There appears to be infighting with the Supervisors
Bell attacks Piho and other non public figures on FB page over budget differences
In a flareup of bad feelings over the direction of the 2025 Exeter Township budget, illegally appointed Supervisor George Bell has taken to his Facebook page to demean and degrade Supervisor board Chair Jack Piho. Bell also throws innocent civilians into his mixture of hatred, for absolutely no reason.
A difference of opinion of how to configure the 2025 township budget appears to have driven Bell off the deep end. From his rambling posts on his Supervisor Facebook page, Bell tries to portray himself as advocate for taxpayer dollars.
This silly assertion contradicts his record as a Supervisor, properly appointed, and illegally so, on spending and taxes. Here is a list of George Bell’s lowest monetary hits against the taxpayers:
In 2021, Bell voted with the majority to eliminate the Homestead Exemption, which was put in place in 2019, and removed the first $50,000 of valuation of a property to reduce the assessed value and the amount of taxes paid on a primary home. This nearly doubled the township property taxes of the average homeowner in Exeter, as the median home assessment in our town is $109,000.
In 2022 he voted for a budget that was unbalanced and drew well more than a million dollars from reserves, reducing the “savings” of the taxpayers.
Also in 2022, he championed, pushed, and defended the outrageously expensive contract with Reading Hospitality Management (RHM) to conduct events at the Reading Country Club (RCC). The contract provided for a 75/25 split in RHM’s favor (which actually came out to be 83/17 when all was told) that made over a million dollars for RHM, and cost the taxpayers $350,000 to provide fantastic profits to the company. From this transaction came the infamous billboard in the 2023 election for he and fellow Supervisor Dave Vollmer from RHM that cost that company $2.056 to hawk the duo’s candidacy.
In 2023, he voted for a budget that took $1.3 million from reserves, raised property taxes by 24%, and doubled the recycling fee for the citizenry.
In 2023, as Chair, presided over Vollmer inserting himself into the negotiations for a contract with the Teamsters Union that covers members of the Public Works Department, giving away extravagant raises and benefit perks that will cost the taxpayers MILLIONS over however long that union represents those workers.
In that same time period in 2023, he allowed Vollmer to go in and open the police contract that was locked down for the next 12 years, to also give extravagant raises and benefit hikes. These two moves were made in an attempt to buy the loyalty of township employees to support their election bids. Both men lost the election. These two actions were reportedly the last straw for former Township Manager Betsy McBride, who left a mere two months after accepting the job.
In 2024, he voted to sell the RCC for $4,805,000, which was paid in the form of $2,805,000 to purchase the deed, then a ten year interest free loan of $2 million to the purchaser, putting Exeter taxpayers on the hook for a private company’s profits AGAIN.
Do these sound like the actions of an official who has the taxpayer’s best economic interests in mind, or of someone who is feathering his own nest?
In his social media posts, Bell turned to vitriol against Piho, as well as two township citizens, Donna Merritt and Jeff Douglas.
Bell attempts to damn Piho by pegging him to two citizens who’ve done nothing to him personally, or to disparage or harm the township. It is merely the fact that these people had the temerity to oppose him in an election that has sent him off the deep end, to exact revenge for the basic rights of a citizen to be part of their own governance. His posted rantings showed a campaign flyer that was paid for and put out by someone expressing an opinion on the 2023 election, without the authorization of any of the candidates involved. He felt it necessary to bring the names of Merritt and Douglas into disrepute, as though the mere wish to serve on the BOS and to oppose Bell’s candidacy makes them disreputable. This doesn’t look good for Bell. He is attacking a fellow Supervisor who’s done nothing to him, doing so for the sake of politics to make it look as though he is a proper guardian of the people’s money.
It is one thing to take on another Supervisor, it is quite another to drag two “civilians” into his pathetic fight with a fellow board member, a fight completely one sided by the thug and bully Bell. I sent the screenshots to Douglas, then followed that up with a phone call to ask for an opinion on Bell’s unwarranted lunatic ravings. Douglas said, “Coming from a guy who colluded with two members of the board and the solicitor when he was appointed illegally after losing his election bid, a person who raised taxes at least three times, who provided over more than $4 million in increased spending in the township budget in two years, was one of the catalysts in the shameful $805,000 taxpayer funded payoff to Dave Hughes to keep him from suing the Supervisors personally and to quiet his voice of exposing corruption, and a person who was a lead proponent of suing two citizens and violating their rights in doing so, it’s not really much of a cut to me, is it? What did I do to him? Consider the source, I guess. To be associated with two kind people like Donna and Jack, well, that’s an honor. What perverse pleasure is this guy taking from this? What a clown.”
Former Supervisor Dave Hughes responded to my request for a quote with a phone call. Hughes said, “You know, what goes through my mind is that I’m not surprised. I’ve never had an intellectual conversation with George. We all have these conversations with our friends and colleagues, but in the roughly 2 1/2 years that I worked with him, I was never able to accomplish that. It’s because he doesn’t possess the intellect to do so. He relies on emotion, not intellect. Despite the calls of many in Exeter that George is so smart, he’s never done any budgeting in his professional career, and it shows. He shouldn’t be taking anyone to task for an opinion on budgeting. The attacks on Donna and Jeff are nothing new. We’ve seen his erratic behavior in meetings, attacking an elderly woman a few weeks ago, attacking Russ Maggazu two weeks ago, the times he threw people out of meetings, his cursing at me and others, unwillingness to cede to the rights of the Chair of the Board in speaking out in meetings. We’ve also seen numerous times when he attacked members of the public in social media, his backroom dealing that we all know about, hiding information from the public, filing suit against both you and I which blew up in his face. It’s a pattern of behavior that is undeniable. I’m just not surprised by this at all, as I was victim of this unhinged behavior for nearly my entire time on the Board.”
Merritt had no comment, and Piho refused to wallow in the mud with Bell, merely returning a texted query on the situation with, “No comment, Jerry.”
Bell continued his meltdown against Piho by releasing what SHOULD BE private, privileged communications between BOS members, in the form of text messages that Piho sent to members. Apparently, Dave Hughes is the only person who can’t release privileged information.
This lashing out was done in an attempt to cast Bell in the light of a proper steward of the people’s money, in order to bolster his chances in next year’s elections. This piece lays waste to that sick fiction. Hughes got it right when he called Bell’s behavior “erratic”. In fact, he may have been being kind. I’d call it demented. But I think we can all agree it’s just uncalled for. Piho didn’t attack him, he laid out a plan and asked for input from his fellow board members. Bell, in a cunning and insane manner, turned on Piho for political advantage, exhorting the group of clapping seals who promote and applaud his bullying tactics to also attack Piho. All because Piho did his job as Chair in soliciting thoughts and ideas.
It also brings to mind the story I heard from an insider at the township building, who wishes to remain anonymous because they fear retribution from Bell. In late July, just before the Hughes settlement occurred, Bell, along with Supervisors Clarence Hamm and Michelle Kircher, were making moves to oust Piho as Chair because he wasn’t being harsh enough in his dealing with Hughes. The three of them were going to oust Piho as Chair and install Bell because he wouldn’t muzzle Hughes as Bell had done as Chair. The settlement obviated the need to remove Piho, so the entire thing was dropped. This is one more instance of the ruthless attitude of Bell, and those he’s coopted on the Board. The ones who colluded with he, Solicitor Chad Schnee, and the former Vacancy Board Chair to install Bell on the Board illegally. I didn’t print the story when I heard it, after the fact, because when I contacted Piho for comment on the story, he neither confirmed nor denied, but asked me not to tell the story in the name of comity in Board process. I feel no need to observe that now, as this is the second time that Bell has stabbed Piho in the back. This time he’s doing it publicly.
Bell’s actions are not the mark of a sane, thinking person. They’re the actions of a megalomaniac, who will stop at nothing to get his way. Remember all of this in next year’s elections.