Well-wishers included large contingent of area law-enforcement
By Kathleen Brady Shea, Managing Editor, The Times
Magisterial District Judge Gregory Hines (left) administers the oath to Stephen T. Johnson as his son, Stephen T. Johnson Jr., holds the Bible.
A heavy police presence accompanied Coatesville’s City Council meeting Monday night, with uniformed officers from multiple locales spilling into the lobby after all seats and standing room had been taken.
The occasion was the swearing-in of new Coatesville Police Chief Stephen T. Johnson, a former deputy commissioner of the Philadelphia Police Department. Magisterial District Judge Gregory Hines administered the oath as Johnson’s son, Philadelphia Police Sgt. Stephen T. Johnson Jr., held the Bible.
City Council also passed an $8.8 million budget for 2013 – an exercise replete with rhetoric and wrangling – but it was Johnson’s ceremony that attracted the crowd of police and community members. Some onlookers were eager to meet the new leader while others wanted to congratulate an old friend.
Chester County Detective Lt. Kevin D. Dykes (left) chats with Coatesville Police Chief Stephen T. Johnson after the ceremony.
Among the host of law-enforcement notables was Philadelphia Police Commissioner Charles H. Ramsey, whom Johnson called a mentor who “epitomizes every positive about law-enforcement.” Johnson thanked Ramsay and others who had supported him, including his girlfriend, Marta Santos, a Philadelphia Police detective who attended the ceremony with her granddaughter, Ciara Williams.
Johnson, who has already attended several city events, said he was “very impressed” with what he has seen and looks forward to serving the community. During his 35-year career in Philadelphia, his positions included deputy commissioner for the Office of Professional Responsibility, the arm of the department that polices itself; deputy commissioner for Homeland Security and Domestic Preparedness; and inspector in the city’s South Division.
Following the swearing-in, Acting Coatesville Fire Chief Jim Lentz awarded seven commendations to first responders who risked their lives to help save six adults and an infant trapped on the roof of a home engulfed in flames on Sept. 18. The house fire, which erupted just after midnight in the 500 block of East Chestnut Street, claimed the lives of Elizabeth Izquierdo, 44, and her 5-year-old son, Imanol.
Lentz said the death toll would have been higher were it not for the efforts of Coatesville Cpl. Jeffrey Ingemie, Officers Kirt Guyer and Sylvester Earle, Coatesville Battalion Chief Craig Weaver, Coatesville Firefighters Edward Brooks and Michael Pawlowski and East Brandywine Firefighter Gregory Pilotti.
Coatesville Police Chief Stephen T. Johnson (left) receives congratulations from James Bell, who stepped down as interim police chief.
City Council also issued a proclamation for Interim Police Chief James Bell, expressing appreciation for his service over the past several months.
Then, as the room cleared out, City Council heard public comment, which included a suggestion by longtime resident John Pawlowski to reinstitute a past practice of honoring veterans and first responders with flags along Lincoln Highway, and thanks from Marie Hess, who heads the Parks and Recreation Department, for support of this past year’s events.
The bulk of the three-hour meeting centered on budget discussions and disagreements. Councilmen Ed Simpson said he could not support a budget that required a $1.4 million infusion from the city’s dwindling trust fund – now down to about $9 million. He said the city needs to raise taxes or cut services; otherwise, it’s headed for a state takeover when the trust fund dries up.
Simpson said that he would be amenable to a compromise: a slight tax hike that would reduce the withdrawal from the trust fund. He also advocated a proposal to eliminate residents’ annual $295 solid-waste fee, folding it into the real-estate tax.
Although that plan was rejected last month, Council President David Collins and Jarrell Brazzle expressed interest in resurrecting it. Under the original proposal, taxes would rise 5.5 mills, upping the average 2012 residential real-estate tax bill of $569.30 to $901.87; however, the increase would be partially offset by the elimination of the solid-waste fee, bringing the net increase to $37.57 for the average resident.
Finance Director John Marcarelli had touted the change as a way to not only improve the city’s solid-waste collection rate but also to receive income earlier in the year. Councilwoman C. Arvilla Hunt called the proposal “cockamamie bull….,” and in the end, it failed to pass.
“This city will not change,” an exasperated Brazzle said. “We’re going to be in the same situation next year.”
Without discussion, City Council rejected a proposed contract agreement with the city firefighters’ union. After the meeting, Collins said that the union had not agreed to sufficient concessions and that the matter would likely go to arbitration.
During the meeting, he expressed concern that the “unions aren’t aware of the crisis we’re facing.”
I tried to go to Harry’s hearing on his drunk driving charge. I went to the Clerk of Courts Office to find out what courtroom it was in. Joyce Trowery (Richard Legree’s niece) gave me a courtroom on the 5th floor.
I went to that courtroom and nothing was happening. When I came back down Walker was coming up the stairs from the basement. His hearing was there.
A few years before I reviewed some of Richard Legree’s court records at the Clerk of Courts office. When I returned to my home in Coatesville I entered by the back door. My front door bell was ringing. At the front door a man told me “don’t go asking about Richard”. The information he had could have only come from the Clerk of Court’s office.
People here in Coatesville are afraid to talk to anyone in West Chester about crime here. Because they know that where they went and who they talked to will get back to Coatesville. Joe Carroll was aware of this and talked to people alone in Coatesville.
Makes me wonder if Legree’s niece at the Clerk of Courts Office is one of the people that leak information to drug dealers here.
By the way; when Joe Carroll had meetings at night in his house in Coatesville Legree’s pal Ronny Suber was sitting in a car just outside Joe’s home watching. Later when the meetings were at the Coatesville Savings Bank Suber was across the street on the sidewalk.
And it is a very big deal when Coatesville public officials have direct connections to drug dealers. Ask the people who dug bullets out of their walls about that. It’s also the reason the DoJ is all over Coatesville City Hall.
As far as I am concerned brazzle,hunt,collins and maybe hudson because remember he was taught by walker. they are all from the same mold.
As far as I know Hunt, Brazzle, Collins and Hudson were never accused and convicted of selling heroin.
Ok, what does that have to do with anything here? Legree was garbage I agree but the others are just as bad, without selling drugs………There are different kinds of criminals and those individuals are criminals by definition, just not drug related.
Hudsod was convicted of DUI, along with Walker (who crashed a City car and fled the scene) but they were not fired, or even disciplined so think about that???? Why????
I believe there will be a steady improvement in our police service with the appointment of Chief Johnson. Chief Johnson will be the first fully qualified Chief Coatesville has had since Chief Bellizzie was on duty. And let’s be honest here, Chief Bellizzie was forced out because Richard Legree knew that Chief Bellizzie would never work with him.
Funny thing; No one believed me back in 2005 when I told them that Richard Legree would attempt to control the Coatesville PD when the then new “Bloc of Four” came into office. It was only after Harry Walker brought Richard with him to interview Lt. Fitzgerald of the Philly PD for the Coatesville PD chief position that everyone else learned that Richard wanted to be a Lieutenant in Fitzgerald’s Coatesville PD.
I believe that Richard Legree did gain some control over the Coatesville PD through Coatesville City Manager Harry Walker and Coatesville “Chief” Matthews. I think that as a result the drug business was good again and people were digging bullets out of walls from almost daily gunfire in Coatesville. I think that the arsons were an unintended result of what I believe was the Legree, Walker and Matthews trashing of the Coatesville PD.
Stop Blaming Legree, he has been gone for years. You need to look around and realize that other people now are controlling the same situations. Kirby Hudson is just as bad as Legree yet nobody seems to see it. The Council….Hunt, Brazzle and Collins especially are all just as bad, if not worse tan Legree ever was. At least Rich did things in the open instead of all this back door, closed meeting BS that the current administration is into…..You are mistaken if you think now is any different than ack then, wake up Sir.
“Johnson thanked Ramsay and others who had supported him, including his girlfriend, Marta Santos, a Philadelphia Police detective who attended the ceremony with her granddaughter, Ciara Williams”.
Wait, that’s funny, his “girlfriend”, a police Detective……sounds like he is involved in the same activity that the current City council has spent over $100,000.00 trying to prove against several officers that makes no difference yet they refuse to stop the probe into ruining two individuals reputations for no reason. Oh wait maybe he was divorced, or separated……Wonder which, if either.
He was a Deputy Commissioner (for you non-cops that’s like the Chief only higher in Philly) and she was a Detective (for you non-cops that’s just above a patrolman)…………Can you say Conflict of interest? But I guess his being in charge of the” office of professional responsibility” allowed that to happen without anyone taking notice or making an issue of it.
Wel,l lets just wait and see if he is the person I am beginning to think he is. I hope he follows the City of Coatesville’s policies on personal relationships now that he is in charge. But I am sure Kirby will sweep it under the carpet like council did his DUI……..Same story Different characters. You can put a nice uniform on anyone and make the community think he is a savior but when you take it off I bet this guy is no better than Matthews, Rawlings, or Canale. Just look at his picture in the Thanksgiving article, new Chief wearing a backwards baseball hat like one of the boyyyyyyyyyyyzzzzz on 7th Avenue. You think he would want to make a better first impression in public but after he got the job he began to show his true colors, which will only get worse…..Watch!
Two separate forensic audits of the 2008 City of Coatesville budget found $168,000 missing from the cities income. The missing money was in the form of cash solid waste collection payments at the payment window in City Hall. Rolling the solid waste collection fees into real estate taxes would keep that from happening again.
Sometimes you need to read between the lines:
Finance Director John Marcarelli had touted the change as a way to not only improve the city’s solid-waste collection rate but also to receive income earlier in the year. Councilwoman C. Arvilla Hunt called the proposal ‘cockamamie bull….,’ and in the end, it failed to pass.”