What came to light during Monday night's commissioners meeting is that some members of the township staff gather for recreational trips, whitewater rafting and Phillies' games to name a few, and others receive medical massages as part of their health plan.
Township resident Christina Perrone, who has a habit of asking tough questions at township meetings, let the cat out of the bag.
We couldn't make this stuff up if we tried.
It's no secret that the friction between the political parties in Radnor is at an all-time high. And Perrone is a member of the opposing party in power and her motives may be questioned by the other side.
But that's for another day and another editorial. This is about whitewater and massages.
For the record, Radnor Township Board of Commissioners President Harry Mahoney did not deny that medical massages were part of the medical health plan that township employees receive.
And Mahoney deferred to Township Manager Dave Bashore on the whitewater rafting question, who said township employees take many recreational trips, including trips to Phillies games.
It's not true that you could hear humming of "Take me out to the Ballpark" while Bashore explained that "team building" is important and that a happy employee is an effective employee.
While my first reaction was to get an application and apply for a township job as soon as possible, it hit me that what we have here is a township that raised taxes 7.9 percent this year and close to 26 percent over the past three years.
This is also a township that cut a deal with the school district on building permits and is in the process of building a new township building in the range of $11 million.
Also throw in the township cars that are available to some employees as well as a health insurance plan into which employees don't have to contribute.
A few months ago in this space we called on the Radnor Township Commissioners to reopen the budget and change the way business is being done in the township.
The deadline passed and the budget went in affect. We didn't expect the commissioners to reopen the budget, but we hoped we made enough noise that things would change when it came to running the township.
We called on the commissioners to look into different insurance plans. We pleaded with them to not forget about the older citizens who can't afford to pay the taxes and we asked them to look into the future and make it affordable for young couples to move into Radnor.
While it looks very bad when things like whitewater rafting and massages are mentioned at township meetings, we also understand that these are not new programs, but things that have been going on for years.
What's sad is that it appears things are not changing in Radnor Township.
Unfortunately, it's business as usual.
Tom Murray is Managing Editor of Main Line Life. He can be reached at 610-896-9555 or tmurray@mainlinelife.com.
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