Franklin Park Borough may be able to transition to a home rule charter in the future, but not now.

The Franklin Park Town Council first passed an ordinance in July to place a question on the November general election ballot, asking residents to approve a seven-member commission of inquiry to study the existing form of government and the pros and cons of a home rule system.

But at a meeting on August 7, council members expressed concern that the process was moving too quickly and that citizens should be better informed before the question appears on the ballot, and that voters may already have a lot on their plate in November.

“This is an important election year and perhaps something like this could happen on another election date,” said Council Member Tom Schwartzmier.

The township published and adopted Ordinance 685 as required and transmitted it to Allegheny County for placement on the next ballot.

But the Council had to adopt another regulation on 21 August to officially cancel the voting question for this November.

There are several reasons for switching to self-management, but one of the most important is financial preparation.

A home rule charter would help Franklin Park plan for future spending, particularly the unavoidable costs associated with aging infrastructure, according to discussion at the Aug. 7 meeting.

Franklin Park is not in dire financial straits, but these costs are going to be on us, so to speak, said District Manager Regis J. Ebner Jr.

If development in the district slows significantly, there will need to be another source of revenue as expenses will continue to rise, he said. The stormwater infrastructure in Franklin Park is older and very expensive to replace. Many of the pipes are metal and are clogged or broken, Ebner said.

High costs predicted

On August 7, CEC Engineering presented an informal baseline report showing that a community the size of Franklin Park will ultimately face estimated costs of $750,000 per year to address stormwater problems until the entire system is upgraded.

This is simply a matter of repairing the faulty infrastructure, said Ebner, without taking into account normal operating costs or other possible future investment projects.

When repairing pipes, crews find that many of them are clogged. Newer communities have plastic pipes instead of metal ones.

“We’re going to get to a point where expenses are going to exceed revenues,” Ebner said, and Franklin Park will also be responsible for fixing some stormwater problems on certain PennDOT-owned roads.

The municipality is currently considering taking out grants and loans, but this is not a long-term solution, says Ebner.

Self-management can help prepare for these costs.

Other struggling Pennsylvania municipalities “need to go down this path to diversify their tax base,” said Robert Max Junker, a lawyer in Franklin Park. He pointed out that Bellevue and Mt. Lebanon went home-government in the 1970s to give themselves their own constitution and avoid financial problems.

The City of Duquesne is currently going through this process and has released a memo that provides some details about self-government and a list of communities that hold this status, including Bradford Woods and McCandless.

As its name suggests, the principle of home rule transfers authority over municipal affairs from the laws of the state to a local charter that is drafted, adopted and amended by the municipality’s voters, the memo said.

“A complicated process”

Franklin Park Mayor Dennis O’Keefe agreed to postpone the ballot question, noting that the investigative work is extensive.

“It’s not that we are in a total emergency and need to change our governance. Of course, it’s a complicated process,” he said.

In addition, candidates for the Government Investigation Commission, who must reside in Franklin Park, must have 164 signatures to appear on the ballot.

Council member Laura Czejac said that the issue of self-government had been on the agenda and openly discussed throughout the past year, but that stronger communication with the public was still necessary.

“I don’t think we’ve communicated it clearly to citizens,” she said. “We just want everyone to be as informed as possible, and I also want to make sure that the people … who are running for the commission know exactly what’s going on and that they have qualified candidates and people who fully understand the job.”

Uday Palled, council chairman, said he attended the “Festival in the Park” in Franklin Park in June and distributed information to residents in attendance.

The Council has the option of engaging a third-party organization, such as the Pennsylvania Economy League, to coordinate and manage the process for the district.

“I really want to do this, but I really want to do it as a team,” said Councilman Brian Malkin. “We have to work together as a team to get this done, or it’s not going to happen.”

Jiang Li, another council member, expressed concern about the district’s financial outlook:

“We really have to do something, otherwise we will face some difficulties in the near future.”