Real Wyomissing Boro

10/20/2026

AN EXPENSIVE MEETING. WHAT DID TAXPAYERS GET?

The Borough’s preliminary 2027 General Fund budget showed a gap exceeding $6 million with all capital and operating requests included. Preparation and results should be non-negotiable.

At the October 19 Infrastructure meeting, Stonehill Ratliff, McCarthy Engineering, Kraft Municipal Group and Masano Bradley were represented. These are professional services taxpayers fund. Their time has a cost.

‼️Yet the meeting was light on meaningful updates, light on decisions, and short on clear next steps.

During the advertised Borough Hall/police architectural-proposal review, Council President Kristen Gajewski acknowledged she was unprepared to contribute. That admission concerned this agenda item. The discussion ended without an architect recommendation or firm return date.

Jen Reimer said people who had previously looked around had expressed strong objections to putting a police station in front of Borough Hall. Which people? What assessment did they provide? Where are the findings, options and costs supporting that conclusion?

The data-center draft was still under internal review. Technical suggestions were discussed, but no committee recommendation on the draft or firm return date emerged. PennDOT’s requested State Hill Road follow-up plan and cost estimate were also still awaited.

The pump discussion did produce useful clarification and informal direction to carry $700,000 into the budget process. Staff also agreed to address displaced concrete at an inlet. Those limited results deserve acknowledgment.

The larger question is what this meeting was organized to deliver. Interim manager Eden Ratliff and Council leadership should be accountable for prepared reviews, accessible materials, and unfinished work leaving with named owners and dates.

👉 Using professional time without that discipline is an insult to taxpayers.

If attendance or travel was billed separately, publish the charges. For every unfinished item, tell residents who is responsible, what happens next, and when it returns.

Taxpayers deserve to see what their money moves forward.

10/19/2026

NOON MEETING. WHERE ARE THE DOCUMENTS?

Working at noon? That's when Wyomissing's Infrastructure Committee is scheduled to meet Monday, October 19.

The agenda calls for review of Borough Hall/Police architectural submissions and recommendations on a proposed data-center ordinance.

The posted eight-page attachment contains September permit reports and older July DRAFT minutes.

What's not in that attachment:
• Architectural submissions and proposed fees.
• The actual data-center ordinance.
• Current pump-station costs, funding details and bid records.

A noon meeting can mean taking time off work to speak. Without the proposals in advance, how are residents supposed to check the costs, compare the choices and ask informed questions?

Publish the proposals, fees, ordinance and current project costs before recommendations advance. Give working residents a practical chance to weigh in.

Put the documents online. Put residents in the conversation.

Monday, October 19 • noon
Borough Hall, 22 Reading Boulevard
Official sources in the comments.

10/19/2026

WHAT HAPPENED TO OCTOBER 21?

Wyomissing put an “Unmet Needs Report” on its budget calendar for October 21. Its October 13 presentation still showed that date.

Now the calendar entry is gone. The next listed budget event is the October 28 decision hearing.

What changed? Why was the entry removed, and when will residents receive the report?

A budget process should be easier to follow than this.

10/18/2026

A POLITICAL WIN. AT WHAT COST?
A campaign talking point isn’t a financial plan.

At the October 13 Council meeting, Angela Adler proposed selling the Public Works garage. She linked the idea to “an upcoming election next year”—2027—mentioned reelection and said it “would be a political win.”

Adler publicly identified Adam Berkeley as her partner in her July 16, 2024 newsletter. He now serves on Council, with a term ending in December 2029; her reference to next year’s election should not be read as his own reelection.

She cited possible tax increases, an operating shortfall and garage debt as reasons to consider selling. Those concerns deserve a serious cost comparison.

Adler acknowledged “logistics,” but gave no replacement location or cost comparison in her comment. Where would crews, trucks, plows, salt and equipment go—and what would moving and operating elsewhere cost?

After any required debt repayment, selling expenses and replacement costs, what would the sale leave residents? Separately, would annual operating costs fall?

If Council pursues this, residents deserve those numbers and a plan for continuing essential services.

Show the savings before claiming the political win.

10/18/2026

WANT SPENDING CUTS AND SAVINGS BEFORE HIGHER TAXES? TELL COUNCIL NOW.

The Borough’s 2027 budget feedback form closes Friday, October 23. It says responses will be shared with Council before final budget discussions.

The questionnaire has limits: it asks you to rank five service areas and rate past budget cycles, without spending figures or specific tax-and-savings options.

Use open-ended question 2 to explain your priorities. Ask what cuts and savings Council has considered, how much they would save, and why options were accepted or rejected. Say which services you want protected, too.

Make your priorities known while the budget is being developed.

Borough feedback form and budget materials:
https://www.wyomissingboro.org/249/2027-Budget

10/18/2026

No RFP Found. No Contract Found.
A Promise of No Increase.

Then a $38,770 catch-up payment. Catch up to what?

In November 2024, Council heard there would be no Western Berks Ambulance fee increase for 2025. The June 2026 check register then listed a $38,770 “2025 CATCH UP PAYMENT.”

Council approved June’s bill list 7–0, according to the July 14 draft minutes: Jennifer Reimer moved it; Jana Barnett seconded. That identifies the bill approval. It still doesn’t tell residents who accepted the original charge, what changed or how the amount was calculated.

Our records review has not located an RFP or an executed service agreement. The archive is incomplete, so that is a gap to explain—not proof those records never existed.

Publish the invoices. Identify the approval. Show the terms.

Full article and four meeting clips in the comments. If the link is buried, visit realwyomissingboro.org and look for Western Berks.

10/17/2026

Council Votes to Destroy Part of Wyomissing’s History

The paperwork behind public spending is part of Wyomissing’s history, too.

Council voted to dispose of older financial records. The briefing says “No significant financial impact.” Who will review the boxes? What will survive? How many paid hours will this take?

I offered to preserve and scan the records at no charge under proposed preservation and custody terms. Residents deserve to see that option evaluated before anything is destroyed.

If Council doesn’t want inflammatory headlines, it should stop making decisions that deserve them.

Before the boxes go: show us what survives.

Read the article and watch the meeting exchanges:
https://realwyomissingboro.org/articles/council-votes-destroy-financial-history/

10/17/2026

IF MONEY IS TIGHT, WHAT COMES FIRST—AND WHO PAYS?

Sewer upgrades. Borough Hall and police plans. More decisions on Monday’s Infrastructure agenda.

Some work may be essential. But residents deserve to know what must be fixed now, what adds capacity for development, and what can wait.

The older July draft minutes describe a $2 million matching grant for the Borough Hall/police project. A grant still leaves a bill. Where would the Borough’s share come from? Borrowing? Taxes? Delaying something else?

And with the agenda saying development needs pump-station upgrades, how much would developers contribute—and how much would existing ratepayers cover?

Monday should give us priorities, costs and a funding plan. The proposed data-center rules should be available to read, too.

Monday, October 19, at noon. Borough Hall, 22 Reading Boulevard. Full preview and official documents in the comments.

10/16/2026

THE FURNITURE HAS CHANGED. THE TREATMENT HASN’T.

One resident praised Council and proposed selling the public works garage. The President thanked her.

I spoke next, challenging Council’s priorities. I received a reminder that Council represents 11,000 residents.

That double standard was demeaning. A resident does not need 11,000 signatures before a concern deserves an answer.

‼️ Equal respect should not depend on whether you praise Council or challenge its decisions.

Calling a concern an opinion does not answer it. Invoking 11,000 residents does not explain a decision.

Watch the exchanges and judge for yourself:

A more open Council chamber deserves a more open response to criticism. The October 13 meeting showed how much remains to change.

10/12/2026

WHO WANTS WYOMISSING’S FINANCIAL PAPER TRAIL GONE?

Apparently, one problem with keeping Wyomissing’s old financial records is that residents might ask to see them.

Interim manager Eden Ratliff’s October briefing warns that retaining the records can create “cumbersome and time-consuming research projects” for staff answering Right-to-Know requests.

🤯 Imagine that. Public records creating public questions.

👉 On October 13, Council is being asked to authorize disposal of accounts-receivable and accounts-payable files and ledgers retained longer than seven years.

Resolutions 2026-28 and 2026-29 are sitting on the CONSENT agenda.

The disposal proposal provides no inventory of actual files and date ranges, and no clear account of which usable copies would survive.

I have offered free preservation and scanning under a Borough-approved arrangement. The terms still need agreement.

Why is destruction ready for a vote before preservation has been worked out?

Remove both resolutions from consent. Defer disposal. Show residents what would go, what would remain, and whether the preservation offer can work.

Then let each Council member explain their position.

Destroying the paper trail before showing what survives is a poor answer to people asking where it leads.

Council meets October 13 at 7 p.m.

Read the full article:
https://realwyomissingboro.org/articles/who-wants-wyomissings-financial-paper-trail-gone/

Supporting documents in the first comment.

The Borough says keeping old financial records creates work answering residents’ questions. Council should explain why that is an argument for destroying them.