The Journey of a thousand steps begins with the first

The morning after what is hopefully winter’s last blast I had the chance to sit and have breakfast with Quakertown’s man of double duty. Scott McElree is both the borough’s Manager and Police Chief. McElree, like many of us is a Philly native who calls Quakertown home for over 3 years. McElree has been both chief and borough manager since the beginning of the year. McElree is a big man with big plans and is anxious but prodigious about seeing his plan unveil over the next several years.

Being a Police chief and sergeant over many years has suited him well for training for the borough’s top job he says. An appointed position by borough council, the borough manager has some daunting tasks ahead of him that if all goes according to plan will remarkably help transform our borough into a small suburban town into that same small town we’ve all been drawn too, but with a modern and contemporary feel that will attract new residents, merchant owners and visitors.

You may remember I wrote about some of the things on the horizon for Quakertown that are all part of the borough’s capital campaign to get moving and growing and I’ll touch on those items again later in my article. McElree along with his council counterparts are in process now to name the borough’s finance director. In addition to being in charge of the books for many of the borough’s financial matters, this person will also act as assistant to the borough manager. Our police force is also getting bigger. Two new officers are being added. Also in the works some current officers moving up the ladder to take on more duties aimed at aiding Chief McElree. The finance director addition, more current officers on the come for additional duties should help lighten the load of manager/police chief McElree who right now is putting in near to 65 hours a week serving in both capacities.

McElree tells me the most challenging part of being borough manager is learning about all the things the borough provides for its residents including borough contained and provided electric, water and sewer utility services. This learning curve, dealing with the public in a wider range of areas and growing our borough’s police department to state accreditation levels has McElree working hard to keep a lot of important balls in the air. McElree points to his colleagues on council, inside borough government staffers and his co workers in the police department that help in many ways his growing understanding of all that’s needed to competently hold post. McElree says there is a wealth of talent, skill and experience around him each day that makes his job easier because so many who work alongside him give great direction and guidance. Not surprised, any great coach tells you it’s the support around them that make them great.

McElree also makes his share of council meetings which are held twice a month. Each council member has duties with important sub committees. These include public works, public safety, finance, utilities, parks and recreation and zoning and planning. It’s out of these meetings that we’re now just under a year away from the beginning of the Main Street project. As I mentioned earlier and in previous columns a project that will greatly revitalize our borough downtown. ‘Street-scaping’ which is a fancy name for newer curb appeal, some walking paths and a basic dressing up of the borough will commence bringing a facelift to our downtown streets. I put the same question to McElree that I put to others in ‘Quakertown Alive’ some time ago. Where do you see the borough in a few years?

McElree embraced the question and feels that Quakertown is absolutely on the move. A fully state accredited police force ( in final stages of garnering this award ), a vibrant downtown with different merchants, newer restaurants and lots more are part of McElree’s vision. Making Front Street more dynamic as the train station becomes active and helping borough residents who qualify for home repairs under the Elm Street project are all part of the borough’s dynamic future. Here’s the bottom line, where growing and changing because the regions around us to the south Philly and suburbs, to the north the greater Lehigh Valley are booming. Sandwiched in the middle, is us. Part of this growth and more traffic in the area has seen our police department in 2005 answer some 14,000 calls including some bigger crimes such as burglary, murder and even 2 homicides. A growing and improving police force has seen our town made safer and with more officers arriving we’ll continue to all get a lot more sleep knowing our law enforcement officials are capably at post.

McElree has a lot on his plate and he says that’s fine. He knew this would be the case going into the job, both of them. Now it comes down to action and implementation. Slowly and before you know it we’ll see our town change and merge into a growing, thriving community. It’s change and develop for today’s boroughs or be left in the dust. No one wants to see that happen. I’d be remiss at closing without mentioning that a big project also in play is a traffic ‘calming’ study that will utilize surveys and reports to make travel throughout the borough better for everyone. All this growth and renovations can’t come without a good street and road system. I’ll touch base with McElree again soon, maybe towards the end of the year and see how things are going.

For now, if you see McElree and he seems to be moving a bit quickly you’ll understand why. When you work two jobs you’d better be two steps ahead to keep from falling behind. Watching it all take off, see ‘ya around town.