Upper Pottsgrove Journal Editors—After his 2019 defeat, Elwood Taylor is running for commissioner—yet again. He has been in and out of the commissioner role in Upper Pottsgrove Township since before the 21st century, only leaving the office when beaten in elections. He has described the aftermath of his last defeat as his “hiatus.” Now he is back running for commissioner for the umpteenth time.
As for his political party, who knows? His latest party flip was from Republican to Democrat. For this year’s election he chose the Democratic Party to host his run for commissioner. There was no competition for the three democratic commissioner nominations in May of this year, so it was an easy way to get on the General Election ballot set for November 4th.
As for his time in office as commissioner and board president before 2018, Elwood Taylor’s record is dismal. His record includes Township debt over 8 million dollars, unfunded pension liability of over 1.5 million dollars, and a faulty budgeting process (by the way, these are all fixed now). Additionally, he has sued the Township at least twice now—once while in office and now as a candidate for commissioner—creating unnecessary legal costs in the process.
The first time he sued the Township was over a resolution the board passed limiting commissioners’ role—not just Elwood Taylor’s role—to just serving as commissioners and not allowing them to serve on internal Township committees, boards, or commissions, as well as restricting commissioners from serving on outside agencies that receive funding from the Township.
At the time of the resolution, Taylor was a commissioner, member of the planning commission, chairman of the planning commission, and serving on an outside board that the Township funded. Taylor claimed the resolution was all about him and sued the Township with the same attorney that represented the Artisan group—the developer that had sued the Township over their plans to put in over 400 houses in the Township that Taylor voted to support. After the resolution had passed, two other commissioners promptly resigned from the committees they were on. Taylor refused; the board dissolved the commission.
His latest suit concerns the construction of the Township municipal building along Gilbertsville Rd. This political stunt would cost the Township 5 to 9.5 million dollars. Here are the links to these articles https://upperpottsgrovejournal.com/wp-admin/post.php?post=1453&action=edit. https://upperpottsgrovejournal.com/wp-admin/post.php?post=1424&action=edit
Taylor has been involved in the Township government for far too long. The Township needs to send him a message on November 4th, yet again: Go do something else.
The Upper Pottsgrove Journal Editors—Don Read, Hank Llewelyn, and Trace Slinkerd