 Independent News and Commentary for Lancaster City & County, Pennsylvania |
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By Robert Edwin Field, as published in the Lancaster Sunday News December 30, 2007, page P-1 It is probably inevitable that outgoing Lancaster County Commissioners Dick Shellenberger and Molly Henderson will forever be remembered for their opposing county guaranties of the convention center debt and for selling the county nursing home. But a look back at the two commissioners tells a fuller picture and reveals a clearer image of the two embattled public servants and the legacies they leave behind. Dick and Molly formed an unusual alliance, not only because they crossed the traditional party lines, but because of their differences in background and style. Dick, a self-described "economic conservative," grew up milking cows before breakfast, has a high school degree, became an executive at Kreider Farms, an active Republican party worker, and a church leader. Molly had been an elected local Democratic committeewoman for more than 25 years and was elected to the Democratic State Committee. She served on the Lancaster Township Zoning Hearing Board. She earned a doctorate in education from Temple University, instructed at Millersville University, headed the city's Environmental Health & Protection Unit, and co-founded the Lancaster Women's Alliance. In office, however, they found much common ground. Both supported farmland preservation, and Lancaster County is now ranked number one in the nation in preserving farms and farmland. The commissioners created the Blue Ribbon Commission for Agriculture to keep farming viable, and preserved 3,500 acres of the Conestoga River gorge by helping PPL's conveyance to the Lancaster County Conservancy. They found a way to fund the operations of the Lancaster County Public Safety Training Center, and to make the Sunnyside property an opportunity available to the city. The board moved to acquire and renovate the aging 150 N. Queen St. building to keep county employees downtown. The commissioners also located a site for the antiquated forensic center. In urban areas, they supported the redevelopment of the Armstrong "brownfield" redevelopment, Clipper Magazine Stadium, the Northwest Corridor, and the Pennsylvania Academy of Music. Furthermore, county government was downsized. On the most expensive publicly financed project in the county's history, the $180 million-plus convention center project, they sought to protect county taxpayers by going toe-to-toe with powerful supporters of the convention center and hotel project. After years of struggle, the county commissioners succeeded in obtaining an agreement from the convention center authority that county hotel tax revenues would go first to county-guaranteed obligations. By raising questions about the taxpayer risk of the convention center project, the commissioners found themselves targets of relentless, often unfair criticism. After the commissioners began questioning the convention center project, a grand jury investigation was convened to look into the hiring of a county official and then expanded to explore the sale of the Conestoga View nursing home. Some believed it was a political witch hunt to discredit Dick and Molly. In order to remove the year-long grand jury cloud from the forthcoming campaigns, Dick and Molly reluctantly agreed to minor technical violations of the Sunshine Act that they assured friends they had not committed. The subsequent grand jury report found no laws had been broken, but this was unknown to the commissioners at the time of their pleas. Unfortunately, few read the report. The public will recall how these minor nonviolations were treated for days by the local press as though they were the crimes of the century. In the aftermath, Dick decided not to run again. Molly gave it her best, but the well had been poisoned. Conestoga View is now on the tax rolls. No staff has been cut and services have improved. No needy person is turned away. Dick and Molly paid a price for unflinching integrity, and so have we. Remember that. Robert Edwin Field of Lancaster Township is founder of The Manor Group, owners, managers and developers of real estate in the United States and Europe. He is a longtime political activist and president of NewsLanc.com. 12/30/07 |
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