NORTHUMBERLAND — In a surprising reversal, Borough Council members voted 4-3 Tuesday to transfer $30,000 from the borough’s street fund back to the Liberty Splashland Bowl Slide fund.
Just two weeks ago, at its first meeting of 2012, council voted 4-3 to take that $30,000 away from the bowl slide fund, effectively stalling the bowl slide project, said Greg Carl, a council member.
The swing vote was Councilman Steven Reed, who reversed his vote of two weeks ago. This time he voted to transfer the money back to the bowl slide, saying it was the right thing to do, although he agreed that the borough needed to repair its roads.
Councilmen James Troup, Adam Klock and Ty Sees all were adamant that although the slide project was a worthy one, it was more important to residents of the borough to deal with infrastructure problems. All three voted against transferring the funds back to the bowl slide.
Voting with Reed were Councilmen Jonathan Rees, Frank Wetzel, and Carl.
“I don’t think it’s right that tax money be used for this project,” Klock said before the vote. “I just can’t justify it. I’m also upset that there is no business plan for the slide project. Still, I think we can do this through fundraising.”
And he challenged the people attending the meeting to help the borough get the $30,000 for the slide through several fundraising proposals he had documented.
“We can do this,” he said. “I’ll work my tail off to make this happen.”
Meanwhile, Northumberland County Commissioner Vinny Clausi made an impassioned plea that a $40,000 Community Development Block Grant that he was instrumental in getting for the borough be used as originally intended, to help finish the 45-foot bowl slide.
“That money was to be used for not just borough residents, but people from the entire area,” Clausi said. “I’d felt betrayed when, at your last meeting, you decided to use the money for something else. Don’t be traitors. Please do the right thing. Our goal was to do something good for the people in the area.”
Clausi wondered how he could deal with a council that went back on its word.
Clausi then made an offer. He agreed to pay $10,000 of his own money if the council held up its end of a gentleman’s agreement.
“This is a one-time offer,” he said. “Take it or leave it tonight.”
Just before the vote, Klock made a compromise offer that $20,000 be returned to the bowl slide fund, keeping the rest in the streets fund. “We can easily make up the rest through fundraising,” he said.
But Klock’s compromise never came to a vote. Rees offered his motion to transfer back the funds, which was approved.
With the $30,000 returned to the bowl slide fund, and Clausi’s $10,000, the project should be completed by the coming summer season.
An emotional crowd of more than 75 crowded into the borough building on Orange Street, and they seemed split between agreeing that the money should be spent to fix some of Northumberland’s crumbling infrastructure versus completing the bowl slide project.
Carl, who said his longtime passion had been managing Liberty Splashland for free, said his goal was to make the park self-sustaining eventually.
“I don’t want to have to come back to council and ask for operating money,” he said. “The bowl slide, its uniqueness, can help us achieve that goal.”
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