HOPEFULLY, Exeter has turned a page
The resignation of illegally appointed, never elected Supervisor George Bell could mean a change in tone for the township government
My phone buzzed early Friday afternoon. “I have info, call me”. Seeing it fifteen minutes or so later, I called my township contact (who I won’t divulge, as they feed me a lot of information). They picked up the phone and said, “Are you sitting?”
“Uh, oh. Yeah, I’m sitting.”
“George Bell has handed in his phone, key fob, and letter of resignation!”
After my exuberant exultation, I asked the pertinent questions. When? This (Friday) morning. Why? He’s gotten a promotion at work, and a condition is to give up his Supervisor position. I held off on writing anything on the Examiner until I had a confirmation, but then put the information out there, knowing my source was good. Within fifteen minutes came the confirmation I needed.
Amen and hallelujah, Exeter!!
My footstep was lighter yesterday. I said to friends, “It’s good to be an Exeterian.”
Today (Saturday), I took the time to examine the whole thing, and really put meat on the bones of the situation. Here’s what I’ve come up with.
This is the absolutely best thing that could have happened to Exeter Township. It potentially solves some problems for Exeter. I’m not saying that Bell’s resignation is a cure all for the problems of this township caused by the Board of Supervisors (BOS). BUT IT’S A GOOD START. The wild overspending, favoring of vendors and others over the interests of the populace, poor decisions, and lack of information given the people about items of importance have been going on for a long time. All of the things listed above were put on steroids in the four years that Bell has been on the BOS.
Township spending has gone up about 30% in the nearly four years Bell has been a BOS member, from $12.7 million to $17.5 million. The rate of inflation in that time is less than 17%. In his first months on the board, a budget was passed that used $1.7 million in reserve funds, and raised taxes by eliminating the Homestead Exemption (HE), put in place to offset some of the price hikes that would be coming due to the sale of the water treatment plant. The use of reserves has been a staple in every budget passed by a Bell-membered Exeter BOS. Those reserves have gone from $93 million in 2019 to $38 million now. Plus more than $10 million in interest paid due to favorable interest rates on investments in Certificates of Deposit. This is a record of spending that is terrible.
Favoring of vendors examples include deals with Reading Hospitality Management (RHM) that included a 75/25 split in favor of RHM, that cost taxpayers $350,000 for the vendor to make nearly $1 million. It also includes a ridiculously lopsided deal with the Berks County Redevelopment Authority (BCRDA) that turned the Promenade property over to them for $100,000, along with a mortgage that is in the Recorder of Deeds office for the property in the sum of $2.9 million, given by the township. They claim that no money has exchanged hands on the mortgage, but they’ve still turned over the property for $100,000 instead of hiring a reputable realtor to sell the property. Coming from that “sale” to BCRDA was a promise that they just about had it sold to an international hotelier, which they shrouded in secrecey. Somehow, that never materialized. BCRDA denied an RTK by the Examiner to reveal the hotel chain, and no Township personnel have a clue who it was, as they just never asked. Bull.
Poor decisions included the awful overspending on unnecessary lawsuits and legal actions that totals almost $1 million. The lawsuits include the filing of the grandaddy of boo boo lawsuits, Exeter vs David Hughes, that cost the taxpayers $805,000 in a payment to Hughes to get him to go away, and to protect township personnel (and their families) from legal action. Couple that with about $70,000 in lawyer’s fees paid to fight what was a losing battle from the outset.
Outside of the things already listed as issues with Bell’s time on the board, there is also the insane disrespect shown the citizens of Exeter. This moment towards the end of a BOS meeting, when an elderly woman screwed up her courage to go and do a public comment about something that mattered to her, the township newsletter. Bell ridiculed, demeaned, and dismissed this woman because he didn’t want to hear what she had to say, and following his pattern of picking on elderly women, verbally ushered her out of the room.
There are numerous other examples of the same type of incident, piled on top of suing people to violate their 1st Amendment rights, and firing a police chief, Wendell Morris, whom it was written about in the Reading Eagle “if Morris decides to apply elsewhere for police work he will get an excellent recommendation from the township.” Bell was the tip of the spear in getting rid of Morris for no apparent reason, causing the taxpayers to buy out his contract to the tune of $70,000. The decision to get rid of Morris was done via a phone poll of the Supervisors, not in an executive session, which means that the Sunshine Act was violated. That happened MANY times during Bell’s tenure.
Bell and Hamm have been on the bust to oust current Police Chief Matt Harley. Hopefully, this resignation ends that harassment, and Harley stays in place. He’s a good and caring man, and his officers love him.
Then came the crowning glory of Bell’s suspect time with the Township, his illegal appointment in January of 2024. In this video, you’ll see the moment when the illegal vote occurred, in clear contradiction of state law, and in collusion with two members of the board, the Solicitor, and the Vacancy Board Chair.
The millions wasted cannot be recouped, but hopefully, the damage to Exeter’s reputation can be smoothed over.
Bell ran in three elections, and lost every one. He ran in the 2023 GOP Primary, and lost by two votes. He got Berks Election Services to OK counting three write-in votes that he received to put him through to the General Election, which he also lost. That led to the illegal placement on the BOS through collusion. He then lost the GOP Primary again this year, but received 23 Democrat write-in votes (a STIRRING mandate) for an open ballot position to once again be put through to the next contest. He has never been elected, only selected. It is a great thing that he’s resigned, because the people have spoken over and over again. Perhaps the ending will stick this time.
The Supervisors will accept the resignation in Monday’s meeting, and set a date for picking the replacement. It is important for them to pick an independent minded person, who will come in and do the job for a short period of time (until the end of the year), and go home. Neither of the two candidates for Supervisor, Larry Drogo, or Amanda Johnsen, should be chosen should they apply. This would potentially give an unfair advantage to the one chosen in the election, and would amount to election, not rigging, but certainly, engineering.
Thus closes the door, hopefully, on an era of wild spending, bullying of the citizenry, and generally bad behavior. The funny thing about this is that George was actually a decent Supervisor until Ted Gardella got on the board and spread his divisiveness and bile over the township building. A switch flicked in George at that time. Perhaps Gardella’s vile nature brought out the true personality of Bell. Birds of a feather.
The rot of that period is over, buried once and for all. Hallelujah!
It’s good to be an Exeterian.