Local News

SR 447 will close both directions for bridge replacement work from the intersection of Golf Drive to the intersection of Long Road in Barrett Township, Monroe County. A detour is established utilizing SR390 North to Roemersville Road to Hemlock Grove Road and back to SR 447. Work will begin 03/25/19 and Estimated Date and Time to Reopen (ETR) will be 08/30/19.

Disclaimer: The ideas expressed below are the personal thoughts and opinions of Nate Covington and do not necessarily reflect the position of Barrett Township or the Board of Auditors.

Please note that this article has been updated to include details about the $148,270 grant that was used to renovate the Barrett Firehouse.

Earlier this year, I filed a right to know request with Barrett Township requesting "documentation of all moneys received related to the Mount Airy Casino since 2014."

The response from the township was as follows:

Paradise Township passes short-term rental ordinance 

(From 2017)

Paradise Township supervisors unanimously approved a controversial ordinance regulating short-term rentals following a hearing Monday night.

The ordinance sets rules and standards for homeowners who rent their properties for between one and 30 days. Its intention is to provide for the health, welfare and safety of renters, but also includes protections for surrounding neighbors.

The Rotary Club of the Pocono Mountains’ Banners Throughout Barrett campaign is a local initiative designed to cultivate pride in our community and contribute to the revitalization of Barrett and Paradise Townships. Complete the form (see attachments) to purchase a banner.

Disclaimer:  The ideas expressed below are the personal thoughts and opinions of Nate Covington and do not necessarily reflect the position of Barrett Township or the Board of Auditors.

Earlier this year I filed a Right-to-Know request as a private citizen to view the township’s pension plan.

Why should residents care?

Well, for starters, township residents were taxed $55,000 in 2017 to fund the plan which has around $1 million in assets.  In the same year, the State of Pennsylvania contributed an additional $32,000 to the pension fund.  

Disclaimer: The ideas expressed below are the personal thoughts and opinions of Nate Covington and do not necessarily reflect the position of Barrett Township or its Board of Auditors. 

After I was appointed auditor in November 2018, I requested a copy of the previous year’s CPA audit from Pam Gardsy (Barrett Township Secretary/Treasurer, who replaced Rick Scrudato in 2015).  Pam emailed a copy of the auditor’s report, but it did not include the cover letter.  I wound up filing two Right-To-Know requests to obtain the following information:  

Gov. Wolf stalled the release until after the election

More than 11,000 people who were registered to vote in Pennsylvania were found to not be citizens of the United States — and the state's Democratic governor didn't want anyone to know about it.

What's the story?
Two Republican state lawmakers, Reps. Daryl Metcalfe and Garth Everett, released the information Tuesday. Metcalfe had requested this information from the state in February 2018, but the request was appealed by Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf, and stalled until Dec. 3, after the elections had already wrapped up.

On Dec. 3, the Pennsylvania Department of State sent a letter to Metcalfe, which indicated that a "possible" 11,198 voter registrations existed for people who were identified by the state as non-citizens.

Two years ago, Chief Grover Cleveland thought it would take until at least 2023 to complete the renovations necessary to repair Barrett Township’s 30-year-old firehouse.

Thanks to a $148,270 grant the volunteer fire company received last year, they were able to complete all of that work in less than 12 months.

“It’s really nice and I’m glad we were able to do it without taking money from the township,” Cleveland said. “It helps out with training, cleanliness. We’re able to have two things going on at once.”

Editor's Note:
A member of the community forwarded this article to me and I want to share the idea with everyone. Last year, the recycling center in Barrett closed, and this might be a great way to respond. It's environmentally friendly and we'd be creating value out of items that we used to discard...

These DIY Machines Let Anyone Recycle Plastic Into New Products

The majority of the 300 million tons of plastic produced every year isn’t recycled, and recycling that does happen typically happens at an industrial scale in factories using equipment that can cost tens of thousands of dollars. But a growing number of designers are using a set of open-source, easy-to-build tools to recycle plastic and manufacture new plastic products on their own.

New Perspectives
24-hour telephone Crisis Intervention (all ages)
570-992-0879

Now serving Monroe County.

Update 2/12/19

Related:
Tunnel Detour in the Poconos Riddled with Potholes

Stites Tunnel project will impact thousands of drivers

POCONO TOWNSHIP — A PennDOT construction project on Route 191 is expected to cause detours for more than 5,000 commuters per day for 11 months during 2019.

Crews will be replacing the Route 191 Bridge in Pocono Township and detours in the area are expected to last from Jan. 7 until the projected completion date in Dec. 2019.

The big numbers related to Pennsylvania’s public pension debt are somewhat mind-boggling. According to a September report from Truth in Accounting, a nonprofit organization that aims to find out what states’ balance sheets truly look like, the commonwealth has $42.8 billion in unfunded pension obligations and another $29.8 billion in underfunded retiree health care benefits.

For the sake of comparison, the state’s annual budget for the 2018-19 fiscal year is $32.7 billion – which means if the state devoted every penny it takes in to nothing but closing that gap, it would still take more than two years to do it.