clay, White Clay and Shellpot to determine what needs to be done to control those waterways. Long-range management of them would follow. Because that involves overlapping jurisdictions, including Chester County, Pa., it must be at the state level, but New Castle County intends to be a major participant, he said. He did not estimate the cost of remedial work, but said the threat of flooding, literally at any time, makes it an urgent venture.

The September flood, which virtually wiped out the community of Glenville, was a potent wake-up call, he said. When earthen dams built more than a century ago to channel water to mills which no longer exist broke, a deluge swept down the Red Clay. Had that happened at night, he pointed out, lives would have been lost. Flooding on the Shellpot a decade ago did claim two lives. The problem was that no one in authority realized the danger beforehand, Gordon said. Nor is there a general appreciation of threats that remain. "We need to study it and determine what needs to be done," he said.

Meanwhile, he said, purchase of properties in Glenville and relocation of residents -- financed in part by $15 million of county money -- "is going better than I expected" and could be essentially completed by September.

TOP BOND RATINGS KEPT: New Castle County will go to the bond market on Mar. 10 with its triple triple-A rating intact, chief financial officer Ronald Morris said. All three Wall Street rating agencies -- Moody's, Standard & Poor and Fitch Rating -- renewed their top evaluations for $70 million of new debt and between $2 million and $5 million, depending upon market levels that day, to refinance old debt with higher interest rates. Morris said the ratings translate into total debt-service savings of up to $2 million. New Castle is one of only 22 of the nation's more than 3,000 counties with across-the-board top ratings.

THREE-WAY RACE: Nancy Doorey has filed to run for re-election to the Brandywine Board of Education. Two others also threw their hats into the ring on Mar. 4, the day before the filing deadline. The challengers are Wayne Emsley, a long-time teacher and administrator in the district whose administrator's contract was not renewed by the board for the 2002-03 academic year; and Donna Turner, who has been an active Parent-Teacher Association and Citizens Advisory Council volunteer. Doorey, who is president of the board, completes her first five-year term on June 30. The election will be May 11.

PLANT SITE'S STATUS EXPLAINED: A variety of business uses would be allowed at the site of the former General Chemical sulfuric acid plant in Claymont, but no heavy industry will be able to locate there. Dennis Brown, who administers the Coastal Zone Law, told Delaforum that things like a warehouse or distribution center would be permissible and that it is likely a permit for such 'light manufacturing' activity, such as making pharmaceuticals, would be granted. Philadelphia Pike, which bisects the General Chemical property, is the western boundary of the Coastal Zone in that area. (CLICK HERE to access previous Delaforum article.)

EMPTY HOUSE: The superintendent was there and so was the financial officer; the Power Point show was ready; the printed handouts were neatly stacked. Only thing missing when the time to start the second of two public hearings on community priorities for the fiscal 2005 Brandywine School District budget arrived -- and passed -- on Mar. 3 was the public. Two fewer people showed up than came to the first hearing, bringing total attendance for the sessions to two. Superintendent Bruce Harter had an explanation for residents' ho-hum attitude: There are no current budgetary problems and everyone is happy with how their tax dollars are being spent.

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CLARIFICATION: Brandywine's new Freedom of Information Act rules will not require attenders at school board meetings and other public sessions to pay if they want copies of the agenda and other meeting-related documents. According to information officer Wendy Lapham, copying charges "may be" waved afterwards for as long as copies from the initial printing remain. On another point from its most recent meeting, she said the board approved the union contract covering 21 maintenance workers after discussion in closed-door executive session, but removed consideration of the pact with custodians from the agenda. Terms of the former will be available after it is officially signed, she said. (CLICK HERE to access previous Delaforum article.)

Two residents who have been critical of county government are forming a 'good-government watchdog' organization to keep an eye on things.

Chuck Riley, of Claymont, said the nonpartisan Citizens for New Directions was inspired by response to a pair ad hoc meetings in January. The new group will hold a public organizational meeting soon, he said. In a press statement announcing formation of the group, Riley said citizen responsibilities "do not end with the vote in the voting booth but, rather, continue by keeping abreast of issues and ensuring that elected representatives and government employees are performing their duties as they should - by keeping the best interests of their constituents and the tax paying public at heart."

Co-founder of the new group is Richard Korn, of Hockessin, who was instrumental several years ago in combating improper practices by local officials in a county on Long Island, N.Y. He is a plaintiff, with Jerry Martin, of Brandywine Hundred, in a civil lawsuit challenging the hiring of outside law firms to represent New Castle County employees in connection with the continuing federal investigation of the Gordon administration. "The foundation of good government is the integrity and the lawfulness of those with who we entrust our civic and governmental responsibilities," he said in the press statement.

TWO ON ONE: The state Department of Natural Resources & Environmental Control and the federal Environmental Protection Agency have proposed to fine the Delaware Solid Waste Authority a total of $210,900 for air pollution violations at the Cherry Island Marsh landfill. The violations involve the release of methane and other gases. The state order also orders corrective steps be taken within a state time period, but a press statement did not say what that period would be. The authority, which is not financed by the state government, has to right to appeal the orders.

Selected highways will get brighter -- three and a half times brighter, as a matter of fact -- after their stripes get redrawn with new road-marking material.

Delaware Department of Transportation has just asked for bids on a $3.5 million three-year contract to replace waterborne paint on several heavily traveled highways with an epoxy laced with glass beads. The epoxy is a glue-like pigmented liquid which hardens to hold two sizes of beads in place. The beads reflect vehicle headlights giving drivers the appearance of a lighted guideway. That technology has been used for several years in mostly metropolitan areas around the nation to significantly increase visibility, especially of rainy nights. This will be its first appearance in Delaware.

Gary Laing, DelDOT's municipal liaison officer. told Delaforum that the material was selected after being tested since 2002 on the Korean War Veterans Memorial Highway -- Delaware 1. It costs 20¢ a linear foot, compared to between 3¢ and 8¢ for paint. But it lasts about three years, compared to paint's six to eight months. For the record, the epoxy's reflectivity is more than 500 millicandellas, while traditional highway paint is rated at 150 millicandellas. So, on balance, cost is about equal while safety benefits of the epoxy is far greater, Laing said. (CLICK HERE to read previous Delafourm story.)

Concord Pike, Kennett Pike, Philadelphia Pike, Lancaster Pike, Naamans Road, Montchanin Road, State 141 roads and Interstate 495 are among the highways to initially get the treatment.