Open letter to Wyomissing Borough Council

1. Make evening access a Borough policy

Finance discussed evening meetings in April. Yet Planning met at 3:30 p.m. on October 5, and zoning hearings were held at 2 and 3 p.m. on October 7. Attendance by some residents does not resolve the exclusion of others who are working. ^{2, 3}

Evening budget sessions are welcome; some earlier budget meetings were held during the workday. That improvement should extend across public business. Scheduling access can be addressed without taking a position on any pending development application.

Action requested: Put a general evening-meeting policy on Council's public agenda for a recorded vote. Work with the boards and commissions within their respective authority to make 6 p.m. or later the standard, with publicly explained exceptions. If a general policy has already been adopted, publish its text, vote and effective date.

2. Give residents the documents before they are asked to comment

At the October 5 Planning meeting, another resident questioned why members had received a sketch before the public had an opportunity to review it. A presentation first seen in the meeting room gives residents little chance to examine assumptions, costs or alternatives. Meaningful participation requires preparation. ³

The website-posting policy still displayed online broadly excludes Zoning Hearing Board and Civil Service materials beyond agendas. Council's April vote to publish final zoning decisions was a useful step. The public also needs access to the releasable documents underlying those proceedings. ⁴

Action requested: Publish complete public packets, including presentations, plans, reports and financial assumptions, with a target of at least 72 hours before meetings. Identify later additions and publish materials introduced during meetings within two business days. Explain any lawful withholding specifically, allow additional review time before consequential decisions when substantial material arrives late, and revise the posting policy to include public materials from every board and commission.

3. Clear the July minutes backlog and publish drafts promptly

The July committee records expose a gap in the August transition. July's Council agenda still provided for approval of committee reports. August introduced the consent agenda but listed only Council's own minutes for approval. July committee reports also do not appear as approval items on the September or October Council agendas. ⁵

I could not locate minutes for July 15 Refuse and Recycling, July 20 Infrastructure, or July 27 Fire and Police in the Borough's published meeting records. A change in agenda format or the absence of another committee meeting must not leave the public waiting indefinitely.

The October Council packet already includes draft September Council minutes, and the posting policy permits draft minutes. Once minutes have been prepared, residents should be able to read them. Formal approval can follow, with corrections incorporated and the approved version clearly identified. Publishing drafts also allows residents to point out errors or omissions before approval. ^{4, 6}

Action requested: Prepare minutes promptly after each meeting and publish them as soon as they are prepared, clearly marked DRAFT. Do not wait for approval, another meeting, or the next Council packet. Publish all prepared July minutes now; identify any still unprepared, set completion dates and explain the approval route. Provide a clear way for residents to submit corrections for consideration.

4. Make participation and recording practical

Council's January vote expanding public comment was welcome. But at the September 16 meeting, I reported that residents had already left before the later comment period. Residents need a practical opportunity to raise nonagenda concerns without waiting through most of a meeting. ⁷

The Borough reports that no video was recorded for the October 7 zoning hearings because of equipment problems. Residents' access should not depend on my ability to attend with a camera. ⁸

The published recording rule allows a camera to be removed if its operator leaves the room. A resident should be able to take a brief restroom break while a safely positioned camera continues recording the public meeting. ⁹

Action requested: Allow nonagenda comments near the beginning while retaining later comment opportunities. Publish the current, consolidated rules. Establish recording checks, backups and prompt notice of failures, with links to available alternative records. Amend the recording policy to permit brief absences without requiring a safely positioned camera to be removed.

5. Address workload through cooperation and publication

Historical records help residents understand how earlier decisions contributed to today's financial pressures. Requests remain legitimate whether their findings are convenient for the previous Council, the present Council, or neither. Publishing frequently requested records can reduce repeated requests and improve access for everyone.

Eden Ratliff's October 11 reply offers a constructive example. He accepted my proposal to start with the 2019 Council packets and five missing 2020 meetings, said staff would begin with 2019 and 2020, and expressed the goal of posting full packets from 2010 onward. I welcome that cooperation. ¹⁰

The Abrams response illustrates the remaining access problem. The Borough supplied correspondence, but refused copies of submitted plans on asserted copyright grounds and offered business-hours inspection. Residents need to examine what is being proposed while their participation can still matter. ¹¹

Action requested: Set a timetable for the historical packets, publish them in manageable batches and report progress. Make frequently requested records available proactively. Explain the specific restriction on copying the Abrams plans and pursue lawful broader access, including permission from the rights holder where needed.

6. Preserve financial evidence before authorizing disposal

The October 13 consent agenda proposes resolutions 2026-28 and 2026-29 covering accounts receivable and payable files and ledgers retained longer than seven years. The October 9 staff briefing expressly connects retaining old records with the workload of responding to historical RTK requests. That rationale is deeply concerning when residents are trying to understand earlier financial decisions. ¹²

Pennsylvania's municipal retention schedule permits eligible disposal; it does not require destruction when a retention period expires. Council should assess the continuing public value of these records before authorizing their disposal. ¹³

I offer to scan an agreed batch at no cost to the Borough, using a written inventory and documented chain of custody. I would check the scans against the originals, provide legible, indexed files and return the original documents. The Borough would retain ownership and control. Any later disposal would require separate authorization and documentation after preservation requirements have been addressed.

Action requested: Remove resolutions 2026-28 and 2026-29 from the October 13 consent agenda and defer disposal. First publish an inventory, identify usable copies that would survive, review preservation obligations and evaluate digitization, including my offer to help at no cost to the Borough.

7. Adopt a plan residents can hold Council to

The management proposal included providing information and maintaining informative relations with the community. September's management report identified ongoing work and future deadlines. Residents need to know what has been completed, what remains and when they will see the results. ¹⁴

Residents need documents early enough to question proposals, meeting times that allow attendance, and records that remain accessible afterward. Those are concrete standards Council can vote on and deliver. I am ready to help. All seven members share responsibility for making them happen.

Action requested: Place these requests on a public agenda and adopt an implementation timetable within 30 days, naming the person responsible for each task. Address the proposed record disposal on October 13, before any authorization is given. Report progress publicly and explain any missed deadline, the constraint and the remedy.