Council at odds in Slippery Rock
SLIPPERY ROCK — Incoming council member Gene Allison is asking the current council members to stop spending money on the Gateway Project until the new members take their seats in January.
“From the last election, the voters overwhelmingly agreed with the vision and ideas of the newly elected members of council,” according to a letter sent to current council members.
In November's municipal election, the challengers — Russell D. Karl, Itzi Meztli and Gene Allison — won all three available council seats. Regina Greenwald, current council president, ran for re-election and lost by 152 votes. The council is a seven-member board.
Since the election, incoming council members have stood individually before the council to ask for decisions regarding the Gateway Park project to cease until they take their seats in January.
At the Nov. 14 meeting, Greenwald disregarded the requests and said council members intended to move forward with all of their projects.
The three incoming council members joined forces with Mayor-elect Jondavid Longo and Royce Lorentz, a current council member, in signing the letter to council.
“Although we know that you can proceed with or without our input, we are asking you to use restraint in further contracting or spending on the Gateway Project, as there will be three, if not four, new members of council after the first of the year,” the letter read.
Allison said the letter was written to ask for courtesy rather than to threaten or demean the current council. He said it also helps give some emphasis for those citizens that have spoken out against the project at the council's meetings.
“The purpose is solely to ask the council for professional consideration,” Allison said. “Please respect the voters' and citizens' opinions.”
The first phase of the Gateway Project was to demolish the old First National Bank building on South Main Street, followed by the paving of new parking spaces where the building stood. The project's final phase would involve landscaping and adding additional amenities to the park at an additional cost.
Allison said he and those who signed the letter agree with completing the early phases of the project.
“Let's stop this,” he said. “Let's get the demolition done and let the new council take care of the rest.”
Greenwald said she does not intend to read the letter until Tuesday's council meeting because the entire council should be involved in discussing the matter.
“It's a decision that seven people are making, not just one,” she said. “The seven of us will put a lot of work in this decision.”
Allison said he wants Slippery Rock residents to attend the council meeting at 7 p.m. Tuesday. He said if council still refuses to work with the incoming members on this part of their transition, then they will explore other options in trying to slow the project until January.
