Farley seated on Greencastle Borough Council

James Farley was chosen from a field of three to become the next Greencastle Borough Council member. He was appointed Monday night to replace Mark Singer, who resigned due to a new job. Farley, 70, has lived in the area since 1986 and in Greencastle since 2003. His term runs to the end of the year.

The other candidates were Wade Burkholder and Frank Webster Jr. Each submitted letters of interest and answered questions from the council before a roll call vote.

Farley received a nod from Duane Kinzer, Charles Eckstine, Paul Schemel and Craig Myers. Burkholder got votes from Matt Smith and Harry Foley. Farley's background includes management and leadership positions in several environments. He is retired Army, taught at a technical institute and then was a high school principal, and finally co-owned a manufacturing company, which he sold two years ago. He earned two AA degrees, a bachelor's degree and a master's degree.

"I have no specific agenda except that I have grown very fond of our community and feel truly at home," he wrote. "I see it as important that we maintain our historic appearance and small town atmosphere, while keeping pace with the ever changing demographics and the needs brought on by it."

Borough council handed Farley some immediate responsibility, appointing him to the Franklin County Area Tax Board as Greencastle's representative.  He was authorized to support a proposed change to the FCATB bylaws to give the 25 member jurisdictions one vote each, at its Jan. 27 meeting.

Other business

President Charles Eckstine informed council that the borough was working on cleaning up blighted neighborhoods. Manager Kenneth Womack said he had gotten aggressive on enforcing the nuisance ordinance and was in the middle of issuing several citations on West Franklin and West Dahlgren streets. The cases would come before Magisterial District Judge Duane Cunningham.

"If you want to own property in Greencastle, we expect you to maintain it," Eckstine said.

Vacancies on borough boards were filled by current members. Council reappointed James Thomas to the Planning Commission for four years; Gregory Rock to the Greencastle Area, Franklin County, Water Authority and Sewer Authority for three years; W.B. "Bud" Marshall to the Shade Tree Commission for five years; Gerald Pool to the Zoning Hearing Board for three years; and John Easton to the Vacancy Board for one year.

A report from police chief John Phillippy summed up the department's activity for 2010. Reports totaled 2,413, up 9.5 percent from 2009.

Police issued 471 traffic citations and 285 written warnings. The parking meter maid wrote 693 tickets and the police 30. The police responded to 83 reports of theft, 53 domestic incidents, 44 criminal mischief, 28 assaults, 23 driving under the influence, 21 drug offenses and 18 burglaries.