Video: Candidates Forum: Kendrick Buckwalter

On Oct. 19, candidates for Phoenixville Borough Council headed to  for a candidates forum.

In the days leading up to the Nov. 8 municipal election, we'll present video of each candidate's answers. Each candidate responded to four questions dealing with topics like crime, downtown revitalization, traffic, parking, infrastructure and more. Dr. Lou Beccaria of the  served as moderator of the event.

The candidates had time to prepare answers to the questions before the forum.

Up next, going in alphabetical order, is Kendrick Buckwalter, who currently serves as the council vice president. Watch the above video for Buckwalter's responses.

Name: Kendrick Buckwalter

Party: Republican

Ward: West

Opponent: James Kovaleski

Forum Summary: Buckwalter's questions dealt with parking, crime/drugs/violence, the borough budget and the reorganization of the fire company.

Parking

Buckwalter started by saying that he took some heat in the past for saying the borough didn't have a parking problem, but a parking inconvenience.

"I still believe it," he said, though he added that on some of the residential streets like Hall and Church streets, the inconvenience has escalated to a problem for residents.

"They are getting an undue amount of parking from the downtown," Buckwalter said.

In the downtown district, however, the parking lots and spaces are not far from shops and restaurants, Buckwalter said, and he noted that when patrons go to malls, walking is involved.

As for solutions, Buckwalter gave the parking authority credit for clearing out abandoned cars in borough lots.

"People just used it for long-term storage," Buckwalter said.

He said the borough should continue to listen to input, including that from the ad-hoc parking steering committee formed in the borough.

"They're coming up with some pretty good solutions," Buckwalter said, including instituting permit parking on Church and Hall streets.

The committee also suggested changing the lots to be free until mid-day, which Buckwalter said was a positive move.

Crime, Drugs and Violence

Earlier in the debate the candidates heard from north ward candidate Carol Stinson, who shared some statistics on crime in the borough (watch for her video next week). Buckwalter pointed to those.

"Phoenixville is very fortunate to be a quiet community," Buckwalter said. "We have a very fine police force led by a very capable chief."

The borough now has a drug task force, and when certain houses have problems, the police are out there, Buckwalter said. He said that helps pre-empt a lot of the drug traffic in the borough, though he said it doesn't stop it completely.

The force does a "fine job" on working on keeping drugs out of the borough, Buckwalter said. 

As for violence, Buckwalter said with the exception of the tragic murder in mid-September, violent crime is not a major issue, again calling Phoenixville a "quiet community."

Council voted to hire additional officers at the chief's prompting and Buckwalter said the force does a good job in the borough.

"We have something to be very proud of," he said.

Budget

Buckwalter emphasized watching spending and said he does that in his own home, as well. That becomes difficult when some of the highest costs of the borough have to be negotiated, however, he said.

"One of the biggest budget line items is the health care and currently it's at $1.5 million just for that line item," Buckwalter said.

At a recent finance commmitee meeting, it was revealed that the health care costs would go up 12.5 percent for 2012.

With the unions in place for uniform and non-uniform employees, Buckwalter said beneifts have to be negotiated. And while the borough thought it had a tentative contract in place for its non-uniform workers, it recently was rejected 30-1. 

"We're tanking in that department so we've got to start from square one," Buckwalter said.

As for creative ways to help with the budget, Buckwalter, who currently sits on the finance committee, said if the borough cuts back by one cent per kilowatt hour on electric costs, it would amount to approximately $100,000 in savings.

"We're going to be doing that," he said.

New phone service added recently will take those costs from approximately $75,000 to somewhere in the $50,000 range, Buckwalter said.

Grants are an option, but Buckwalter pointed out that recently, the borough was denied a county grant to do water main work on Cherry Street.

"It's hard to really find creative ways," Buckwalter said.

Fire Reorganization

Buckwalter said he's "very proud" of the fire department and its volunteers.

"I think they have done an admirable job," Buckwalter said.

When he first came to council in 2002, the reorganization plan was recommended, Buckwalter said.

"They saw the virtue of consolidation and did so," Buckwalter said.

Consolidation is now entering the second phase, and they're working to get one unified company together. 

The consolidation, Buckwalter said, will be a benefit to Phoenixville and will lead to a better force.