The following interview was conducted in part via email, and in part over zoom with Eric Lorgus on October 29, 2021, as part of The Quad’s continuing coverage of the West Chester Mayoral race. Our former interviews with candidates Lillian DeBaptiste and Beth Ann Rosica can be found on our website (https://wcuquad.com/).
What made you pursue a life in politics?
Although I was on borough council many years ago, I see serving in local government more as community service than “politics.” I feel my life has been pursued in helping others. I was registered as a Democrat before switching to Independent earlier this year in an attempt to reach out to members of all parties and independents, to bring the town together. I am also mentoring the next generation of leaders by involving them in my campaign. I encourage all WCU students to become involved in community service. I know several are volunteers with the West Chester Fire Department, and there will soon be a new “Community-Campus Committee” comprised of 10 representatives from the borough and 10 from the university.
What were you doing prior to entering the mayoral race?
My day job is as the President of Great Valley Industries in Downingtown, a wholesaler of industrial supplies. In my spare time, I also wear three other hats as a volunteer — I am the vice-chairman of the Uptown! Knauer Performing Arts Center and also serve on two borough boards — the Historical Commission and the Financial Advisory Committee.
Describe your Educational Background.
I attended Drexel University, majoring in Accounting. I was offered a lucrative full-time job in my junior year and accepted it, with the intent of going back and finishing my degree later. I would still like to do that, but have been super busy every day of my life since taking that first job.
The University of West Chester is a major economic driver in the area. How would you want relations to progress between the borough and the university and its students?
The economic impact of the university and its thousands of students was painfully felt last year when the borough’s Parking and Sewer funds saw significant declines while the campus was closed. That said, part of what attracts students here is the town itself. So we all need each other. To that end, all of the stakeholders need to face the problems each creates and think of creative and thoughtful solutions which allow all to prosper in our respective pursuits.
There are a couple of preliminary budgets that were put out at the beginning of the year, both of which are predicting a 1 to 2 million dollar deficit in the West Chester General Fund for 2021. This degree of loss is expected to quintuple in the next five years. Based on your personal analysis, how do you intend to approach this situation? (We are aware the Mayor does not control the budget, but how would you use your influence?)
Those predictions were very preliminary and are now outdated and misleading. The most recent projections show annual operating expenses increasing at 2.4 percent. The biggest problem is that the annual increase in salaries and benefits (4.5 percent) is growing faster than the organic growth of the tax base (1.5 percent). The police department, which is the most expensive, reports to the mayor, so he or she can play a pivotal role in streamlining operations and improving efficiencies. This requires both government and business experience, which I have. Fiscal responsibility has been a hallmark of my campaign since day one. There are also common-sense solutions, like investing the $8.4 million Capital Reserve Fund at a rate higher than the current 1 percent. Last year, I helped the borough avert a needless replacement of all its parking meters, when it was learned they would “stop working” on Jan. 1st. I looked into it and found that it was the 2G cellular chips inside the meters that would stop working when T-Mobile decommissioned 2G. Rather than replace all the meters at a cost of $600K, I found they could be upgraded for $125K.
What are the three biggest priorities for the borough as of now?
Number one: facing and fixing the chronic financial problems which will then allow the town to deal with and fund its many other issues. Number two: keeping on track for the transition to clean energy to 100 percent renewable electricity community-wide by 2035 and 100 percent renewable energy for heat and transportation by 2050. Number three: improving communication between the borough government, residents, businesses, and students. Too many times, stakeholders have been surprised by decisions made by borough council or the administration.
Your campaign website often refers to your strong sense of “Cultural Leadership.” What kinds of changes would this type of leadership manifest into in West Chester, should you be elected?
It will allow me to be more influential and helpful to our many arts and culture organizations. As a private citizen, I was one of the leaders of the successful land preservation effort that saved the Barclay Grounds from development and turned it into the town’s newest park, at no cost to the taxpayers. I now serve as the Vice Chairman of the Uptown! Knauer Performing Arts Center, which has enlivened the arts and culture scene in West Chester since its opening in 2017. As chair of the committee which is working to bring back professional theater to Uptown!, we plan on having uplifting and diverse live theatrical performances by next year. I am also helping the West Chester Historic Railroad with its marketing and cross promotion with downtown businesses. Before the pandemic, it drew 15,000 patrons annually, half of whom traveled more than 25 miles. Arts and culture not only enhances our quality of life, it drives our downtown economy.
West Chester is often a home for civil protest among any number of causes, particularly the police department in the past year. Does this especially strong, usually student originated demonstration affect how you would intend to administrate the borough?
All public demonstrations affect elected officials, even if they deny it. I cannot promise to agree, but can promise to always listen to and respect the voices of all of West Chester’s citizens. I support the First Amendment and the right of all citizens to protest peacefully. By the way, when I was 28, I organized one such protest myself on the courthouse steps.
Clean Energy clarification – About the clean energy initiatives you mentioned in our prior communique, you mentioned transitioning to 100 percent renewable energy and keeping on track for these major goals in the borough. I was wondering if you could elaborate at all on the small scale of what 100 percent renewable energy by 2035 and 2050 would look like for daily life in the borough.
Well that’s interesting. I read this story the other day about the grid and the fact that, as more people are installing solar on their houses or their commercial buildings and generating their own electricity, any excess electricity they generate they’re trying to put on the grid to supply other demand. The electrical systems of a lot of utilities are not able to handle that right now. I think it was in the New York Times yesterday (Interview conducted on 10/29) . What did you say, by 2050?
Yes, community wide renewable energy by 2035, and 100 percent renewable energy for heat and transportation by 2050. What would it look like for the average citizen?
So the initial goal is for just general electric usage, for example Borough Hall. The goal is to have borough hall and the sewer plants 100 percent by 2035. Now, for 2050 to have everything, that would be transportation and heating. Now I’ve never thought about [what it would look like for the average citizen]. We know right now we are trying to transition to using electric vehicles. So by 2050, it may be that most vehicles including trucks are electric and we already have electric trains in limited usage, for example the main line, the amtrak route from Boston to Washington is all electric. I assume that will be expanded. Wherever we can electrify, it will be done. France has an amazing rail system that’s all electrified. I was curious about the French train system and wondered how much the French government subsidizes it, because obviously our government has to subsidize Amtrak. Do you know what I found out? The [SNCF], which is the French national railroad, actually makes a profit of several billion dollars a year. So France somehow has figured out how to make money with public transportation and if they can do it, I don’t see why we can’t do it too.
A lot of your background is in business leadership, I was wondering if you wanted to comment at all on the relationship differences and similarities between being a business leader and being a mayor.
I think in both positions, being both a business leader and a political leader— one has to have a sense of direction. I think the difference with politics and with elected office is that you have to have a sense of what the people you represent want to do. I think an elected official should always be sensitive to public opinion. There are times, however, when I think sometimes a difficult decision has to be made and that’s what I actually consider to be a true leader, is someone who thinks about all of the issues very carefully, considers all of the options and makes the decision he or she thinks is the best for the public, never for themselves, but for the public.
In your priorities for the borough as of now, you mentioned your third priority to be wanting to improve communication between the borough government, residents, businesses and students. Would you be able to clarify at all about how these communications could be specifically improved and where the biggest faults are in current communications?
Well there was a time in West Chester when the Daily Local News was read by everyone, and that used to be the main source of communication about what was going on in town. Now as you know, news sources have now become splintered, and people get their news from many different sources and in some cases they miss things entirely. The Daily Local News used to cover every single meeting, every single work session, voting meeting, committee meeting, and they aren’t able to do that anymore. And even when they cover them there’s not a story in the newspaper the next morning the way there was at one point. As I see it, we can’t do anything about the way the media is today and the splintered news sources. But what the borough can do is return to something it has done in the past and that is to publish a printed newsletter. Something that would have useful information, maybe current events. The “Clean and Green” initiative they were just talking about— explain that to the public and what it means. One thing that I am always interested in is, “What does it cost?” to a taxpayer. And when I read about the “Clean and Green” initiative and this joint pooling of electricity I found out that it’s gonna be roughly the same cost as the borough is paying right now— that is good news. Because oftentimes, when you purchase clean energy, it is more expensive than non-clean energy. But getting back to the communication thing. I think the borough has to understand that many times people don’t get the word on what’s going on. We have something we’re using right now called ReadyChesco, and it’s basically a reverse dialling system where the borough can call every phone number in West Chester. And they use [them] now primarily for snow emergencies, but sometime[s] it has been used to announce public meetings, and I know that back when saving Barclay Park was a controversial issue, meetings involving Barclay Park were announced by the reverse telephone calling system. So to a certain extent, I think that should be used more than it is being used right now. And I said, returning a printed newsletter — that might be sent out quarterly and email updates in between. I think that would fill in some of the gaps we have now.
Lastly, generally, do you have any messages for the student body or any final closing thoughts on your campaign or the upcoming election?
The relationship between the town and the University has had its ups and downs. And I would like to see the students play a more active role in West Chester. I know that many of them already do. I was down at the fire company a few weeks ago for a dedication of a few pieces of equipment, and they now have a dormitory there where students live who are willing to be volunteer firemen and they get free room and board. Well, I think in most cases, it’s students who have been volunteer firefighters in their hometown before they come to West Chester. But there’s an excellent example of students helping the town because we have a shortage of volunteer firemen, so I think there is an excellent win-win situation where they build an addition to the fire house and in that addition they created a dormitory. I think it’s up to six students who are living there. And of course, there are the ones who are gonna answer the call if there’s a call at two o’clock in the morning. But on other fronts, we have many nonprofit organizations in West Chester. One that I recently started helping was the Historic Railroad. They rely on volunteers and in the student population [sic]— I’m sure there’s some people who like trains and, if they just knew about it, would be willing to help. So really that’s what I’d like to see, a stronger relationship between the town and the university, and as I said, students are here to get an education but also to learn to live independently. If you’re on campus, you’re part of the town. The thing is, I don’t have all the ideas, so my door is always open to new ideas, ways we could strengthen the relationship between the university and the town. Previous mayors have had a Monday night meeting at Borough Hall where they are there from five to seven, and anyone who wants to stop by can, and if elected I want to restore that tradition. To make it easy for anyone who has an idea or a question to stop by borough hall on Monday night and talk to the mayor.
The full, unabridged version of this interview can be found on our website.
(https://wcuquad.com/6018766/news/actual-rosica-interview/)
Matthew Shimkonis is a third-year History Major. MS925373@wcupa.edu