{"id":3352,"date":"2012-12-11T01:09:53","date_gmt":"2012-12-11T06:09:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/?p=3352"},"modified":"2012-12-11T11:08:04","modified_gmt":"2012-12-11T16:08:04","slug":"city-police-chiefs-swearing-in-attracts-crowd","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/?p=3352","title":{"rendered":"City police chief’s swearing-in attracts large crowd"},"content":{"rendered":"

Well-wishers included large contingent of area law-enforcement<\/span><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

By Kathleen Brady Shea<\/span><\/strong>, Managing Editor, The Times<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Magisterial District Judge Gregory Hines (left) administers the oath to Stephen T. Johnson as his son, Stephen T. Johnson Jr., holds the Bible.<\/p><\/div>\n

A heavy police presence accompanied Coatesville\u2019s City Council meeting Monday night, with uniformed officers from multiple locales spilling into the lobby after all seats and standing room had been taken.<\/p>\n

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\u2019s son, Philadelphia Police Sgt. Stephen T. Johnson Jr., held the Bible.<\/p>\n

City Council also passed an $8.8 million budget for 2013\u00a0 \u2013 an exercise replete with rhetoric and wrangling \u2013 but it was Johnson\u2019s ceremony that attracted the \u00a0crowd of police and community members. Some onlookers were eager to meet the new leader while others wanted to congratulate an old friend.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Chester County Detective Lt. Kevin D. Dykes (left) chats with Coatesville Police Chief Stephen T. Johnson after the ceremony.<\/p><\/div>\n

Among the host of law-enforcement notables was Philadelphia Police Commissioner Charles H. Ramsey, whom Johnson called a mentor who \u00a0\u00a0\u201cepitomizes every positive about law-enforcement.\u201d\u00a0 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.<\/p>\n

Johnson, who has already attended several city events, said he was \u201cvery impressed\u201d 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;\u00a0 and inspector in the city\u2019s South Division.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Coatesville Police Chief Stephen T. Johnson (left) receives congratulations from James Bell, who stepped down as interim police chief.<\/p><\/div>\n

City Council also issued a proclamation for Interim Police Chief James Bell, expressing appreciation for his service over the past several months.<\/p>\n

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\u2019s events.<\/p>\n

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\u2019s dwindling trust fund – now down to about $9 million. He said the city needs to raise taxes or cut services; otherwise, it\u2019s headed for a state takeover when the trust fund dries up.<\/p>\n

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\u2019 annual $295 solid-waste fee, folding it into the real-estate tax.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Finance Director John Marcarelli had touted the change as a way to not only improve the city\u2019s solid-waste collection rate but also to receive income earlier in the year. Councilwoman C. Arvilla Hunt called the proposal \u201ccockamamie bull\u2026.,\u201d and in the end, it failed to pass.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis city will not change,\u201d an exasperated Brazzle said. \u201cWe\u2019re going to be in the same situation next year.\u201d<\/p>\n

Without discussion, City Council rejected a proposed contract agreement with the city firefighters\u2019 union. After the meeting, Collins said that the union had not agreed to sufficient concessions and that the matter would likely go to arbitration.<\/p>\n

During the meeting, he expressed concern that the \u201cunions aren\u2019t aware of the crisis we\u2019re facing.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Well-wishers included large contingent of area law-enforcement By Kathleen Brady Shea, Managing Editor, The Times A heavy police presence accompanied Coatesville\u2019s 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 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":3355,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,3],"tags":[1222,1219,1218,1220,1221],"class_list":["post-3352","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-featured","tag-acting-coatesville-fire-chief-jim-lentz","tag-coatesville-police-chief-stephen-t-johnson","tag-coatesvilles-city-council","tag-magisterial-district-judge-gregory-hines","tag-philadelphia-police-commissioner-charles-h-ramsey"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3352","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3352"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3352\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3355"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3352"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3352"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3352"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}